| By Author | [ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Other Symbols ] |
| By Title | [ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Other Symbols ] |
| By Language |
|
Download this book: [ ASCII ] Look for this book on Amazon Tweet |
Title: The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 6 - History of Central America, Volume 1, 1501-1530
Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Language: English
As this book started as an ASCII text book there are no pictures available.
*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 6 - History of Central America, Volume 1, 1501-1530" ***
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)
Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
In many cases, Bancroft uses both "u" and "v" to spell an
author's name. Examples include:
Villagutierre and Villagvtierre
Mondo Nuovo and Mondo Nvovo
Villagutierre and Villagvtierre
Aluarado and Alvarado
Gvat. and Guat.
Cogolludo and Cogollvdo
Vetancurt and Vetancvrt.
Other archaic letter substitutions include b for v, i for y,
x for j, i for j, ç or c for z and vice versa. These have been
left as printed.
Possible printers errors include:
Quauhtemoctzin or Quauhtemotzin
Verrazano or Verrazzano
Bartolomeo or Bartolommeo
Fricius or Frisius
Gatinara or Gattinara
Veitia and Veyia
Loaysa and Loaisa
Fitz-Roy and FitzRoy
Cohuanococh and Cohuanacoch
Ahpotzotzil or Ahpozotzil
embassadors or ambassadors
unincombered or unencumbered
Albitez or Albites
Lucayos or Lucayas
Castelhanus or Castelhanos
Quauhtemali or Quauhtimali.
The book cited as "Meer oder Seehanen Buch" should be "Meerhanen
oder Seehanen der Königen von Hispanien", a chapter about (not by)
Columbus. The same correction applies to the entry for "Löw
(Conr.)"
The book cited as "Delaporte. Reisen Eines Franzosen oder
Beschreibung." has an incomplete title. The complete title is
"Reisen Eines Franzosen Oder Beschreibung Der Vornehmsten Reiche
In Der Welt."
The book cited as "Santarem (M. le Vicomte), Memoire sur la
question ..." has an incomplete title. The complete title is
"Memoire sur la question de savoir á quelle époque que L'Amérique
Meridionale a cessé d'être représentée dans les cartes
géographiques comme une île d'une grande étendue."
The punctuation in Footnote IX-8 was left as printed.
Italics in the footnote citations were inconsistently applied by the
typesetter.
Accents and other diacritics are inconsistently used.
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
This volume contains references to the previous five volumes
of this work.
They can be found at:
THE WORKS
OF
HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT.
VOLUME VI.
HISTORY OF CENTRAL AMERICA.
VOL. I. 1501-1530.
SAN FRANCISCO:
A. L. BANCROFT & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS.
1883.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1882, by
HUBERT H. BANCROFT,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
_All Rights Reserved._
PREFACE.
During the year 1875 I published under title of _The Native Races of
the Pacific States_ what purports to be an exhaustive research into
the character and customs of the aboriginal inhabitants of the western
portion of North America at the time they were first seen by their
subduers. The present work is a history of the same territory from the
coming of the Europeans.
The plan is extensive and can be here but briefly explained. The
territory covered embraces the whole of Central America and Mexico,
and all Anglo-American domains west of the Rocky Mountains. First given
is a glance at European society, particularly Spanish civilization at
about the close of the fifteenth century. This is followed by a summary
of maritime exploration from the fourth century to the year 1540, with
some notices of the earliest American books. Then, beginning with the
discoveries of Columbus, the men from Europe are closely followed as
one after another they find and take possession of the country in its
several parts, and the doings of their successors are chronicled. The
result is a HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC STATES OF NORTH AMERICA, under the
following general divisions:—_History of Central America_; _History of
Mexico_; _History of the North Mexican States_; _History of New Mexico
and Arizona_; _History of California_; _History of Nevada_; _History of
Utah_; _History of the Northwest Coast_; _History of Oregon_; _History
of Washington, Idaho, and Montana_; _History of British Columbia_, and
_History of Alaska_.
Broadly stated, my plan as to order of publication proceeds
geographically from south to north, as indicated in the list above
given, which for the most part is likewise the chronological order of
conquest and occupation. In respect of detail, to some extent I reverse
this order, proceeding from the more general to the more minute as I
advance northward. The difference, though considerable, is however less
in reality than in appearance. And the reason I hold sufficient. To
give to each of the Spanish-American provinces, and later to each of the
federal and independent states, covering as they do with dead monotony
centuries of unchanging action and ideas, time and space equal to that
which may be well employed in narrating north-western occupation and
empire-building would be no less impracticable than profitless. It is
my aim to present complete and accurate histories of all the countries
whose events I attempt to chronicle, but the annals of the several
Central American and Mexican provinces and states, both before and after
the Revolution, run in grooves too nearly parallel long to command the
attention of the general reader.
In all the territorial subdivisions, southern as well as northern, I
treat the beginnings and earliest development more exhaustively than
later events. After the Conquest, the histories of Central America
and Mexico are presented on a scale sufficiently comprehensive, but
national rather than local. The northern Mexican states, having had a
more varied experience, arising from nearer contact with progressional
events, receive somewhat more attention in regard to detail than other
parts of the republic. To the Pacific United States is devoted more
space comparatively than to southern regions, California being regarded
as the centre and culminating point of this historical field.
* * * * *
For the _History of Central America_, to which this must serve as
special as well as general introduction, I would say that, besides the
standard chroniclers and the many documents of late printed in Spain and
elsewhere, I have been able to secure a number of valuable manuscripts
nowhere else existing; some from the Maximilian, Ramirez, and other
collections, and all of Mr E. G. Squier's manuscripts relating to the
subject fell into my hands. Much of the material used by me in writing
of this very interesting part of the world has been drawn from obscure
sources, from local and unknown Spanish works, and from the somewhat
confused archives of Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Salvador, and
Guatemala.
Material for the history of western North America has greatly increased
of late. Ancient manuscripts of whose existence historians have never
known, or which were supposed to be forever lost, have been brought to
light and printed by patriotic men and intelligent governments. These
fragments supply many missing links in the chain of early events, and
illuminate a multitude of otherwise obscure parts.
My efforts in gathering material have been continued, and since the
publication of _The Native Races_ fifteen thousand volumes have been
added to my collection. Among these additions are bound volumes of
original documents, copies from public and private archives, and about
eight hundred manuscript dictations by men who played their part in
creating the history. Most of those who thus gave me their testimony
in person are now dead; and the narratives of their observations
and experiences, as they stand recorded in these manuscript volumes,
constitute no unimportant element in the foundation upon which the
structure of this western history in its several parts must forever
rest.
* * * * *
To the experienced writer, who might otherwise regard the completion
of so vast an undertaking within so apparently limited a period as
indicative of work superficially done, I would say that this History was
begun in 1869, six years before the publication of _The Native Races_;
and although the earlier volumes of the several divisions I was obliged
for the most part not only to plan and write, but to extract and arrange
my own material, later I was able to utilize the labors of others. Among
these as the most faithful and efficient I take pleasure in mentioning
Mr Henry L. Oak, Mr William Nemos, Mr Thomas Savage, Mrs Frances Fuller
Victor, and Mr Ivan Petroff, of whom, and of others, I speak at length
elsewhere.
Of my methods of working I need say but little here, since I describe
them more fully in another place. Their peculiarity, if they have
any, consists in the employment of assistants, as before mentioned,
to bring together by indices, references, and other devices, all
existing testimony on each topic to be treated. I thus obtain important
information, which otherwise, with but one lifetime at my disposal,
would have been beyond control. Completeness of evidence by no means
insures a wise decision from an incompetent judge; yet the wise judge
gladly avails himself of all attainable testimony. It has been my
purpose to give in every instance due credit to sources of information,
and cite freely such conclusions of other writers as differ from my
own. I am more and more convinced of the wisdom and necessity of such
a course, by which, moreover, I aim to impart a certain bibliographic
value to my work. The detail to be encompassed appeared absolutely
unlimited, and more than once I despaired of ever completing my task.
Preparatory investigation occupied tenfold more time than the writing.
* * * * *
I deem it proper to express briefly my idea of what history should be,
and to indicate the general line of thought that has guided me in this
task. From the mere chronicle of happenings, petty and momentous, to the
historico-philosophical essay, illustrated with here and there a fact
supporting the writer's theories, the range is wide. Neither extreme
meets the requirements of history, however accurate the one or brilliant
the other. Not to a million minute photographs do we look for practical
information respecting a mountain range, nor yet to an artistic painting
of some one striking feature for a correct description. From the two
extremes, equally to be avoided, the true historian will, whatever his
inclination, be impelled by prudence, judgment, and duty from theory
toward fact, from vivid coloring toward photographic exactness. Not
that there is too much brilliancy in current history, but too little
fact. An accurate record of events must form the foundation, and
largely the superstructure. Yet events pure and simple are by no means
more important than the institutionary development which they cause or
accompany. Men, institutions, industries, must be studied equally. A
man's character and influence no less than his actions demand attention.
Cause and effect are more essential than mere occurrence; achievements
of peace should take precedence of warlike conquest; the condition of
the people is a more profitable and interesting subject of investigation
than the acts of governors, the valor of generals, or the doctrines of
priests. The historian must classify, and digest, and teach as well as
record; he should not, however, confound his conclusions with the facts
on which they rest. Symmetry of plan and execution as well as rigid
condensation, always desirable, become an absolute necessity in a work
like that which I have undertaken. In respect to time and territory
my field is immense. The matter to be presented is an intricate
complication of annals, national and sectional, local and personal.
That my plan is in every respect the best possible, I do not say; but
it is the best that my judgment suggests after long deliberation. The
extent of this work is chargeable to the magnitude of the subject and
the immense mass of information gathered rather than to any tendency
to verbosity. There is scarcely a page but has been twice or thrice
rewritten with a view to condensation; and instead of faithfully
discharging this irksome duty, it would have been far easier and cheaper
to have sent a hundred volumes through the press. The plan once formed,
I sought to make the treatment exhaustive and symmetrical. Not all
regions nor all periods are portrayed on the same scale: but though
the camera of investigation is set up before each successive topic at
varying distances, the picture, large or small, is finished with equal
care. I may add that I have attached more than ordinary importance to
the matter of mechanical arrangement, by which through title-pages,
chapter-headings, and indices the reader may expeditiously refer to
any desired topic, and find all that the work contains about any event,
period, place, institution, man, or book; and above all I have aimed at
exactness.
* * * * *
We hear much of the philosophy of history, of the science and
signification of history; but there is only one way to write anything,
which is to tell the truth, plainly and concisely. As for the writer,
I will only say that while he should lay aside for the time his own
religion and patriotism, he should be always ready to recognize the
influence and weigh the value of the religion and patriotism of others.
The exact historian will lend himself neither to idolatry nor to
detraction, and will positively decline to act either as the champion
or assailant of any party or power. Friendships and enmities, loves
and hates, he will throw into the crucible of evidence to be refined
and cast into forms of unalloyed truth. He must be just and humble. To
clear judgment he must add strict integrity and catholicity of opinion.
Ever in mind should be the occult forces that move mankind, and the
laws by which are formulated belief, conscience, and character. The
actions of men are governed by proximate states of mind, and these are
generated both from antecedent states of mind and antecedent states of
body, influenced by social and natural environment. The right of every
generation should be determined, not by the ethics of any society, sect,
or age, but by the broad, inexorable teachings of nature; nor should
he forget that standards of morality are a freak of fashion, and that
from wrongs begotten of necessity in the womb of progress has been
brought forth right, and likewise right has engendered wrongs. He should
remember that in the worst men there is much that is good, and in the
best much that is bad; that constructed upon the present skeleton of
human nature a perfect man would be a monster; nor should he forget how
much the world owes its bad men. But alas! who of us are wholly free
from the effects of early training and later social atmospheres! Who of
us has not in some degree faith, hope, and charity! Who of us does not
hug some ancestral tradition, or rock some pet theory!
* * * * *
As to the relative importance of early history, here and elsewhere,
it is premature for any now living to judge. Beside the bloody battles
of antiquity, the sieges, crusades, and wild convulsions of unfolding
civilization, this transplanting of ours may seem tame. Yet the great
gathering of the enlightened from all nations upon these shores, the
subjugation of the wilderness with its wild humanity, and the new
empire-modelling that followed, may disclose as deep a significance in
the world's future as any display of army movements, or dainty morsels
of court scandal, or the idiosyncrasies of monarchs and ministers. It
need not be recited to possessors of our latter-day liberties that
the people are the state, and rulers the servants. It is historical
barbarism, of which the Homeric poems and Carlovingian tales not
alone are guilty, to throw the masses into the background, or wholly
to ignore them. "Heureux le peuple dont l'histoire ennuie," is an oft
repeated aphorism; as if deeds diabolical were the only actions worthy
of record. But we of this new western development are not disposed to
exalt brute battling overmuch; as for rulers and generals, we discover
in them the creatures, not the creators, of civilization. We would
rather see how nations originate, organize, and unfold; we would rather
examine the structure and operations of religions, society refinements
and tyrannies, class affinities and antagonisms, wealth economies, the
evolutions of arts and industries, intellectual and moral as well as
æsthetic culture, and all domestic phenomena with their homely joys and
cares. For these last named, even down to dress, or the lack of it, are
in part the man, and the man is the nation. With past history we may
become tolerably familiar; but present developments are so strange,
their anomalies are so startling to him who attempts to reduce them
to form, that he is well content to leave for the moment the grosser
extravagances of antiquity, howsoever much superior in interest they
may be to the average mind. Yet in the old and the new we may alike from
the abstract to the concrete note the genesis of history, and from the
concrete to the abstract regard the analysis of history. The historian
should be able to analyze and to generalize; yet his path leads not
alone through the enticing fields of speculation, nor is it his only
province to pluck the fruits and flowers of philosophy, or to blow brain
bubbles and weave theorems. He must plod along the rough highways of
time and development, and out of many entanglements bring the vital
facts of history. And therein lies the richest reward. "Shakspere's
capital discovery was this," says Edward Dowden, "that the facts of
the world are worthy to command our highest ardour, our most resolute
action, our most solemn awe; and that the more we penetrate into fact,
the more will our nature be quickened, enriched, and exalted."
* * * * *
That the success of this work should be proportionate to the labor
bestowed upon it is scarcely to be expected; but I do believe that in
due time it will be generally recognized as a work worth doing, and
let me dare to hope fairly well done. If I read life's lesson aright,
truth alone is omnipotent and immortal. Therefore, of all I wrongfully
offend I crave beforehand pardon; from those I rightfully offend I ask
no mercy; their censure is dearer to me than would be their praise.
CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
SPAIN AND CIVILIZATION AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH
CENTURY.
PAGE.
General View—Transition from the Old to the New
Civilization—Historical Sketch of Spain—Spanish
Character—Spanish Society—Prominent Features of the
Age—Domestic Matters—The New World—Comparative Civilizations
and Savagisms—Earliest Voyages of Discovery 1
CHAPTER II.
COLUMBUS AND HIS DISCOVERIES.
1492-1500.
Early Experiences—The Compact—Embarkation at Palos—The
Voyage—Discovery of Land—Unfavorable Comparison with
the Paradise of Marco Polo—Cruise among the Islands—One
Nature Everywhere—Desertion of Pinzon—Wreck of the
Santa María—The Fortress of La Navidad Erected—Return
to Spain—Rights of Civilization—The Papal Bull
of Partition—Fonseca Appointed Superintendent of
the Indies—Second Voyage—Navidad in Ruins—Isabela
Established—Discontent of the Colonists—Explorations of the
Interior—Coasting Cuba, and Discovery of Jamaica—Failure
of Columbus as Governor—Intercourse with Spain—Destruction
of the Indians—Government of the Indies—Diego and
Bartolomé Colon—Charges against the Admiral—Commission
of Inquiry Appointed—Second Return to Spain—Third
Voyage—Trinidad Discovered—Santo Domingo Founded—The
Roldan Rebellion—Francisco de Bobadilla Appointed to
Supersede Columbus—Arbitrary and Iniquitous Conduct of
Bobadilla—Columbus Sent in Chains to Spain 155
CHAPTER III.
DISCOVERY OF DARIEN.
1500-1502.
Rodrigo de Bastidas—Extension of New World Privileges—The
Royal Share—Juan de la Cosa—Ships of the Early
Discoverers—Coasting Darien—The Terrible Teredo—Wrecked
on Española—Spanish Money—Treatment of Bastidas by
Ovando—Accused, and Sent to Spain for Trial—He is Immediately
Acquitted—Future Career and Character of Bastidas—The Archives
of the Indies—The Several Collections of Public Documents
in Spain—The Labors of Muñoz and Navarrete—Bibliographical
Notices of the Printed Collections of Navarrete,
Ternaux-Compans, Salvá and Baranda, and Pacheco and Cárdenas 183
CHAPTER IV.
COLUMBUS ON THE COASTS OF HONDURAS, NICARAGUA, AND COSTA RICA.
1502-1506.
The Sovereigns Decline either to Restore to the Admiral his
Government, or to Capture for him the Holy Sepulchre—So he
Sails on a Fourth Voyage of Discovery—Fernando Colon and his
History—Ovando Denies the Expedition Entrance to Santo Domingo
Harbor—Columbus Sails Westward—Strikes the Shore of Honduras
near Guanaja Island—Early American Cartography—Columbus Coasts
Southward to the Darien Isthmus—Then Returns and Attempts
Settlement at Veragua—Driven thence, his Vessels are Wrecked
at Jamaica—There midst Starvation and Mutiny he Remains a
Year—Then he Reaches Española, and finally Spain, where he
shortly afterward Dies—Character of Columbus—His Biographers 202
CHAPTER V.
ADMINISTRATION OF THE INDIES.
1492-1526.
Columbus the Rightful Ruler—Juan Aguado—Francisco de
Bobadilla—Nicolás de Ovando—Santo Domingo the Capital of the
Indies—Extension of Organized Government to Adjacent Islands
and Mainland—Residencias—Gold Mining at Española—Race and
Caste in Government—Indian and Negro Slavery—Cruelty to the
Natives—Spanish Sentimentalism—Pacification, not Conquest—The
Spanish Monarchs always the Indian's Friends—Bad Treatment
due to Distance and Evil-minded Agents—Infamous Doings of
Ovando—Repartimientos and Encomiendas—The Sovereigns Intend
them as Protection to the Natives—Settlers Make them the
Means of Indian Enslavement—Las Casas Appears and Protests
against Inhumanities—The Defaulting Treasurer—Diego Colon
Supersedes Ovando as Governor—And Makes Matters Worse—The
Jeronimite Fathers Sent Out—Audiencias—A Sovereign Tribunal
is Established at Santo Domingo which Gradually Assumes all
the Functions of an Audiencia, and as such Finally Governs the
Indies—Las Casas in Spain—The Consejo de Indias, and Casa de
Contratacion—Legislation for the Indies 247
CHAPTER VI.
THE GOVERNMENTS OF NUEVA ANDALUCÍA AND CASTILLA DEL ORO.
1506-1510.
Tierra Firme Thrown Open to Colonization—Rival
Applications—Alonso de Ojeda Appointed Governor of Nueva
Andalucía, and Diego de Nicuesa of Castilla del Oro—Hostile
Attitudes of the Rivals at Santo Domingo—Ojeda Embarks for
Cartagena—Builds the Fortress of San Sebastian—Failure and
Death—Nicuesa Sails from Veragua—Parts Company with his
Fleet—His Vessel is Wrecked—Passes Veragua—Confined with his
Starving Crew on an Island—Succor—Failure at Veragua—Attempts
Settlement at Nombre de Dios—Loss of Ship Sent to Española
for Relief—Horrible Sufferings—Bibliographical Notices of Las
Casas, Oviedo, Peter Martyr, Gomara, and Herrera—Character of
the Early Chroniclers for Veracity 289
CHAPTER VII.
SETTLEMENT OF SANTA MARÍA DE LA ANTIGUA DEL DARIEN.
1510-1511.
Francisco Pizarro Abandons San Sebastian—Meets Enciso at
Cartagena—He and his Crew Look like Pirates—They are Taken
back to San Sebastian—Vasco Nuñez de Balboa—Boards Enciso's
Ship in a Cask—Arrives at San Sebastian—The Spaniards Cross
to Darien—The River and the Name—Cemaco, Cacique of Darien,
Defeated—Founding of the Metropolitan City—Presto, Change!
The Hombre del Casco Up, the Bachiller Down—Vasco Nuñez,
Alcalde—Nature of the Office—Regidor—Colmenares, in Search
of Nicuesa, Arrives at Antigua—He Finds Him in a Pitiable
Plight—Antigua Makes Overtures to Nicuesa—Then Rejects Him—And
Finally Drives Him Forth to Die—Sad End of Nicuesa 321
CHAPTER VIII.
FACTIONS AND FORAGINGS IN DARIEN.
1511-1513.
The Garrison at Nombre de Dios—Subtle Diplomacies—Vasco Nuñez
Assumes Command—Enciso, his Life and Writings—The Town and
the Jail—Rights of Sanctuary—Valdivia's Voyage—Zamudio's
Mission—Expedition to Coiba—Careta Gives Vasco Nuñez his
Daughter—Ponca Punished—Jura, the Savage Statesman—Visit of
the Spaniards to Comagre—Panciaco Tells Them of a Southern
Sea—The Story of Valdivia, Who is Shipwrecked and Eaten by
Cannibals—Vasco Nuñez Undertakes an Impious Pilgrimage to the
Golden Temple of Dabaiba—Conspiracy Formed by the Natives to
Destroy Antigua—Fulvia Divulges the Plot—Darien Quieted—Vasco
Nuñez Receives a Royal Commission—Serious Charges—Vasco Nuñez
Resolves to Discover the Southern Sea before He is Prevented
by Arrest 337
CHAPTER IX.
DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN.
1513.
Departure of Vasco Nuñez from Antigua—Careta's
Welcome—Difficulties to be Encountered—Treacherous Character
of the Country—Historical Bloodhounds—Ponca Reconciled—Capture
of Quarequá—First View of the Pacific from the Heights
of Quarequá—The Spaniards Descend to Chiapes—Take Formal
Possession of the South Sea—Form of Taking Possession—The
Names South Sea and Pacific Ocean—Further Discoveries—Perilous
Canoe Voyage—Gold and Pearls in Profusion—Tumaco
Pacified—The Pearl Islands—The Return—Teoca's Kindness—Ponca
Murdered—Pocorosa Pacified—Tubanamá Vanquished—Gold, Gold,
Gold—Panciaco's Congratulations—Arrival at Antigua 358
CHAPTER X.
PEDRARIAS DÁVILA ASSUMES THE GOVERNMENT OF DARIEN.
1514-1515.
How the Discovery of a South Sea was Regarded in
Spain—The Enemies of Vasco Nuñez at Court—Pedrarias Dávila
Appointed Governor—Departure from Spain and Arrival at
Antigua—Arbolancha in Spain—Pedrarias Persecutes Balboa—The
King's Requirement of the Indians—Juan de Ayora Sent to
Plant a Line of Fortresses between the Two Seas—Which Work He
Leaves for Wholesale Robbery—Bartolomé Hurtado Sent to Bring
in the Plunder—Disastrous Attempts to Violate the Sepulchres
of Cenú—Expedition of Tello de Guzman to the South Sea—The
Site of Panamá Discovered—The Golden Temple of Dabaiba Once
More—Gaspar de Morales and Francisco Pizarro Visit the South
Sea 386
CHAPTER XI.
DARIEN EXPEDITIONS UNDER PEDRARIAS.
1515-1517.
Gonzalo de Badajoz Visits the South Sea—What He Sees
at Nombre de Dios—His Dealings with Totonagua—And with
Tataracherubi—Arrives at Natá—The Spaniards Gather much
Gold—They Encounter the Redoubtable Paris—A Desperate
Fight—Badajoz Loses his Gold and Returns to Darien—Pedrarias
on the War-path—He Strikes Cenú a Blow of Revenge—Acla
Founded—The Governor Returns Ill to Antigua—Expedition
of Gaspar de Espinosa to the South Sea—The Licentiate's
Ass—Robbery by Law—Espinosa's Relation—A Bloody-handed
Priest—Espinosa at Natá—He Courts the Acquaintance of
Paris—Who Kills the Ambassadors—Hurtado Surveys the
Southern Seaboard to Nicoya—Panamá Founded—An Aboriginal
Tartarus—Return of Espinosa's Expedition 412
CHAPTER XII.
THE FATE OF VASCO NUÑEZ DE BALBOA.
1516-1517.
Affairs at Antigua—Different Qualities of
Pacification—Complaints of Vasco Nuñez to the King—A
New Expedition Planned—Vasco Nuñez Made Adelantado and
Captain-general of the South Sea—Pedrarias Keeps Secret the
Appointment—Reconciliation of Balboa and Pedrarias—Betrothal
of Doña María—Vasco Nuñez Goes to Acla—Massacre of Olano—The
Municipality of Acla Established—Materials for Ships
Carried across the Mountains—Difficulties, Perils, and
Mortality—Balboa at the Pearl Islands—Prediction of Micer
Codro, the Astrologer—Rumored Arrival of a New Governor at
Antigua—Meditated Evasion of New Authority—The Infamy of
Garabito—Vasco Nuñez Summoned by Pedrarias to Acla—His Journey
thither—Trial and Execution 432
CHAPTER XIII.
DECLINE OF SPANISH SETTLEMENT ON THE NORTH COAST.
1517-1523.
Dishonesty the Best Policy—Pedrarias Stigmatized—His Authority
Curtailed—Quevedo in Spain—He Encounters Las Casas—The
Battle of the Priests—Oviedo Enters the Arena—Business in
Darien—The Interoceanic Road Again—Its Termini—Pedrarias
and Espinosa at Panamá—The Licentiate Makes another Raid—The
Friars of St Jerome have their Eye on Pedrarias—The Cabildo
of Antigua Shakes its Finger at Him—Continued Attempts to
Depopulate the North Coast—Albites Builds Nombre de Dios—Lucky
Licentiate—Arrival and Death of Lope de Sosa—Oviedo Returns
and Does Battle with the Dragon—And is Beaten from the Field 460
CHAPTER XIV.
GIL GONZALEZ IN COSTA RICA AND NICARAGUA.
1519-1523.
Andrés Niño and his Spice Islands—Fails to Obtain Authority
to Discover—Applies to Gil Gonzalez Dávila—Agreement with
the King—Royal Order for the Ships of Vasco Nuñez—Pedrarias
Refuses to Deliver Them—Gil Gonzalez Transports Ships across
the Mountains—Embarks from the Pearl Islands—Gil Gonzalez
Proceeds by Land and Niño by Sea—Visit to Nicoya—And to
Nicaragua—The Captain-general Converts many Souls—And Gathers
much Gold—Fight with Diriangen—Nicaragua Apostatizes—The
Spaniards Terminate the Discovery and Hasten to their
Ships—Niño's Voyage to Fonseca Bay—Return to Panamá 478
CHAPTER XV.
SPANISH DEPREDATIONS ROUND PANAMÁ BAY.
1521-1526.
European Settlement on the West Coast of America—Progress of
Panamá—Laws Respecting Spanish Settlements in America—Final
Abandonment of Antigua—Administration of the South Sea
Government—Piracy upon Principle—Pascual de Andagoya Explores
Southward—Conquers Birú—Return to Panamá—Colonies of Veragua
and Chiriquí—The Chieftain Urracá Takes up his Abode in
the Mountains and Defies the Spaniards—Pizarro, Espinosa,
Pedrarias, and Compañon in vain Attempt his Overthrow—Building
of Natá—Compañon as Governor—Hurtado Colonizes
Chiriquí—Conspiracy—Capture and Escape of Urracá—Several Years
more of War 495
CHAPTER XVI.
THE WARS OF THE SPANIARDS.
1523-1524.
Oviedo in Spain—He Secures the Appointment of Pedro de los
Rios as Governor of Castilla del Oro—Pedrarias Determines
to Possess Nicaragua—He Sends thither Córdoba, who Founds
Brusélas, Granada, and Leon—And Carries a Ship across the
Land from the Pacific to Lake Nicaragua—He Makes a Survey of
the Lake—Informed of Spaniards Lurking thereabout—Development
of the Spanish Colonial System—Gil Gonzalez Escapes with
his Treasure to Española—Despatches Cereceda to Spain with
Intelligence of his Discovery—Sails from Santo Domingo to the
Coast of Honduras—Arrives at Puerto Caballos—Founds San Gil
de Buenavista—Encounters Hernando de Soto—Battle—Cristóbal de
Olid Appears—Founds Triunfo de la Cruz 511
CHAPTER XVII.
COLONIZATION IN HONDURAS.
1524-1525.
Cortés in Mexico—Extension of his Conquests—Fears
of Encroachments on the Part of Spaniards in Central
America—Cristóbal de Olid Sent to Honduras—Touching at
Habana, He is Won from Allegiance to Cortés—Triunfo de la
Cruz Founded—Olid as Traitor—Meeting with Gil Gonzalez—The
Wrath of Cortés—Casas Sent after Olid—Naval Engagement in
Triunfo Harbor—Casas Falls into the Hands of Olid, Who is
soon Captured by the Captive—Death of Olid—Return of Casas
to Mexico—Trujillo Founded—Interference of the Audiencia of
Santo Domingo 522
CHAPTER XVIII.
MARCH OF CORTÉS TO HONDURAS.
1524-1525.
Doubts concerning Casas—Cortés Tired of Inaction—Determines to
Go in Person to Honduras—Sets out with a Large Party—Arrives
at Goazacoalco—The Gay Army soon Comes to Grief—The Way
Barred by Large Rivers and Deep Morasses—Scarcity of
Provisions—Sufferings of the Soldiers—The Trick of the
Merchant-cacique—Killing of the Captive Kings—Apotheosis of
a Charger—Fears of Rebellious Spaniards Dissipated on Nearing
Nito 537
CHAPTER XIX.
CORTÉS IN HONDURAS.
1525-1526.
He is Master of all the Miseries there—Miasma and Deep
Distress—Exertions of Cortés in Behalf of the Colonists—A
Vessel Appears with Provisions—Cortés Sends out Foragers—He
Seeks a Better Locality—Sandoval at Naco—Others Settle at
Caballos—Cortés at Trujillo—Vessels Sent to Mexico, Cuba,
and Jamaica—Troubles in Mexico—Cortés Irresolute—Starts for
Mexico—Is Driven back by a Storm—Pacification of Adjacent
Pueblos—Cortés Sends Presents to Córdoba—Shall Cortés Make
himself Master of Nicaragua?—Arrival of Altamirano—Return of
Cortés to Mexico 566
CHAPTER XX.
PEDRARIAS REMOVES TO NICARAGUA.
1525-1527.
Córdoba Meditates Revolt—Soto and Compañon Object—Their
Flight—Pedrarias Nurses his Wrath—Secret Motives for his
Departure for Nicaragua—Córdoba Loses his Head—The Governor
Covets Honduras, and Comes to Blows—The Indians Follow
the Example—Bloody Scenes—Pedrarias Interrupted in his
Reverie—Pedro de los Rios Succeeds as Governor at Panamá—His
Instructions and Policy—Residencia of Pedrarias—Triumphant
Result 584
CHAPTER XXI.
RIVAL GOVERNORS IN HONDURAS AND NICARAGUA.
1526-1530.
Colonial Policy—Salcedo Displaces Saavedra in the
Government of Honduras—Saavedra's Escape—Pedrarias'
Envoys Trapped—Salcedo Invades Nicaragua—His Cruelty
and Extortion—Distress among the Colonists—Rios
also Presents Claims, but is Discomfited—Pedrarias
Follows Triumphant—Salcedo's Ignominious Fate—Estete's
Expedition—Slave-hunting Profits and Horrors—Gladiatorial
Punishment of Revolted Natives—Pedrarias' Schemes for
Aggrandizement—He Grasps at Salvador and Longs for Peru—Both
Elude Him—Further Mortification, and Death—Character of the
Conquerors 597
CHAPTER XXII.
MARCH OF ALVARADO TO GUATEMALA.
1522-1524.
Rumors in Mexico concerning the Country to the
South-eastward—Pacification in that Quarter—The Chiefs of
Tehuantepec and Tututepec—At the Gate of Guatemala—Summary
of Aboriginal History—Allegiance and Revolt—Preparing of an
Expedition—Delayed by the Troubles at Pánuco—A Second Army
Organized—The March—Subjugation of Soconusco—The Taking of
Zapotitlan 617
CHAPTER XXIII.
CONQUEST OF GUATEMALA BEGUN.
February-March, 1524.
Overtures of Kicab Tanub to the Lords of the Zutugils
and Cakchiquels—Death of the Quiché King—Tecum Umam his
Successor—Gathers a Great Army—Intrenches Himself at
Zacaha—Passage of Palahunoh by the Spaniards—A Skirmish—A
Bloody Engagement—Quezaltenango Established—The Army Advances
on Xelahuh—The City Deserted—Battle of Xelahuh—Tecum Umam
Slain—Forcible Proselyting 632
CHAPTER XXIV.
DOWNFALL OF THE QUICHÉ NATION.
April, 1524.
Utatlan, Capital of the Quichés—Its Magnificence—The Royal
Palace and Pyramidal Fortifications—Private Apartments and
Gardens—Plan to Entrap the Spaniards—A Feast Prepared—The
Enemy Invited—The Treachery Discovered—Masterly Retreat of
Alvarado—The Quiché King and Nobles Entrapped—They are Made
to Gather Gold—And are then Destroyed—Utatlan Burned and the
Country Devastated—Subjugation of the Quichés Complete 643
CHAPTER XXV.
THE CAKCHIQUELS AND ZUTUGILS MADE SUBJECTS OF SPAIN.
April-May, 1524.
March to the Cakchiquel Capital—With a Brilliant Retinue
King Sinacam Comes forth to Meet the Spaniards—Description
of Patinamit—Occupation of the Cakchiquel Capital—Expedition
against Tepepul, King of the Zutugils—The Cliff City of
Atitlan—A Warm Battle—Entry into the Stronghold—Reconciliation
and Return to Patinamit—Love Episode of Alvarado 652
CHAPTER XXVI.
EXPEDITION TO SALVADOR.
1524.
Campaign against Itzcuintlan—A Rough March—The Town
Surprised—Desperate Defence—Alvarado Determines to Explore
still farther South—Crossing the River Michatoyat—The
Spaniards Come to Atiquipac, Tacuylula, Taxisco,
Nancintlan, and Pazaco—The Towns Deserted—Poisoned
Stakes and Canine Sacrifice—Enter Salvador—Moquizalco and
Acatepec—Battles of Acajutla and Tacuxcalco—Blood-thirstiness
of this Conqueror—Entry into Cuzcatlan—Flight of the
Inhabitants—Return to Patinamit 663
CHAPTER XXVII.
REVOLT OF THE CAKCHIQUELS.
1524-1525.
Return of the Allies to Mexico—Founding of the City of
Santiago—The Cakchiquels Oppressed beyond Endurance—They
Flee from the City—Difficulty in again Reducing Them
to Subjection—Reinforcements from Mexico—Campaign
against Mixco—Capture of that Stronghold—Fight with the
Chignautecs—Superhuman Valor of a Cavalryman—Conquest of the
Zacatepec Valley—Expedition against the Mames—Defeat of Can
Ilocab—Entry into Huehuetenango—Siege of Zakuléu—Surrender of
Caibil Balam 678
AUTHORITIES QUOTED
IN THE
HISTORY OF CENTRAL AMERICA.
Aa (Pieter vander), Naaukeurige Versameling. Leyden, 1707. 30 vols.
Abaunza (Justo), El Senador Director Provisorio a sus Compatriotas.
Agosto 5 de 1851. [Leon, 1851.] folio.
Abbott (John S. C.), Christopher Columbus. New York, 1875.
Abbott (John S. C.), History of Hernando Cortez. New York, 1855.
Acosta (Joaquin), Compendio Histórico del Descubrimiento, etc., de
la Nueva Granada. Paris, 1848.
Acosta (Josef de), De Natvra novi orbis libri dvo. Salmanticæ,
1589.
Acosta (Josef de), De Procvranda Salvte indorvm. Salmanticæ, 1588.
Acosta (Josef de), Historia Natural y Moral de las Yndias. Sevilla,
1590. [Quoted as Hist. Ind.]
Acosta (Josef de), The Naturall and Morall Historie of the East
and West Indies. London, n.d. [1604]. [Quoted as Hist. Nat. Ind.]
Adams (C. B.), Catalogue of Panama Shells. New York, 1852.
Aguiar y Acuña (Rodrigo de), Svmarios de la Recopilacion general
de las Leyes de las Indias. Madrid, 1628.
Aguilar (Manuel), Memoria sobre el cultivo del Café. Guatemala,
1845.
Ahumada (Augustin de), Nicaragua, Dec. 24, 1755. MS.
Akademie der Wissenschaften, Sitzungsberichte, Abhandlungen.
Berlin, 1859 et seq.
Alaman (Lúcas), Disertaciones sobre la Historia de la República
Mejicana. Méjico, 1844-9. 3 vols.
Alaman (Lúcas), Historia de Méjico. Méjico, 1849-52. 5 vols.
Albolario y Periquillo. [San Salvador, 1852.] folio.
Albornoz, Carta al Emperador, 15 Dic. 1525. In Icazbalceta, Col.
Doc., tom. i.; Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xii.
Album Mexicano. Mexico, 1849 et seq.
Album Semanal, San Jose, 1856 et seq.
Alcanzada (Victoria), Discursos Pronunciados, Abril 29 de 1863.
Managua, 1864. folio.
Alcedo (Antonio de), Diccionario Geográfico Histórico. Madrid,
1786-9. 5 vols.
Alegre (Francisco Javier), Historia de la Compañia de Jesus en
Nueva España. Mexico, 1841. 3 vols.
Allen (Bird), Sketch of the Eastern Coast of Central America. In
Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., 1841. vol. xi.
Almagro, Informacion. In Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. xxvi.
Almy (John J.), Report on Chiriquí. [New York], 1859.
Altos Los, Manifiesto documentado que el Gobierno, etc. Guatemala,
1849. folio.
Alvarado (Gonzalo de), Memoria. MS.
Alvarado (Hernando de), and Joan de Padilla, Relacion del
descubrimiento del mar del sur. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc.,
tom. iii.
Alvarado (Pedro de), Asiento y Capitulacion, in Pacheco and
Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xvi.
Alvarado (Pedro de), Cartas Varias desde 1534 hasta 1541. MS.
folio.
Alvarado (Pedro de), Fundacion de Gracias á Dios, 1536. In Pacheco
and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xv.
Alvarado (Pedro de), Lettres de Pedro de Alvarado à Fernand Cortes.
In Ternaux-Compans, Voy., serie i., tom. x.
Alvarado (Pedro de), Real Cedula a Pedro de Alvarado, 16 Abril,
1538. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xiv.
Alvarado (Pedro de), Relacion hecha a Hernando Cortés, 28 de Julio,
1524. In Barcia, Historiadores Prim., tom. i.
Alvares (Pedro), Navigation. 1520. In Ramusio, Viaggi, tom. i.
Alzate y Ramirez (José Antonio), Gacetas de Literatura de Mexico.
Mexico, 1790-4. 3 vols.; and Puebla, 1831. 4 vols.
Amador de los Rios (José), Vida y Escritos de Oviedo. In Oviedo,
tom. i.
America, Descripcion de la America meridional y Septentrional.
(Madrid, 1809.) MS. folio.
America, Disertacion sobre varias cuestiones interesantes
pertenecientes à los negocios de America. Madrid, 1821.
America ó examen general de la situacion politica. Northampton,
1828.
America: or a General Survey of the Political Situation.
Philadelphia.
America: or an exact description of the West-Indies. London, 1655.
America Settentrionale e meridionale. Torino, 1836.
America, The Progress and Prospects. New York (1855).
America Central, Gaceta Oficial. Managua, 1849 et seq.
America Central, Reclamacion de la Intervencion de Alej. Macdonald.
Leon, [1842.]
American Almanac. Boston, 1830 et seq.
American Annual Register. New York, etc., 1825 et seq.
American Antiquarian Society, Proceedings. Worcester, 1820 et seq.
American Geographical Society, Bulletin. New York, 1874 et seq.
American Notes and Queries. Philadelphia, 1857 et seq.
American Philosophical Society. Philadelphia, 1819 et seq.
American Quarterly Register and Magazine. Philadelphia, 1848 et
seq.
American Quarterly Review. Philadelphia, 1827 et seq.
American Register. Philadelphia, 1807 et seq.
American Review. Philadelphia, 1811 et seq.
American State Papers. Boston, 1817 et seq.
American and Foreign Christian Union. New York, 1850 et seq.
Amérique Centrale, Colonisation du District de Santo-Thomas,
Guatemala. Paris, 1844.
Amoretti (Charles), Primo Viaggio intorno al Globo ... fatta dal
Antonio Pigafetta. Milano, 1800.
Andagoya (Pascual de), Carta al Rey, 22 Oct., 1534.
Andagoya (Pascual de), Narrative of the Proceedings of Pedrarias
Dávila. London, 1865.
Andagoya (Pascual de), Relacion de los sucesos de Pedrárias Dávila.
In Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii.
Anderson (Adam), Historical and Chronological deduction of the
origin of Commerce. London, 1801. folio. 4 vols.
Anderson (Young), Eastern Coast of Central America, Report 1839.
London, 1839.
Andrews (W. S.), Illustrations of West Indies. London, n.d. folio.
Andrino (J. E.), Remitido á la Gaceta de Salvador 20 Julio, 1853.
San Salvador, 1853. folio.
Annales des Voyages. Paris, 1809-14. 24 vols.
Annals of British Legislation. London, 1856 et seq. 4to.
Annals of Congress. (1st to 18th Congress.) Washington, 1834-56.
42 vols.
Annual Register. London, 1758-1807. 47 vols.
Anson (George), A Voyage round the World. London, 1756.
Antonelli (Juan Bautista), Instruccion hecha por el Ingeniero para
San Juan de Ulúa. 15 Mar., 1590. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc.,
tom. xiii.
Antunez y Acevedo (Rafael), Memorias Históricas. Madrid, 1797.
Apiano (Pedro), Cosmographia corregida y añadida por Gemma Frisio.
Anvers, 1575.
Apianus (Petrus), Cosmographicus Liber, Landshutæ, 1524.
Apianus (Petrus), Introductio geographica Petri Apiani,
Ingolstadii, 1533.
Appleton's Handbook of American Travel. New York, 1867.
Appleton's Illustrated Handbook of American Travel. New York, 1857.
Aragon (Antonino), La Victoria de Coatepeque. San Salvador, 1863.
Arana (Thomas Ignacio), Relacion de los estragos, y rvynas de
Guathemala. Guathemala, 1717. folio.
Arancel de los derechos, que se han de llevar en las dos
Secretarias. Madrid, 1749.
Arancel de 1720. In Reales Ordenes, tom. iii.
Archenholtz (J. M. von), History of the Pirates, etc., of America.
London, 1807.
Arellano (Jose N.), Oracion funebre, 26 Oct., 1846. Guatemala,
1846.
Arévalo (Faustino), Laudatio funebris eminentissimi Francisci
Antonii de Lorenzana. Romæ [1804]. folio.
Arévalo (Rafael de), Coleccion de Documentos Antiguos del Archivo
de Guatemala. Guatemala, 1857.
Arévalo (Rafael de), Libro de Actas del Ayuntamiento de Guatemala.
Guatemala, 1856.
Ariza (Andrés), Comentos de la Rica y Fertilisima Provincia de el
Darien. 1774. MS. 4to.
Armin (Th.), Das Alte Mexiko. Leipzig, 1865.
Arosemena (Justo), Examen sobre la Franca comunicacion, Istmo de
Panama. Bogotá, 1846.
Arrangoiz (Francisco de Paula de), Mejico desde 1808 hasta 1867.
Madrid, 1871-2. 4 vols.
Arricivita (J. D.), Crónica Seráfica y Apostolica. Madrid, 1792.
folio.
Arrillaga (Basilio D.), Informe que dieron los Cónsules. Mexico,
1818. 4to.
Arriola (D. J. de), Ilegitimidad de la Administracion Barrios.
[Leon, 1862.]
Artieda, Pacificacion de Costa Rica. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col.
Doc., tom. xv.
Asher (G. M.), Life of Henry Hudson. London, 1860.
Astaburuaga (Francisco S.), Repúblicas de Centro-America. Santiago,
1857.
Atitlan, Requête de plusieurs chefs. In Ternaux-Compans, série i.,
tom. x.
Atlantic Monthly. Boston, 1858 et seq.
Audiencia de Santo Domingo, Cartas. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col.
Doc., tom. i.
Auger (Edward), Voyage en Californie. Paris, 1854.
Aurrecoecha (José Maria de), Historia sucinta é imparcial de la
marcha que ha seguido en sus convulsiones políticas la América
Española, etc. Madrid, 1846. 4to.
Avery (William T.), Speech in U. S. House of Rep., Jan. 24, 1859.
Washington, 1859.
Avezac (Martin), Hylacomylus. Paris, 1867.
Avezac (Martin), In Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, tom. cv.; tom.
cvi.; tom. cviii.; tom. cx.; also Soc. Geog., Bulletin, tom. xiv.
Avila y Lugo, Descripcion de las Yslas Guanajas, 1639.
Ayetta, Informe, in Provincia del Santo Evangelio. 8 Mar., 1594.
Ayon (Tomas), Apuntes sobre algunos de los acontecimientos.
Nicaragua, etc., 1811 et seq.
Ayon (Tomas), Consideraciones sobre la cuestion de Limites
Territoriales. Managua, 1872.
Ayon (Tomas), Speech, Feb. 1, 1862. San Salvador, 1862.
Bagatela (La), Agosto 19, 1851 et seq. [Granada.]
Baily (John), Central America; describing Guatemala, Honduras,
Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. London, 1850.
Balboa (Vasco Nuñez de), Cartas. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col.
Doc., tom. ii.; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii.
Balboa (Vasco Nuñez de), Los Navíos.
Bancroft (George), History of the United States. Boston, 1870, et
seq.
Bancroft (Hubert Howe), Native Races of the Pacific States. New
York, 1875. 5 vols.
Banks (James), On the Cotton of Honduras and Yucatan, n.pl., n.d.
Barcia (Andrés Gonzalez de), Historiadores Primitivos de las Indias
Occidentales. Madrid, 1749. folio. 3 vols.
Bard (Samuel A.), Waikna; or, Adventures on the Mosquito Shore.
[By E. G. Squier.] New York, 1855.
Barrionuevo, Informacion hecha en Panamá al navío Concepcion. 7
Abril, 1534. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. x.
Barrios (Gerardo), A los pueblos del Salvador, Segundo manifiesto.
San Salvador, 1863.
Barrios (Gerardo), Discurso ante el Cuerpo Legislativo del
Salvador, Febrero 1, 1860. San Salvador, [1860.]
Barrios (Gerardo), El porqué de la caida de Barrios. San Salvador,
1863.
Barrios (Gerardo), Manifesto of. Nueva York, 1864.
Barrios (Gerardo), Presidente Legitimo de la Republica del
Salvador. Panama, 1863.
Barrios (Gerardo), Relaciones con el Gobierno de Nicaragua.
Managua, 1860.
Barrios (José Rufino), General en Gefe, á los Pueblos del Salvador,
Mayo 8, 1876. San Salvador, 1876.
Barrow (John), The Life, Voyages, and Exploits of Admiral Sir
Francis Drake. London, 1843.
Barrundia (José), Discurso Pronunciado, Setiembre 15, 1850. San
Salvador, [1850.]
Bastidas (Rodrigo de), Asiento que hizo con sus Majestades
Católicas, 5 Junio, 1500. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom.
ii.
Bastidas (Rodrigo de), Informacion de los Servicios. In Pacheco
and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. ii.
Bastide (M. de), Mémoire sur un Nouveau Passage. Paris, 1791.
Bates (H. W.), Central America, The West Indies, and South America.
London, 1878.
Batres (Manuel de), Relacion de las fiestas reales. Guatemala,
1761.
Baxley (Willis), What I saw on the West Coast of South and North
America. New York, 1865.
Bay Islands, Copy of Queen's warrant for erecting into a British
Colony, etc. London, 1856. folio.
Bayle (Pierre), Dictionnaire Historique et Critique. Rotterdam,
1720. folio. 4 vols.
Beaumont, Pablo de la Purísima Concepcion, Crónica de la Provincia
de S. Pedro y S. Pablo de Mechoacan, MS.; also Mexico, 1873-4. 5
vols.
Beccatini (Francisco), Vida de Carlos III. Madrid, 1790.
Beechey (F. W.), Address at the Anniversary Meeting of the Royal
Geographical Society, 26th May, 1856. London, 1856.
Beechey (F. W.), Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific, 1825-8.
London, 1831. 2 vols.
Behaim (Martin), Globe—Humboldt's Essay on the Oldest Maps. MS.
folio.
Bejarano (Félix Francisco), Informe hecho por el Gobernador de
Veragua. 1775. MS.
Belcher (Edward), Narrative of a Voyage round the World, 1836-42.
London, 1843. 2 vols.
Belize, Copy of a letter, Nov., 1836, to S. Coxe, defining
boundary. London, 1856.
Belize, Packet Intelligencer. Belize, 1854 et seq.
Belknap (Jeremy), American Biography. Boston, 1794.
Bell (Chas N.), Remarks on the Mosquito Territory. In Lond. Geog.
Soc. Jour., vol. xxxii.
Bell (James), A System of Geography. Glasgow, 1836. 6 vols.
Bell (John), Speech in Senate of the U. S., February 26, 1856.
Washington, 1856.
Belly (Félix), À Travers L'Amérique Centrale. Paris, 1867. 2 vols.;
also Paris, 1870. 2 vols.
Belly (Félix), Carte d'Etude pour le tracé et le profil du Canal
de Nicaragua. Paris, 1858.
Belly (Félix), Durchbruch des Amerikanischen Continents. Paris,
1859.
Belly (Félix), Le Nicaragua. Paris, 1870. 2 vols.
Belly (Félix), Protesta del Señor Don Félix Belly. Leon, 1869.
Belot (Gustave), La Vérité sur le Honduras. Paris, n.d.
Benton (Joseph A.), Speech in U. S. Senate, March, 1826. Washington
City, 1826.
Benton (Thomas H.), Abridgment of Debates in Congress, 1759-1856.
New York, 1857-63. 16 vols.
Benton (Thomas H.), Thirty Years' View U. S. Senate. New York,
1854. 2 vols.
Benzoni (Girolamo), History of the New World. (Hakl. Soc. ed.)
London, 1857.
Benzoni (Girolamo), La Historia del Mondo Nuovo. Venetia, 1572.
Berendt (C. H.), Report of Explorations in Central America. In
Smithsonian Report, 1867.
Berendt (Hermann), Analytical Alphabet for Mexican and Central
American Languages. New York, 1869.
Berenger, Collection de tous les Voyages faits autour du Monde.
Paris, 1788-9. 9 vols.
Bergaño y Villegas (Simon), La Vacuna. Canto dirigido á los
Jóvenes. Nueva Guatemala, 1808.
Bergaño y Villegas (Simon), La Vacuna y Económica Política. Nueva
Guatemala, 1808.
Bergomas (Jacobo Philippo), Nouissime historiarũ omniũ. Venetiis,
1503.
Bergomas (Jacobo Philippo), Supplementi Chronicarum ab ispo mundi
exordio. [Venet., 1513.]
Berlanga, Pesquisa, Sobre conducta de Pizarro, 1535. In Pacheco
and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. x.
Bernal Diaz. See Diaz del Castillo (Bernal).
Betagh (William), A Voyage round the World. London, 1757.
Beulloch, Le Mexique en 1823. London, 1824. 2 vols.
Biblioteca Americana. London, 1789.
Biblioteca Mexicana Popular y Economica, Tratados. Mexico, 1851-3.
3 vols.
Biddle, Memoir of Sebastian Cabot. London, 1831.
Bidwell (Chas. Toll.), The Isthmus of Panamá. London, 1865.
Bigland (John), A Geographical and Historical View of the World.
London, 1810. 5 vols.
Bilboa (Francisco), Iniciativa de la America. Paris, 1856.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. Edinburgh, 1817 et seq.
Blagdon (Francis Wm.), The Modern Geographer. London, n.d. 5 vols.
Blasquez, Opinion. In Chiapas, Documentos Originales. MS.
Blewfields, Documentos Interesantes sobre el Atentado. San Salvador
[1848].
Blomfield (E.), A General View of the World. Bungay, 1807. 4to. 2
vols.
Boddam Whetham (J. W.), Across Central America. London, 1877.
Bogotá, Gaceta de la Nueva Granada. Bogotá, 1843 et seq.
Bogotá, Gaceta Oficial. Bogotá, 1848 et seq.
Boletin de Noticias. San Salvador, 1851 et seq.
Boletin del Ejercito. Santa Ana, 1851 et seq.
Bonnycastle (R. H.), Spanish America. London, 1818. 2 vols.
Borbon (Luis de), Ciudadanos. Mexico, 1820.
Bordone (Benedetto), Libro di Benedetto Bordone nel qual si ragiona
de tutte l'Isole del mondo. Vinegia, 1528.
Borthwick (J. D.), Three Years in California. Edinburgh, 1857.
Borthwick (J. D.), In Hutchings' California Magazine, vol. ii.
Boss (V. D.), Leben und Tapffere Thaten der See Helden. Nürnberg,
1681.
Bossi, Vita di Colombo. Milan, 1818.
Bourgoanne, Travels in Spain. In Pinkerton's Col. Voy., tom. v.
Boyle (Frederick), A Ride across a Continent. London, 1868. 2 vols.
Brasseur de Bourbourg, Bibliothèque Mexico-Guatémalienne. Paris,
1871.
Brasseur de Bourbourg, Histoire des Nations civilisées du Mexique
et de l'Amérique Centrale. Paris, 1857-9. 4 vols.
Brasseur de Bourbourg, Lettres pour servir d'Introduction
à l'Histoire primitive des Nations Civilisées de l'Amérique
Septentrionale. Mexico, 1851. 4to.
Brasseur de Bourbourg, Manuscrit Troano. Etudes sur le système
graphique et la langue des Mayas. Paris, 1869-70. 4to. 2 vols.
(Mission Scientifique, Linguistique.)
Brasseur de Bourbourg, Notes d'un Voyage dans L'Amérique Centrale.
n.pl., n.d.
Brasseur de Bourbourg, Recherches sur les Ruines de Palenqué. Avec
les Dessins de M. de Waldeck. Paris, 1866. folio. 1 vol. text; and
1 vol. plates.
British Railway. Remarks on, from Atlantic to Pacific from Gulf of
Honduras. London, 1849.
British Sailor's Discovery, or the Spanish Pretensions refuted.
London, 1739.
Brouez (M. P.), Une Colonie Belge dans L'Amérique Centrale. Mons,
1846.
Brown (A. G.), Speech in U. S. Senate, March 12-13, 1856. n.pl.,
n.d.
Bryant, What I saw in California. New York, 1849.
Bryant (William Cullen), History of the United States. N. Y.
1876-81. 4 vols.
Buccaneers of America. See Esquemelin.
Buitrago (P.), Carta, Agosto 26 de 1851. MS. folio.
Bülow (A. von), Der Freistaat Nicaragua. Berlin, 1849.
Burgoa (Francisco de), Geografica Descripcion de la Parte
Septentrional, del Polo Artico de la America (Oaxaca). Mexico,
1674. 4to. 2 vols.
Burke (Edmund), An Account of European Settlements in America.
London, 1808, 4to; also editions London, 1760, 2 vols.; London,
1770, 2 vols.
Burney (James), A Chronological History of the Discoveries in the
South Sea. London, 1803-16. 4to. 4 vols.
Burton (R.), The English Heroe: or, Sir Francis Drake revived.
London, 1687; also edition London, 1710.
Burwell (William M.), Memoir Explanatory of the Transunion and
Tehuantepec Route. Washington, 1851.
Bury (Viscount), Exodus of the Western Nations. London, 1865. 2
vols.
Buschmann (Johann Carl Ed.), Über die Aztekischen Ortsnamen.
Berlin, [1853.] 4to.
Bussière (Th. de), L'Empire Mexicain. Paris, 1863.
Bustamante (Cárlos María de), Apuntes para la Historia del Gobierno
del General Santa-Anna. Mexico, 1845.
Bustamante (Cárlos María de), Cuadro Historico de la Revolucion
Mexicana. Mexico, 1823-7. 5 vols.; also Mexico, 1832-46. 6 vols.
Bustamante (Cárlos María de), Diario de lo especialmente occurrido
en Mexico, Sept. de 1841 à Junio de 1843. Mexico, 1841-3. MS. 4to.
4 vols.
Bustamante (Cárlos María de), Historia del Emperador D. Agustin de
Iturbide (Continuacion del Cuadro Historia). Mexico, 1846.
Bustamante (Cárlos María de), Materiales para la Continuacion del
Cuadro Historico. Mexico, 1833-9. MS.
Bustamante (Cárlos María de), Medidas para la Pacification de la
America Mexicana. MS. 1820.
Bustamante (Cárlos María de), Memorandum, ó sea Apuntes de lo
principalmente occurrido en Mexico. Mexico, 1844-7. MS.
Bustamante (Cárlos María de), Resistencia de la Córte de España.
México, 1833.
Bustamante (Cárlos María de), Voz de la Patria. Mexico, 1828-31.
3 vols.
Bustelli-Foscolo (Comte), La Fusion Républicaine du Honduras et du
Salvador en un seul état. Paris, 1871.
Butler (J. D.), The Naming of America. Madison, 1874.
Byam (George), Wanderings in some of the Western Republics of
America. London, 1850.
Byam (George), Wild Life in the Interior of Central America.
London, 1849.
Cabañas (T.), El Presidente, Marzo 2, 1852. [Comayagua, 1852.]
Cabañas (Trinidad), Soldado de la Patria, Agosto 27 de 1853. Santa
Rosa, 1853. folio.
Cabañas y la Paz, Proclamacion de los Democratas. Deciembre 2 de
1851. San Salvador, 1851.
Cabeza de Vaca (Alvar Nuñez), Relation. Translated from the Spanish
by Buckingham Smith. New York, 1871. 4to.
Cabildo de Guatemala. Informe al actual Prelado. Guatemala, 1827.
Cabot, Navigatione di Sebastiano Cabota. In Ramusio, Viaggi, tom.
ii.
Cabrera Bueno (Joseph Gonzalez), Navegacion Especvlativa, y
Practica. Manila, 1734. folio.
Cabrera (Paul Felix), Beschreibung einer alten Stadt in Guatimala.
Berlin, 1832.
Cadamosto (Alvise), La Prima Nauigatione, etc. Vicenza, 1507; also
in Ramusio, Viaggi, tom. i.
Cadamosto (Alvise), La Seconda Navigatione. In Ramusio, Viaggi,
tom. i.
Cadena (Felipe), Breve Descripcion de la noble ciudad de Santiago.
Guatemala, 1858.
Cadena (Fr. Cárlos), Descripcion de las reales exequias que á la
tierna memoria de nuestro augusto y católica monarca el Sr. D.
Cárlos III. Guatemala, 1789. 4to.
Caicedo (J. M. Torres), Union Latina. Paris, 1865. 4to.
Caldas (Sebastian Alvarez Alfonso Rosica), Carta sobre la conqvista
de las Provincias del Lacandon. Goatemala, 1667. folio.
Calendario Manual y Guia de Forasteros. Mexico, 1811 et seq.
Calle (Juan Diez de la), Memorial, y Noticias Sacras, y Reales del
Imperio de las Indias Occidentales. n.pl., 1646.
Calle (Juan Diez de la), Recopilacion. n.pl., 1646.
California Newspapers. (Cited by name and date.)
Calvo (Charles), Annales Historiques de la révolution de l'Amérique
latine. Paris, etc., 1864-67. 5 vols.
Calvo (Charles), Recueil Complet des Traités. Paris, 1862-7. 16
vols.
Calvo (Joaquin Bernardo), Memoria presentada por el Ministro de
Relaciones. San José, 1852, 1854.
Camp (David W.), The American Year-Book. Hartford, 1869 et seq.
Campaño (Estanislao), Oracion Funebre en los Funerales del General Jose
Maria Cañas. San Salvador, 1860.
Campbell, A Concise History of Spanish America. London, 1741.
Campe, Historia del Descubrimiento y Conquista de America. Madrid,
1803. 3 vols; also Mexico, 1854. Madrid, 1845.
Campo (Rafael), Contestacion a la segunda replica impresa en San
Salvador en la imprenta Nacional. Leon, 1873.
Campo (Rafael), Contestacion á la Primera replica á los libelistas
del Salvador en Nicaragua. San Salvador, 1871.
Canal or Railroad between the Atlantic and Pacific. Report of
February 20, 1849. Washington, 1849.
Cancelada (Juan Lopez), Ruina de la Nueva España. Cadiz, 1811. 4to.
Cancelada (Juan Lopez), Telégrafo Mexicano. Cadiz, 1814 et seq.
Cancellieri (Francisco), Dissertazioni sopra Cristoforo Colombo.
Roma, 1809.
Cancellieri (Francisco), Notizie storiche e Bibliografiche di
Christoforo Colombo. Roma, n.d.
Candé (de Moussion), Notice sur le Golfe de Honduras. Paris, 1850.
Capron (E. S.), History of California. Boston, 1854.
Carazo (Manuel José), Informe del Ministro de Hacienda, 1852. San
Jose, 1852. 4to.
Carbo (Pedro), Question entre L'Angleterre et les Etats-Unis.
Paris, 1856.
Cardona, Memorial sobre descubrimientos en California. In Pacheco
and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. ix.
Carmichael (John), Letter on the Destruction of Greytown.
Liverpool, 1856.
Carranza (Domingo Gonzalez), A Geographical Description of ...
the West Indies. London, 1740.
Carrasco, Carta, Nicaragua, sobre reformas. In Pacheco and
Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. v.
Carrera (Rafael), A Los Jefes, Oct. 30, 1863. San Salvador, 1863.
Carrera (Rafael), Manifiesto, Junio 22, 1854. [Guatemala, 1854.]
Carrera (Rafael), Origen y Nacimiento. Guatemala, 1844. MS.
Carrera and Morazan, Coleccion de Noticias de Centro America.
Guatemala, 1846.
Carreri (Gemelli), Viaggio, etc.
Carreri (Gemelli), Voyage de. In Berenger, Col. Voy., tom. ii.
Carriedo (Juan B.), Estudios Históricos y Estadisticos. Oaxaca,
1850. 2 vols.
Carta de la Reina, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii.
Cartas de Indias. Madrid, 1877. folio.
Cartier, Prima Relatione di Iacqves Carthier. In Ramusio, Viaggi,
tom. iii.
Caruette (La Pere), Lettres Inédites sur la Nouvelle Granada. In
Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, tom. cxlv.
Casaus y Torres (Ramon), Relacion de las exequias que se hicieron
en la Santa Iglesia Catedral. Guatemala, 1846.
Cash (T. M.), The Panama Fever. In Overland Monthly, vol. i.
Casorla (J. R.), Cultivo del Café. Panamá, 1878.
Cass (Lewis), Speech in U. S. Senate, Jan. 28, 1856. Washington,
1856. 8o. 16 pp.
Cass (Lewis), Speech on the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, January 11,
1854. Washington, 1854.
Castañeda, Informe. In Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. xxvi.
Castellanos (Juan de), Elegías de Varones ilustres de Indias.
Madrid, 1857.
Castellon (Francisco), A los Pueblos de Centro-America. Agosto 23,
1851. [Comayagua, 1851.]
Castellon (Francisco), Al Publico, Deciembre 8, 1853. [Leon, 1853.]
Castellon (Francisco), Al Publico, Febrero 10, 1854. San Salvador,
1854.
Castellon (Francisco), Calumnia Atroz. Leon, 1851.
Castellon (Francisco), Discurso Pronunciado, Junio 11 de 1854.
n.pl., 1854.
Castellon (Francisco), Documentos relativos á la Cuestion de
Mosquitos. San Salvador, 1852.
Castellon (Francisco), Documentos Relativos á la Legacion de
Nicaragua y Honduras. Granada, 1851. folio.
Castillo, Carta sobre la pacificacion de Tierra Firme. Julio 1,
1527. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xii.
Castle (William), A Short Discovery of Coast and Continent of
America. In Voyages, Col. (Churchill), vol. viii.
Castro Diario. In Doc. Hist. Mex., 1st series, toms. iv., v., vi.
Cava, Testimonio del Estado de Despoblacion de Honduras, 1536. In
Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xiv.
Cavanilles (Antonio), Historia de España. Madrid, 1860-3. 5 vols.
Cavo (Andres), Los Tres Siglos de Mexico. Mexico, 1836-8. 3 vols.
Cedulario. A Collection mostly MSS. folio. 3 vols.
Celis, Camino de Honduras á Guatemala, 1539. In Pacheco and
Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xiv.
Central America, American Anxieties, n.pl., n.d.
Central America, Article, n.pl., n.d.
Central America, British Aggression in. n.pl., n.d.
Central America, British Colony. (32d Cong., 2d. Sess., Senate
Report 407.) Washington, 1853.
Central America, Clayton and Bulwer Convention-Correspondence.
London, 1856.
Central America, Coasts. [Candé, Notice sur le Golfe.] n.pl., n.d.
Central America, Correspondence of the Department of State,
Accompanying Message of the President of the U. S., December, 1855.
Central America, Correspondence with the late Mr Wallerstein.
London, 1856. folio.
Central America, Correspondence with the United States Respecting.
London, 1856. folio.
Central America, Disputes with America, n.pl., n.d.
Central America, Further Correspondence with the United States.
London, 1856. folio.
Central America, Great Britain and the United States, n.pl., n.d.
Central America, Messages of the President of the United States.
Jan., 1853, Dec., 1853, May, 1856.
Central America, Miscellaneous Documents on Politics, n.pl., n.d.
folio.
Central America, Mosquito King and British Queen, n.pl., n.d.
Central America, Mr Crampton and the American Question, n.pl., n.d.
Central America, Pamphlets. 9 vols.
Central America, Question in United Service Magazine, April, 1856.
Central America, Recent Travels in. In Blackwood's Magazine, 1858.
Central America, Report of Committee on Foreign Relations. (32d
Cong., 2d Sess., Report of Committee 407.)
Central America, Reviews, n.pl., n.d.
Central America, Ruined Cities of. n.pl., n.d.
Central America, Tarifa de Aforos para la Exaccion de Derechos.
n.pl., 1837.
Central America, Unexplored Regions of. New York, 1868.
Central America in Congress. 1858. A Collection.
Central American Affairs, 1856. A Collection.
Central American Affairs, Documents relative to. Washington, 1856.
Central American Constitutions.
Central American Notes. Scrap Book.
Central American Question. Correspondence concerning the
Arbitration. [Washington, 1856.]
Central American Commercial and Agricultural Company. Brief
Statement. London, 1839.
Centro America, A los Honorables Representantes del Congreso.
[Comayagua], Nov. 6, 1852. folio.
Centro America, A los Pueblos. [Various dates, 1851-2.]
Centro America, Consideraciones establecer Gno. jeneral. Setiembre
13, 1852. [Tegucigalpa, 1852.] folio.
Centro America, Convencion Provisional de los Estados. Guatemala,
1839.
Centro America, Correspondencia respecto á la Isla del Tigre. [San
Jose, 1849.] folio.
Centro America, Escrito que Demuestra Conviene Establecer un
Gobierno Nacional, Noviembre 10, 1845. San Salvador, 1845.
Centro America, Estatuto Provisorio de la Republica, 13 Octubre,
1852. Tegucigalpa, 1852.
Centro America, Extractos Sueltos de varios libros de la Coleccion
de Muñoz. MS. 1545-55. folio.
Centro America, Ley Orgánica de la Hacienda Federal de la
Republica. San Salvador, 1837.
Centro America, Ministerio de Hacienda, Febrero 27, 1837. MS.
folio.
Centro America, Ministerio de Relaciones, Agosto 22, 1836. MS.
folio.
Centro America, Necesidad Urjente de la Reorganizacion. Paris,
1848.
Centro America, Otras reflexiones sobre reforma politica.
Philadelphia, 1833.
Centro America, Para Conocimiento de los Estados Confederados,
Enero 26, 1852. [Comayagua, 1852.] folio.
Centro America, Para conocimiento de los pueblos, Febrero 20, 1853.
[Tegucigalpa, 1853.] folio.
Centro America, Por Disposicion del Gobierno Jeneral, Julio 31,
1851. [Leon], 1851.
Centro America, Proposicion (A la Asamblea Nacional, Octubre,
1852). Tegucigalpa, 1852.
Centro America, Proposicion que el Sr. Representante por el
Salvador Don J. Barrundia. [Leon, 1851.]
Centro America, Provisorio de la Republica, Noviembre 20, 1852.
[Comayagua, 1853.] folio.
Centro America, Pueblos Todos de Centro America, Marzo 2, 1853.
Tegucigalpa, 1853. folio.
Centro America, Reflecciones Dedicadas á las Lejislaturas de los
Estados. Enero 1, 1853. San Vicente, 1853.
Centro America, Representacion National, Octubre 8, 1851. San
Salvador, 1851.
Centro America, Secretaría del despacho relaciones, Enero 21, 1851.
[Chinandega, 1851.] folio.
Centro America, Secretaría del despacho relaciones, Marzo 31, 1851.
[Leon, 1851.] folio.
Centro America, Situation de Centro America. Articulos Publicados
en Gaceta de Guatemala, Nos. 83-90. Managua, 1863.
Centro Americano, A Los Americanos, Junio 15, 1850. [Leon, 1850.]
folio.
Centro Americano, A Los Americanos. Honduras, 1853. folio.
Centro Americano, A Periodical. Guatemala, 1825 et seq.; also A
Weekly. Guatemala, 1833 et seq.
Centro Americano. Los Leoneses, Agosto 15, 1851. Leon, 1851. folio.
Centro Americana, Pacto de la Confederation. Comayagua, 1842.
Centro Americano, Unos Nacionalistas, Set. 5, 1852. [Tegucigalpa,
1852.] folio.
Cerezeda (Andrés de), Carta al Rey, Enero 20, 1529. MS. 1529.
folio.
Chambers' Edinburgh Journal. London, 1834 et seq.
Chamorro (Fernando), Documentos que Esclarecen la Muerte. Leon,
1863.
Chamorro (Fernando), Sobre la Cuestion de Nacionalidad y los Libelos
del Señor Zeledon. Setiembre 25, 1862. Granada, 1862.
Chamorro (Fruto), Mensaje del Director Supremo de Nicaragua, Enero
22, 1854. Managua, 1854.
Chamorro (Pedro Joaquin), Discurso Pronunciado. Managua, 1871.
Champagnac (J. B. J.), Le Jeune Voyageur en Californie. Paris, n.d.
Charencey (M. le Cte de), Le Percement de l'Isthme de Panama.
Montagne, 1859.
Charlevoix (Fr. Nav. de), Histoire de l'Isle-Espagnole. Paris,
1730.
Charlevoix (Fr. Nav. de), Histoire de la Nouvelle France. Paris,
1744. 4to. 3 vols.
Charpentier (Eugene), Projet D'Exposition Universelle a
San-Salvador. Paris, 1867.
Chateaubriand (de), Congrès de Vérone. Paris, 1838. 2 vols.
Chavez (Gabriel de), Relacion de la provincia de Meztitlan. MS.
1579. folio.
Chevalier (Emile), Des Travaux Entrepris à L'Isthme de Panama. In
Soc. Géog., Bulletin, series iv., tom. iv.
Chevalier (Michel), L'Isthme de Panamá. Paris, 1844.
Chiapas, Documentos Originales para la historia de Chiapas. MS.
Chiapas, Segundo Trimestre de los hechos Notables de la Asamblea
Departamental de Chiapas. Guatemala, 1845.
Chica, Restitution de los Chamelcos. In Chiapas, Documentos Orig.
Chimalpain, Hist. Conq. See Gomara (Francisco Lopez de), Hist. Mex.
China and Japan, A Sketch of the New Route. San Francisco. 1867.
Chiriquí, Copiador de oficios del Gobierno con la Lejislatura
provincial. MS. 1854.
Chiriquí, Libro de actas de la cámara provincial ... en sus
sesiones extraordinarias. MS. 1851.
Chiriquí, Ordenanzas de la Cámara. MS. 1849 et seq. folio.
Chiriquí Real Estate Company, By-laws and other documents. MS.
1854-6.
Chiriquí, Reglamento que la cámara provincial de ... decreta para
su régimen interior. MS. 1849.
Chiriquí Improvement Company. Abstract of Privileges and Titles,
n.pl., n.d. folio.
Chiriquí Improvement Company, A Collection.
Chiriquí Improvement Company, Possessions, n.pl., n.d.
Chiriquí Improvement Company, Reports. New York, 1856.
Chiriquí Province, n.pl., n.d.
Chronica compendiosissima. Antwerp, 1534.
Circumnavigation of the Globe, An Historical Account. Edinburg,
1837.
Cladera (Christobal), Investigaciones Históricas. Madrid, 1794.
Clark (Sam), Life and Death of Sir Francis Drake. London, 1671.
Clavigero (Francesco Saverio), Storia Antica del Messico. Cesena,
1780. 4to. 4 vols.
Clavigero (Francesco Saverio), Storia della California. Venezia,
1789. 2 vols.
Clay (J. B.), Speech in U. S. House of Rep., February 7, 1859.
Washington, 1859.
Clayton (John M.), Speech in U. S. Senate, April 19, 1850.
Washington, 1853.
Clement (Claudio), Tablas Chronologicas. Valencia, 1689.
Cleveland (Daniel), Across the Nicaragua Transit. [San Francisco,
1868.] MS.
Cloquet (Martial), Rapport sur Santo-Thomas de Guatemala.
Bruxelles, 1844.
Cobbett's Register. London, 1802-34. 67 vols.
Cockburn (John), A Journey over land from the Gulf of Honduras to
the Great South-Sea. London, 1735.
Codman (John), The Round Trip. New York, 1879.
Coffin (Charles Carleton), The Story of Liberty. New York, 1879.
Coffin (Charles E. B.), Letter to the Chiriquí Improvement Company.
New York, 1859.
Coffin (James Henry), Winds of the Globe. Washington, 1876. 4to.
Coggeshall (George), Second Series of Voyages, 1802-41. New York,
1852.
Cogolludo (Diego Lopez), Historia de Yucathan. Madrid, 1688. folio.
Cojutepeque, La Municipalidad y Vecindario de la Ciudad Leal de.
San Salvador, 1863.
Coleccion de Documentos Inéditos para la Historia de España.
Madrid, 1842-73. 59 vols.
Colmenares (Rodrigo de), Memorial Presentado al Rey sobre á poblar
Urabá. In Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii.
Colombel, Report on Golfo Dulce. n.pl., n.d.
Colombia, Constitution de la République. In Ancillon, Mélanges.
Colombia, Diario Oficial. Bogotá, 1872 et seq.
Colombia, Acta de la instalacion del Congreso Constituyente de
Colombia del año de 1830. Cartagena, 1830.
Colombia, Constitucion de los Estados-Unidos de Colombia,
sancionada el 8 de Mayo de 1863. Panamá, 1875.
Colombia, La Diputacion del Cauca en el Congreso de 1876. Bogotá,
1876.
Colombia, Leyes y Decretos del Congreso Constitucional de la Nueva
Granada. n.p., n.d.
Colombia, Leyes y Decretos expedidos por el Congreso Constitucional
de 1839. Bogotá, 1839.
Colombia, Memorias. [Different departments and dates.]
Colombia, Nos los representantes de las provincias del centro de.
Bogotá, 1831. folio.
Colombia, Partes relativos al Ataque y Rendicion de la Plaza de
Manizáles. Medellin, 1877.
Colombo (Fernando), Historie della vita, e de' fatti dell'
Ammiraglio D. Christoforo Colombo suo Padre. Venetia, 1709.
Colon (Fernando), La Historia de el Almirante D. Christoval Colon,
su Padre. In Barcia, Historiadores Prim., tom. i. [Translation in
Pinkerton's Col. Voy., vol. xii.; and in Kerr's Col. Voy., vol.
iii.]
Colon (Diego), Memorial a el Rey 1520. London, 1854.
Colón y Larriátegui (Felix), Juzgados Militares de España y sus
Indias. Madrid, 1788-97. 5 vols.
Colonial Magazine. London, 1840-41. 6 vols.
Colton's Journal of Geography. New York, 1867.
Columbus (Christopher), Cartas. In Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom.
i.
Columbus (Christopher), Copia de la Lettera. Venetia, 1505.
Columbus (Christopher), Cuarto y Ultimo Viage. In Navarrete, Col.
de Viages, tom. i.
Columbus (Christopher), Die vierdte Reise so vollenbracht hat. In
Löw, Meer oder Seehanen Buch, p. 6. Cologne, 1598.
Columbus (Christopher), Epistola Christofori Colom: cui etas
nostra multũ debet: de Insulis Indie supra Gangem nuper inuentis.
M.cccc.xciij.
Columbus (Christopher), Navigatio. In Grynæus, Novvs Orbis.
Columbus (Christopher), Primero Viage. In Navarrete, Col. de
Viages, tom. i.
Columbus (Christopher), Segundo Viage de. In Navarrete, Col. de
Viages, tom. i.
Columbus (Christopher), Tercer Viage. In Navarrete, Col. de Viages,
tom. i.
Comercio, Libre Reglamento. In Reales Ordenes, tom. iii.
Concilios Provinciales Mexicanos. 1o, 2o, 3o, y 4o; 1555, 1565,
1585, 1771. The original MS. Records. folio. 5 vols.; also editions
Mexico, 1769; Paris, 1725; Mexico, 1622, 1762, 1770.
Conder (Josiah), Mexico and Guatemala. London, 1831. 2 vols.
Confederacion Centro-Americana, Alocucion, Proyecto de Reformas y
Esposicion dirijida al Consejo, etc. Guatemala, 1845. folio.
Confesion (La), Firmado el Penitente, 19 Julio, 1853. San Salvador,
1853. folio.
Congressional Debates. (18th to 25th Congress.) Washington, 1824.
14 vols.
Congressional Globe. Washington, 1836 et seq. 4to.
Consejo de Regencia de España e Indias a la America Española.
Cadiz, 1811; also Mexico, 1810. folio.
Constitucion politica de la Monarquia Española. Cadiz, 1812.
Construccion de la monarquia de España, Promulgada en Cadiz, 19 de
Marzo, 1812. Mexico, 1820.
Contestacion al Manifesto que Firmaron los Señores Magistrados.
Leon, 1870.
Conti (E. Vincenzo de), Notizie storiche della città di C. di
Monferrato. Casali, 1838-42.
Conti (Nicolo di), Discorso sopra il Viaggio. In Ramusio, Viaggi,
tom. i.
Contreras, Informacion contra Las Casas, Junio 30, 1536. In Pacheco
and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. vii.
Convenio celebrado entre los Reyes de España e Inglaterra, 1786.
Comayagua, 1846.
Cook, Remarks on a Passage from River Balise to Merida. London,
1769.
Cooke (George Alexander), Modern and Authentic System of Universal
Geography. London, n.d. 4to. 2 vols.
Cooley (W. Desborough), The History of Maritime and Inland
Discovery. London, 1830. 3 vols.
Copia delle lettere del prefelto della India, n.pl., 1534.
Cordoba (Franciscus Hernandez de), Scheeps-Togt. In Aa, tom. vii.
Cordoba (F. M.), Utilidades. Nueva Guatemala, 1798.
Coreal (François), Voyages aux Indes Occidentales. Paris, 1722. 2
vols.
Coreal (François), Voyages de F. Coreal aux Indies Occidentales.
Paris, 1722. 2 vols.; also Amsterdam, 1722. 2 vols.
Coronado, Probanza, Agosto 18, 1564. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col.
Doc., tom. xiv.
Corradi, Descubrimiento de la America. See Campe.
Correo-Maritimo Reglamento. In Reales Ordenes, tom. iii.
Correo Mercantil de España y sus Indias. Madrid, 1792 et seq.
Cortés (Hernan), Aventuras y Conquistas de Hernan Cortés en Méjico.
Barcelona, 1846.
Cortés (Hernan), Brieven. Amsterdam, 1780-1.
Cortés (Hernan), Carta de Relaciõ. Seville, 1522.
Cortés (Hernan), Carta tercera de Relaciõ. Seville, 1523.
Cortés (Hernan), Cartas y Relaciones de Hernan Cortés al Emperador
Carlos V. Paris, 1866.
Cortés (Hernan), Correspondance. [Edited by Flavigny.] Paris, 1778.
Cortés (Hernan), Despatches of Hernando Cortés. New York, 1843.
Cortés (Hernan), Escritos Sueltos. Mexico, 1871.
Cortés (Hernan), Historia de Nueva España. [Edited by Lorenzana.]
Mexico, 1770.
Cortés (Hernan), Instruccion dada al Licenciado, 1532. In Pacheco
and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xiii.
Cortés (Hernan), La quarta Relacion. Toledo, 1525. [Dated October
15, 1524.]
Cortés (Hernan), Letters and Reports by Cortés and other Officers
to the Emperor and Council. In Doc. Inéd., tom. i.; tom. iv.;
Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., toms. xii., xiii., xiv.;
Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., tom. i.; Barcia, Hist. Prim., tom. i.;
Ramusio, Viaggi, tom. iii.; Ribadeneyra, Biblioteca, tom. xxii.;
Navarrete, Col. de Viages; Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq.; Alaman,
Disertaciones.
Cortés (Hernan), The Fifth Letter to Charles V. London, 1868.
Cortés, Martyr, et al., De Insvlis nvper inventis Ferdinandi
Cortesii ad Carolum V. Narrationes cum alio quodam Petri Martyris.
n.pl., 1532.
Córtes de España, Actas de las Cortés Ordinarias. Cadiz, [1813.]
2 vols.
Córtes de España, Actas Públicas de la Primera Legislatura. Madrid,
1820-1. 2 vols.
Córtes de España, Coleccion de Decretos y Ordenes. Mexico, 1829.
Córtes de España, Diario de las Actas y Discusiones de las Córtes.
Madrid, 1820 et seq.
Córtes de España, Diario de las Discusiones y Actas. Cadiz,
1811-13. 24 vols.
Costa Rica, Acontecimientos. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc.,
tom. xvii.
Costa Rica, Al Público (Firmado "Unos Costaricenses"), Julio 24,
1850. [San Jose, 1850.] folio.
Costa Rica, Boletin Oficial. San Jose, 1853 et seq.
Costa Rica, Boundaries, n.pl., n.d.
Costa Rica, (Cabildo de), Relacion de los Sucesos de Juan Vasquez
de Coronado, 12 Diciembre, 1562. Costa Rica, 1562. folio.
Costa Rica, Censo de. 1864. [San Jose, 1865.] 4to.
Costa Rica, Colonization for the Development of its Rich Mines.
London, n.d.
Costa Rica Company, for the Atlantic and Pacific, by road or
railway, n.pl., n.d. folio.
Costa Rica, Constitucion Politica. 1847. n.pl. 1848.
Costa Rica, Copies of Documents relating to the Atlantic and
Pacific Railroad of Costa Rica. London, 1870.
Costa Rica, Cronica de Costa Rica. San Jose, 1857 et seq.
Costa Rica, El Presidente (Juan Rafael Mora), Junio 8, 1850. [San
Jose, 1850.]
Costa Rica, Enterprises, etc. n.pl., n.d.
Costa Rica, Exposicion de los Motivos del Cambio, Agosto 14, 1859.
San Jose, 1860.
Costa Rica, Gaceta del Gobierno del. San Jose, 1850 et seq.
Costa Rica, Memorias Informes, etc., del Ministro de Relaciones,
Hacienda, etc. [Reports of the different departments, cited by
dates.]
Costa Rica, New Route to California. [London, 1851.]
Costa Rica, Pétition au Peuple des États-Unis par les Citoyens
français de Barruel Frères & Cie. Port Limon, 1879.
Costa Rica Railway, n.pl., n.d. folio.
Costa Rica, Real Instruccion. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc.,
tom. xvii.
Costa Rica, Reglamento Dando Nueva Organizacion á la
Administracion. [San Jose, 1866.]
Costaricense (El). San Jose, 1849 et seq.
Côte des Mosquitos (La). n.pl., n.d.
Cowley, Voyage. In Berenger, Col. Voyages, tom. ii.
Creassy (James), A Plan for getting a superior naval force into
the South Sea, taking or destroying the City of Panamá, etc.
Smithfield, 1790. MS.
Crelle (A. L.), Einige technische Nachrichten von den Entwürfen
zur Verbindung des Mittelmeeres mit dem Rothen Meere, etc. Berlin,
1846. 4to.
Criado de Castilla (Alonso), Carta al Rey Informando de una
Victoria. Guatemala, 1606. MS. folio.
Criado de Castilla (Alonso), Carta al Rey sobre Derrota de
Corsarios. Guatemala, 1606. MS. folio.
Criado de Castilla (Alonso), Carta al Rey sobre Descubrimiento
del Puerto de Santo Tomas de Castilla. Guatemala, 1605. MS. folio.
Criado de Castilla (Alonso), Carta al Rey sobre la Perdida de la
nao Almiranta. Guatemala, 1605. MS. folio.
Criado de Castilla (Alonso), Descubrimiento del Puerto de Amatique.
Guatemala, 1604. MS. folio.
Criado de Castilla (Alonso), Relacion Cerca del Navío de Yngleses.
Guatemala, 1606. MS. folio.
Criado de Castilla (Alonso), Relacion Primera de la Victoria sobre
Corsarios. Guatemala, 1606. MS. folio.
Criado de Castilla (Alonso), Segunda Relacion de la Segunda
Victoria. Guatemala, 1606. MS. folio.
Criterio (El), Prospecto San Salvador 1° de Agosto, 1853. San
Salvador, 1853.
Crosby (E. O.), Events in California, 1878. MS.
Crowe (Frederick), The Gospel in Central America. London, 1850.
Cuelebrouk (Blondeel van), Colonie de Santo Tomas. Bruxelles, 1846.
Cuellar (J. M. de) and P. M. de Figueroa, Manuel de Minero.
Granada, 1860.
Cuevas (Luis G.), Porvenir de Mexico ó Juicio sobre su Estado
Politico en 1821 y 1851. Mexico, 1851. 3 vols.
Cullen (Edward), The Darien Canal. London, 1868.
Cullen (Edward), The Isthmus of Darien Ship Canal. London, 1853.
Curatos, Las razones é inconvenientes que los religiosos de las
órdenes mendicantes Sancto Domingo, etc., de las Provincias de la
Nueva España, Mexico, Guatemala, etc. MS. folio.
D..., Essai sur la Marine et sur le Commerce. Amsterdam, 1743.
Dalton (William), Stories of the Conquests of Mexico and Peru.
London, n.d.
Daly, Annual Address, January 13, 1873. In American Geog. Soc.,
1873.
Dampier (Wm.), A New Voyage round the World. London, 1699-1709. 3
vols.
Darien, Considerations on the Subject of Communications between
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Georgetown, 1836.
Darien, Defence of the Scots Colony at Darien. Edinburg, 1699.
Darien, Enquiry into the Causes of the Miscarriage of the Scots
Colony at Darien. Glasgow, 1700.
Darien, Establecimientos. In Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii.
Darien, Junction of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. London, 1853.
Darien, Just and Modest Vindication of the Scots Design. n.pl.,
1699.
Darien, Letters Relating to. n.pl., n.d.
Darien, Original Papers and Letters Relating to the Scots
Settlement. [Edinburg], 1700.
Darien, The Humble Address ... to His Majesty, on the 12th of Feb.,
1699. London, 1699.
Dati, Questa e la Hystoria, etc. Florence, 1493.
Datos Biográficos. In Cartas de Indias.
Dau (José Maria), Instruccion para el Cultivo de Tabaco. Comayagua,
1847.
D'Avezac (Martin). See Avezac.
David, El Chiriquí. David, 1881 et seq.
Dávila (Agustin), Continuacion de la Cronica del Orden de
Predicador. MS. 1642. folio.
Dávila (Gil Gonzalez), Carta al Rey, 12 de Julio, 1520. In Squier's
MSS., i.
Dávila (Gil Gonzalez), Relacion del viage que hizo Gil Gonzalez
Dávila, 1522. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiv.
Dávila (Gil Gonzalez), Teatro Eclesiástico de la Primitiva Iglesia
de las Indias Occidentales. Madrid, 1649-55. 2 vols. folio.
Dávila (Gil Gonzalez), Testimonio de una Informacion, Octubre,
1524. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xii.
Dávila (Pedrarias), Capitulo sobre los Medios de Facilitar la
Comunicacion. In Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii.
Dávila (Pedrarias), Instruccion para su Viage, Agosto 2, 1513. In
Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii.
Dávila (Pedrarias), Lettere della Conquista. n.pl., n.d.
Dávila (Pedrarias), Real Cedula, 18 de Junio, 1519. In Squier's
MSS., tom. i.
Dávila (Pedrarias), Relacion de los sucesos, en las Provincias de
Tierra Firme y Castilla del Oro. In Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom.
iii.
Dávila (Pedrarias), Reys-Togten, 1514. tom. vii.
Dávila (Pedrarias), Testimonio de un acta de posesion que tomó el
Gobernador Pedrárias Dávila. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc.,
tom. ii.
Dávila (Pedrarias), Título Expedido por el Rey-Católico á
Pedrarias. In Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii.
Dávila (Vasquez), Carta denunciado abusos en la gobernacion de
Indias, Feb. 10, 1539. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom.
iii.
Davis (Charles H.), Report on Interoceanic Canals and Railroads.
Washington, 1867.
Davity (Pierre), Description Generale de L'Amérique. Paris, 1637.
folio.
Davity (Pierre), Le Monde ou la Description Generale de ses Quatre
Parties. Paris, 1637. folio. 5 vols.
De Bow (J. D. B.), Encyclopedia of Trade and Commerce of the United
States. London, 1854. 2 vols.
De Bow (J. D. B.), Industrial Resources of the Southern and Western
States. New Orleans, 1852. 3 vols.
De Bow's Review of the Southern and Western States. New Orleans,
1852.
De Brosses, Histoire des Navigations. Paris, 1756.
Décadas de Descubrimientos, las Indias Occidentales, desde 1492 á
1640. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. viii.
De Costa (B. F.), The Pre-Columbian Discovery of America. Albany,
1868.
Defensor del Orden. Granada, 1854 et seq.
Defensor del Pueblo. Granada, 1851 et seq.
De Gonneville, Mémoires. Paris, 1663.
Delaporte, Le Voyageur François, ou la connoissance de l'Ancien et
du Nouveau Monde. Paris, 1767-72. 42 vols.
Delaporte. Reisen Eines Franzosen oder Beschreibung. Leipzig, 1772.
2 vols.
Dello Scoprimento dell' Isola Frislanda. See Zeno, Dello
Scoprimento, et seq.
Desmarquets, Mémoires Chronologiques, etc. Dieppe, 1785.
Democratic Review. Washington, etc., 1832 et seq.
Depons (F.), Voyage à la partie Orientale de la Terre-Ferme, etc.,
1801-4. Paris, 1806. 3 vols.
Derrotero de las islas Antillas de las Costas de Tierra firme y
del seno Mexicano. Madrid, 1810.
Derrotero para la Navegacion de los Puertos de España à los de
América. MS. atlas folio.
Deutsche Ansiedelung in Mittel-Amerika. Berlin, 1850.
Diaz (B.), See Granada Exposicion á S. M., etc.
Diaz (Juan), Itinerario 1518. In Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom.
i.; Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x.
Diaz del Castillo (Bernal), Carta al Emperador. In Cartas de
Indias.
Diaz del Castillo (Bernal), Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de
la Nueva-España. Madrid, 1632. 4to.
Diccionario Enciclopedico de la Lengua Española. Madrid, 1866.
folio. 2 vols.
Diccionario Universal de Historia y de Geografía. Mexico, 1853.
4to. 10 vols.; also edition Madrid, 1846-50. 4to. 8 vols.
Diez de la Calle (Juan). See Calle.
Diezmos de Indias. A Collection.
Diezmos, Memorial. In Diezmos de Indias.
Dillon (A.), Beautés de l'Histoire du Mexique. Paris, 1822.
Disertacion Jurídica Académica Forense y Aulica. Guatemala, 1702.
Disposiciones Varias. A Collection of Documents, MSS., and Print.
6 vols.
Disturnell (J.), Influence of Climate in North and South America.
New York, 1867.
Documentos para la Historia de Mexico. Mexico, 1853-7. 20 vols. 4
series. Series iii., in folio, and in four parts.
Documentos que esclarecen la manéra con que fué ejecutada la
muerte del ex-General Don Fernando Chomarro, etc. Leon, 1863.
Doolittle (James R.), Speech in U. S. Senate, January 21, 1858.
n.pl., n.d.
D'Orbigny (Alcide), Voyage dans les deux Amériques. Paris, 1859.
D'Orbigny (Alcide), Voyage Pittoresque dans les deux Amériques.
Paris, 1836.
Drake (Edward Cavendish), A New Universal Collection of Voyages
and Travels. London, 1771. folio.
Drake (Francis), His Voyage. 1595. London, 1849. (Hakl. Soc. ed.)
Drake (Francis), The Life of the Celebrated. London, 1828.
Drake (Francis), The Life and Dangerous Voyages of. London, n.d.
14th ed.
Drake (Francis), The World Encompassed. Out of the Notes of Master
Francis Fletcher. London, 1854. (Hakl. Soc. ed.)
Drake, Cavendish, and Dampier. Lives and Voyages of. New York,
1832.
Draper (John Wm.), History of the Intellectual Development of
Europe. New York, 1872.
Duarte (Alonso), Relacion de lo que yo Vecino de esta Ciudad de
Santiago de Guatemala. MS. folio.
Duende (El), de las Pasquas al S. S. Honduras, Diciembre 24, 1755.
MS. 4to.
Dufey (P. J. S.), Résumé de L'Histoire des Révolutions de
L'Amérique Méridionale. Paris, 1826. 2 vols.
Dunlop (Robert Glasgow), Travels in Central America. London, 1847.
Dunn (Henry), Guatimala, or the United Provinces of Central
America. New York, 1828.
Du Perier, A General History of all Voyages and Travels. London,
1708.
Dupuy (Auguste Myionnet de), Deux Ans de Séjour dans L'Etat de
Nicaragua. 1850-2. Paris, 1853.
Duran (Fray Diego), Historia de las Indias de Nueva España. Mexico,
1585. MS. folio. 3 vols.; also edition Mexico, 1867.
Eardley-Wilmot. Our Journal in the Pacific. London, 1873.
Eastern Coast of Central America, Commercial and Agricultural
Company, Brief Statement. London, 1839.
Eco Hispano-Americano (El). Paris, 1854 et seq.
Eco Popular (El). [Granada, 1854] et seq.
Edinburgh Review. Edinburgh, 1802 et seq.
Elementos de Geografia Civil. Mexico, 1845.
Elorza y Rada (Francisco de), Nobiliario de el Valle de la
Valdorba. Pamplona, 1714.
Emigrado Observador (El). London, 1828 et seq.
Empoli (Giovanni di), Viaggio fatto nell'India. In Ramusio, Viaggi,
tom. i.
Enciso (Martin Fernandez), Memorial que dió el bachiller Enciso
en defensa de los Reales derechos. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col.
Doc., tom. i.
Enciso (Martin Fernandez), Suma de Geographía. Seuilla, 1530.
folio.
Ens (Gaspar). See West- und Ost-Indischer Lustgart.
Eraso, Circular. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xi.
Escamilla (José Maria), Sucesion Chronologica. MS. 1777. folio.
Espinosa, Chronica Apostolica. n.pl., 1746. 2 vols.
Espinosa (Gaspar de), Relacion, 1516. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col.
Doc., ii.
Espinosa (Isidro Felis de), El Peregrino Septentrional Atlante.
Mexico, 1737.
Espinosa (Isidro Felis de), Nuevas Empressas del Peregrino
Americano. Mexico, 1747.
Espiritu Publico. Mexico, 1828 et seq.
Esquemelin (Alexandre Olivier), De Americænsche Zee-Roovers.
Amsterdam, 1678.
Esquemelin (Alexandre Olivier), Histoire des Aventuriers
Flibustiers. Antrevoux, 1775. 4 vols.
Esquemelin (John), Historie der Boecaniers of Vrybuyters van
America. Amsterdam, 1700.
Esquemelin (John), History of the Bucaniers of America: Boston,
1857. Lond. 1704. 3 vols.
Estancelin (L.), Recherches sur les Voyages. Paris, 1832.
Estrada (T. Maria), Defensa del Poder Lejislativo del Estado de
Nicaragua. Granada, 1851.
Estrada Rávago (Juan de), Descripcion de las Provincias Costa Rica,
Guatemala, Honduras. MS. 1572. folio.
Everett (Edward), Speech in U. S. Senate, March 21, 1853.
Ezquebel, Aankomst. In Gottfried, Reysen, tom. i.
Fabens (Joseph W.), A Story of Life on the Isthmus. New York, 1853.
Fabrica y Estampa de Naypes de Nueva España. Mexico, 1760.
Fairbairn (Henry), Projects for Marine Railways. In U. S. Jour.
1832. pt. ii.
Fajardo (Domingo), Informe del Ministro de Relaciones. Campeche,
1828.
Fancourt (Charles St. John), The History of Yucatan. London, 1854.
Fate of Republics. Boston, 1880.
Fédix, L'Orégon et les Côtes de l'Océan Pacifique du Nord. Paris,
1846.
Fernandez (Alonso), Historia Eclesiastica de Nvestros Tiempos.
Toledo, 1611.
Fernando VII. Decretos del Rey. Mexico, 1836.
Ferrer de Couto (Jose), Cuestiones de Méjico, Venezuela y América
en General. Madrid, 1861. 499 pp.; Madrid, 1861, 660 pp.
Feuillée (Louis), Journal des Observations Physiques. Paris, 1825.
4to.
Figueredo y Victoria (Francisco Joseph), Carta Pastoral
Exortatoria. Noviembre 1, 1755. Guatemala, [1756.]
Figueroa (Francisco Antonio de la Rosa), Vindicias de la Verdad.
MS. folio.
Figuerola, Relacion de los servicios, Julio 29, 1541. In Pacheco
and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. iii.
Filisola (Vicente), El Ciudadano General de Brigada Vicente
Filisola à José Francisco Barrundia. Puebla, 1824.
Filisola (Vicente), Memorias para la Historia de la Guerra de
Tejas. Mexico, 1849. 2 vols.; also Mexico, 1848. 2 vols.
Findlay (Alex. G.), A Directory for the Navigation of the Pacific
Ocean. London, 1851. 2 vols.
Fisher and Colby. American Statistical Annual. New York, 1854.
Fitz-Roy, on Interoceanic Communication. A Collection.
Fitz-Roy (Robert), Considerations on the Great Isthmus of Central
America. London, 1850; also in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xv.
Fitz-Roy (Robert), Report on the Honduras Interoceanic Railway.
London, 1856.
Flachat (Jules), Notes sur le Fleuve du Darien, etc. Paris, 1866.
Fleury (Lamé), L'Histoire de la découverte de l'Amérique. Paris,
1850.
Flint (Timothy), History and Geography of the Mississippi Valley.
Cincinnati, 1832. 2 vols.
Florencia (Francisco de), Zodiaco Mariano. Mexico, 1755.
Flores, Contestacion á la Gaceta del Gobierno del Salvador. [San
Salvador, 1850.]
Flores y Ribera (Jose Antonio), Elogios Fúnebres en los dias 29 y
30 de Octubre, 1756. México, 1757.
Florida, Coleccion de Vários Documentos.
Florida, Discovery and Conquest of. London, 1851. (Hakl. Soc. ed.)
Fonseca (Fabian), and Urrutia (Carlos), Historia General de la Real
Hacienda. Mexico, 1845, 1849-53. 6 vols.
Foote, Report upon the trade of the republic of Salvador. London,
1856.
Foote (Mrs), Recollections of Central America. London, 1869.
Forbes (Alex.), California: London, 1839.
Foreign Quarterly Review. London, 1827 et seq.
Forma de Gobierno, Carta Escrita á un Americano. San Sebastian,
1821.
France et Amérique. Bruxelles, [1846.]
France et Amérique. Sur les moyens de préserver l'équilibre
Américain, etc. n.pl., n.d.
Francis, De Orbis Sitv ac Descriptione. Antwerp, 1524.
Francis of Bologna, La Letera al ministro della Provincia di
Bologna. Venetia, 1534.
Franck (Sebastian), Weltbuch-Spiegel. Tübingen, 1534.
Franklin Institute Journal. Philadelphia, 1854 et seq.
Fransham (John), The World in Miniature. London, 1741. 2 vols.
Fricius (Valentinus), Indianischer Religionstandt. Ingoldstadt,
1588.
Friedrichsthal (Emanuel), Notes on the lake of Nicaragua, and the
province of Chontales, in Guatemala, n.pl., n.d.
Frisch (P.), Die Staaten von Mexico, Mittel- und Südamerika.
Lübeck, 1853.
Froebel (Julius), Aus Amerika. Leipzig, n.d. 2 vols.
Froebel (Julius), Seven Years' Travel in Central America. London,
1859.
Frost (Thomas), Half-Hours with the Early Explorers. London, etc.,
1876.
Fuentes y Guzman, Conquista de Guatemala. In Gavarrete, Copias de
Doc.
Fuentes y Guzman (Francisco Antonio de), Historia de Guatemala ó
Recordacion Florida. Madrid, 1882.
Funnell (Wm.), A Voyage round the World. London, 1707.
Gaceta de Gobierno de Mexico, 1728-1805, 1810-21, 1823 et seq.
Gaceta Imperial de Mexico. Mexico, 1821-23.
Gage (Thomas), A New Survey of the West Indies. London, 1677.
Gage (Thomas), Nouvelle Relation Contenant les Voyages. Paris,
1676. 4 vols.
Gage (Thomas), Voyages dans la Nouvelle Espagne. Amsterdam, 1720.
2 vols.
Gallardo (Manuel), Apuntes Biográficos. San Salvador, 1872.
Gallego y Cadena, Relacion de la Provincia de Vera Paz. MS. 1574.
folio.
Galvano (Antonio), Discoveries of the World. London, 1601; also,
1862.
Galvano (Antonio), Voyages. In Kerr's Col. Voyages, tom. ii.
Gama (Vasco di), Navigatione. In Ramusio, Viaggi, tom. i.
Gambaræ, De Navigatione Christophori Columbi. Rome, 1585.
Geraldini (Alexan.), Itinerarium ad Regiones sub Equinoct. Rome,
1631.
Garcia (Manuel), Reflexiones. Guatemala, 1826.
García de la Concepcion (Joseph), Historia Bethlehemitica. Sevilla,
1723. folio.
García y Cubas (Antonio), Reseña Geografica del Districto de
Soconusco. Mexico, 1857. atlas 4to.
Garcilaso de la Vega (El Inca), Primera Parte de los Comentarios
Reales. Madrid, 1723. folio.
Garcilaso de la Vega (El Inca), La Florida del Inca. Madrid, 1723.
folio.
Garella (Napoleon), Projet d'un Canal de Jonction de L'Océan
Pacifique et de L'Océan Atlantique. Paris, 1855.
Gasca, Carta al Consejo de Indias. In Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. i.
Gastelu, Real Titulo de Gobernador de Costa Rica, a favor de
Coronado, Abril 8, 1565. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom.
xi.
Gastizabal (Martin Garcia de), Por el Maestro. [Guatemala, 1641.]
4to.
Gavarrete (Juan de), Copia de Algunos Fragmentos Interesantes de
la Recordacion Florida. MS. folio.
Gemelli Carreri. See Carreri.
Genther (Samuel), Report upon the Chiriquí Road. New York, 1859.
Ghillany (Friedrich Wilhelm), Geschichte des Seefahrers Ritter
Martin Behaim. Nürnberg, 1853.
Gil (Hilarion Romero), Memoria sobre los Descubrimientos que los
Españoles hicieron en el Siglo XVI. en Nueva Galicia, Dic. 22,
1861. In Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii.
Girava (Hieronymo), La Cosmographia y Geographia. Venetia, 1570.
Gisborne (Lionel), The Isthmus of Darien in 1852. London, 1853.
Giustiniani Psalterium. Genoa, 1516.
Goldschmidt (Albert), Cartography of the Pacific Coast. MS. folio.
3 vols. San Francisco, 1873.
Gomara (Francisco Lopez), Cronica de la Nueua España con la
Conquista de Mexico y otras Cosas Notables. Saragossa, [1554.]
Gomara (Francisco Lopez), Historia de las Conquistas de Hernando
Cortés. (Chimalpain edition.) Mexico, 1826. 2 vols.
Gomara (Francisco Lopez), Historia di Don Fernando Cortés. Venetia,
1560.
Gomara (Francisco Lopez de), Historia de Mexico. Anvers, 1554.
Gomara (Francisco Lopez de), La Historia General de las Indias.
Anvers, 1554.
Gomez, Diario. In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. vii.
Gomara (F. Lopez), Pleasant Historie of the Conquest of the West
Indias. London, 1578.
Gonzalez Dávila. See Dávila.
Goodrich (Aaron), History of the Character and Achievements of the
so-called Christopher Columbus. New York, 1874.
Goodrich (Frank B.), Man upon the Sea. Philadelphia, 1858.
Gordon (James), The Ocean Passenger's Guide and Chart. San
Francisco, n.d.
Gordon (James Bentley), An Historical and Geographical Memoir of
the North-American Continent, its Nations and Tribes. Dublin, 1820.
4to.
Gordon (Thomas F.), Digest of the Laws of the United States. Phil.
1848.
Gordon (Thomas F.), The History of Ancient Mexico. Philadelphia,
1832. 2 vols.
Gordon (Thomas F.), Spanish Discoveries in America. Phil. 1831. 2
vols.
Gossellin (Pasch. Franc. Jos.), Recherches sur la Géographie
Systématique. Paris, 1813. 4 vols.
Gottfriedt (Johann Ludwig), Newe Welt und Americanische Historien.
Franckfurt, 1655. folio.
Gracias, Cuadro Estadístico del. Paris, 1857.
Graham's Magazine. Philadelphia, 1855 et seq.
Granada, Exposicion á S. M. por la Justicia, Nov. 24, 1544. In
Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. vii.
Grant (U. S.), The Nicaragua Canal. In North American Review,
February, 1881.
Grau y Monfalcon, Memorial sobre pretensiones de la ciudad de
Manila. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. vi.
Greenhow (Robert), History of Oregon and California. New York,
1845; also editions Boston, 1844; Boston, 1845; London, 1844;
Boston, 1847.
Greenhow (Robert), Memoir, Historical and Political. Washington,
1840.
Grey-Town, Bombardement et Entière Destruction. Paris, 1856.
Grey-Town, Lettre du Délégué de la Population Française. Paris,
1856.
Grijalva (Johann), Reise und allererste Entdeckung. In Sammlung,
tom. xiii.
Griswold (C. D.), The Isthmus of Panamá. New York, 1852.
Groesbeck (W. S.), Speech in U. S. House of Rep., Jan. 11, 1858.
Washington, 1858.
Grynæus, Novvs Orbis Regionvm ac Insularvm. Basiliæ, 1532. 4to.
Guardia (J. M.), Les Républiques de L'Amérique Espagnole. Paris,
1862.
Guardiola (General), Á Sus Compatriotas. [Chiquimula, 1854.] folio.
Guardiola (Santos), Parte Oficial Comayagua, 1850.
Guatemala, Acta en esta Ciudad, 20 Julio, 1853. Guatemala, 1853.
fol.
Guatemala, Apuntamientos sobre la Agricultura y Comercio
[Guatemala, 1811.]
Guatemala, Arancel Provisional para las Aduanas de Guatemala,
n.pl., n.d.
Guatemala, Aranceles Formados de Orden de la Real Audiencia.
Guatemala, n.d.
Guatemala, Autos de Parte. MS. 1643. 4to.
Guatemala, Boletin de Noticias. Guatemala, 1850 et seq.
Guatemala (Cabildo de), Informe sobre ereccion de Obispado.
Guatemala, 1827.
Guatemala, Carta dirijida al Ilustrisimo Señor Arzobispo, 20
Agosto, 1851. [Guatemala, 1851.] folio.
Guatemala, Carta del Obispo, historia de Nueva España, Agosto 27,
1529. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xiii.
Guatemala, Charte Autorisant la Banque de Guatemala [Guatemala,
1839]; also edition Bruxelles, 1840.
Guatemala, Charte de Concession du Territoire de Vera Paz.
Guatemala, 1839.
Guatemala, Coleccion de Cédulas Reales, 1555-1768. MS. and print.
Guatemala, Constituciones municipales de este Santo Colegio de
Xpto. [Guatemala], 1736. MS.
Guatemala, Contestacion al Comunicado sobre Nacionalidad. Salvador,
1846.
Guatemala, Decretos. [Various dates.]
Guatemala, El Dean de la Santa Iglesia. n.pl., n.d.
Guatemala, Gaceta de. Guatemala, 1849 et seq.
Guatemala, Guia de Forasteros. Guatemala, 1853 et seq.
Guatemala, Hospital de San Juan de Dios. Guatemala, 1854. folio.
Guatemala, Informacion echa en Santiago de Guatemala Set. 15, 1536.
MS.
Guatemala, Informe de los servicios hechos por la religion de Santo
Domingo, MS. 1 vol.
Guatemala, Informe dirijido por el Presidente, Agosto 16, 1851.
Guatemala, [1851.]
Guatemala, Informe sobre la ereccion de Obispo. Guatemala, 1827.
Guatemala, Informe que el Cabildo Eclesiastico de la Catedral.
Guatemala, 1827.
Guatemala, Informe sobre los Diferentes Ramos de la Administracion.
Guatemala, 1844. folio.
Guatemala, Instruccion formada de orden de la Junta preparatoria
para facilitar las elecciones de Diputados, etc. Guatemala, 1812.
4to.
Guatemala, Relacion de la tormenta, Set. 15, 1541. In Pacheco and
Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. iii.
Guatemala, Instruccion para el Arreglo. Nueva Guatemala. 1799. 4to.
Guatemala, Los Emigrados de Guatemala. [Comayagua, 1852.] folio.
Guatemala, Los Nobles de. San Salvador, 1863.
Guatemala, Manifesto del Gefe Politico. Mexico, 1821.
Guatemala, Mémoire Contenant un Aperçu Statistique. Bruxelles,
1840.
Guatemala, Memorias. [Different departments of the Government,
cited by dates.]
Guatemala, Ministerio de Policia del Gobierno. Guatemala, 1828.
folio.
Guatemala, Nacionalidad Española. Guatemala, 1852. folio.
Guatemala, Nueva Instruccion y methodo de cobrar y recaudar los
diezmos de la Iglesia es este arzobispado de Guatemala. Nueva
Guatemala, 1785. 4to.
Guatemala, Obispo y Oficiales, Carta al Emperador. [Nov. 25, 1541.]
In Cartas de Indias.
Guatemala, Por Fernando VII., el 12 de Diciembre, 1808. Oracion.
n.pl., n.d.
Guatemala, Proyecto de Constitucion para la República. San
Salvador, 1851. folio.
Guatemala, Reglamento general de artesanos de la Nueva Guatemala,
etc. Nueva Guatemala, 1798.
Guatemala, Relacion Historica Concerniente. Guatemala, 1852.
Guatemala, Resources, Agricultural and Mineral. San Francisco,
1874.
Guatemala, Tratado de Amistad. [Guatemala, 1847.] folio.
Guatemala, Eleccion de Diputados. Mexico, 1822. folio.
Guerra (Cristóbal), Capitulacion, Julio 21, 22 y 23 y Agosto 18,
1500. In Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. ii.
Guerra (J.), Carta, Agosto 25 de 1851. MS. folio.
Guerra (José), Historia de la Revolucion de N. España. London,
1813. 2 vols.
Guerrero (José), Vindicacion, Julio 6 de 1852. [Leon, 1852.] folio.
Guerrero (Vicente), Manifiesto á sus Compatriotas. Mexico, 1829.
Guijo, Diario de 1648 á 1664. In Doc. Hist. Mex., série i., tom. i.
Guthrie (William), A Universal Geography. Philadelphia, 1820. 2
vols.
Gutierrez (Blas J.), Leyes de Reforma. Mexico, 1868.
Gutierrez (Felipe), Carta al Emperador Febrero 10, 1539. In Pacheco
and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. iii.
Guzman (Fernando), Manifiesto. Managua, 1867.
Guzman (Fernando), Mensaje. Managua, 1871.
Hacke (Wm.), A Collection of Original Voyages. London, 1699.
Haefkens (J.), Central America. Dordrecht, 1832.
Haefkens (J.), Reize Naar Guatemala. Gravenhage, 1827; also 1828.
Hakluyt (Richard), Divers Voyages. London, 1850. (Hakl. Soc. ed.)
Hakluyt (Richard), The Principal Navigations, Voyages, etc. London,
1599-1600. folio. 3 vols.
Hakluyt Society. Works Issued by. London, 1850 et seq.
Hale (E. E.), Early maps of America. Worcester, 1874.
Hall (Basil), Extracts from a Journal. Edinburgh, 1826. 2 vols.
Hall, Report on the trade of the republic of Guatemala. London,
1856. folio.
Hansard (T. C.), Parliamentary Debates from 1803. London, 1812-77.
Hardman (Frederick), Scenes and Adventures in Central America.
Edinburgh, 1852.
Harper's New Monthly Magazine. New York, 1856 et seq.
Harris (J. Dennis), A Summer on the Borders of the Caribbean Sea.
New York, 1860.
Harris (John), Navigantium atque Itinerantium. London, 1705. folio.
2 vols.
Harrisse (Henry), Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima. New York,
1866.
Hartmann (Carl), Geographisch-Statistische Beschreibung von
Californien. Weimar, 1849.
Haskin (John B.), Speech in U. S. House of Rep., Jan. 5, 1858.
Washington, 1858.
Hassaurek (F.), Four Years among Spanish-Americans. London, 1868.
Hassel (G.), and J. G. F. R. Cannabich, Vollständige und neueste
Erdbeschreibung vom Reiche Mexico, Guatemala und Westindien.
Weimar, 1824.
Hawkins (Sir Richard), The Observations. London, 1622. (Hakl. Soc.
ed.)
Haya (Diego de la, Gov. Costa Rica), Informe dirigido al Rey. MS.
4to.
Hayes, Scrap-Books. 1850-74. 129 vols.
Hayne, Speech in U. S. Senate, March, 1826. n.pl., n.d.
Hazlitt (Wm. Carew), The Great Gold Fields of Cariboo. London,
1862.
Heine (Wilhelm), Wanderbilder aus Central-Amerika. Leipzig, n.d.
Helper (Hinton R.), The Land of Gold. Baltimore, 1855.
Helps (Arthur), Life of Hernando Cortés. New York, 1871. 2 vols.
Helps (Arthur), The Conquerors of the New World and their Bondsmen.
London, 1848-52. 2 vols.
Helps (Arthur), The Life of Las Casas. Philadelphia, 1868.
Helps (Arthur), The Spanish Conquest in America. London, 1855-61.
4 vols.; also New York, 1856. 2 vols.
Henderson (Alex.), A Grammar of the Moskito Language. New York,
1846.
Henderson (George), An Account of the British Settlement of
Honduras. London, 1811.
Herran (Victor), Le Chemin de Fer Interocéanique du Honduras.
Paris, 1868.
Herran (Victor), Notice sur les Cinq Etats. Bordeaux, 1853.
Herrera (Antonio de), Descripcion de las Indias Occidentales.
Madrid. 1730. fol.
Herrera (Antonio de), General History of the Vast Continent and
Islands of America. London, 1725-6. 6 vols.
Herrera (Antonio de), General Observations. In Voyages, A
Collection of. (Churchill Coll.), vol. v.; Purchas, His Pilgrimes,
vol. iv.
Herrera (Antonio de), Historia General de los Hechos de los
Castellanos en las Islas i Tierra Firme del Mar Océano. Madrid,
1601. 4to. 4 vols.; also edition Madrid, 1726-30. folio.
Hesperian. San Francisco, 1858 et seq.
Heylyn (Peter), Cosmography. London, 1701. folio.
Hill (H. R.), Ship Canal across the Isthmus of Panama. London,
1845.
Hill (S. S.), Travels in Peru and Mexico. London, 1860. 2 vols.
Historical Magazine, and Notes and Queries. Boston, etc., 1857-69.
15 vols.
Hoffman (William), The Monitor. New York, 1863.
Holbrook (Samuel G.), Three Score Years. Boston, 1857.
Holinski (Alex.), La Californie et les Routes Interocéaniques.
Bruxelles, 1853.
Holmes (Abiel D. D.), Annals of America. Cambridge, 1829. 2 vols.
Honduras, A los Antipatriotas Escondidos. Honduras, 1854.
Honduras, A Los Patriotas, Febrero 4, 1854. [Honduras, 1854.]
folio.
Honduras, A Los Pueblos. Un Amigo del General Guardiola, Gracias,
Diciembre 24, 1853. [Gracias, 1853.] folio.
Honduras, A Mis Comitentes y Demas, Abril 8, 1854. [Comayagua,
1854.] folio.
Honduras, A Nuestros Compatricios, Noviembre, 1853. [Comayagua,
1853.] folio.
Honduras, Al Gran Diálogo, Enero 27, 1854. Honduras, 1854.
Honduras, Almanac, Belize, 1829 et seq.
Honduras, Al Público. [Various dates and signatures, 1852-4.]
Honduras, Anagrama. [Honduras, 1853.]
Honduras, Boletin del Ejército de Honduras. Comayagua, 1853 et seq.
Honduras, Boletin Oficial del Gobierno Supremo. Comayagua, 1851 et
seq.
Honduras, Carta Escrita de Guatemala. [Comayagua, 1854.] folio.
Honduras, Clavellina. [Tegucigalpa, 1852.] folio.
Honduras, Compatricios. [Tegucigalpa, 1852.]
Honduras, Conciudadanos. [Tegucigalpa, 1852.] folio.
Honduras, Conocimiento y satisfaccion de los Pueblos, Julio 13,
1853. [Tegucigalpa, 1853]. folio.
Honduras, Constitucion Politica del Estado, Febrero 5, 1848.
[Comayagua, 1848.]
Honduras, Contestacion, Agosto 8, 1852. "Otros Ciudadanos."
[Comayagua, 1852.] folio.
Honduras, Contestacion a las Tres Preguntas del Anonimo, 19 de
Enero de 1854. [Honduras, 1854.] folio.
Honduras, Cuadro Estadistico del Departamento de Gracias. Paris,
1857.
Honduras, Defensa que el Clero de Honduras. San Salvador. [1861.]
Honduras, Dialogo entre un Guanaco y un Escritor Veterano.
[Honduras, 1854.] folio.
Honduras, Discursos pronunciados en la tribuna de los debates.
Comayagua, 1853. folio.
Honduras, Documentos Justificativos. Comayagua, 1855.
Honduras, Documentos para la Historia de los Atentados de las
Tropas de Guatemala. Comayagua, 1853. folio.
Honduras, El Diputado Alvarado, Abril 3, 1854. "Los Observadores
en la galería." [Comayagua], 1854. folio.
Honduras, El Jefe Politico del Departamento de Comayagua, Setiembre
1o, 1843. [Comayagua], 1853. folio.
Honduras, El Senador en Ejercicio del Poder Ejecutivo del Estado,
Mayo 15, 1853. [Comayagua, 1853.] folio.
Honduras, Expediciones. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom.
xii.
Honduras, Exposicion del Presidente del Estado de Junio 26, 1845.
[Comayagua, 1845.] folio.
Honduras, Exposicion dirijida por el que Suscribe a los Habitantes.
[Guatemala, 1853.] folio.
Honduras, Felicitacion que los hondureños hacen al Ciudadano.
[Comayagua, 1851.] folio.
Honduras, Fundacion. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xvi.
Honduras, Gaceta de. Comayagua, 1861 et seq.
Honduras, Gaceta Oficial. Comayagua, 1854 et seq.
Honduras, Gaceta Oficial de Gobierno. Comayagua, 1849 et seq.
Honduras, Hechos de las Tropas de Guatemala. Comayagua, [1853.]
Honduras, Hondureños. [Single sheets, various dates in 1852-4.]
Honduras, Impostura y el Insulto son las Armas del Malvado.
[Comayagua, 1853.] folio.
Honduras. Indicacion. Setiembre 2, 1852; also Octubre 31, 1852.
[Tegucigalpa, 1852.] folio.
Honduras, Interoceanic Railway, Charter of the. New York, 1853.
folio.
Honduras, Invasion al Departamento de Gracias. [Comayagua], 1854.
folio.
Honduras, La Prensa Libre, Mayo 15, 1852. [Tegucigalpa, 1852.]
folio.
Honduras, Lijeras Observaciones sobre la Entrega del Estado. Leon,
1850.
Honduras, Los Dos Dias, Enero 4, 1854. Honduras, 1854. folio.
Honduras, Manifestacion de los Patriotas de Honduras contra los
Perturbadores. Tegucigalpa, 1853. folio.
Honduras, Manifiesto á los Pueblos de Honduras, Diciembre 31, 1853.
[Guatemala, 1853.] folio.
Honduras, Manifiesto del Pueblo. Tegucigalpa, [1872.]
Honduras, Memoria de los Valientes Jenerales Don Francisco Gomez,
etc. Agosto 21, 1854. Comayagua, 1854. folio.
Honduras, Memória Presentada por el Señor Don Jose Maria Rugama,
1851. Comayagua, 1851.
Honduras, Ministerio de Relaciones. [Numerous decrees, cited by
dates.]
Honduras, Objeciones al Contrato del Ferro-carril, Febrero 22,
1854. [Comayagua, 1854.] folio.
Honduras, Observacion, Julio 25, 1852. [Tegucigalpa, 1852.] folio.
Honduras, Opinion. [Signed "La Galeria, Julio 24, 1852."
Tegucigalpa, 1852.]
Honduras, Otras Observaciones, Julio 27, 1852. [Tegucigalpa], 1852.
folio.
Honduras, Pensamiento, Enero 30, 1853. Tegucigalpa, 1853. folio.
Honduras, Presidente, Diciembre 31, 1853; also Diciembre 7, 1854.
[Comayagua, 1853, 1854.] folios.
Honduras, Protesta de los Diputados, Abril 19, 1853. Comayagua.
Honduras, Refutacion del Folletin. Comayagua, 1861.
Honduras, Salutacion i bien venida en union de vuestra, Mayo 21,
1854. [Honduras, 1854.] folio.
Honduras, Trabajos de la Junta Preparatoria, Julio 10, 1852.
[Tegucigalpa.]
Honduras, Ultimas Noticias del Ejercito, Julio 12, 1853.
[Comayagua.]
Honduras, Un Nacionalista, Junio 26, 1852. [Comayagua], 1852.
folio.
Honduras, Una Flor, Mayo 14, 1852. [Tegucigalpa.]
Honduras, Una Pájina para la historia, Octubre 11, 1853.
[Tegucigalpa.]
Honduras, Universidad del Estado felicita, Abril 27, 1852.
[Tegucigalpa.]
Honduras and Guatemala, Preliminares de Paz. Comayagua, [1855.]
Hondureños, No por un rasgo de vil adulacion, Abril 25, 1853.
Comayagua.
Honolulu. Polynesian, 1857 et seq.
Honter, De Cosmographiæ. Basiliæ, 1534.
Horas de Solaz. San José, 1873 et seq.
Humboldt (Alex. de), Essai Politique sur le Royaume de la Nouvelle
Espagne. Paris, 1811. folio. 2 vols. and atlas.
Humboldt (Alex. de), Examen Critique de l'histoire de la Géographie
du Nouveau Continent. Paris, 1836-9. 5 vols.
Humboldt (Alex. de), Personal Narrative of Travels to the
Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent. London, 1822-9. 7 vols.
Humboldt (Alex. de), Tableaux de la Nature. Paris, 1808. 2 vols.;
also Paris, 1865.
Hunt's Merchants' Magazine. New York, 1839 et seq.
Huston (R. G.), Journey in Honduras. Cincinnati, 1875.
Hutchings' California Magazine. San Francisco, 1857-61. 5 vols.
Hylacomylus (Waldsee-Müller), Cosmographiæ Introdvctio ... Insuper
quatuor Americi Vespucij nauigationes. Deodate, (St Dié Lorraine),
1507.
Icazbalceta (Joaquin García), Coleccion de Documentos para la
Historia de México. Mexico, 1858-66. folio. 2 vols.
Iglesias (J. M.), Revistas Historicas sobre la Intervention
Francesa. Mexico. 1867. 3 vols.
Iglesias y Conventos de Mexico, Relacion Descriptiva. Mexico, 1863.
Impugnacion al Impreso que se Publicó en S. Salvador. Guatemala,
[1830].
Imray (James F.), Sailing Directions for the West Coast. London,
1868.
Indices de Historias de America. MS. folio.
Instituto Nacional de Geografía y Estadística, Boletin. See
Sociedad Mexicana, etc., its later name.
Instrvccion qve han de Observar los Oficiales Reales de las Reales
Cajas de Nicaragua, Comayagua, etc. Guatemala, 1709.
Integridad de Centro-America. Granada, 1849 et seq.
Inter-Oceanic Canal and Monroe Doctrine. New York, 1880.
Inter-Ocean Communication. [Scraps collected by E. G. Squier.]
folio.
Irving (Washington), The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus.
New York, 1869. 3 vols.
Isagoge, Relacion. MS.
Itinerariũ Portugallẽsiũ. Milan, 1508.
Ixtlilxochitl (Fernando de Alva), Horribles Crueldades de los
Conquistadores de México. Mexico, 1829.
Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones. In Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix.
Jacob (W.), Historical Inquiry. London, 1831. 2 vols.
Jeffreys (Thomas), Voyages from Asia to America. London, 1761. 4to.
Jenkins (Albert G.), Speech in U. S. House of Rep., January 12,
1859.
Jerez (Maximo), Contestacion al Manifiesto del Presidente. Leon,
1862.
Jesuitas (Los), Observaciones sobre un Artículo de la Opinion.
Leon, 1871.
Jesuits, Coleccion General de las Providencias. Madrid, 1767, 1769.
2 vols.
Jimenes (Jose Antonio), Memoria Presentada al Cuerpo Legislativo,
Febrero 22 de 1851. San Salvador, [1851]. folio.
Jimenez (Francisco), Las Historias del Orígen de los Indios de esta
Provincia de Guatemala. Viena, 1857.
Johnson (Fr.), Speech in U. S. House of Rep., April 13, 1826.
n.pl., n.d.
Johnston (J. S.), Speech in U. S. Senate, March, 1826. Washington,
1826.
Jomard (Edme-François), Les Monuments de la Géographie. Paris, 1854
et seq.
Jordan (John), Serious Actual Dangers of Foreigners. Philadelphia,
1826.
Juan (George) and Antonio de Ulloa, Voyage Historique de l'Amérique
Méridionale. Amsterdam, 1752. 4to. 2 vols.
Juana (Doña), Sobre Carta de la Reina. In Navarrete, Col. de
Viages.
Juarros (Domingo), Compendio de la Historia de la Ciudad de
Guatemala. Guatemala, 1857; also Guatemala, 1808 and 1818.
Juarros (Domingo), A Statistical and Commercial History of the
Kingdom of Guatemala. London, 1823.
Jüifs (J. C.) and F. Balleer. Die Seehäfen und Seehandelsplätze
der Erde. Oldenburg, 1875.
Keller (F. A. E.), Canal de Nicaragua. Paris, 1859.
Kelley (M. F.), Projet d'un Canal Maritime. Paris, 1857.
Kelly (Fred. M.). The Union of the Oceans. New York, 1859.
Kerr (Henry), Travels through the Western Interior of the U. S.
Elizabethtown, 1816.
Kerr (Robert), A General History and Collection of Voyages and
Travels. Edinburgh and London, 1824. 18 vols.
Kewen (E. J. C.), Nicaragua and Walker. MS. [1879.] folio.
Kingsborough (Lord), Antiquities of Mexico. London, 1831-48. folio.
9 vols.
Kirchhoff (Theodor), Reisebilder und Skizzen aus Amerika. New York,
1875-6. 2 vols.
Kittlitz (F. H. von), Denkwürdigkeiten einer Reise nach dem
russischen Amerika. Gotha, 1858.
Kohl (J. G.), A History of the Discovery of the East Coast of North
America. Portland, 1869.
Kohl (J. G.), Die Beiden Ältesten General-Karten von Amerika.
Weimar, 1860. folio.
Kohl (J. G.), Popular History of the Discovery of America. London,
1862. 2 vols.
Kretzschmar (W.), Das Deutsche Colonisirungs-Project. Königsberg,
1845.
Kunstmann (Friedrich), Die Entdeckung Amerikas. München, 1859. 4to.
Kunstmann (Friedrich), The Discovery of America. MS. folio.
Kurtze, Interoceanic Railroad through Costa Rica Route. New York,
1860.
Lachapelle (A. de), Le Comte de Raousset-Boulbon. Paris, 1859.
Laet (Joannis de), Novvs Orbis. Lvgd. Batav., 1633. folio.
Laferriere (J.), De Paris à Guatémala. Paris, 1877.
Lafond (G.), Voyages autour du Monde. Paris, 1844. 8 vols.
Lafond de Lurcy (Gel.), Notice sur le Golfo Dulce. Paris, 1856.
La Harpe (John François), Abrégé de l'Histoire Générale des
Voyages. Paris, 1816. 24 vols, and atlas.
Lallement, Geschichte von Columbien. Quedlinburg, etc., 1827.
Lardner (Dionysius), History of Maritime and Inland Discovery.
London, 1830. 3 vols.
Larenaudière, Mexique et Guatemala. Paris, 1843; also Paris, 1847.
Larrainzar (Fed.), Carta sobre los Ultimos Sucesos de
Centro-América. Mexico, 1864.
Larrainzar (Manuel), Noticia Histórica de Soconusco. Mexico, 1843.
Larreynaga (Miguel), Memoria sobre el fuego de las Volcanes.
Guatemala, 1843.
Larreynaga (Miguel), Noticia Biográfica del Distinguido Literato.
Guatemala, 1847. folio.
La Salle, La Salade. Paris, 1527.
Las Casas and Valdivioso. In Cartas de Indias.
Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Breve Relacion de la Destruccion de las
Indias. Sevilla, 1822.
Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Cancionero Spiritual. Mexico, 1546.
Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Carta á los Padres del capitulo
provincial de Guatemala. London, 1854.
Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Carta al Gattinara. London, 1854.
Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Carta de amonestaciõ. London, 1854.
Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Cartas, Representaciones, Asientos, and
other Documents. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. vii.
Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Coleccion de las Obras del Obispo de
Chiapa. [By Juan Antonio Llorente.] Paris, 1822. 2 vols.
Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Conqvista dell' Indie Occidentali.
Venetia, 1644.
Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Decouverte des Indias Occidentales.
Paris, 1697.
Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Extractos. [From his Historia de las
Indias.] MS. folio.
Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Historia Apologética de las Yndias
Occidentales. MS. folio. 4 vols.
Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Historia de Indias. MS. folio. 4 vols.;
also edition Madrid, 1875. 5 vols.
Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Indio Esclavo obra Compuesta. Puebla,
1821.
Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Istoria ó Breuissima Relatione. Venetia,
1630; also Venetia, 1643.
Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Liberta Pretesta dal suplice. Venetia,
1640.
Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Oeuvres. Paris, 1822. 2 vols.
Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Real Cedula. In Pacheco and Cárdenas,
Col. Doc., tom. vii.; Ternaux-Compans, Voy., serie ii., tom. v.;
Florida, Col. Doc.
Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Regionvm Indicarum per Hispanos.
Heidelberg, 1664.
Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Relation des Voyages et des Découvertes.
Amsterdam, 1698.
Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Tyrannies et Crvavtez des Espagnols.
Anvers, 1579.
Leben, Hie hebt sich an der Heiligen Leben. Augsburg, 1471-2.
folio. 2 vols.
Lelewel (Joach.), Géographie du moyen âge. Bruxelles, 1852. 4 vols.
Atlas 4to.
Leon (Ponce de), Reise des, und Entdeckung. In Sammlung aller
Reisebesch, tom. xiii.
Leon (Ponce de), Uitvoerlyke Scheepstogt door den Dapperen. In
Gottfried, Reysen, tom. iii.
Lerdo de Tejada (Miguel M.), Apuntes Históricos de la Heróica
Ciudad de Vera Cruz. Mexico, 1850-5. 5 parts.
Lerma, Carta de la gobernacion de Honduras, Oct. 20, 1535. In
Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xii.
Leslie (Frank), Popular Monthly. New York, 1876 et seq.
Lester (C. Edwards) and Andrew Foster. Life and Voyage of
Vespucius. New York, 1846.
Lesur (C. L.), Annuaire Historique Universel pour 1827. Paris,
1828.
Letera de la Nobil Cipta. Zhaval, 1535. 4to.
Levy (Pablo), Notas Geográficas y Económicas sobre la República de
Nicaragua. Paris, 1873.
Leyes y Ordenanças Nuevamente hechas por su Magestad, para la
gouernaciõ de las Indias. Valladolid, 1603. folio.
Leyes y Ordenanzas. Madrid, [1581.]
Libretto de tutta la Navigazione del Re di Spagna. n.pl., [1504.]
Liceaga (José Maria), Adiciones y Rectificaciones a la Historia de
Mexico. Guanajuato, 1868.
Liévano, Primer Calendario. [San Salvador], 1853 et seq.
Linage (Joseph de Veitia), Norte de la Contratacion de las Indias
Occidentales. Seville, 1672.
Linage (Joseph de Veitia), The Spanish Rule of Trade. London, 1702.
Lloyd (J. A.), Notes respecting the Isthmus of Panamá. In Lond.
Geog. Soc. Jour., vol. i.
Loaisa (Fr. Garcia de), Viages al Maluco. In Navarrete, Col. de
Viages, tom. v.
London Geographical Society Journal. London, 1831-70. 40 vols.
London Mining Journal, 1867.
London Morning Chronicle, 1850.
Long, Porter, and Tucker, America and the West Indies. London,
1845.
Lopez, Poblacion, Guatemala, 1576. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col.
Doc., tom. xiv.
Lopez (Domingo), Discurso por el Presidente de la Asamblea
Nacional, Marzo, 1877. San Salvador (1877). folio.
Lopez (Patricio Antonio), Mercurio Indiana Pœma historico. MS.
[1690.]
Lord (John Keast), The Naturalist in Vancouver Island and British
Columbia. London, 1866. 2 vols.
Lorenzana, Viage. In Cortés, Hist. N. España.
Losada (Juan Miguel de), Cuestion Mejicana. Madrid, 1863.
Lossing (Benson J.), Pictorial History of the United States.
Hartford, 1868; also New York, 1861.
Löw (Conr.), Meer oder Seehanen Buch. Cologne, 1598. folio.
Ludd, Speculi Orbis. Strasburg, 1507.
Lunario de Centro-Americano. Guatemala, 1833.
Lussan (Ravenau de), Journal du Voyage fait à la Mer du Sud avec
les Flibustiers, 1684. Paris, 1693.
Luyts (Joannis), Introductio ad Geographiam Novam et Veterem.
Trajecti ad Rhenum, 1692.
Lynch (P.), Relacion Puntual de toda la costa del Mar del Norte.
Leon, 1757. MS.
Macario (Juan), Xecul MS.
Macfie (Matthew), Vancouver Island and British Columbia. London,
1865.
Macgillivray (W.), Life, Travels, and Researches of Humboldt.
London, 1859.
Macgregor (John), The Progress of America, from the Discovery by
Columbus to 1846. London, 1847.
Macham, The Voyage of Macham, an Englishman, etc. In Hakluyt, vol.
ii., pt. ii.
Mackay (Charles), Life and Liberty in America. London, 1859. 2
vols.
Macpherson (David), Annals of Commerce. London, 1805. 4to. 4 vols.
Madoc, The most ancient Discouery of the West Indies by. In
Hakluyt, vol. iii.
Maffei, Historiarum indicarum. Florence, 1588.
Maffei of Volterra, Commentariorum urbanorum. Rome, 1506. folio.
Magelhaens (Fernando de), Voyage. In Berenger, Col. Doc., tom. i.
Magin. See Wytfliet.
Maglianos, St Francis and Franciscans.
Maire (A.), Renseignements sur le Centre-Amérique, etc. Paris,
1844.
Major (Richard Henry), The Life of Prince Henry of Portugal.
London, 1868.
Major (Richard Henry), Select Letters of Columbus. London, 1847.
(Hakl. Soc. ed.)
Maldonado (Antonio), Repertorio de las Cedulas Provisiones i
Ordenanzas Reales. n.pl., n.d.
Malte-Brun (V. A.), Précis de la Géographie Universelle. Bruxelles,
1839. 6 vols. and atlas.
Maltratamiento de Yndios. A Collection. MS. folio.
Mandeville (Sir John), Travels of. London, 1725. (Hakluyt Soc. ed.)
March y Labores (José), Historia de la Marina Real Española.
Madrid, 1854. 4to. 2 vols, and atlas.
Marco Polo, Da Veniesia de la meravegliose cose del mondo. Venice,
1496.
Marco Polo, Dei Viaggi di Messer Marco Polo Gentil'hvomo Venetiano.
In Ramusio, Viaggi, tom. ii.
Marco Polo, Veneti de regionibus orientalibus libri tres. Cologne,
1671.
Marcou (Jules), Origin of the name America. In Atlantic Monthly.
March, 1875.
Mariana (Juan de), Historia General de España. Madrid, 1780. folio.
2 vols.
Marie (Adolfo), El Nuevo Derecho de Gentes observado en Salvador,
Mayo 26, 1851. (Guatemala, 1851.) folio.
Marineo, Obra Compuesta de las Cosas Memorables e Claros Varones
de España. Alcala, 1530.
Marr (Wilhelm), Reise nach Central-Amerika. Hamburg, 1863. 2 vols.
Marroquin (Francisco), Carta al Emperador, Mayo 10, 1537; Agosto
15, 1539; Agosto 10, 1541; Noviembre 25, 1541; Junio 4, 1545. In
Cartas de Indias.
Marroquin (Francisco), Carta al Principe Don Felipe, Setiembre 20,
1547. In Cartas de Indias.
Marryatt, Narrative of the Travels of Monsieur Violet. New York,
1843.
Marshall (E. G.), Speech in U. S. Senate, Jan. 6, 1853. Washington,
1853.
Marshall (T. W. M.), Christian Missions. New York, 1864. 2 vols.
Martin (Robert Montgomery), History of the West Indies. London,
1836. 2 vols.
Martinez (Tomas), Discurso Pronunciado. Managua, 1857.
Martinez (Tomas), Mensaje. Managua, 1867.
Martire, Summario. In Ramusio, Viaggi, tom. iii.
Martyr (Peter), Anglimediolanensis Opera. Seville, 1511.
Martyr (Peter), De Nvper svb D. Carolo repertis Insulis. Basiliæ,
1521.
Martyr (Peter), De Orbe Decades. Alcala, 1516.
Martyr (Peter), De Orbe Novo Petri Martyris ab Angleria
Mediolanensis Protonotarii Cæsaris senatoris decades, n.pl., 1530.
Martyr (Peter), De Rebus Oceanicis. Paris, 1536.
Martyr (Peter), Libro Primo della Historia delle Indie Occidentali.
Vinegia, 1534.
Martyr (Peter), Opus Epistolarum. Cõpluti, 1530.
Marure (Alejandro), Bosquejo Histórico de las Revoluciones de
Centro-America. Guatemala, 1837.
Marure (Alejandro), Efemérides de los Hechos Notables en la
República de Centro-America. Guatemala, 1844.
Mavor (William), Universal History. New York, 1803-5. 25 vols.
Maximilian. De Molvccis Insulis. Coloniæ, 1523.
Mayer (Brantz), Mexico as it was and as it is. New York, 1844; also
Baltimore, 1846, and Philadelphia, 1847.
Mayer (Brantz), Mexico. Aztec, Spanish, and Republican. Hartford,
1853. 2 vols.
Mayer, MSS. [A Collection of thirty copies, from Mexican Archives.]
Mayorga (D. Mateo), Carta Junio 10, 1851. MS. folio.
Medina (Balthassar de), Chronica de la Santa Provincia de San Diego
de Mexico. Mexico, 1682. folio.
Mela (Pomponius), De Orbis Sitv. Basiliæ, 1522.
Mela (Pomponius), Libri de Situ Orbis. Vienna, 1518.
Mendez (Diego), Relacion hecha por. In Navarrete, Col. de Viages,
tom. i.
Mendez (Jose Mariano), Memoria del Estado Politico y Eclesiastico
de la Capitania General de Guatemala. Madrid, 1821.
Mendieta (Fr. Gheronimo de), Carta al Rey, Octubre 8, 1565. In
Provincia del Santo Evangelio.
Mendieta (Gerónimo de), Historia Eclesiástica Indiana. Mexico,
1870.
Mendoza (Antonio de), Cartas. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc.,
toms. iii., xiv.; and in Florida, Col. Doc.
Mendoza (Antonio de), Relacion desasosiegos en Perú, Junio, 1552.
In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. iii.
Mercator's Atlases. 1569 et seq.
Mesa y Leompart, Compéndio de la Historia de America. Paris, 1870.
2 vols.
Mexican Newspapers (cited by names and dates).
Mexico, A Trip to, by a Barrister. London, 1851.
Mexico, Actas del Congreso Constituyente Mexicano. Mexico, 1822-5;
10 vols.; also Mexico, 1824-5. 4 vols.
Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento. Mexico, 1854-5. 3 vols.
Mexico, Decretos. [Different dates.]
Mexico, Descargos del Marques de Gelves á los Cargos. MS. folio.
Mexico in 1842. New York, 1842.
Mexico, Memorial. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. vi.
Mexico, Memorias. [Of the different departments, Guerra, Hacienda,
etc., cited by dates.]
Mexico, Notes made in 1822. Philadelphia, 1824.
Mexico, Relacion Particular y Descripcion de toda la Provincia del
Santo Evangelio. MS. folio.
Mexico and Central America. The Problem and its Solution, n.pl.,
n.d.
Mexico y Guatemala, Cuestion de Limites. Mexico, 1875.
Meyer (Carl), Nach dem Sacramento. Aarau, 1855.
Michell (R. C.), A Statistical Account and Description of the
Island of Ruatan. In United Service Journal, August, 1850.
Mills (Nicholas), History of Mexico. London, 1824.
Mining Magazine. 10 vols. New York, 1853 et seq.
Modern Traveller (The). Mexico and Guatemala. London, 1825. 2
vols.; also Boston, 1830. 2 vols.
Mofras (Duflot de), Exploration du Territoire de L'Oregon. Paris,
1844. 2 vols.
Molina (Felipe), Bosquejo de la Republica de Costa Rica. New York,
1851.
Molina (Felipe), Boundary Question of Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Washington, 1851.
Molina (Felipe), Costa Rica y Nueva Granada. Washington, 1852.
Molina (Felipe), Coup d'Oeil rapide sur la République de Costa
Rica. Paris, 1850.
Molina (Felipe), Memoir on the Boundary Question, Costa Rica and
Nicaragua. Washington, 1851.
Möllhausen (Balduin), Diary of a Journey from the Mississippi.
London, 1858. 2 vols.
Mollien (G.), Voyage dans la République de Colombia en 1825. Paris,
1825. 2 vols.
Monglave (Eugène de), Résumé de l'Histoire du Mexique. Paris, 1826.
Monroe Doctrine, Paper by E. Everett; Letter of J. Q. Adams. New
York, 1863.
Montalboddo, Pæsi Nouamente retrouati, Et Nouo Mondo da Alberico
Vesputio, Florentino intitulato. Vicentia, 1507.
Montanus (Arnoldus), De Nieuwe en Onbekende Weereld. Amsterdam,
1671. folio.
Montanus (Arnoldus), Die Unbekante Neue Welt. [Translated by
Dapper.] Amsterdam, 1673.
Montauban, Relation du Voyage. Amsterdam, 1698.
Montejo, Carta describiendo el Rio Grijalva, Abril 13, 1629. In
Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xiii.
Montemayor y Cordova de Cuenca (Juan Francisco de), Svmarios de las
Cedvlas Ordenes por su Magestad hasta 1677. Mexico, 1678. folio.
Monterey (Narciso), Proyecto de reorganizacion nacional en
Centro-America. [Salvador, 1856.]
Montescaros, Carta sobre materia de encomendar Yndios, Abril 7,
1612. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. vi.
Montgomery (G. W.), Narrative of a Journey to Guatemala. New York,
1839.
Montúfar (Lorenzo), Respuesta al segundo Opúsculo de Señor Don
Lorenzo Montúfar sobre Jesuitas. Leon de Nicaragua, 1873.
Montúfar (Manuel), Memorias para la Historia de la Revolucion de
Centro America. Jalapa, 1832.
Mora (J. M. S.), Mejico y sus Revoluciones. Paris, 1836. 3 vols.
Morales (Agustin), A los Centro-Americanos. Managua, 1846.
Morales (Agustin), Polémica. [San Salvador, 1851.] folio.
Morazan (F.), Al Pueblo Centro-Americano. [David, 1841.]
Morazan (F.), Apuntes sobre la Revolucion de 1829. MS. 4to.
Morazan (F.), Testamento de. San Salvador, 1843.
Morazan and Carrera. A Collection of MSS. and Print. folio.
Morden (Robert), Geography Rectified. London, 1693.
Morel de Santa Cruz (Pedro Agustin), Visita Apostólica, de
Nicaragua y Costa Rica. Leon, 1874. MS. folio.
Morelet (Arthur), Travels in Central America. New York, 1871.
Morelet (Arthur), Voyage dans l'Amérique Centrale. Paris, 1857. 2
vols.
Morelli (Ciriacus), Fasti Novi Orbis et Ordinationum. Venetiis,
1776. 4to.
Moreno, Informacion sobre Excesos en Truxillo. In Pacheco and
Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. ii.
Moreno (Geronymo), Reglas ciertas y precisamente necessarias para
Juezes. Mexico, 1637.
Morgan, the Buccaneer. Harper's Monthly, vol. xix.
Moro (Gerardo), Informe en derecho sobre que la compañia de el Real
Asiento de la Gran Bretaña. Mexico, 1724.
Morrell (Benjamin), A Narrative of four Voyages to the South Sea,
etc. New York, 1832.
Mosaico Mexicano (El). Mexico, 1840-42. 7 vols.
Mosquitia, Convencion relativa á la Mosquitia entre Nicaragua y S.
M. B. Managua, 1860.
Mosquito, Black River Land-Grant. London, 1856. folio.
Mosquito Indian. In Voyages, A Collection of. (Churchill Coll.),
vol. vi.
Mosquito-Küste und Texas, Vollständige und Unpartheiische
Beschreibung. Charlottenburg, 1846.
Mosquitoland, Bericht über. Berlin, 1845.
Mosquito Question. A Collection.
Mosquito Question, Documents from the Squier Library. MS. and
print.
Mosquito Shore, Case of His Majesty's Subjects. London, 1789. 4to.
Mosquito Territory, Correspondence presented to the House of
Commons, July 3, 1848. London, 1848. folio.
Mota Padilla (Matias de la), Historia de la Conquista de la Nueva
Galicia. Guadalajara, 1742. MS. copy. folio.
Munguia (Clemente de Jesus), Pastorales. A Collection.
Munich Atlas. Munich, 1859.
Muñoz (Domingo), A Los Soldades, Mayo 19, 1852. [Comayagua, 1852.]
folio.
Muñoz (Jose Trinidad), Carta, Agosto 26 de 1851. MS. folio.
Muñoz (Jose Trinidad), El General Suscribe á los Nicaraguenses,
Agosto 10, 1851. [Leon, 1851.]
Muñoz (Juan Bautista), Historia del Nuevo Mundo. Madrid, 1793, tom.
i.
Muñoz (Miguel), Defensa de las llaves de San Pedro. Nueva York,
1834.
Munster (Seb.), Cosmographia. Basel, 1545; also editions 1553 and
1598. folio.
Murchison (Sir Roderick), Address. In Lond. Geog. Soc. Jour., vol.
xxviii.
Muro (Antonio de San Jose), Utilidades y medios de que todos los
Indios y Ladinos. Nueva Guatemala, 1798.
Museo Mexicano. Mexico, 1843-5. 5 vols.
Myers (H. M. and P. V. N.), Life and Nature under the Tropics. New
York, 1871.
Nacaome, Dictamen sobre los Pactos Celebrados por la Convencion.
Comayagua, 1848.
National (El). Leon, 1858 et seq.
Naharro, Relacion. In Doc. Inéd., tom. xxvi.
Napione di Coconato, Della patria di Cristoforo Colombo. Florence,
1808.
Napione di Coconato and De-Conti, Patria e Biografia del Grande
Ammiraglio D. Cristoforo Colombo. Roma, 1853.
National Calendar and Annals of the United States. Washington, 1822
et seq.
Navarrete (Martin Fernandez), Coleccion de los Viages y
Descubrimientos que hicieron los Españoles desde fines del Siglo
XV. Madrid, 1825-37. 5 vols.
Navarro, Relacion. In Doc. Inéd., tom. xxvi.
Navarro (Luis Diez), Extracto de una Relacion sobre el Antiguo
Reyno de Guatemala. Guatemala, 1850.
Navegaciones de los vascongados á los mares de Terranova. In
Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii.
New Granada and the United States of America, Final Controversy.
Liverpool, [1857.]
New York Chamber of Commerce. Fourth Annual Report, 1861-2. New
York, 1862.
New York Historical Society, Collections. New York, 1841 et seq.
Newe Lādes (Of the), and of ye people founde by the messengers of
the Kynge of portygale, named Emanuel. Antwerp, [1521 or 1522.]
Newen Zeytung, Copia der. n.pl., n.d.
Newe Zeytung, Ein Schöne. Augsburg, [1522.]
Nicaragua, A Los Pueblos del Estado. [Leon, 1852.] folio.
Nicaragua, Alocucion que Unos Granadinos. [Granada, 1854.] folio.
Nicaragua, Al Público. [Separate sheets, with various signatures
and dates.]
Nicaragua, Al Señor Publico, Diciembre 24 de 1851. Leon, 1851.
folio.
Nicaragua, América del Centro Memoria dirijida. Leon, 1847.
Nicaragua, (Asamblea Constituyente.) Managua, 1848.
Nicaragua, Asercion Documentada. Managua, 1870.
Nicaragua, Atlantic and Pacific International Ship-Canal Company.
Papers. Paris, n.d. folio.
Nicaragua, Boletin de Noticias. Leon, 1869 et seq.
Nicaragua, Boletin Oficial. Leon, etc., 1849 et seq.
Nicaragua, Boletin del Pueblo. Leon, 1863 et seq.
Nicaragua, Bombardement et entière Destruction de Grey-town. Paris,
1856.
Nicaragua, Código de la Lejislacion. Managua, 1871. folio.
Nicaragua, Coleccion de Decretos y Acuerdos Gubernativos Emitidos
de Enero á Deciembre de 1863. Managua, 1866.
Nicaragua, Coleccion de Decretos Gubernativos, 1864-68. Managua,
1866-72. 5 vols. Managua, 1873. 2 vols.
Nicaragua, Coleccion de Varios Trabajos Importantes. [Managua,
1852.] folio.
Nicaragua, Contestacion al Mensaje del Presidente, 1875. Managua,
1875. 4to.
Nicaragua, Contestacion a Unos Versos Publicados en Leon por Dn
Pablo Buitrago, etc. [Granada, 1751.] folio.
Nicaragua, Contestacion del Sr Presidente del Congreso al Mensage.
Managua, 1869. folio.
Nicaragua, Constitucion Politica, 1838. [Leon, 1838.]
Nicaragua, Continuacion de Correspondencia Oficial de Limites entre
Nicaragua i Costa-Rica. Managua, 1872.
Nicaragua, (Contratas con Compañias de Vapores.) [Leon, 1849.] 4to.
Nicaragua, Contrato de Canalizacion. Leon, 1849.
Nicaragua, Contrato de Ferro-Carril. Managua, 1864.
Nicaragua, Contrato de Ferro-Carril de Leon a Corinto. Managua,
1873.
Nicaragua, Contrato del Ferro-Carril de Nicaragua. Panamá, 1873.
Nicaragua, Convencion Consular Ajustada entre la Republica de
Nicaragua i el Reino de Italia. Managua, 1872.
Nicaragua, Convencion de Estradicion entre la Republica de
Nicaragua i los Estados-Unidos de America. Managua, 1871.
Nicaragua, Convencion postal entre Nicaragua y S. M. B. Managua,
1860.
Nicaragua, Convencion Postal. Managua, 1869.
Nicaragua, Convencion Relativa á la Mosquitia. Managua, 1860.
Nicaragua, Convenio Celebrado en la Ciudad de Granada el dia 19 de
Agosto, 1851. Granada, 1852.
Nicaragua, Convenio de 14 de Julio. Leon, 1865.
Nicaragua, Convention between the United States and Nicaragua,
n.pl., 1871.
Nicaragua, Correo del Istmo. Leon, 1849 et seq.
Nicaragua, Correspondence between E. G. Squier, S. H. Weems, and
the Governments of Nicaragua and Guatemala. MS. folio.
Nicaragua, Correspondencia entre Costa Rica sobre la Reclamacion.
Managua, 1875. 4to.
Nicaragua, Correspondencia relativa a los Asuntos entre Nicaragua
i Costa Rica. Managua, 1872.
Nicaragua, Cuenta Documentada del Comisionado. [Leon, 1843.]
Nicaragua, Datos relativos a la proyectada Inmigracion. Managua,
1868.
Nicaragua, Decretos Legislativos. Managua, 1867 et seq.
Nicaragua, Decretos y Acuerdos de la Administracion Tomas Martinez.
Managua, 1859-61. 4 vols.
Nicaragua, Decretos y Acuerdos Gubernativos, Jose Laureano Pineda.
Granada, 1583.
Nicaragua, Decretos y Acuerdos de la Junta de Gobierno. Managua,
1857.
Nicaragua, Defensa de los Derechos del Pais. [Leon, 1843.]
Nicaragua, De Orden del Director al territorio Mosquitos. Leon,
1847.
Nicaragua, Dictamen de la Comision del Congreso sobre la Eleccion
Presidencial. Managua, 1871.
Nicaragua, Differences with the United States, n.pl., n.d.
Nicaragua, Discursos pronunciados el 15 de Setiembre. Managua,
1858.
Nicaragua, Documentos de la Arbitrariedad del Gobierno. Octubre 12
de 1852. [Leon, 1852.] folio.
Nicaragua, Documentos Creados sobre Platicas de Paz. Granada, 1854.
folio.
Nicaragua, Documentos Diplomáticos para servir á la Historia.
Paris, 1869. 4to.
Nicaragua, Documentos Diplomaticos Relativos a las Reclamaciones.
Managua, 1872.
Nicaragua, Documentos relativos á la Reclamacion del General
Barrios. Managua, 1865.
Nicaragua, Documentos relativos al Armisticio, Marzo, 1848. Leon,
1848.
Nicaragua, Documentos relativos a las Ultimas Negociaciones entre
Nicaragua i Costa Rica. Managua, 1872.
Nicaragua, Documentos sobre la Mediacion. Managua, 1869.
Nicaragua, El Comandante General de la Caballeria del Ejercito
Democratico. [Leon, 1854.] folio.
Nicaragua, El Director del Estado, "Buques Esportadores Junio 2,
1847." MS. folio.
Nicaragua, El Director del Estado, "Sobre Comercio Junio 10, 1839."
MS. folio.
Nicaragua, El Director del Estado, "Sobre Comercio Mayo 16, 1842."
MS. folio.
Nicaragua, El Director Supremo á los Pueblos del Estado "Fruto
Chamorro." [Managua, 1853.] folio.
Nicaragua, Empresa Centro-Americana del Canal de. Managua, 1863.
Nicaragua, Estudios sobre el Canal de. [Managua], 1870.
Nicaragua, Gaceta del Gobierno Supremo. Leon, 1848 et seq.
Nicaragua, Gaceta de Nicaragua. Managua, 1863 et seq.
Nicaragua, Gaceta Oficial. Granada, etc., 1852 et seq.
Nicaragua, Informe sobre la Espedicion al Rio Coco. Managua, 1869.
Nicaragua, Interposicion de la R. N. de C. A. para el Pacifico
Desenlace de la Cuestion Politica. Leon, 1851.
Nicaragua, Las Cenizas de San Juan del Norte. Puerto Limon, 1874.
Nicaragua. Lector. !Si eres hombre de honor, etc. [Leon, 1853.]
folio.
Nicaragua, Lettre du Délégué de la Population Française de
Grey-town. Paris, 1856.
Nicaragua, Leyes Emitidas por el Congreso. Granada, 1859.
Nicaragua, Leyes. [Numerous separate laws, cited by subject and
date.]
Nicaragua. London, [1851.]
Nicaragua, Loor al Clero de Nicaragua, "Los Leoneses." Julio 21 de
1851. [Leon, 1852.] folio.
Nicaragua, Los Anales. Masaya, 1872 et seq.
Nicaragua, Manifiestos. [Many different subjects and dates.]
Nicaragua, Memoria por el Ministro sobre Mosquitos. Leon, [1847.]
Nicaragua, Memorias del Ministro de Fomento. [Guerra, Hacienda,
Interior, Justicia, Relaciones, etc., of different years.]
Nicaragua, Mensajes del Presidentes. Managua, 1857 et seq.
Nicaragua, Message of the President of the United States on the
Bombardment of San Juan de Nicaragua. (33d Cong., 1st. Sess., Ex.
Doc. 85.)
Nicaragua, Ministerio de Gobierno, Hacienda, Guerra, etc. [Decrees
and Proclamations, cited by their dates.]
Nicaragua, Mociones hechas por el Representante. [Managua, 1852.]
folio.
Nicaragua, Municipal Ordinances of Greytown. Kingston, 1851.
Nicaragua, Muy Estimable M. E. Geo. Squier, Marzo 27, 1853. [Leon,
1853.] folio.
Nicaragua, Muy Honorable Camara. [Managua, 1852.] folio.
Nicaragua, Nueva Discusion entre S. M. B. y Nicaragua sobre
Mosquitos. Leon, 1849.
Nicaragua, Nueva Era del Estado. Leon, 1854 et seq.
Nicaragua, Observaciones al Fallo Emitido en 10 de Octubre. Leon,
1871.
Nicaragua, Para Conocimiento del Publico se dan á Luz los
Documentos Oficiales. Managua, 1869.
Nicaragua, Porvenir de Nicaragua. Valle Gottel, 1871 et seq.
Nicaragua, Primera Amonestacion. [Leon, 1851.] folio.
Nicaragua, Private Prospectus of the Atlantic and Pacific Ship
Canal Company. London, n.d. folio.
Nicaragua, Pronunciamento y Acta de Organizacion de un Gobierno.
[Leon, 1851.] folio.
Nicaragua, Prospecto de la Compañia de Diligencias. Managua, 1861.
Nicaragua, Protesta dirijida al Señor Don J. L. White, y Trascrita
al Señor Don Cornelius Wanderbilt. Agosto 25 de 1851. MS. folio.
Nicaragua, Protesta Publica al Gobierno. [Leon, 1853.] folio.
Nicaragua, Registro Oficial. San Fernando, etc. 1845 et seq.
Nicaragua, Reglamento General para la Cuenta y Razon de la Hacienda
Publica. Managua, 1861.
Nicaragua, Reglamento Interior de las Escuelas Primarias de la
Republica. Managua, 1869.
Nicaragua, Reglamentos para la Organizacion Regimen. Leon, 1850.
Nicaragua, Renuncia Presentada al Soberano Congreso. Managua, 1873.
Nicaragua, Representacion Nacional. [San Salvador, 1851.] folio.
Nicaragua, Resolucion en órden á llevarle una mision de
Franciscanos. n.pl., 1688. folio.
Nicaragua, Seizure of General Walker. Washington, 1858.
Nicaragua, Semanal Nicaraguense. Managua, 1872 et seq.
Nicaragua, Señores R. R. del Siglo Febrero 27 de 1852. Jorje Obispo
de Nicaragua. [Leon, 1852.] folio.
Nicaragua, Ship-Canal Reports of Explorations. Washington, 1874.
4to.
Nicaragua, Tarifa para la Marina del Puerto de Corinto. Managua,
1869.
Nicaragua, Telégrafo Setentrional. Granada, 1857 et seq.
Nicaragua, The Ashes of Greytown. n.pl., n.d.
Nicaragua, The Destiny of Central America. Boston, 1856.
Nicaragua, Tratado con Costa Rica. Managua, 1869 and 1871.
Nicaragua, Tratado, entre Nicaragua i el Reino de Italia. Managua,
1872.
Nicaragua, Tratado, entre Nicaragua i Espana. Managua, 1868.
Nicaragua, Tratado, entre Nicaragua i los Estados-Unidos de Norte
America. Managua, 1868.
Nicaragua, Tratado, entre Nicaragua y Honduras. Managua, 1867.
Nicaragua, Tratado, entre Nicaragua y la Bélgica. Managua, 1860.
Nicaragua, Tratado, entre Nicaragua y la Francia. Managua, 1860.
Nicaragua, Tratado, entre Nicaragua y S. M. B. [Managua, 1860.]
Nicaragua, Union de Nicaragua. Managua, 1861 et seq.
Nicaragua y Honduras, Documentos relativos a la Legacion. Granada,
1851.
Nicaragua and the Filibusters. In Blackwood's Edin. Mag., March,
1856.
Nicaraguan Question. n.pl., 1858.
Nicaraguense (El), Granada, 1855 et seq.
Niebla (Fernando de), Memorial Tocante á las Cosas que hay en la
Provincia y Costa de Zepotitlan. [Jalisco], 1579. MS. folio.
Niles (John M.), History of South America and Mexico. Hartford,
1844. 2 vols.
Niles' Register. Baltimore, etc., 1811-49. 76 vols.
Niño, Asiento. In Squier's MSS.
North American Miscellany. Boston, etc., 1851.
North American Review. Boston, 1819 et seq.
Noticia Individual de los derechos que Segun lo Reglado en el
ultimo Real Proyecto de 5 de Abril de 1720. Barcelona, 1732.
Nouvelles Annales des Voyages. Paris, 1819-60. 168 vols.
Nueva España, Breve Resumen del Descubrimiento de la. Madrid,
[1767.] MS. royal folio. 2 vols.
Nueva Granada, Decreto del Congreso nacional sobre indígenas. MS.
1834.
Nueva Granada, Division de la República en departamentos. MS. Nov.
21, 1831.
Nueva Granada, La Convencion del Estado de la 17 de Diciembre de
1831. Bogotá, 1831. folio.
Nueva Granada, Memorias. [Different departments and dates.]
Nueva Granada, Mensajes del Presidentes. Bogotá, 1835 et seq.
Nueva Granada, Rejistro Oficial. Bogotá, 1837 et seq.
Nuevo Viajero Universal. Madrid, 1859-62. 4to. 5 vols.
Nuñez de Balboa. See Balboa.
Nuñez, Tratado da Sfera. Olisipone, 1537.
Observaciones al Dictamen que la comision de negocios Eclesiásticos.
La presentado al Congreso de Guatemala. Mexico, 1846.
Ocios de Españoles Emigrados. London, 1824-9. 9 vols.
Odorico di Porto Maggiore del Frivli, Viaggio del Beato Frate. In
Ramusio, Viaggi, tom. ii.
Odriozola (Manuel de), Coleccion de Documentos Literarios del Peru.
Lima, 1863-78. 11 vols.
Odriozola (Manuel de), Documentos Históricos del Peru. Lima,
1863-79. 10 vols.
Ogilby (John), America: Being the latest and most accurate
Description of the New World. London, 1671. folio.
Ojeda (Alonso), Noticias Biográficas del Capitan. In Navarrete,
Col. de Viages, tom. iii.
Ojeda (Alonso), Real Cedula por la cual, con referencia á lo
Capitulado, etc., Junio 10, 1501. In Navarrete, Col. de Viages,
tom. iii.
Oliveira (Emm.), Lettres Écrites de la Californie. In Nouvelles
Annales des Voy., 1849, tom. cxxiii.
Ordenanças para remedio de los Daños é Inconvenientes que se siguen
de los descaminos i Arribadas maliciosas de los Navíos que Navegan
de las Indias Occidentales. Madrid, 1661. folio.
Ordenanças Reales del Consejo de Indias. Valladolid, 1603. folio.
Ordenanças Reales para el Gobierno de los Tribunales de Contaduría
Mayor en los Reynos de las Indias. n.pl., n.d. folio.
Ordenanças Reales, para la Casa de Contratacion de Sevilla y para
otras cosas de las Indias. Seville, 1647.
Ordenanzas. n.pl., 1548.
Ordenanzas de la Junta de Guerra de Indias. [Madrid], 1634.
Ordenanzas of July 14, 1556. Guatemala, 1556.
Ordenanzas reales para Tribunales de Contaduría. Valladolid, 1606.
4to.
Órdenes de la Corona. A Collection. MS. folio. 7 vols.
Ordoñez y Aguiar (Ramon de), Historia de la Creacion del Cielo y
de la Tierra. n.pl., 1796. MS. folio.
Orellana (Matias), Refutacion de las Calumnias contra el canónigo
D. Matias Orellana. Leon, 1872.
Original Letters to an Honest Sailor. London, n.d.
Ortelivs (Abrahamvs), Theatrvm Orbis Terrarvm. Antverpiæ, 1573.
folio.
Osborne (John), Guide to the West Indies. London, 1845.
Otis (F. N.), Isthmus of Panamá. New York, 1867.
Otis (F. N.), Tropical Journeyings. In Harper's Magazine, vol. xix.
Ovalle (Alonso de), Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Chile.
Rome, 1649.
Overland Mail Company, Observations suggested. n.pl. [1857.]
Overland Monthly. San Francisco, 1868 et seq.
Oviedo y Valdés (Gonzalo Fernandez de), Cartas al Emperador. In
Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. iii.
Oviedo y Valdés (Gonzalo Fernandez de), De la Natural Hystoria de
las Indias. Toledo, 1526.
Oviedo y Valdés (Gonzalo Fernandez de), Histoire du Nicaragua. In
Ternaux-Compans, Voy., serie ii., tom. iii.
Oviedo y Valdés (Gonzalo Fernandez de), Historia General y Natural
de las Indias. Madrid, 1851-5. 4 vols. 4to.
Oviedo y Valdés (Gonzalo Fernandez de), Hystoria General.
Salamanca, 1547.
Oviedo y Valdés (Gonzalo Fernandez de), Relacion Sumaria de la
Historia Natural de las Indias. In Barcia, Historiadores Prim.,
tom. i.
Pacheco (Joaquin F.) and Cárdenas et al., Coleccion de Documentos
Inéditos relativos al Descubrimiento, Conquista y Colonizacion de
las Posesiones Españolas en America. Madrid, 1864-81. 34 vols.
Pacific Mail Steamship Company, Memorial to Congress. n.pl., n.d.
Packet Intelligencer. Belize, 1854 et seq.
Pagès (F.), Nouveau Voyage autour du Monde. Paris, 1797. 3 vols.
Palacio (Diego García de), Carta dirigida al Rey de España, año
1576. [With English translation.] Albany, 1860. (No. 1 of Squier's
Collection.)
Palacio (Diego García de), Description de la Province de Guatemala.
In Ternaux-Compans, Recueil de Doc.
Palacio (Diego García de), Relacion hecha por el Licenciado Palacio
al Rey D. Felipe II. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. vi.
Palacio (Diego García de), San Salvador und Honduras im Jahre 1576.
Berlin, etc., 1873.
Palafox y Mendoza (Juan), Carta al M. R. Padre Andres de Rada, Mayo
4, 1649. n.pl., MS. folio.
Palliser (John), Solitary Rambles. London, 1853.
Panamá, Boletin Oficial. Panamá, 1862 et seq.
Panamá, Cedulas de 20 de Febrero de 1534 y Carta sobre la
Navegacion del rio Chagres. Spain, 1534. MS. folio.
Panamá, Chiriquí Improvement Company's Prospectus. New York, 1855.
Panamá, Constitucion Política del Estado Soberano de Panamá.
Panamá, 1875.
Panamá, Decretos. [Separate sheets, with various signatures and
dates.]
Panamá, Decretos i Reglamentos de la Caja de Ahorros de. Panamá,
1847.
Panamá, Descripcion. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. ix.
Panamá, El Constitucional del Istmo. Panamá, 1831 et seq.
Panamá, Gaceta de. Panamá, 1855 et seq.
Panamá, Gaceta del Istmo. Panamá, 1841 et seq.
Panamá, La Crónica Oficial. Panamá, 1849 et seq.
Panamá, La Estrella de Panama. Panama, 1849 et seq.
Panamá, Leyes expedidas por la Asamblea Legislativa del Estado
Soberano de Panamá, en sus sesiones de 1876-7; 1879-80. Panamá,
1877, 1880. 2 vols.
Panamá Mail. Panamá, 1869 et seq.
Panamá Massacre, A Collection of the Principal Evidence. Panamá,
1857.
Panamá, Memoria que presenta el Secretario de Gobierno á la
Asamblea Lejislativa, 1878. Panamá, 1879. 4to.
Panamá, Memorias. [Different departments and dates.]
Panamá, Mensages del Presidentes. Panamá, 1860 et seq.
Panamá Mercantile Chronicle. Panamá, 1866 et seq.
Panamá Notes, Scrap Book.
Panamá, Original Papers. London, 1744.
Panamá, Projet d'Organisation du service de Santé de la compagnie
du Canal Interocéanique de Panamá. Paris, 1880.
Panamá, Prolongacion del Ferro-Carril de Panama. Panamá, 1877.
Panamá Railroad Company, Abstract of Testimony and Argument.
[Washington, 1861.]
Panamá Railroad Company, Communication of the Board of Directors.
New York, 1855 et seq.
Panamá Railroad Company, Contract between the Republic of New
Granada and the. New York, 1850.
Panamá Railroad, Report of T. B. King. Washington, 1849.
Panamá, Reales Cedulas. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom.
xvii.
Panamá, Recopilacion de Ordenanzas de la Provincia de Veraguas
hasta 1850. Cartagena, 1851.
Panamá, Recortes de un periódico Correspondencia
Histórico-Política. Panamá, 1871.
Panamá, Reglamento de Administracion i Contabilidad Militar.
Panamá, 1875.
Panamá, Report on the Coal Mines of Bocas del Toro. New York, 1853.
Panamá Star and Herald. Panamá, 1849 et seq.
Panamá, Taxation of Citizens of the United States in Transitu.
Wash. 1851.
Panamá, The Isthmus of. [London, 1851.]
Panamá, The Panamá Massacre in 1856. Panamá, 1857.
Panamá, Tropical Journeyings. New York, 1859.
Panamá, Über die Strassenverbindung der Beiden Meere bei Panamá.
[Berlin, 1849.] 4to.
Papeles de Jesuitas. A Collection. MS. folio.
Papeles Franciscanos. A Collection. MS. folio. 2 vols.
Papeles Varios. A Collection of Spanish Pamphlets. 216 vols.
Parédes (Victoriano de D.), Coast of Mosquito and the Boundary
Question. New York, 1855.
Parker (Samuel), Journal of an Exploring Tour. Ithaca, 1842.
Parliamentary Debates. See Hansard, T. C.
Parra (Joseph Gomez), Importantissimas y verdaderas resoluciones
para Eclesiasticos. Puebla, 1712.
Patton (J. Harris), History of the United States of America. New
York, 1867.
Payne (Edward J.), History of the European Colonies. London, 1877;
also edition London, 1878.
Payne (Edward J.), Voyages of the Elizabethan Seamen. London, 1880.
Payne (John), A New and Complete System of Universal Geography.
New York, 1798. 4 vols.
Payno, Cronología de Mexico. In Soc. Mex. Geog., tom. vi.
Pelaez (Francisco de P. Garcia), Memorias para la Historia del
Guatemala. Guatemala, 1851-2. 3 vols.
Pellion (Odet), Report on Golfo Dulce, June, 1852. n.pl., n.d.
Pemberton (J. Despard), Facts and Figures relating to Vancouver
Island and British Columbia. London, 1860.
Peña (Juan Antonio), Diario del Viage del Marques de San Miguel de
Aguayo. In Mayer, MSS.
Peña y Peña (Manuel de la), Lecciones de Practica Forense Mejicana.
Mexico, 1835-9. 4 vols.
Penonomé, El Coclesano. Penonomé, 1881 et seq.
Peralta (M.), La République de Costa-Rica. Genève, 1871.
Perez (Jerónimo), Biografia del Coronel Don Crisanto Sacasa.
[Masaya], 1875.
Perez (Jerónimo), Memorias para la Historia de la Compaña Nacional.
Masaya, 1873.
Perez (Jerónimo), Memorias para la Historia de la Revolucion de
Nicaragua. Managua, 1865.
Perez (Max.), Contestacion al manifiesto del presidente de la
Republica de Nicaragua. Leon, 1862.
Perez (Max.), Contestacion al voto de las actualidades. Leon, 1862.
Perez y Lopez (Javier), Teatro de la Legislacion Universal de
España e Indias. Madrid, 1791-8. 4to. 28 vols.
Peschel, Geschichte der Entdeckungen. Stuttgart, 1858.
Peter Martyr. See Martyr, Peter.
Peto (Sir S. Morton), Resources and Prospects of America. New York,
1866.
Pfeiffer (Ida), A Lady's Second Journey round the World. New York,
1856.
Phillips (J. Arthur), The Mining and Metallurgy of Gold and Silver.
London, 1867.
Pigafetta (Francisco Antonio), Le Voyage et nauigation faict par
les Espaignolz es Isles de Mollucques. MS. of 16th century.
Pigafetta (Francisco Antonio), Viaggio atorno il mondo fatto et
descritto. In Ramusio, Viaggi, tom. i.
Pigghe, De æquinoctiorum Sol. Paris, [1520.]
Pim (Bedford) and Berthold Seemann, Dottings on the Roadside in
Panamá, Nicaragua, and Mosquito. London, 1869.
Pim (Bedford), The Gate of the Pacific. London, 1863.
Pineda (José Laureano), pronunciado por el Director Supremo del
Estado. Granada, 1853.
Pinelo (Antonio de Leon), Autos, acuerdos y decretos de gobierno
del real y supremo consejo de las Indias. Madrid, 1658.
Pinelo (Antonio de Leon), Discurso sobre la Importancia, forma y
disposicion de la Recopilacion de Leies de Indias. [Madrid], 1623.
folio.
Pinelo (Antonio de Leon), Epitome de la Bibliotheca Oriental, etc.
Madrid, 1737-8. folio. 3 vols.
Pinelo (Antonio de Leon), Relacion que en el Consejo de Indias.
[Madrid], 1638. folio.
Pinkerton (John), A General Collection of Voyages and Travels.
London, 1808-14. 17 vols. 4to.
Pinkerton (John), Modern Geography. London, 1807. 3 vols. and
atlas. 4to.
Pinzon, De Navigatione Pinzoni Socii Admirantis, et de rebvs per
eum repertis. In Grynæus, Novvs Orbis.
Pio IX., Carta al Obispo de Nicaragua. Noviembre, 1849. [Leon,
1850.]
Piratas de la America y luz à la defensa de las costas de Indias
Occidentales. Madrid, 1793.
Pitman (Robert Birks), A Succinct View and Analysis of a Ship Canal
across the Isthmus of America. London, 1825.
Pizarro (Francisco), Informacion hecha en Panamá al navio
Concepcion, 1534. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. x.
Pizarro y Orellana (Fernando), Varones Ilvstres del Nvevo Mvndo.
Madrid, 1639. folio.
Poinsett (J. R.), Notes on Mexico. London, 1825.
Ponce de Leon. See Leon.
Ponce, Relacion de las Cosas. In Documentos Inéditos, toms. lvii.,
lviii.
Pontelli (L. de), Explorations in Central America. In Nouvelles
Annales des Voy., 1857, tom. clv.; and in California Farmer, Nov.
7, 14, 1862.
Ponton (Mungo), Earthquakes and Volcanoes. London, 1868.
Porras, Relacion de viage de 1502. In Navarrete, Col. de Viages,
tom. i.
Poussin (Guillaume Tell), De la Puissance Américaine. Paris, 1848.
2 vols.
Povedo (Ignacio), Esposicion. Leon, 1872.
Prescott (William H.), Historia de la Conquista de México. Mexico,
1844-6. 3 vols.; also Mexico, 1845-6, 3 vols.; also Madrid,
1847-50, 4 vols.
Prescott (William H.), Historia de la Conquista del Perú. Mexico,
1850. 2 vols.
Prescott (William H.), Historia del Reinado de los Reyes Católicos
D. Fernando y Isabel. Mexico, 1854, 2 vols.
Prescott (William H.), History of the Conquest of Mexico. New York,
1844. 3 vols.; also Philadelphia, 1860. 3 vols.
Prescott (William H.), History of the Conquest of Peru. Phil.,
1871. 2 vols.
Prescott (William H.), History of the Reign of Ferdinand and
Isabella the Catholic. Philadelphia, 1871. 3 vols.
Prior (Samuel), All the Voyages round the World. New York, 1846.
Providencias Reales de Varios asuntos y fechas. Spain, 1596-1784.
MS. folio.
Provincia del Santo Evangelio de Nueva España. [A Collection of
MSS. of the 16th century.] folio.
Provinciæ sive Regiones in India Occidentali. Valladolid, 1520.
Ptolemy, Cosmographia. Ulmæ, 1482; and other editions.
Ptolemy, In hoc opere hæc continentvr Geographiæ Cl. Ptolemæi.
Rome, 1508.
Puente and Marquez, Carta de Alonso de la Puente y Diego Marquez
sobre descubrimientos, Enero 28, 1519. In Pacheco and Cárdenas,
Col. Doc., tom. ii.
Puerto (Nicolas Antonio del), Convite á los Católicos Amer. Mexico,
1811.
Puga (Vasco de), [cedulario] Provisiones, Cédulas, Instrumentos de
su Magestad. Mexico, 1563.
Purchas, His Pilgrimage. (1st Part.) London, 1614. 9 books in 1
vol. fol. 11 l. 918 pp. 18 l.
Purchas, His Pilgrimes. London, 1625-6. 5 vols. folio.
Puydt (Lucien de), Account of Scientific Explorations on the
Isthmus of Darien, 1861, 1865. In Lond. Geog. Soc. Jour., vol.
xxxviii.
Puydt (M. le Colonel), Rapport pour faire suite á la collection de
tous les documents relatifs au Guatemala. Bruxelles, 1842.
Puydt (R. de) and Van Denberghe Binckum, Colonisation dans
L'Amérique Centrale. Paris, 1844.
Quarterly Review, London, 1809 et seq.
Quiñonez (Faustino), A la Memoria del General Benemérito de la
Patria Don Francisco Morazan. San Salvador [1859].
Quintana (Manuel Josef), Vidas de Españoles Célebres. Paris, 1845.
Rafn, Abstract. In Lond. Geog. Soc. Journal, 1838, vol. viii.
Rafn, Antiquitates Americanæ. Hafnia, 1837.
Ramirez (Jose Fernando), Proceso de Residencia contra Pedro de
Alvarado. Mexico, 1847.
Ramirez (Norberto), Nicaragüenses, Junio 19, 1849. Leon, n.d.
folio.
Ramirez (Sebastian), Vida de Motolinia. In Icazbalceta, Col. Doc.,
tom. i.
Ramusio (Giovanni Battista), Navigationi et Viaggi. Venetia: tom.
i., 1554; tom. ii., 1583; tom. iii., 1565. 3 vols. folio.
Raynal (G. T.), Histoire Philosophique et Politique. Paris, 1820-1.
12 vols. and atlas.
Real Cédula. In Col. Doc. Inéditos; Navarrete, Col. de Viages;
Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc.
Reales Cédulas. [A collection of MSS.] folio. 2 vols.
Reales Ordenes. [A collection of Cédulas, etc., of the 18th
century.] Madrid. folio. 12 vols.
Reclus (M. A.), Exploraciones á los istmos de Panamá y de Darien
en 1876-77 y 78. Madrid, 1881. folio.
Recopilacion de las Leyes del Gobierno Español que Rigen en la
Republica. Mexico, 1851.
Recopilacion de Leyes de los Reynos mandadas Imprimir y Publicar
por Carlos II. Madrid, 1791. folio. 4 vols.
Rees (L. E.), Reports and Documents relating to the Sacra Familia
Mines. London, [1866.]
Reflexiones en contestacion al articulo comunicado inserto en el
Universal, Numero 169. Madrid, 1821.
Refutacion de la Crónica Electoral de Granada seguida de una
Revista sobre la eleccion del mismo Distrito. Managua, 1866.
Regeneracion (La). San Salvador, 1876 et seq.
Regil (Jose María) and Alonso Manuel Peon. Estadistica del
Departamento de Yucatan. In Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii.
Reglamento Provisional del Correo-Maritimo a sus Indias. [Madrid],
1764.
Reglamento y Aranceles Reales para el Comercio Libre de España à
Indias. n.pl., 1778.
Reichardt (C. F.), Centro-Amerika. Braunschweig, 1851.
Reichardt (C. F.), Nicaragua. Braunschweig, 1854.
Reisch (Georges), Margaritha Philosophica. [Basle], 1517.
Relacion de la Derrota, que hizo un bergantin en 1527. In Florida,
Col. Doc.
Relacion de los Oidores, 1531. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc.,
tom. xiv.
Relacion y Derrotero, 1533. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc.,
tom. xiv.
Relaciones del viaje hecho á las islas Molucas, 1537. In Pacheco
and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., v.
Remesal (Antonio de), Historia de la Provincia de S. Vicente de
Chyapa. Madrid, 1619. 4to.
Remon (Miguel), El Informe de Gobierno de la Provincia de Santo
Domingo de el Darien. n.pl., 1754. MS. folio.
Repertorio Americano (El). Londres, 1826 et seq.
Restrepo (Jose Manuel), Historia de la Revolucion de Colombia.
Paris, 1827. 10 vols. atlas in 4to.
Revilla (Jose de la), Resumen Histórico de la Conquista de Nueva
España. In Solis, Hist. Mex. Edition Madrid, 1843.
Revisor de la Politica y Literatura Americana. New York, 1850 et
seq.
Revolution in Spanish America, Outline of the. London, 1817.
Revue Américaine. Paris, 1826 et seq.
Revue des Deux Mondes. Paris, 1839 et seq.
Revue Française. Paris, 1864.
Richardson (Charles S.), Report on Chiriquí. New York, 1857.
Ringrose (Basil), The Dangerous Voyage and bold attempts of Captain
B. Sharp. London, 1684.
Rivas, El Porvenir de Nicaragua. Rivas, 1867 et seq.
Rivera (Juan Antonio), Diario Curioso. In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie
ii., tom. vi.
Rivera (Manuel), Historia Antigua y Moderna de Jalapa. Mexico,
1869-71. 5 vols.
Rivera (Manuel), Los Gobernantes de México. Mexico, 1872. 2 vols.
Rivinus (Eduard Florens), Atlantis. Leipzig, 1827. 2 vols.
Roberts (Orlando W.), Narrative of Voyages and Excursions on the
East Coast and Interior of Central America. Edinburgh, 1827.
Robertson (William), The History of America. London, 1777. 2 vols.
4to.; also London, 1783. 3 vols.
Robinson (Conway), An Account of Discoveries in the West until
1519. Richmond, 1848.
Robinson (William Davis), Memorias de la Revolucion de Megico.
London, 1824.
Robinson (William Davis), Memoirs of the Mexican Revolution.
Philadelphia, 1820; also London, 1821. 2 vols.
Robles (Antonio de), Diario de los años 1665 y 1703. In Doc. Hist.
Mex., serie i., tom. ii.
Robles (Antonio de), Resguardo contra el Olvido, vida de D. Alonso
de Cuevas Dávalos. Mexico, 1757.
Rocha (Jesus de la), Código de la Legislacion de Hacienda Pública,
Navegacion y Comercio de Nicaragua. Managua, 1871. folio.
Rocha (Jesus de la), Código de la Legislacion de Nicaragua.
Managua, 1873-4. 4to. 3 vols.
Rocha (Jesus de la), Suplemento del Libro Octavo del Código de la
Legislacion de Nicaragua. Managua, 1871. folio.
Rocha (Pedro Francisco de la), Revista Politica sobre la Historia
de la Revolucion de Nicaragua. Granada, 1847.
Roche (I. L.), Fernand Cortez. Lille, 1858.
Rodriguez (Y.), Discurso Pronunciado el 20 de Octubre del corriente
año. San Salvador, 1853.
Rogers (Woode), A cruising Voyage round the World. London, 1718.
Rojas, Instruccion á Gabriel de Rojas para el descubrimiento del
Desaguadero, 1527. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xiv.
Rol (El). San Vicente, 1855 et seq.
Romero (Elias), Los Salvages ó La Caridad. Mexico, 1855.
Roquette, Geographie de la Nouvelle Granada. In Nouvelles Annales
des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii.
Rosecrans (W. S.), La Doctrina Monroe. Mexico, 1870.
Rosecrans (W. S.), Manifest Destiny. Mexico, 1870.
Rosser (W. H.), Short Notes on the Winds of the Pacific. London,
1868.
Rosser (W. H.), The Navigation of the Three Oceans. London, 1868.
Rossi, Souvenirs d'un Voyage en Orégon. Paris, 1864.
Rouhaud (Hippolyte), Les Régions Nouvelles. Paris, 1868.
Route du Port de Panama à celui de Acapulco. MS. folio.
Roux de Rochelle, Dissertation sur les Voyages de Sébastien Cabot.
In Soc. Geog., Bulletin, April, 1832.
Roux de Rochelle, Fernand Cortes, Poëme. Paris, 1838.
Royal Geographical Society of London. See Lond. Geog. Soc.
Rubalcava (J. G. de), Tratado Histórico Político y Legal de el
Comercio de las Indias. Cádiz, [1750.]
Ruchamer, Newe unbekanthe landte. Nuremberg, 1508.
Ruiz (I.), Calendario Salvadoreño. San Salvador, 1873 et seq.
Russell (William), The History of America. London, 1778. 4to. 2
vols.
Saavedra (Doña Aldonza de), Carta á Fray Bartolomé de las Casas,
Mayo 6, 1562. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. vii.
Sacaza (Daniel), Protesta de la Compañia de Diligencias. Granada,
1866.
Sacro Bosco (Giovanni di), Sphera Volgare. Venetiis, 1537.
Saenz (Mateo), Sermon predicado el Domingo de Panes, 18 de Marzo
de 1860. Managua, 1860.
Sagra, Histoire physique et politique de l'île de Cuba. Paris,
1838; and atlas.
Saint-Amant (De), Voyages en Californie et dans l'Orégon. Paris,
1854.
Saint Francis of Assisi, The Life of; and Sketch of the Franciscan
Order. New York, 1867.
Salazar (Francisco Cervantes), Mexico en 1554. Mexico, 1875.
Salazar, Misiones de Vera Paz. MS. folio.
Salazar (Remijo), Oracion Fúnebre el dia 5 de Octubre de 1849.
[Leon, 1849.]
Salazar y Olarte (Ignacio de), Historia de la Conquista de Mexico.
Segunda Parte. [Continuation of Solis.] Córdova, 1743. folio; also
Madrid, 1786. 4to.
Salcedo (Diego Lopez de), Instruccion y poder que dió el
Gobernador á Gabriel de Rojas para que fuese al descubrimiento del
Desaguadero, 1527. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xiv.
Salcedo (Diego Lopez), Traslado Testimoniado de una Cédula
del Emperador nombrando á Salcedo, Gobernador del Golfo de las
Higueras, Nov. 20, 1525. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom.
xiv.
Salgado (Juan Ramon); Memoria de los Acontecimientos Ocurridos en
el Pueblo. Leon de Nicaragua, 1872.
Salmas, Relacion de varios Sucesos. In Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. xxvi.
Salmon, Modern History. London, 1744. folio. 3 vols.
Salvador, Al Público. [Various dates and signatures.]
Salvador, Boletin Oficial. San Salvador, 1875 et seq.
Salvador, Cámara de Senadores, "Comunicacion de Dorotos
Vasconzelos, Febrero 22 de 1851." [San Salvador, 1851.] folio.
Salvador, Coleccion de Proclamas. n.pl., n.d. 4to.
Salvador, Comunicaciones entre el Supremo Gobierno y el Consulado
Británico. [San Salvador, 1850.] folio.
Salvador, Contestacion del Gobierno á el Consul de S. M. B. San
Salvador, 1849. 4to.
Salvador, Contestacion del Presidente del Legislativo al Mensaje
del Presidente de la Republica, Enero 21 de 1875. San Salvador,
1875. folio.
Salvador, Correspondencia entre Negrete y Squier. [San Salvador,
1853.] folio.
Salvador, Crónica del Dia. Leon, 1865. 4to.
Salvador, De Orden del Supremo Gobierno y para Conocimiento de los
Pueblos. [San Salvador, 1851.] folio.
Salvador, Dialogo entre D. Chepe y D. Nacho, Noviembre 23 y 28,
1851. [San Salvador, 1851.] folio.
Salvador, Diario Oficial. San Salvador, 1875 et seq.
Salvador, Difficulties with the British Authorities. Washington,
1851.
Salvador, Discurso Pronunciado por el Señor Senador Presidente,
Febrero 19 de 1851. San Salvador, 1851.
Salvador, Documentos para manifestar la Justicia con que el
Gobierno se niega á reconocer algunos créditos que reclama el
Consul Yngles. [San Salvador, 1849.] 4to.
Salvador, Elecciones Prócsimas "Por Los Salvadoreños," Noviembre
15, 1851. [Cojutepeque, 1851.] folio.
Salvador, El Gobierno del Salvador y la Cúria Eclesiástica, San
Salvador, 1874.
Salvador, El Porvenir del Salvador deducido del Análisis de los
hechos. Leon, 1872.
Salvador, El Senado y Cámara de Diputados a sus Comitentes. Febrero
22 de 1851. San Salvador, 1851. folio.
Salvador, Estadistica General, 1858-[1860.] San Salvador,
1858-[1860.]
Salvador, Gaceta. San Salvador, 1849 et seq.
Salvador, Gaceta de Gobierno. San Salvador, 1850 et seq.
Salvador, Gaceta Oficial. San Salvador, 1876 et seq.
Salvador, La Justicia y la Razon "Los Verdaderos Imparciales,"
Noviembre 28, 1851. [San Salvador, 1851.] folio.
Salvador, La Verdad, "Los Patriotas Vicentinos," Noviembre 24 de
1851. San Salvador, [1851.]
Salvador, Memorias [of different departments and dates].
Salvador, Mensaje del Presidentes. San Salvador, 1857 et seq.
Salvador, Ministerio General, etc. [Various decrees, cited by
dates.]
Salvador, Modelo para llevar las Cuentas de la Tesorería. San
Salvador, 1860.
Salvador, Noticia Funesta "Temblores en San Salvador." [Comayagua],
1854. folio.
Salvador, Opinion del Estado del Salvador con relacion á los
sucesos de Nicaragua. San Salvador, 1851. folio.
Salvador, Plan Propuesto para la Construccion de un Camino de
Madera. [San Salvador, 1853.]
Salvador, Primera Réplica á los Libelistas del. San Salvador, 1872.
Salvador, Protocolo de las Conferencias entre los Comisionados en
los dos Gobiernos de Honduras y el Salvador. San Salvador, 1871.
Salvador, Señores Editores del Salvador Regenerado, Junio 20 de
1846. [San Salvador, 1847.]
Salvador, Tarifa de Aforos para la Ecsaccion de Derechos en el
Comercio. San Salvador, [1849.] folio.
Salvador y Honduras, Manifiesto de las Conferencias. San Salvador,
1848.
Sámano, Sentencia contra el piloto Rodrigo Niño. In Pacheco and
Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xi.
Sammlung aller Reisebeschreibungen. Leipzig, 1874-74. 21 vols. 4to.
Sampson (Marmaduke), Central America and the Transit. New York,
1850.
Sandoval (Prudencio), Historia de la Vida y hechos del Emperador
Carlos V. Pamplona, 1634. folio. 2 vols.
San Francisco Newspapers. [Cited by name and date.]
San Juan, La Ocupacion de. [Leon], 1848.
San Juan del Norte de Nicaragua, Documentos relativos á lo Ocurrido
en el puerto de. Leon, 1841.
San Martin (Jose María), A sus Habitantes, Abril 18 de 1854. [San
Salvador, 1854.] folio.
San Salvador. Tratado de la Fundacion del Convento de la Ciudad.
MS. folio.
Sanson D'Abbeville (Le S.), L'Ameriqve en Plusievrs Cartes. Paris,
n.d. 4to.
Santangelo (O. de A.), Circular to Members of Congress. New York,
1844.
Santangelo (O. de A.), Las Cuatro primeras discusiones del Congreso
de Panamá. Mexico, 1826.
Santarem, Carta del Excmo Señor Vizconde de Santarem. In
Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. ii.
Santarem (M. le Vicomte), Memoire sur la question de savoir á
quelle époque que L'Amérique Meridionale. In Soc. Geog. Bul., série
iii., tom. vii.
Santarem (M. le Vicomte), Recherches Historiques, Critiques et
Biblographiques sur Améric Vespuce et ses Voyages. Paris, 1842.
Santiago de Veraguas. El Republicano. Santiago, 1879 et seq.
Santos (Francisco Juan), Chronologia Hospitalaria y Resumen
historial de la sagrada religion. Madrid, 1715-16. folio. 2 vols.
San Vicente, Crónica de San Salvador, 1852.
Saravia (Miguel Gonzalez), Bosquejo Politico Estadistico de
Nicaragua. Guatemala, 1824.
Sardá (José), Decreto de contribucion forzosa. 1829.
Saturday Magazine. London, 1834-41. 8 vols, folio.
Scarlett (P. Campbell), South America and the Pacific. London,
1838. 2 vols.
Schedel (Hartmann), Registrum. Nuremberg, 1493.
Scherer (Jean Benôit), Recherches Historiques. Paris, 1777.
Scherzer (Karl), Bericht an die Kaiserliche Akademie der
Wissenschaften, 1852-5. Wien, 1856.
Scherzer (Karl), Die Indianer von Istlávacan. Wien, 1856.
Scherzer (Karl), Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by
the Austrian Frigate Novara. London, 1861. 3 vols.
Scherzer (Karl), Travels in the Free States of C. America. London,
1857. 2 vols.
Scherzer (Karl), Ueber die Handschriftlichen Werke des Padre
Ximenez. n.pl., n.d.
Scherzer (Karl), Wanderungen durch die Mittel-Amerikanischen
Freistaaten. Braunschweig, 1857.
Schmeller, Ueber einige der handschriftlichen Seekarten. In
Akademie der Wissenschaften, Abhandl., tom. iv.
Schmidt (Gustavus), The Civil Law of Spain and Mexico. New Orleans,
1851.
Schöner (John), Luculentissima quœdã terræ totius descriptio.
Nuremberg, 1515.
Schöner (John), Opvscvlvm Geographicvm. n.pl., [1533.] 4to.
Schöner (John), Orbis Typvs. Nuremberg, 1515.
Schoolcraft (Henry R.), Archives of Aboriginal Knowledge.
Philadelphia, 1860. 6 vols. 4to.
Schulz (Johann Ephraim). [Letter in German; Blewfields, Mosquito
Shore, Central Amerika, July 20, 1847.] n.pl., n.d.
Scraps on Interoceanic Communication.
Scribner's Monthly Magazine. New York, 1871 et seq.
Scrope (G. Poulet), Considerations on Volcanoes. London, 1825.
Sealsfield (Charles), Scenes and Adventures in Central America.
London, 1852.
Seaward (Edward), Narrative of his Shipwreck. London, 1841. 2 vols.
Seemann (Berthold), History of the Isthmus of Panamá. Panamá, 1867.
Seemann (Berthold), History of the Isthmus of Panamá. In Panamá
Star and Herald, 1868.
Selfridge (Thomas Olliver), Reports of Explorations, Ship-Canal by
way of Darien. Washington, 1874. 4to.
Selva (José Manuel), Salud Dn José Manuel Mayo 10 de 1852, Segunda
Capiladá. (Tegucigalpa, 1852.)
Selva (Jose Manuel), Vindicacion relativa a la Calumnia Forjada.
[Tegucigalpa, 1852.]
Seward (William H.), Speech in U. S. Senate, January 31, 1856.
n.pl., n.d.
Sharp (Barth.), The Voyages and Adventures of. London, 1684.
Sharp's South Sea Waggoner. MS. folio.
Shelvocke (George), A Voyage round the World. London, 1726.
Shepard (A. K.), Papers on Spanish America. Albany, 1868.
Ship-Canal Question, State of the. London, n.d.
Shufeldt (Robert W.), Reports of Explorations, Ship-Canal by way of
Tehuantepec. (42d Cong., 2d Sess., Ex. Doc. 6.) Washington, 1872.
4to.
Sicard (Felix), Simples Notes sur L'Amérique Centrale. Paris,
1863.
Sierralta, Real Titulo de Gobernador de Costa Rica á Coronado,
Abril 8, 1565. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xi.
Siglo (El). San Salvador, 1851 et seq.
Silliman (Benjamin), The American Journal of Science. New Haven,
1819 et seq. 107 vols.
Silva (Juan de), Advertencias Importantes acerca del Bven Gobierno
de las Indias. Madrid, 1621. folio.
Simon (Pedro), Primera Parte de las Noticias Historiales de las
Conquistas de Tierra Firme. Cuenca, 1626. folio.
Simonin (L.), La Vie Souterraine. Paris, 1867.
Sintra (Pietro di), La Nauigation del, scritta per Meser Aluise da
ca da Mosto. In Ramusio, Viaggi, tom. i.
Sivers (Jezór von), Ueber Madeira und die Antillen nach
Mittel-Amerika. Leipzig, 1861.
Sleigh (Adderly W.), The Prince of Panamá. [London, 1847.]
Smithsonian Institution. Annual Report of the Board of Regents.
Washington, 1853 et seq.
Snowden (Richard), The History of North and South America.
Philadelphia, 1832.
Sociedad de Amantes de la Pátria de Guatemala. Catálogo de los
Individuos. [Nueva Guatemala, 1799.]
Sociedad Económica de Amantes de la Pátria de Guatemala. Nueva
Guatemala, 1797; and other years.
Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística, Boletin. Mexico, 1861
et seq. [Includes Instituto Nacional.]
Sociedad Patriótica de Guatemala, Junta General. [Guatemala, 1811
et seq.]
Société de Géographie, Bulletin. Paris, 1825 et seq.
Soconusco, Ocupado Militarmente de Orden del Gobierno Mexicano.
Guatemala, 1842.
Soden (Julius), Die Spanier in Peru und Mexiko. Berlin, 1794. 2
vols.
Solinus-Camers (Joannis), Enarrationes. Vienna, 1520.
Solis (Antonio de), Historia de la Conquista de Mexico. Madrid,
1684. folio; also Madrid, 1843; and various other editions.
Solis (Diaz de) and Yanez Pinzon, Reise des. In Sammlung, tom.
xiii.
Solórzano Pereyra (Juan de), De Indiarum Jure. Lugduni, 1672. 2
vols, folio.
Solórzano Pereyra (Juan de), Politica Indiana. [Translation of
preceding work.] Madrid, 1776. 2 vols, folio.
South America and Mexico, A View of the. New York, 1825. 2 vols.
New York, 1827. 2 vols.
Southern Quarterly Review. New Orleans, 1842 et seq.
Southey (Robert), History of Brazil. London, 1810, 1817, 1819. 4to.
3 vols.
South Sea Company, An Examination and Explanation of the. London,
1720.
South Sea Company, A Further Examination. London, 1720.
South Sea Company, A View of the Coasts, Countries, and Islands
within the Limits of the. London, 1711.
Spanish America, A Concise History of the. London, 1741.
Spanish America, Observations on the Instructions given by the
President of the United States, etc. London, 1829.
Spanish America and the United States. By a Merchant of
Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1818.
Spanish Conquests in America, Stories of the. Boston, 1830. 3 vols.
Spanish Empire in America. London, 1747.
Spanish Lies, A Libel of. London, 1596.
Spanish Settlements in America. Edinburg, 1762.
Spotorno, Codice Diplomático. Genoa, 1823.
Squier (E. G.), Apuntamientos sobre Centro-America, etc. Paris,
1856.
Squier (E. G.), Chemin de Fer Interocéanique de Honduras. Paris,
1855.
Squier (E. G.), Collection of Rare and Original Documents, etc.,
concerning the Discovery and Conquest of America. Albany, 1860.
4to.
Squier (E. G.), Comunicacion á Costarica, Octubre 1, 1849. San
Salvador, 1849.
Squier (E. G.), Compéndio de la Historia Política de
Centro-America. Paris, 1856.
Squier (E. G.), Die Staaten von Central-Amerika. Leipzig, 1856.
Squier (E. G.), Guatemala, n.pl., n.d.
Squier (E. G.), Honduras and Guatemala. [New York, 1845.]
Squier (E. G.), Honduras. Descriptive, etc. London, 1870.
Squier (E. G.), Honduras Inter-Oceanic Railway. London, 1857.
Squier (E. G.), Honduras Inter-Oceanic Railway, Preliminary Report.
New York, 1854.
Squier (E. G.), Information on the Coal Mines of the Lempe River.
London, 1856.
Squier (E. G.), Letter to H. S. Foote, New York, 1850. n.pl., n.d.
Squier (E. G.), Lettre à propos de la lettre de M. Brasseur de
Bourbourg. Paris, 1855.
Squier (E. G.), Monograph of Authors who have written on the
language of Central America. New York, 1861.
Squier (E. G.), Nicaragua: Its People, Scenery, Resources,
Condition, and Proposed Canal. New York, 1860; and New York, 1856.
2 vols.; also New York, 1860.
Squier (E. G.), Notes on Central America. New York, 1855.
Squier (E. G.), Notes sur les États de Honduras. Paris, 1855.
Squier (E. G.), Report to the Directors of the Honduras
Inter-Oceanic Railway. [London, 1858.] folio.
Squier (E. G.), Ruins of Tenampua. 1853. n.pl., n.d.
Squier (E. G.), The Serpent Symbol. New York, 1851.
Squier (E. G.), The State of Central America. New York, 1858.
Squier (E. G.), Travels in Central America, particularly in
Nicaragua. New York, 1853. 2 vols.
Squier (E. G.), Tropical Fibres. New York, 1861.
Squier (E. G.), Waikna. See Bard, Sam. A.
Squier's MSS. A Collection of MSS. relating to Central America.
[Quoted separately.]
Stamler (John), Dyalogvs. Augsburg, 1508.
Steinhowel, Chronica Beschreibung. Franckenfort, 1535.
Stephens (John L.), Incidents of Travel in Central America. New
York, 1841. 2 vols.
Stephens (John L.), Incidents of Travel in Yucatan. New York, 1858.
2 vols.
Stephens (John L.), Viaje á Yucatan en 1841-2. Campeche, 1848.
Stevens (Henry), Historical and Geographical Notes on the Earliest
Discoveries in America, 1453-1530. New Haven, 1869.
Stewart (William Frank), Last of the Filibusters. Sacramento, 1857.
Stillman (J. D. B.), Seeking the Golden Fleece. San Francisco,
etc., 1877.
Stobnicza's Ptolemy. Cracoviæ, 1512.
Stout (Peter F.), Reminiscences of Nicaragua. In American Notes
and Queries, 1857.
Stout (Peter F.), Nicaragua. Philadelphia, 1859.
Strain (J. G.), Paper on the History and Prospects of Inter-Oceanic
Communication, June 17, 1856. New York, 1856.
Strangeways (Thomas), Sketch of the Mosquito Shore. Edinburgh,
1822.
Streber (R.), Exposicion Documentada sobre los Sucesos de Omoa.
San Salvador, 1874.
Suarez y Navarro (Juan), Historia de México y del General A. L. de
Santa Anna. Mexico, 1850.
Suarez y Navarro (Juan), Informe sobre las Causas y Carácter de los
frecuentes cambios políticos en el estado de Yucatan. Mexico, 1861.
Suchimilco, Carta de sus Caciques, Mayo 2, 1563. In Pacheco and
Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xiii.
Suckau (Henri de), Les Grandes Voies du Progrès, Suez et Honduras.
Paris, 1869.
Suckau (Henri de), Une Voie Nouvelle à travers L'Amérique
Centrale. Paris, 1866.
Sue (Joseph), Henri le Chancelier, Souvenirs d'un Voyage dans
l'Amérique Centrale. Paris, 1857.
Sumarios de las Cédulas que se han Despachado desde el año 1628
hasta 1677. Mexico, 1678.
Sutil y Mexicana. Relacion del Viage hecho por las Goletas. Madrid,
1802; atlas in 4to.
Syllacio, ad Sapiẽtissimũ ... de ĩsulis, etc. Pavia, 1494 or 1495.
Tápia (Andrés de), Relacion sobre la Conquista de México. In
Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., tom. ii.
Tapia (Eugenio de), Historia de la Civilizacion Española. Madrid,
1840. 4 vols.
Taylor (George), Speech in U. S. House of Rep., December 22, 1858.
n.pl., n.d.
Tegucigalpa. La Municipalidad de Tegucigalpa á sus Conciudadanos.
Julio 29 de 1853. [Honduras, 1853.] folio.
Tejerino (Trinidad), Observaciones ó Apuntes para la Nacionalidad
de Centro-America. Leon, 1871.
Tempsky (G. F. von), Mitla: A Narrative of Incidents and Personal
Adventures. London, 1858.
Ternaux (Henri), Bibliothèque Américaine. Paris, 1837.
Ternaux-Compans (Henri), Recueil de Documents et Mémoires originaux
sur l'Histoire des Possessions Espagnoles dans l'Amérique. Paris,
1840.
Ternaux-Compans (Henri), Voyages, Relations et Mémoires originaux
pour servir à l'histoire de la Découverte de l'Amérique. Paris,
1837-41. 2 series, 10 and 8 vols.
Tevet (Andrea), Historia dell' India America. Vinegia, 1561.
Tezozomoç (Alvaro), Histoire du Mexique. Paris, 1853. 2 vols.
Tezump (Francisco Garcia), Quiché MS.
Thayer (Eli), Speech in U. S. House of Rep., January 7, 1858.
Washington, 1858.
Thesaurus Geographicus. London, 1709. folio.
Thiers (Adolphe), The Mississippi Bubble. New York, 1859.
Thomas (Lewis F.), Cortez, the Conqueror. Washington, 1857.
Thompson (G. A.), Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.
London, 1829.
Thompson (John), Speech in U. S. House of Rep., January 12, 1858.
Washington, 1858.
Thorne (Robert), The Booke made by the right worshipful. In
Hakluyt's Voy., vol. i.
Ticknor (George), History of Spanish Literature. New York, 1854.
3 vols.
Tigre Island, Seizure of, Message of the President of the United
States. Washington, 1850.
Tomes (Robert), Panamá in 1855. New York, 1855.
Torfæus, Grœnlandia Antiqua. Hauniæ, 1706.
Torquemada (Juan de), Monarquía Indiana. Madrid, 1723. 3 vols.
folio.
Torrente (Mariano), Historia de la Revolucion Hispano-Americana.
Madrid, 1830. 3 vols.
Toscanelli (Pablo), Cartas á Cristóbal Colon. In Navarrete, Col.
de Viages, tom. ii.
Touron (R. R.), Histoire Générale de l'Amérique. Paris, 1768. 8
vols.
Towle (George M.), Pizarro: His Adventures and Conquests. Boston,
1879.
Townshend (F. French), Ten Thousand Miles of Travel. London, 1869.
Trautwine (John C.), Rough Notes of an Exploration of the Rivers
Atrato and San Juan. 1852. In Franklin Institute Journal, vols.
27-8.
Tribune Almanac. New York, 1838 et seq.
Trollope (Anthony), The West Indies and Spanish Main. New York,
1860.
Tudela (Benjamin de), Itinerarium. Leyden, 1633.
Tudela (Benjamin de), Itinerarium ex versione Montani. Antwerp,
1575.
Tudela (Benjamin de), Travels of Benjamin, Son of Jonas. London,
1783.
Tumultos de Mexico. Collection of Documents. MS. folio.
Twee Onderscheydene Togten. In Aa, Naaukeurige Versam., tom. xi.
Tytler (Patrick Fraser), Historical View of the Progress of
Discovery. Edinburg, 1833; New York, 1855.
Uitvoerige Reys-Togten. In Gottfried, Reysen, iii.
Ulloa (Antonio de), Noticias Americanas. Madrid, 1772.
Ulloa (Francisco de), A Relation of the Discouery, etc. [1539.]
In Hakluyt's Voyages, vol. iii.; Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii.;
Pinkerton's Col. Voyages, tom. xiv.
Underwood (W. L.) and F. A. Emory. Report of the Commissioners of
Central American Colonization Society to Nicaragua. San Francisco,
1866.
Underwood (W. L.) and F. A. Emory, Report von Abgesandten der
Central-Amerikanischen Colonisation-Gesellschaft nach Nicaragua.
San Francisco, 1866.
Union (La). San Salvador, 1849 et seq.
United Service Journal. London, 1829 et seq.
United States Catholic Magazine. Baltimore, 1844 et seq.
United States Government Documents. [Coast Survey; Commerce and
Navigation; Commercial Relations; Foreign Relations, etc. Cited by
their dates.]
United States Government Documents. [Senate Doc., House Doc.,
Journals, Reports, etc.] Cited by their Congress and Session.
United States Service Magazine. New York, 1854 et seq.
Universidad Nacional (La). San Salvador, 1875 et seq.
Uriarte (Ramon), Observaciones sobre la Union de las Repúblicas
Centro-Americanas. Managua, 1871.
Uring (Nathaniel), A History of the Voyages and Travels of. London,
1726.
Urricœchea, Mapoteca Colombiana. London, 1860.
Urruela (José Antonio Ortiz), Segunda Réplica á ... en defensa de
los Autoridades de Salvador. San Salvador, 1860.
Urruela (José Antonio Ortiz), Tercera Réplica. San Salvador, 1860.
Urruela (Manuel Ortez), La Inglaterra y los Estados-Unidos en
Centro-America. Paris, 1856.
Urrutia (Cárlos de), Modelo de Humanidad. Guatemala, 1821.
Uznay (Chas.), Informe de sobre el Establecimiento de una Oficina
de Ensayar. Managua, 1868.
Vadianus (Joachim), Epitome. Antwerp, 1535.
Valle (Andres), Manifesto del Presidente. San Salvador, 1876.
Valois (Alfred de), Mexique, Havane, et Guatemala. Paris, n.d.
Van Buren (Martin), Speech in U. S. Senate, March, 1826.
Washington, 1826.
Varnhagen (F. A. de), Examen de quelques points de l'histoire
géographique du Brésil. Paris, 1858.
Varnhagen (F. A. de), Historia de Brazil. Madrid, 1854.
Varnhagen (F. A. de), Le Premier Voyage de Amerigo Vespucci.
Vienne, 1869.
Varnhagen (F. A. de), Les Nouvelles recherches sur les derniers
voyages du navigateur Florentin. Vienna, 1869.
Varnhagen (F. A. de), Vespuce et son premier voyage. Paris, 1858.
Varnhagen (F. A. de), Vespuce son caractère. Lima, 1865.
Varthema, Discorso sopra lo Itinerario di Lodouico Barthema. In
Ramusio, Viaggi, tom. i.
Varthema, Itinerario nello egitto. Venetia, [1520.]
Vasco di Gama. See Gama.
Vasconzelos (Doroteo), Á sus Conciudadanos, Diciembre 4, 1850. [San
Salvador, 1850.] folio.
Vasconzelos (Doroteo), Á sus Pueblos, Enero 10 de 1851. San
Salvador, 1851.
Vasconzelos (Doroteo), Discurso 25 de Enero, 1850. San Salvador,
[1850.]
Vasconzelos (Doroteo), Felicitacion al Benemérito Presidente del
Salvador. Julio 12 de 1850. San Salvador, 1850. folio.
Vassar (John Guy), Twenty Years around the World. New York, 1862.
Vazquez (Francisco), Chronica de la Provincia del Santissimo Nõbre
de Jesvs de Gvatemala. Guatemala, 1714.
Vazquez (Francisco), Relatione che mando Francesco Vazquez di
Coronado. In Ramusio, Viaggi, tom. iii.
Vega (G. de la). See Garcilaso de la Vega.
Vega (Manuel de la), Historia del Descubrimiento de la America,
por Cristóbal Colon. Mexico, 1826.
Velasquez (Pedro), Illustrated Memoir of an Eventful Expedition
into Central America. New York, 1850; also London, 1853.
Velasquez (Pedro), Memoire illustré d'une expedition remarquable.
n.pl., n.d.
Venegas (Miguel), Natural and Civil History of California. London,
1759. 2 vols.
Venegas (Miguel), Noticia de la California y de su Conquista.
Madrid, 1757. 3 vols.
Vera Paz, Charte de Concession du Territoire de. [Bruxelles, 1840.]
Vera Paz, Colonisation de. Bruxelles, 1840.
Veraguas, Decretos. MS. 1827 et seq.
Veraguas, Gobernador Ant. del Rio, al Gefe Politico de Santiago.
MS. Oct. 1, 1844.
Veraguas, Gobierno de, al Congreso nacional, sobre las Bocas del
Toro. MS. Sept. 24, 1842.
Veraguas, Indice de las ordenanzas del año de 1853. MS.
Veraguas, Memorias é Informes. MS. 1835 et seq.
Veraguas, Notas oficiales sobre extrangeros en Bocas del Toro. MS.
1833.
Veraguas, Ordenanzas sobre elecciones expedidas por la Legislatura
provincial. MS. 1855.
Verdaderas Razones contra las aparentes. [Guatemala], 1824.
Verne (Jules), The Exploration of the World. New York, 1879.
Verrazzano (Giouanni da), Relatione. In Ramusio, Viaggi, tom. iii.
Vespucci (Amerigo), De Secundariæ Navigatinis Cursu. In Navarrete,
Col. de Viages, tom. iii.
Vespucci (Amerigo), Eerste Zee-Togt van Alonso D'Ojeda en Amerikus
Vesputius. In Gottfried, Reysen, tom. iii.
Vespucci (Amerigo), Lettera di. Florence, 1516.
Vespucci (Amerigo), Lettera, Sumario, etc. In Ramusio, Viaggi, tom.
i.
Vespucci (Amerigo), Mundus Novus. n.pl., 1504.
Vespucci (Amerigo), Navigationum Alberici Vesputii Epitome. In
Grynæus, Novvs Orbis, Basiliæ, 1532.
Vespucci (Amerigo), Viages. In Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii.
Vetancvrt (Avgvstin de), Menologio Franciscano de los Varones mas
Señalados. n.pl., n.d. folio; also Mexico, 1871.
Vetancvrt (Avgvstin de), Teatro Mexicano. Mexico, 1698. folio; also
Mexico, 1870-1. 4 vols.
Veytia (Mariano), Historia Antigua de Méjico. Mexico, 1836. 3 vols.
Viagero Universal (El). Madrid, 1796-1801. 43 vols.
Viagero Universal en America. Barcelona, 1833.
Viages al Maluco, Primero el de Magallanes y Falero. In Navarrete,
Col. de Viages, tom. iv.
Viages Menores. In Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii.
Vigne (G. T.), Travels in Mexico, South America, etc. London, 1863.
2 vols.
Villagvtierre Soto-Mayor (Jvan de), Historia de la Conquista de la
Provincia de el Itza. [Madrid, 1701.] folio.
Villalovos, Enterramiento de Don Pedro de Alvarado, 1568. In
Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xi.
Villault de Bellefond. Relation des costes d'Afrique. Paris, 1669.
Viteri y Ungo, Esposicion á las Cámaras. [Leon, 1852.] folio.
Viva la Union de los Tres Estados, Febrero 28 de 1852. San
Salvador, 1852.
Vocabulario Geografico. In Cartas de Indias.
Voyage de l'Empereur de la Chine. Paris, 1685.
Voyages, A Collection of Voyages and Travels (Churchill
Collection). London, 1752. 8 vols, folio.
Voyages, A Collection of Voyages and Travels (Harleian Collection).
London, 1745. 2 vols, folio.
Voyages, A New Collection of Voyages, Discoveries, and Travels.
London, 1767. 2 vols, folio.
Voyages, A New Universal Collection of Voyages and Travels. London,
1755. 3 vols.
Voyages, A Selection of Curious, Rare, and Early Voyages. London,
1812. 4to.
Voyages, An Historical Account of all the Voyages round the World.
London, 1774-81. 6 vols.
Voyages, Curious and Entertaining. London, 1790. 4to.
Voyages, New Voyages and Travels. London, [1818-23.] 9 vols.
Voyages, Nouvelle Bibliothèque des Voyages. Paris, n.d. 12 vols.
Voyages, Recueil des Voyages au Nord. Amsterdam, 1715-27. 8 vols.
Voyages, The World Displayed; or, A Curious Collection of Voyages
and Travels. London, 1760-1. 20 vols.
Wafer (Lionel), A New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of
America. London, 1699; also London, 1704.
Wagner (Moritz) and Karl Scherzer, Die Republik Costa Rica in
Central-Amerika. Leipzig, 1857.
Walker (William), The War in Nicaragua. Mobile, 1860.
Walton (William), Exposé of the Dissensions of Spanish America.
London, 1814.
Walton (William Jr.), Present State of the Spanish Colonies.
London, 1810. 2 vols.
Wappäus (J. E.), Geographie und Statistik von Mexiko und
Central-Amerika. Leipzig, 1863.
Warburton (Eliot), Darien, or the Merchant Prince. London, 1852.
3 vols.; also London, 1851.
Ward (H. G.), Mexico in 1827. London, 1828. 2 vols.
Watt (Geo. B.), Across the Isthmus of Panama. In American Geog.
and Stat. Soc., Bulletin, vol. i., pt. iii.
Weatherhead (W. D.), An Account of the late Expedition against the
Isthmus of Darien. London, 1821.
Wells (William V.), Explorations and Adventures in Honduras. New
York, 1857.
Wells (William V.), Walker's Expedition to Nicaragua. New York,
1856.
West Indies, A Description of the Spanish Settlements. London,
1774. 4to.
West Indies, Geographical and Historical Description of the
principal objects of the present war in. London, 1741.
West-Indische Spieghel, door Athanasium Inga. [Amsterdam, 1624.]
Westminster Review. London, 1824 et seq.
West- und Ost-Indischer Lustgart. Cöllen, 1618.
Wheelwright (William), Observations on the Isthmus of Panamá.
London, 1844.
Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner. In Pacific R. R. Reports, vol. iii.
Wight (Samuel F.), Adventures in California and Nicaragua in Rhyme.
Boston, 1860.
Wilson (Edward), The Golden Land. Boston, 1852.
Wilson (Robert Anderson), A New History of the Conquest of Mexico.
Philadelphia, 1859.
Wilson (Robert Anderson), Mexico and its Religion. New York, 1855.
Wilson (Robert Anderson), Mexico: Its Peasants and its Priests.
New York, etc., 1856.
Winterbotham (W.), An Historical View of the U. S. of America.
London, 1795. 4 vols.; also London, 1812. 4 vols.
Winterfeldt (L. von), Der Mosquito-Staat. Berlin, 1845.
Woodbury (Levi), Speech in U. S. Senate, March 1, 1826. n.pl., n.d.
Worth (Joseph), Adventures and Narrow Escapes in Nicaragua. San
Francisco, 1872.
Wortley (Lady Emmeline Stuart), Travels in the United States. New
York, 1851.
Wytfliet (Corn.), Descriptionis Ptolemaicæ augmentum. Lovanii,
1598.
Xahila (Francisco Ernandez Arana), Cakchiquel MS.
Xeres, Uerdadera relacion de la conquista del Perú. Seville, 1534.
Young (A. J.), The American Statesman. New York, 1855.
Young (Philip), History of Mexico. Cincinnati, 1850.
Young (Thomas), Narrative of a Residence on the Mosquito Shore.
London, 1842.
Yucatan, Estadística de. Mexico, 1853.
Yucatan, Exposicion del Gobierno al Supremo Gobierno de Créditos.
Mérida, 1868. 4to.
Zach, Jonction de la mer. In Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, tom.
xxvi.
Zaguirre (Pedro de), Relacion. In Squier's MSS., tom. vii.
Zahrtmann, Remarks on the Voyage to the Northern Hemisphere,
ascribed to the Zeni of Venice. In London Geog. Soc. Journal, 1835,
vol. v.
Zamacois (Niceto), Historia de Méjico. Barcelona, etc., 1877-80.
tom. i.-ii.
Zamora y Coronado (Jose M.), Biblioteca de Legislacion Ultramarina.
Madrid, 1844-46. 4to. 6 vols.
Zapata (Francisco D.), Al Senador Abaunza, Diciembre 3 de 1851.
MS. folio.
Zapata (Francisco D.), Breve Compéndio, Octubre 24 de 1852. [Leon],
1852.
Zapata (Francisco D.), Carta dirijida por. [Comayagua, 1853.]
Zapata (Francisco D.), Supremo Director, Marzo 24, 1853. MS. folio.
Zárate (Augustin de), Historia del Descubrimiento y Conquista del
Peru. In Barcia, Historiadores Primitivos, tom. iii.
Zavala (Lorenzo de), Ensayo histórico de las Revoluciones de
Megico. Paris, etc., 1831. 2 vols.
Zebadua (Marcial), Manifestacion pública sobre su mision
diplomática. Guatemala, 1832.
Zelaya (José Maria), Al Público, Diciembre 7, 1853. [San Salvador,
1853.] folio.
Zelaya (José Maria), Junta Jeneral del Hospital, Set. 26, 1852. [San
Salvador, 1852.]
Zeledon (Pedro), Contestacion que da al papel que con fecha 27 de
Enero. Leon, 1864.
Zeno, Dei Commentarii del viaggio in Persia. Venezia, 1558.
Zorzi. See Montalboddo.
Zuazo, al muy ilustre Monsieur de Xevres, Enero 22, 1518. In
Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. i.
Zumárraga, Carta á su Magestad del Obispo electo D. Juan de
Zumárraga, Agosto 27, 1529. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc.,
tom. xiii.
Zumárraga, Botschafft des Grossmechtigsten Königs Dauid. n.pl.,
n.d.
[Illustration: MAP OF DARIEN AND TIERRA FIRME ]
HISTORY
OF
CENTRAL AMERICA.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
SPAIN AND CIVILIZATION AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
GENERAL VIEW—TRANSITION FROM THE OLD TO THE NEW
CIVILIZATION—HISTORICAL SKETCH OF SPAIN—SPANISH
CHARACTER—SPANISH SOCIETY—PROMINENT FEATURES OF THE
AGE—DOMESTIC MATTERS—THE NEW WORLD—COMPARATIVE CIVILIZATIONS
AND SAVAGISMS—EARLIEST VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY.
How stood this ever changing world four hundred years ago? Already
Asia was prematurely old. Ships skirted Africa; but, save the
northern seaboard, to all but heaven the continent was as dark as
its stolid inhabitants. America was in swaddlings, knowing not its
own existence, and known of none. Europe was an aged youth, bearing
the world-disturbing torch which still shed a dim, fitful light and
malignant odor.
Societies were held together by loyalty to civil and ecclesiastical
rulers; not by that coöperation which springs from the common interests
of the people. Unhallowed were all things real; divine the unsubstantial
and potential. Beyond the stars were laid out spiritual cities,
and under foot the hollow ground was dismal with the groans of the
departed. Regions of the world outlying the known, were tenanted by
sea-monsters, dragons, and hobgoblins. European commerce crept forth
from walled towns and battlemented buildings, and peradventure, escaping
the dangers of the land, hugged the shore in open boats, resting by
night, and trembling amid-ships by day. Learning was chiefly confined
to the clergy. Feudalism as a system was dead, but its evils remained.
Innumerable burdens were heaped upon the people by the dominant classes
who gave them little protection in return. Upon the most frivolous
pretexts the fruits of their industry were seized and appropriated by
their masters. It was a praiseworthy performance for a hundred thousand
men to meet and slay each other to gratify the whim of a state minister
or a king's concubine. Then came a change, and by reason of their
revised Ptolemies, their antipodal soundings, and new geographies,
their magnetic needles, printing machines, and men-killing implements,
learning began to revive, and the people began in some faint degree to
think for themselves.
Under the shifting sands of progress truth incubates, and the hatched
ideas fashion for themselves a great mind in which they may find
lodgment; fashion for themselves a tongue by which to speak; fashion
for themselves a lever by which to move the world.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: TRANSITIONAL EPOCH.]
The epoch of which I speak rested upon the confines of two
civilizations, the old and the new. It was a transition period from
the dim twilight of the dark age to the brightness of modern thought;
from an age of unquestioning faith to one of curiosity and scepticism.
It was a period of concretions and crystallizations, following one
of many rarefactions; religion was embracing science; astrology was
merging into astronomy; magic into physics; alchemy into chemistry.
Saltpetre was superseding steel in warfare; feudalism having fulfilled
its purpose was being displaced by monarchical power; intercourse was
springing up between nations, and international laws were being made.
Even the material universe and the realms of space were enlarging with
the enlargement of mind. Two worlds were about that time unveiled to
Spain, an oriental and an occidental; by the capture of Constantinople
ancient Greek and Latin learning was emancipated, and the Christian
religion became settled as the faith of Europe; while toward the west,
the mists of the ages lifted from the ocean, and, as if emerging from
primeval waters, a fair new continent ripe for a thousand industries
stood revealed.
This was progress indeed, and the mind, bursting its mediæval fetters,
stood forth and took a new survey. With the dawn of the sixteenth
century there appeared a universal awakening throughout Christendom.
Slumbering civilization, roused by the heavy tread of marching events,
turned from royal prison-houses of learning, and beheld with wonder
and delight the unfolding of these new mysteries. The dust and cobwebs
of the past, which had so long dimmed the imagination, were disturbed
by an aggressive spirit of inquiry. The report of exploding fallacies
reverberated throughout Europe; and as the smoke cleared away, and
light broke in through the obscurity, there fell as it were scales
from the eyes of the learned, and man gazed upon his fellow-man with
new and strange emotions. For centuries men's minds had been chained
to the traditions of the past; thought had traveled as in a treadmill;
philosophy had advanced with the face turned backward; knight-errantry
had been the highest type of manhood, and Christianity, like its
founder, had been made to bear the sins of the many. While its friends
claimed for it all the virtues of mankind, its enemies charged it with
all the vices. The first efforts of scholastics in their exposition of
these new appearances was to square the accumulative information of the
day with the subtleties of the schools and the doctrines and dogmas
of the past. The source of all knowledge and the foundation of all
science were claimed to be in the holy scriptures and in the tenets of
the church. Any conception, or invention, or discovery that might pass
unscathed these two touchstones was denominated truth, though human
reason could not grasp it. Likewise, any stray fact which by these
tests failed satisfactorily to account for itself, was pronounced false,
though human reason declared it true.
I do not mean to say that all darkness and nescience were swept
away in a breath, or that knowledge fell suddenly on mankind like an
inspiration; it was enough for some few to learn for the first time of
such a thing as ignorance. Although the change was real and decisive,
and the mind in its attempt to fathom new phenomena was effectually
lured from the mystic pages of antiquity, there yet remained enough and
to spare of ignorance and credulity. Searchers after the truth yet saw
as through a glass darkly; the clearer vision of face to face could be
attained only by slow degrees, and often the very attempt to scale the
prison-house walls plunged the aspirant after higher culture yet deeper
into the ditch; but that there were any searchings at all was no small
advance. Shackles were stricken off, but the untutored intellect as
yet knew not the use of liberty; a new light was flashed in upon the
mental vision, but the sudden glare was for the moment bewildering,
and not until centuries after was the significance of this transitional
epoch fully manifest. It may be possible to exaggerate the importance
of this awakening; yet how exaggerate the value to western Europe of
Greek literature and the revival of classic learning, of the invention
of printing, or the influence for good or evil on Spain of her New World
discoveries?
Rightly to understand the condition of education in Spain in the
fifteenth century, we must remember that mental training and not the
acquisition of knowledge was the object of education, and as the object
to be attained differed greatly from that which we are now seeking, so
the result was proportionately different. The tendency of education
in the fifteenth century was toward a more determined reliance and
belief in authority and in revelation; the tendency of education in
the nineteenth century is toward inquiry and scepticism. As to the
comparative value of these results there are of course many differences
of opinion, and I shall not discuss them here. We may be sure, however,
that in whatsoever direction human mind is trained by other human mind,
there is ever present and underlying all activities inexorable progress,
an eternal unfolding into ever fairer proportions of all that is best
and noblest in mankind.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: SPANISH HISTORY.]
Our history dates from Spain, at the time when Castile and Aragon
were the dominant power of Europe. Before entering upon the doings, or
passing judgment upon the character, of those whose fortunes it is the
purpose of this work to follow into the forests of the New World, let
us glance at the origin of the Spaniards, examine the cradle of their
civilization, and see out of what conditions a people so unlike any on
the globe to-day were evolved.
Far back as tradition and theory can reach, the Iberians, possibly
of Turanian stock, followed their rude vocations, hunting, fishing,
fighting; guarded on one side by the Pyrenees, and on the others by the
sea. Next, in an epoch to whose date no approximation is now possible,
the Celts came down on Spain, the first wave of that Aryan sea destined
to submerge all Europe. Under the Celtiberians, the fierce and powerful
compound race now formed by the union of Iberian and Celt, broken
indeed into various tribes but with analogous customs and tongues, Spain
first became known to the civilized world. Then came the commercial and
colonizing Phœnician and planted a settlement at Cádiz. After them the
Carthaginians landed on the eastern shore of the Peninsula and founded
Carthago Nova, now Cartagena. The power of the Carthaginians in Spain
was broken by the Scipios, in the second Punic war, toward the close of
the third century B. C.; and yet, says Ticknor, "they have left in the
population and language of Spain, traces which have never been wholly
obliterated."
The Romans, after driving out the Carthaginians, attacked the interior
Celtiberians, who fought them hard and long; but the latter being
finally subjugated, all Hispania, save perhaps the rugged north-west,
was divided into Roman provinces, and in them the language and
institutions of Rome were established. Forced from their hereditary
feuds by the iron hand of their conquerors, the Celtiberians rapidly
increased in wealth and numbers, and of their prosperity the Empire
was not slow to make avail. From the fertile fields of Spain flowed
vast quantities of _cerealia_ into the granary of Rome. The gold and
silver of their metal-veined sierras the enslaved Spaniards were forced
to produce, as they in succeeding ages wrung from the natives of the
New World the same unjust service. The introduction of Christianity,
about the middle of the third century, brought upon the adherents of
this religion the most cruel persecutions; which, however, instead of
destroying it but rooted it the more firmly. Some say, indeed, that
Saint Paul preached at Saragossa, and planted a church there; however
this may be, it was not until the conversion of Constantine that
Christianity became the dominant religion of the Peninsula.
The fifth century opens with the dissolution of the empire of the
Romans, for the barbarians are upon them. Over the Pyrenees, in awful
deluge, sweep Suevi, Alani, Vandals, and Silingi. The Suevi, in A.
D. 409, take possession of the north-west, now Galicia; the Alani
seize Lusitania, to-day Portugal; and the Vandals and Silingi settle
Vandalusia, or Andalusia, the latter tribe occupying Seville. Blighted
by this barbaric whirlwind, civilization droops; the arts and sciences
introduced by the Romans fall into disgrace; the churlish conquerors
will have none of them; and the culture of ancient Greece and Rome,
turning toward its original seat, flees the inhospitable west and takes
refuge in the capital of the eastern empire, which thereafter becomes
the depository of the wrecks of classic learning. In their dilemma the
Romanized indigenes call to their help the less uncouth Visigoths. In
427 the Vandals pass into Africa. Between 455 and 584 the Visigoths
conquer the Romans and subjugate the Suevi; so that now their kingdom
stretches from the bank of the Loire to Gibraltar. Thus to the Latin
is added the Gothic element; the Latin language, corrupted as it had
become, gains upon, or rather for the most part holds its original
advantage over the Gothic tongue, and becomes the basis of the modern
Castilian, with such grammatical simplifications as the northern taste
renders necessary.
[Sidenote: ADVENT OF THE MOORS.]
Still the great Peninsula seethes and bubbles like a caldron over the
furnace-fires of its progressional unrest. Two centuries of contentions
between states, and between kings and nobles, aggravated by the usual
convulsions incident to elective monarchies, suffice to bring upon them
a new foe. The crescent of Islam, resting on Mecca and threatening at
once the Bosporus and the Pillars of Hercules, flames suddenly out at
its western horn over fated Spain. At Algeciras, near Gibraltar, in
711, in great force, the Mauritanian Arabs, or Moors, effect a landing,
invited thither by Count Julian, commander of Andalusia, in revenge
for the violation of his daughter by Rodrigo, last of the Gothic
kings. Routing the Visigoths in the battle of Jerez de la Frontera, in
five swift years the Saracens are masters of all save the mountainous
north-west; and penetrating Aquitania, the kingdom of the Franks is
prevented from falling into their hands only by the decisive victory
won by Charles Martel at Tours in 732. An emirate under the caliphate of
Bagdad is established at Córdova, and multitudes of Syrian and Egyptian
Mahometans flock to Spain. Thus pressed, to the rugged mountains
of Asturias, under Pelayo, one of their national heroes, flee such
Christians as will not submit. There the wreck of the Visigothic kingdom
takes refuge; there stubborn patriots rally and nurse their nationality
betimes in the caves of the Pyrenees, waiting opportunity to deliver
their country from the yoke of the hated Infidel. In 755 Abdurrahman,
the last caliph of the dynasty of Ommiades, having escaped the massacre
of Damascus, wrests Spain from the hands of the Abbassides and founds
the caliphate of Córdova, which then formed one of the four great
divisions of the Prophet's dominions. Moorish kings now take the place
of Moorish emirs, and thus is governed Córdova till 1238, and Granada
till 1492.
Meanwhile the Mahometans ruled mildly and well. The native Christians
living among them kept their religion, churches, and clergy, as well as
their laws and tribunals except in cases involving capital punishment,
or where a Mahometan was a party in the suit. The usual consequences
of race-contact followed; over wide tracts Arabic became the common
language, and so remained even after Moslem power had fallen. As late as
the fourteenth century public acts in many parts of Spain were written
in Arabic. As the result of this intermixture, there was the linguistic
medley called _lingua franca_, a composite of Arabic, Gothic, Latin,
Hebrew, and Gallic, with the Romance, or corrupted Latin of Spain,
united with the Limousin, the language of the gay science spoken in
Languedoc and Provence, as a base. Out of this came the Castilian,
which after undergoing various modifications settled into the Spanish
language, leaving it substantially in its present form, though refined
and polished by subsequent centuries of civilization. It was not,
however, until near the reign of Alfonso X., 1252-1282, long after
the Christians had emerged from the mountains and had mingled with the
reconquered indigenes, that the Castilian became perfectly established
as a written, settled, and polite language. Nor were the consequences
of Arabic occupation confined to language; they tinged the whole life
of the nation.
The Spaniards who under Pelayo had taken refuge in the mountains of
Asturias, in 716 founded a small government called the kingdom of
Oviedo. There the seeds of liberty, trampled by adversity, took root,
and from the patriot soil arose a nation that spread its branches wide
over the land. Gradually the Christian kingdoms enlarged. First Galicia,
then, two hundred years later, Leon and Castile were added to the little
empire. The latter part of the tenth century the kingdoms of Leon,
Castile, and Navarre, held the northern extremity of the Peninsula,
while all the rest was under the dominion of the caliphate of Córdova.
[Sidenote: THE EIGHT-CENTURY WAR.]
And now, emerged from the mountain fastnesses whither they had fled
before this southern swarm of turbaned Infidels, the sturdy Christians
press heavily on their foe. Inch by inch, each step counting a century,
they fight their way from the Pyrenees back to Granada. Assuming the
title of caliph, Abdurrahman III. defeats the Christians at Zamora on
the Douro, but is in turn repulsed, in 938, at Simancas. In vain the
Mahometans call to their aid the Almoravides of Morocco; their race
upon the Peninsula is run. As portions of the country are wrested from
them, lands are awarded to notable Christian leaders, who at intervals
pause in their holy crusade, and fall to warring on each other; and by
these intestine brawls more Christian blood is spilt than by all the
cimiters of the Saracens. At such times the Infidels might turn and make
the Christians an easy prey; but centuries of opulence, and, except
along their northern border, of inaction, have sapped their strength
and left them nerveless. It is the old story alike of peoples, sects,
and individuals; discipline, begotten by necessity, engenders strength,
which fattened by luxury swells to weakness.
The beginning of the eleventh century finds the Christians occupying
about half the Peninsula, that is to say the kingdoms of Leon, Castile,
Aragon, Navarre, and Portugal. Leon was but another name for the
kingdom of Oviedo, or Asturias, the birthplace of Spanish nationality.
Castile—Roman, _castella_; Arabic, _ardo-l-koláa_, land of castles,
so called from the _castillos_, or forts, built there—though destined
eventually to absorb all the kingdoms of the Peninsula, was at first a
republic, consisting of a few small towns or fortified castles, which
had united for mutual protection from both Mahometans and contentious
Christian brethren. In 1037 Leon was united by Ferdinand I., called
the Great, to Castile; and from its central position, and the strength
arising from perpetual vigilance, the new kingdom gradually widened
and added to its dominions, until eventually all the kingdoms of the
Peninsula were united under the banner of Castile. Navarre belonged to
a French count, whose successor drove the Saracens from the territory
adjacent on the south-west, and founded the kingdom of Aragon.
In 1085 the Cid, a Castilian chieftain, born at Búrgos, and famous in
poetry, romance, and war, seized Toledo, and overran Valencia; in 1118
Alfonso of Aragon wrested Saragossa from the Moors. Portugal, hitherto
a province of Castile, assumed the title of kingdom in 1139. Finally
the four kingdoms of the north, together with Portugal, formed a league
against the Infidels, and in a great battle fought in the Sierra Morena,
near Tolosa, in 1212, Mahometan power in Spain was effectually broken.
In this decisive engagement the Christian confederates were commanded
by Alfonso III. of Castile, who never rested till the followers of the
Prophet were driven from the central plateau. To the kingdom of Castile,
Ferdinand III., 1217-1252, annexed Jaen, Córdova, and Seville, which
with difficulty were held by his son Alfonso X., surnamed the Wise—a
better scholar than soldier, as we see. Alfonso XI. was succeeded by
Pedro el Cruel, who died in 1369.
[Sidenote: SPAIN'S GRANDEUR.]
A succession of singularly brilliant events, culminating in the empire
of Charles V., brought Spain, at the beginning of the sixteenth
century, to the front rank among European powers. The marriage of
Ferdinand and Isabella, which in 1479 united the crowns of Aragon and
Castile; the conquest of Granada in 1492, terminating eight centuries
of almost continuous warfare; the discovery of America the same year;
the annexation of Naples in 1503, and of Navarre in 1512, after the
union of Spain and the Netherlands in the marriage of Juana, daughter
of Ferdinand and Isabella, with Philip the Fair, son of the Emperor
Maximilian I., and father of Charles V., all coming in quick succession,
form a train of important incidents unparalleled in the history of
nations. Before the death of Philip II. in 1598, the empire of Spain
extended to every part of the globe—Portugal, conquered by the duke
of Alva in 1580; Sicily and Sardinia, Artois and Franche Comté, the
Balearic and Canary islands; in Africa—Melilla, Ceuta, Oran, and Tunis;
in Asia—the Moluccas and the Philippine Islands, together with several
settlements elsewhere; beside a large part of the two Americas, which
alone comprised about one fifth of the world.
But nations like men must die. The full measure of prosperity had been
meted out to Spain, and now she must lay it down—such is the inexorable
law of progress. It was the very irony of autocracy, that one man
should rule half the world! Spain's pyramid of greatness, which assumed
such lofty proportions during the reign of their Catholic Majesties,
culminated during the reigns of their immediate successors. A long line
of ambitious and able princes had raised the empire to a giddy height;
but with an illiterate and non-progressive populace, no sooner did
the rulers become incompetent than the nation fell in pieces. In the
height of his grandeur Spain's grandest monarch surfeited of success
and abdicated; and with the death of his son Philip the glory of the
empire departed. Then might her epitaph be written—Nine centuries of
steady growth—a long and lusty youth, more than falls to the lot of most
nations—and in three brief centuries more she rose, and ripened, and
rotted.
It is not with death, however, but life, we have to do. Intellectual
sparks were lighting up the dark corners of the earth, and a series of
brilliant epochs began with the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella—modern
Golden Ages they might be called. The golden age of Spain, dating from
1474 to 1516, was followed by Germany's golden age, which was during
the reign of Charles V., 1519-1558. Then came England with the reign
of Elizabeth, 1558-1603; then France under Louis XIV. and Louis XV.,
1640-1740; Russia under Peter the Great, 1672-1725; and Prussia under
Frederick the Great, 1740-1786. During this time European civilization
was bursting its narrow confines and encircling the hitherto unknown
world in every direction.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: MEASUREMENTS OF CHARACTER.]
The Spaniards we would know and judge. We shall judge them, even though
we know them not. We love to judge our fellows, and to think how much
better are we than they. Little attention we give it, though it is a
self-evident proposition, that to judge a people by any other standard
than that to which they have been taught to conform is to do them
great injustice. If we may believe psychology, thought, in its higher
phases, develops only with the development of language; the conceptions
of the mind can not rise much higher than forms of speech will enable
it to express. Apply this postulate to the measure of character,
and the corollary is, that to interpret fairly, we must restrict our
imagination to such ideas, our mind to such beliefs, and our tongue
to such formulas as belong to those we judge. This, however, is no
easy matter. In the present age of intellectual progress and changing
activity, when old delusions are being rapidly dispelled by science,
and new discoveries are constantly opening new channels to distinction,
it is almost impossible to place ourselves within the narrow limits of
mediæval restrictions, in which thought and opinion were not allowed to
germinate, but were passed unchanged from one generation to another. "It
often happens," as John Stuart Mill remarks, "that the universal belief
of one age of mankind—a belief from which no one was, nor, without an
extra effort of genius or courage, could at that time be, free—becomes
so palpable an absurdity, that the only difficulty then is to imagine
how such a thing can ever have appeared credible." Not only were the
Church dogmas of the Middle Age accepted as truth, but at that time to
hold opinions antagonistic to established creeds was seldom so much as
deemed possible.
From the foregoing premises it clearly follows, that rightly to measure
the character of those who carried European civilization into the
wilds of America, we must, in so far as we may, divest ourselves of the
present, and enter into the spirit of their times. We must fix in our
minds the precise epoch in the history of human progress to which the
discovery of this New World belongs. We must roll up four brilliant
centuries of the scroll of science, cloud nine tenths of the world
in obscurity, throw a spell upon the ocean; then wall the imagination
within the confines of this narrow horizon and conceive the effect. We
must know something, not alone of national polities and the attitude
of kings, but we must enter the society of individuals, and study the
impulses of the people. We must call up the inscrutable past, surround
ourselves with those influences that give the stamp to character and the
color to creed. We must familiarize ourselves with scenes familiar to
the people we discuss; we must walk their streets, look through their
eyes, think their thoughts; we must personate them and practically
construe them. We should fill our breast with the aspirations that
impelled them, our imagination with the fears that restrained them,
and feel those subtle forces which for generations had been developing
intellect and moulding opinion. We should dare even to gain access to
their domestic and religious _penetralia_, to invade the sanctity of the
hearth and altar, to sound the hidden chords of domestic life, to walk
softly through vaulted aisles and convent corridors, bending the ear
to catch the whisperings of the confessional; we should enter with the
monk his cloister-cell, with the gallant the presence of his lady-love,
and learn whence the significance and whither the tendency of their
strange conceits. If, at the outset, with the political position, we
also thus firmly grasp their inner social life, much that were otherwise
enigmatical or suspicious appears in a clearer light; and we can then
behold their chivalrous but cruel deeds with the same charity in which
we hope posterity may shroud our own enormities. Thus only may we be led
to understand the various processes by which this phase of civilization
was evolved.
* * * * *
The configuration and climate of the Peninsula assist in giving
variety to the character of its inhabitants. The interior is one vast
table-land, higher than any other plateau in Europe, being from two
to three thousand feet above the level of the sea. On either side
precipitous mountain ranges interpose between the table-land and
the shores, and through these numerous streams thread their way. The
table-land is for the most part dry and treeless, hot in summer and cold
in winter; Asturias is wet and wooded; the valleys of the Guadalquivir,
Douro, Ebro, Tagus, and other rivers, are in places quite fertile.
In the southern provinces of Andalusia and Murcia, autumn and winter
are mild and pleasant, and spring is surpassingly lovely; but the
_solano_ which during summer blows from the heated plains of Africa is
intolerable to any but the acclimated. From the snow-clad Pyrenees the
piercing blasts of winter sweep over Leon, Castile, and Estremadura,
at the north protracting the long winter and making cold and humid the
spring, and arrive at the middle provinces stripped of their moisture,
but not of their raw unwelcome chilliness.
* * * * *
During the eleven convulsive centuries preceding our epoch we
have seen mix and agglutinate the several ingredients of Spanish
character—Iberian, Celt, Phœnician; Roman, Goth, and Moor, all
contributing their quota. Christian, Infidel, and Jew, with their loves
and hates, season the mass; and thus society becomes an _olla podrida_,
and Spain presents the anomalous race of the world.
In different provinces different race-elements preponderate, that of
Rome tincturing the whole more strongly than any other. Under analysis
these several social ingredients may be easily detected. By comparison
with Strabo, Arnold traces many of the social characteristics of the
Spaniards back to the Iberians. "The grave dress, the temperance and
sobriety, the unyielding spirit, the extreme indolence, the perverseness
in guerilla warfare, and the remarkable absence of the highest military
qualities ascribed by the Greek and Roman writers," he affirms, "are
all more or less characteristic of the Spaniards of modern times. The
courtesy and gallantry of the Spaniard to women has also come down to
him from his Iberian ancestors."
So in the volatile, dark-haired Celt, where reckless courage and
indifference to human life reached their height, where quick perception
and ready wit supplied the place of sober thought and logical
deductions, where man was courageous and changeable, and woman was
at once fickle, chaste, and passionate—in these fierce barbarians we
see a multitude of traits handed by them to their descendants. Of
Phœnician and Iberian influence, traces are seen in their skill in
scientific mining; of Gothic, in their comparatively liberal forms of
government, their attachment to military display, and in their good
faith, integrity, and morality—would these latter had been a trifle
more Gothic; of Roman, in their love of ecclesiastical forms, church and
state loyalty, in their stately dignity and sobriety of deportment; of
Arab, in their hatred of work, their love of freedom, their religious
enthusiasm, their tactics in war, and in their language, poetry, art,
and architecture. Some of these terms appear paradoxical, but human
nature, in its ingredients, is ever paradoxical. In the Spanish language
Brace discovers that the principal "terms for agriculture and science
are Latin; for the Church, Latin or Greek; for arms, riding, and war,
Teutonic; and for arts and plants in southern Spain, Arabic." From the
north and east and south the boldest of the nations had congregated on
this frontier peninsula, waiting the outburst which, after a thousand
years of fermentation, broke over its western slope.
Buckle, in support of a theory referring the origin of character to
physical causes, ascribes the superstition of Spain to famine and
disease, to earthquakes and the awe-producing phenomena of wild scenery;
their fickleness he attributes to climate, the heat and dryness in
Spain interrupting labor and leading to desultory habits; their love
of romance and adventure he traces to pastoral life, which prevailed to
the neglect of agriculture during the Moorish invasion.
[Sidenote: EVOLUTION OF THE SPANISH NATION.]
The fall of Granada left the Peninsula occupied essentially as follows:
In the north and west were the descendants of Goths and Celts who,
unmolested by Roman or Moor, retained in a measure their ancestral
characteristics. Low of stature, thick-set and awkward, as strong and
as hairy almost as bears, the men of Asturias and Galicia, of Leon
and Biscay, century after century come and go, living as their fathers
lived, neither better nor worse, caring nothing for Arab or Dutchman,
and little even for the Spanish kings; proud as ever of Pelayo, of the
mountains that cradled Spanish liberty, of their great antiquity, which
they boast as greater than that of any living nation; superstitious,
irritable, and impetuous, but honest, frank, and sincere; implacable as
enemies, but faithful as friends. Their boast is that never have they
been subdued by Moor. Their chiefs were of the ancient Gothic blood,
blue blood they called it, not being tainted with Arabic like that of
their darker southern neighbors; of such material were early founded
the kingdoms of Leon and Castile.
On their eastern side was the kingdom of Navarre, founded by the counts
of the French marches. Though at one time these two sections had been
united, the usual partition of heritage had soon dismembered them.
Portugal, an offshoot of Castile, was permanently separated; Aragon,
founded by Navarre, became also independent. Upon the eastern seaboard
the people of Catalonia and Valencia, though diluted with the Limousin
element, yet retain traces of their foreign relationships. "Of the
modern evidences of race in the different provinces," says Brace,
"travellers tell us that in Valencia the people resemble both their
Keltiberian and Carthaginian ancestors, being cunning, perfidious,
vindictive, and sullen. The burning sun has tanned their skin dark
and aided to form in them an excitable and nervous temperament; they
have, too, the superstitious tendencies that characterize the people
of a hot climate. The Valencian women are fairer than the men, and
are conspicuous for their beauty of form. They wear the hair and the
ornaments of the head after the old Romish style. The Catalan is rude,
active and industrious, a good soldier, and fond of his independence,
resembling both Kelts and Iberians in his covetous, bold, cruel, and
warlike character. The Aragonese are two children of the Goths in their
force of will, their attachment to constitutional liberties, and their
opposition to arbitrary power."
The tall, tough, agile eastern mountaineer presents as marked a contrast
to the stubby Asturian as does the sparkling Andalusian to the grave
Castilian. For a long time the people of Andalusia were semi-Moorish
in their character. There, where the soft air of Africa comes fresh
from the Mediterranean, had dwelt the dusky, graceful Arab; worshipping
Mahomet as the Castilian worshipped Christ, and regarding his Christian
and Jewish neighbors with as little affection as either Jew or Christian
regarded him. Scattered along the banks of the Guadalquivir, and in
separate quarters of many towns of southern Spain, were bands of that
anomalous race, the gypsies. Short, dark, ugly, with long, coarse, wavy
hair, mixing with other men as light and darkness mix, they plied their
trade of buying, stealing, and selling. During the latter part of the
war they occupied themselves in bringing horses from Africa and selling
them to Moors or Christians.
In the mountain fastnesses of Toledo there yet lived a remnant of
Silingi stock, known as _almogávares_, who had never bent knee to
Infidel; who, throughout the long contest which waged on every side of
them, had kept green their liberty and their faith—a Christian oasis in
the broad pagan desert. There, too, a broken band of the chosen Israel,
now fairly launched upon their eternal wanderings, found a momentary
resting-place. Before the arrival of the Visigoths, it is said, a
colony of Hebrews planted themselves near Toledo, and by their industry
and superior financial ability, became at length the royal bankers,
and notwithstanding bitter prejudices, they rose high in influence,
even to the honor of having their daughters enrolled among the king's
mistresses.
Thus for a time the several parts of the Peninsula differ widely
in language, manners, and institutions; but at length, by wars and
political combinations, race-barriers are broken down, and opposing
clanships welded by an intenser hatred for some common enemy. The south
through its Mediterranean trade soonest attains eminence, but warlike
Castile subsequently acquires predominance. Meanwhile the masses
retain their old ways better than their leaders. The nobility, and
frequenters of courts, mingling more with the world, adopt the fashions
of courts, and change with their changes. The inhabitants of the
border provinces feel the influences of the war comparatively little;
upon the great central plateau, however, there meet and mix almost
all the stocks and creeds of the then known world. Aryan and Semite;
Roman, Goth, and Mauritanian; Mahometan, Christian, and Jew; planting
and plucking, building up and tearing down, fattening and starving,
fighting and worshipping and burning—the whole table-land of Spain
turned into a battle-arena of the nations, into a world's gladiatorial
show; its occupants alternately marrying and battling, Moslem with
Christian, Moslem with Moslem, Christian with Christian, Christian
and Moslem uniting now against Christian and now against Moslem, while
the slaughter of Jew, heretic, and gypsy fills the interlude. So pass
centuries; and from this alembic of nations is distilled the tall,
symmetrical, black-haired, bright-eyed, sharp-featured Castilian and
Estremaduran.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: RESULTS OF INTERMIXTURES.]
Out of this heterogeneous medley of opposing qualities we have now to
draw general characteristics.
In demeanor the Spaniard is grave, punctilious, reserved with strangers,
jealous of familiarity or encroachment on his dignity; but among
his acquaintances, or with those who are ready to recognize what
he conceives to be his due, he throws off restraint, and becomes an
agreeable companion and a firm friend. While impatient and resentful of
fancied slights, he is easily won by kindness, and is always dazzled by
skill in arms and personal valor.
In disposition he is serious almost to melancholy, firm to stubbornness,
imperturbable, lethargic, inert, moody; yet when roused there breaks
forth the deepest enthusiasm and the most ungovernable passion. So
punctilious is his sense of honor, so zealous and truthful is he
in his friendships, so affectionate and humane in all his private
relations, that at one time the term Spanish gentleman was synonymous
with everything just, generous, and high-minded throughout Europe. In
intellect he is contemplative rather than profound, apt in emergencies,
but lacking breadth and depth. In habits he is temperate and frugal,
easily satisfied, indolent. To live without work is his ideal of
enjoyment. Dissoluteness and intemperance can not be ranked among his
vices, nor do travellers place hospitality in his list of virtues. There
is no such word as rowdy in his vocabulary. Turbulent from imposition he
may be, and after injury vengeful; but brawler, disturber of peace and
social order, he is not. Though taciturn, he is deep in feeling; in his
love of country he is provincial rather than national. Though hard to
be driven he is easily led; acting collectively, officially, he is given
to venality, when personally thrown upon his honor he is scrupulous and
trusty.
In manners the Spaniard is proverbial for high breeding, courtesy,
and decorum. Whether beggar or courtier, his politeness seldom deserts
him. "Dios guarde á usted," May God protect you; "Vaya usted con Dios,
caballero," God be with you, sir; are the usual valedictions. In reply
to the importunities of a beggar the cavalier exclaims, "Perdone usted,
por Dios, hermano," For the love of God excuse me, my brother. To the
highest noble and to the meanest peasant the greeting is the same.
Sedate, sober-minded, reserved, the Spaniard is but the modified result
of his several exemplars. "All Spaniards," remarks Ford, "are prodigal
to each other in cheap names and titles of honor; thus even beggars
address each other as _señor y caballero_, lord and knight. The most
coveted style is _excelencia_, your excellency." Nicknames are common.
No one rises to distinction without carrying with him one or more
appellations significant of the skill or occupation of his early days.
[Sidenote: CASTILIAN PRIDE AND POLITENESS.]
The Castilian has less ingenuity in mechanics, less skill in trade,
less taste, less delicacy of perception, than the Italian, but far more
pride, firmness, and courage; a more solemn demeanor, and a stronger
sense of honor.
Every Spaniard of whatever class considers himself a _caballero_, a
well-born and Christian gentleman, the superior of most, the equal of
any, the inferior of none. Profuse in proffers of kindness, he is no
less slow to fulfil them than to accept favors from others. He is very
vain; vain of personal appearance, vain of his ancestry, his breeding;
vain of his ignorance and superstition; proud of many things he should
be ashamed of, and ashamed of nothing. Thieving was never prominent as a
national vice. As a rule Spaniards are too proud to steal; the impulse
of wounded affection or injured pride nerves the arm that strikes,
oftener than the desire for plunder.
The old German cosmographer Sebastian Munster quaintly writes, Basel,
1553: "The Spaniards have good heads, but with all their studying they
learn but little, for after having half learned a thing they think
themselves very wise, and in their talk try to show much learning
which they do not possess." Comparing them with the French, the same
chronicler says: "The Frenchmen are taller, but the Spaniards more
hardy. In war, the Spaniards are deliberate, and the French, impetuous.
The French are great babblers, but the Spaniards can well keep a secret.
The French are joyous and light of thought; they like to live well; but
the Spaniards are melancholy, serious, and not given to carousing. The
French receive their guests friendlily and treat them well, but the
Spaniards are cross to strangers, so that one must go from house to
house in search of entertainment. The cause of this is that Spaniards
have travelled little, and do not like to spend their money for food."
In Castile, more than elsewhere, was seen the perfect central type,
which in its earlier stages was so remarkable for practical sagacity,
for an insight into causes and motives, and skill in the adaptation of
means to ends. In the wars of the New World, affirms Macaulay, "where
something different from ordinary strategy was required in the general,
and something different from ordinary discipline of the soldier, where
it was every day necessary to meet by some new expedient the varying
tactics of a barbarous enemy, the Spanish adventurers, sprung from
the common people, displayed a fertility of resource, and a talent for
negotiation and command, to which history scarcely affords a parallel."
It must be borne in mind, however, that the New World adventurer was
not always a national type.
Graham declares that "the history of the expeditions which terminated
in the conquest of Mexico and Peru displays, perhaps, more strikingly
than any other portion of the records of the human race, what amazing
exertions the spirit of man can prompt him to attempt, and sustain
him to endure." And again—"The masses," says Ford, who has studied
them well, "the least spoilt and the most national, stand like pillars
amid ruins, and on them the edifice of Spain's greatness must be
reconstructed." "All the force of Europe," exclaims Peterborough, "would
not be sufficient to subdue the Castiles with the people against it."
[Sidenote: REVERENCE FOR ANTIQUITY.]
So great is their reverence for antiquity, that they appear to live
almost as much in the past as in the present. Age is synonymous with
wisdom; the older the habit or opinion, the more worthy of belief it is.
Innovation they abhor as dangerous; the universe of knowledge stands
already revealed; there is nothing more to learn. Their premises they
know to be sound, their conclusions correct, their beliefs true; what
necessity then for further troubling themselves? Children in everything
but teachableness, with themselves and their traditions they are
content. Their education is finished. This is the most hopeless form of
ignorance. Their legends they carefully preserve, old-time customs they
love to practise, and they dwell with devoted enthusiasm on the exploits
of their ancestors. To this day, twelve centuries after the occurrence,
the peasantry of Asturias are divided between the descendants of those
who aided the patriot Pelayo against the Moors, and those who did
not—the latter being stigmatized as _vaqueros_; while the Andalusian
Morisco keeps alive the story of Granada's grandeur, and dreams of
Moslem warriors, of Abencerrage knights, and the restoration of former
greatness. So strong is the influence of tradition and dead ancestry.
Speaking of the quality of firmness, and tenacity of purpose, says
Bell, "So obstinate is the Spaniard, and in some provinces so remarkably
self-willed, that the inhabitants of one part of Spain make a jest of
the others on that account. Thus the obstinate Biscayan is represented
as driving a nail into the wall with his head, whilst the still more
obstinate Aragonian is figured in the same act and attitude, but with
the point of the nail turned outward!" With the poniard at his throat,
many a prostrate foe will die rather than yield, and as surely will the
victor plunge in the fatal weapon if the cry for quarter be not quickly
uttered. In Andalusia there was a fashion prevalent among duellists,
when determined to fight their quarrel to the end, of firmly binding
together, below the elbows, the left arms of the combatants; then, with
knives in their right hands, they fought until one or both were dead.
Notwithstanding their excessive loyalty to their rulers, their love of
antiquity and hatred of change; and notwithstanding the oppression of
their princes, the condition of the lower classes in Spain at the close
of the fifteenth century was far above that of the same class in any
other European country. This was owing, not to any special consideration
on the part of their political or ecclesiastical rulers, but to that
greatest of scourges, war.
While the rulers were absorbed in conquering, and in keeping themselves
from being conquered, except within the immediate battle-arena the
people were left much alone. Besides, armies must have supplies, and
producers were held in esteem by the military consumers.
Inequalities of power and wealth, unless arrested by extrinsic causes,
ever tend to wider extremes. In Spain, the increase of wealth in
the hands of priests and princes was checked by long-continued war.
The products of the country must be used to feed the soldiery, and
the power of the nobility must be employed against the common enemy.
There was neither the time nor the opportunity to grind the people to
the uttermost. Though the war bore heavily upon the working classes,
it proved to them the greatest blessing; while the masses elsewhere
throughout Europe were kept in a state of feudalistic serfdom, the
necessity of Spain being for men rather than for beasts, elevation
followed. Further than this, race-contact, and the friction attending
the interminglings of courts and camps, tended in some degree towards
polishing and refining society. "Since nothing makes us forget the
arbitrary distinctions of rank," says Hallam, "so much as participation
in any common calamity, every man who had escaped the great shipwreck
of liberty and religion in the mountains of Asturias was invested with
a personal dignity, which gave him value in his own eyes and those of
his country. It is probably this sentiment transmitted to posterity, and
gradually fixing the national character, that had produced the elevation
of manner remarked by travellers in the Castilian peasant."
[Sidenote: CASTE AND SOCIAL STRATA.]
And yet there were caste and social stratification enough. The stubborn
manliness of the lower orders did not make them noble. Royalty alone was
divine. The nobles loved money, yet for them to traffic was disgraceful.
The ecclesiastic, whose calling placed him on a plane distinct from
these, aside from his religious teachings, stood out as the earnest
advocate of honest labor. Work was well enough for Moor, and Jew, and
Indian; but he whose line of fighting ancestors had not beginning within
the memory of man, must starve rather than stain his lineage by doing
something useful.
The several social strata, moreover, were jealously kept distinct.
The first distinction was that which separated them from foreigners.
In the days of Cæsar and Cicero, Rome was master of the world; Rome
was the world; were any not of Rome they were barbarians. So it was
with Spaniards. To be of Castile was to be the most highly favored of
mortals; to be a Spaniard, though not a Castilian, was something to be
proud of; to be anything else was most unfortunate.
The next distinction was between the Spaniard of pure blood and the
Christianized native of foreign origin. In the eyes of the Castilian
baptism could not wholly cleanse a Moor or Jew. Moriscos the Church
might make; heretics the Inquisition might reconstruct; but all Spain
could not make from foreign material a Christian Spaniard of the pure
ancient blood. About foreign fashions, foreign inventions, foreign
progress, foreign criticism, they cared nothing. And probably nowhere
in modern times was this irrational idea of caste carried to such an
absurd extent as in the New World. Children of Spanish parentage, born
in America, were regarded socially as inferior to children of the same
parents who happened to be born in Spain. To be born a Spanish peasant
was better than _hidalgo_, or cavalier, with American nativity; for at
one time the former, on migrating to America, was entitled by virtue
of that fact to the prefix 'Don.' Under the viceroys native Mexicans,
though of pure Castilian ancestry, were too often excluded from the
higher offices of Church and State; and this notwithstanding that both
canonical and civil law, if we may believe Betancur y Figueroa, provided
that natives should be preferred in all ecclesiastical appointments
from the lightest benefice to the highest prelacy. "But notwithstanding
such repeated recommendations," says Robertson, "preferment in almost
every different line is conferred on native Spaniards." Mr Ward,
English consul at Mexico in 1825-7, affirms that "the son, who had the
misfortune to be born of a creole mother, was considered as an inferior,
in the house of his own father, to the European book-keeper or clerk,
for whom the daughter, if there were one, and a large share of the
fortune were reserved. 'Eres criollo y basta;' You are a creole and
that is enough, was a common phrase amongst the Spaniards when angry
with their children." Truly it was a good thing in those days to be at
once 'of Christ' and 'of Spain.' It was positively believed by some that
blood flowed in accordance with the majesty of law, and that the quality
of one was inferior to the quality of another. The blood of the Indian
was held as scarcely more human than the blood of beasts, and was often
shed as freely.
Then, too, there was a distinction between the profession of arms and
all other professions. Following republican Rome again, the education of
no man aspiring to a public career was complete until he had served as
a soldier. No one can truthfully charge the Spaniards of the sixteenth
century with lack of courage. Military skill was the highest type of
manhood. Of danger they made a plaything, not only in their wars but in
their sports. Life was dull unless brightened by blood.
In Aragon the barons were limited to a few great families who traced
their descent from twelve peers, called _ricos homes de natura_.
Although obliged to attend the king in his wars, in every other respect
they were independent. They were themselves exempt from taxation and
punishment, and held absolute authority over the lives and property
of their vassals. The next lower order of nobility in Aragon was
called _infanzones_, corresponding to the hidalgos of Castile. The
_caballeros_, or knights, were the immediate followers of the _ricos
homes_, and were possessed of important privileges.
In La Mancha the peasantry were of a quality different from those
sent by Castile and Estremadura to the New World. Quintana writes of
them, "He who travels through La Mancha will see the scaffold before
he sees the town. They are lazy, dirty, quarrelsome, and never suffer
from hunger, for when they wish to become the owners of anything they
take it;" and remarks another, "They live on parched _garbanzos_, and
pass the winter lying on their bellies like reptiles in the sun." See
Murillo's matchless pictures.
[Sidenote: JEWS AND MOORS.]
Another class and race, broken fragments of which we have before
encountered, secured more rest in Spain than elsewhere, yet from a
different cause. Homeless Israel in the Arab found a friend. Not that
the Mahometans loved the Jews, but because the Christians hated them,
was their condition made so tolerable in Spain under Saracen rule.
Then, and until their expulsion, they occupied an important position,
being the chief money-handlers, merchants, and bankers. Overcome in
their dislike for each other by a more bitter hatred against their
common enemy, the Jews and Moors lived upon terms somewhat approaching
equality. The Jews surpassed their Moorish masters in wealth, and were
but little inferior to them in arts and letters. They were not only
usurers, but husbandmen, artisans, and doctors. As Christian domination
extended southward, this comparatively happy state of the Spanish Jews
disappeared. Under pretext of justice, their moneys were wrested from
them by the nobles; indeed, if too stubborn they were not unfrequently
put to death; and with the capitulation of Granada and the loss of
their Moorish allies, the condition of the Jews became pitiable in the
extreme. Two incidents of the crowning of Pope John XXIII., in 1410,
as related by Monstrelet, give us a tolerably fair idea of the feelings
entertained toward the Jews. In his progress through Rome, these people
presented him with a manuscript copy of the old Testament. He, "having
examined it a little, threw it behind him, saying, 'Your religion is
good, but this of ours is better.'" And again, "There were before and
behind him two hundred men-at-arms, each having in his hand a leathern
mallet, with which they struck the Jews in such wise as it was a
pleasure to see."
With such an example the condition of the Jews grew more serious. As
for the Spaniards, they bettered the instruction, as was sufficiently
proved by their expulsion-edict of March, 1492—an edict forbidding
unbaptized Jews to be found within the limits of Spain at the end of
four months; an edict allowing them in that time to sell their property,
but forbidding them at the end of that time "to carry away with them
any gold, silver, or money whatsoever;" "an edict," says the Catholic
historian, Lafuente, "that condemned to expatriation, to misery, to
despair, and to death, many thousands of families born and bred in
Spain."
In almost every mediæval town there was a Jewish district, in which,
says M. Depping, their historian, "Jews like troops of lepers were
thrust away and huddled together into the most uncomfortable and most
unhealthy quarters of the city, as miserable as it was disgusting;"
or, as Paul Lacroix describes it, "a large enclosure of wretched
houses, irregularly built, divided by small streets with no attempt at
uniformity. The principal thoroughfare is lined with stalls, in which
are sold not only old clothes, furniture, and utensils, but also new
and glittering articles." Within their prescribed limits, all their
necessities were supplied, and a dirt-begrimed prison-like synagogue
usually occupied the center. But even in these wretched places they were
often subjected to cruelties the most severe and sickening. Terrible as
were the indignities heaped upon this unfortunate people it must not be
supposed that they were wholly unprovoked, or that all the forbearance
was on the part of the sufferers. Opinions on these questions are
widely divergent, and I refer to them here only to show more clearly
the condition of Europe at the time of which I write.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: THE CHARGE OF CRUELTY.]
The Spaniards of the sixteenth century have been called a cruel people;
and so they were. Yet they were no more cruel than other nations of
their day, and no more cruel relatively, according to the progress
of humanity, than are we to-day. Time evolves in many respects a more
refined civilization, but the nature of man changes not. Individuals
may be less beastly; society may be regulated more by law and less by
passion; between nations in their wars and diplomacy there may be less
systematic torture, less unblushing chicanery; but the world has yet to
find a weightier right than might. I fail to discover in America, by
Catholic Spaniards or heathen savages, deeds more atrocious than some
committed in India and China within the century by Protestant England,
the world's model of piety and propriety; and yet the treatment of
Indians in North America by the people of Great Britain has been far
more just and humane than their treatment by the people of the United
States.
Before such a charge as that of excessive cruelty can be made good
against a people, there are several things to be considered. And
first the motive. The surgeon who amputates a limb to save a life is
not called cruel. Now the Spaniards were the spiritual surgeons of
their day. Nine tenths of all their cruelties were committed under
the conviction that what they did was in the line of duty, and that
to refrain from so doing would have been no kindness. Though with the
experience of the past and by the clearer light of the nineteenth
century we conclude that these convictions were false, and though
we contemplate them with horror and condemn the acts which resulted
from them as barbarous, yet it is almost superfluous to say that with
their teachings and surroundings we should have been the same. The
inherent qualities of human nature seem to be changed but little if at
all by the cultivation and development of mind. Secondly, the quality
of cruelty is not pronounced, but relative. There are cruelties of
the heart, of the sensibilities, no less cruel than bodily tortures.
The age of savagism is always cruel. Cruelty springs from ignorance
rather than from instinct. Childlike and thoughtless things, things
tender by instinct, are cruel from disingenuous perversity. A clouded,
unreasoning, unreasonable mind, even when hiding beneath it a tender
heart, begets cruelty; while a sterner disposition, if accompanied by
a clear, truth-loving intellect, delights in no injustice—and cruelty
is always unjust. This is why, if it be true as has been charged, that
notwithstanding boys are more cruel than girls, women are more cruel
than men. Children, women, and savages are cruel from thoughtlessness;
though the cruel boy may be very tender of his puppy, the cruel woman
of her child, the cruel savage of his horse. Even the moralities and
intellectual refinements of that day were not free from what would seem
to us studied and unnecessary cruelty. I will cite a few instances of
European cruelty, not confined to Spaniards, which will show not only
that Spain was not more cruel than other nations, but that the savages
of America were not more cruel than the Europeans of their day. Both
tortured to the uttermost where they hated, even as men do now; the
chief difference was, the Europeans, being the stronger, could torture
the harder. Civilization changes, not the quantity of cruelty, but the
quality only.
[Sidenote: THE BARBARISMS OF EUROPE.]
"Cæsar Borgia," writes Sebastiano de Branca in his diary, about the
year 1500, "Cæsar Borgia was the cruelest man of any age." To serve
his purposes he did not hesitate to use poison and perjury. He was
treacherous, incestuous, murderous, even keeping a private executioner,
Michilotto, to do his bidding. Louis XI. of France, and other princes,
kept a court assassin. The fifteenth century was lurid with atrocities.
Rodrigo Lenzuoli, the father, Lucretia, the daughter, and Cæsar,
the son, comprised the Borgia trio, distinguished no less for their
intellect, beauty, wealth, and bravery, than for their craft, lust,
treachery, and cruelty. Says Lecky: "Philip II. and Isabella the
Catholic inflicted more suffering in obedience to their consciences than
Nero or Domitian in obedience to their lusts."
In 1415 John Huss was burned for his religion, and in 1431 Joan of Arc
for her patriotism. In like manner perished thousands of others. Mahomet
II., disputing with the Venetian artist Gentile Bellini as to the
length of John the Baptist's neck after decollation, called a slave, and
striking off his head with one blow of his cimeter, exclaimed: "There!
did not I say yours is too long?"
Princes made bloodshed a pastime. Edward IV. put to death a tradesman
for perpetrating a pun; caused a gentleman to be executed for speaking
against a favorite; and condemned his own brother to death in a fit of
petulance. In an interview between this same Edward of England and the
king of France, the monarchs were brought together in huge iron cages,
each distrustful of the other. Louis XII. confined Ludovico Sforza, duke
of Milan, in an iron cage for ten years, and until his death. This was
a punishment common at that time in Italy and Spain. Pedro el Cruel is
charged by Hallam with having murdered his wife and mother, most of his
brothers and sisters, many of the Castilian nobility, and multitudes of
the commonalty.
The church tolerated the persecution of its enemies, believing it was
for the glory of God. Nor was this idea confined to Spain or to the
fifteenth century, for we find in England and even in America that
persecutions for conscience' sake, with all the cruelties that refined
civilization could devise existed at the opening of the present century;
nor indeed is the world yet completely emancipated from this thraldom.
Yet the Spaniards, I say, were bad enough. The cruelties following the
capitulation of Málaga, in 1487, were more befitting fiends than a man
and woman who prided themselves in the title of Catholic king and queen.
Since the establishment of the Inquisition, religious persecutions
had become but too gratifying to the national taste. On this occasion
at Málaga, the apostate Moors were first caught and burned. Twelve
apostate Christians were then fastened to stakes in an open place and
made the barbarous sport of Spanish cavaliers, who, mounted on fleet
horses, hurled at their naked bodies pointed reeds while rushing past
at full speed. This was continued until the torn and bleeding flesh
of their victims was filled with darts, and the wretched sufferers
expired under the most excruciating torments. Then, of the rest of the
Moorish prisoners, three divisions were made; one for the redemption of
Christian captives, one to be distributed among the victors as slaves,
and one to be publicly sold into slavery.
Spanish knights returned from their incursions against the Moors with
strings of turbaned heads hanging from their saddle-bows, which, as they
passed along, they threw to the boys in the streets, in order to inspire
their youthful minds with hatred to the foes of their religion.
From making slaves of prisoners of war, a traffic in human flesh
springs up. A slave-trade association was formed in Portugal in 1443.
Gonzalez brought slaves to Seville; Columbus sent to Spain a cargo of
Indian slaves in 1495; in 1503 the enslavement of American Indians
was authorized by Ferdinand and Isabella; and in 1508 the African
slave-trade unfolded in all its hideous barbarity. The slave-trade,
however, was tolerated by these sovereigns from mistaken kindness,
rather than from cruelty. It was to shield the Indian, who died under
the infliction of labor, that Isabella permitted the importation of
Africans into the colonies.
[Sidenote: CIVILIZED TORTURES.]
Cruelty was a prominent wheel in the machinery of government, as well as
in religious discipline. Torture was deemed inseparable from justice,
either as preparatory to trial to elicit a confession of guilt, or as
part of an execution to increase the punishment. Hippolite de Marsilli,
a learned jurisconsult of Bologna, mentioned fourteen ways of inflicting
torture, which are given by Lacroix. Among them were compressing the
limbs with instruments or cords; the injection of water, vinegar, or
oil; application of hot pitch; starvation; placing hot eggs under the
armpits; introducing dice under the skin; tying lighted candles to
the fingers which were consumed with the wax, and dropping water from
a great height upon the stomach. Josse Damhoudere mentioned thirteen
modes of execution or punishment—fire, the sword, mechanical force,
quartering, the wheel, the fork, the gibbet, dragging, spiking, cutting
off the ears, dismembering, hogging, and the pillory. Every country had
its peculiar system of torture.
In 1547 English vagrants were branded with a V and enslaved for two
years. Should the unfortunate attempt escape, a hot S was burned into
the flesh and he was a slave for life. A second attempted escape was
death. In those days wife-whipping was a common and respectable domestic
discipline; culprits in the pillory and stocks were stationed in the
marketplace where all the people might strike them; prisoners were
stripped of their clothes, confined in filthy dungeons half filled with
stagnant water, and there not unfrequently left to starve, while slimy
reptiles crawled over the naked body, or drove their poisonous fangs
into the quivering flesh.
The sports of the Spaniards we now regard as cruel, as ours will be
regarded four hundred years hence. Although delighting in games, in
pantomimic dance, in fencing, wrestling, running, leaping, hunting,
hawking, with the gentler pastime of song and guitar, the more popular
amusements were cock-fights, dog and bull fights, bull and bear fights,
bear and dog fights, enjoyed alike by high and low, by women, boys,
and men, by laity and clergy. Sometimes fighters would enter the arena
blindfolded and engage in deadly encounter. Yet how much more cruel were
these sports than modern horse-racing, cock-fighting, dog-fighting,
prize-fighting, rope-walking, lion-taming, steeple-chases, to say
nothing of the more gentlemanly cruelty of raising foxes to be hunted,
and worried, and finally torn in pieces by dogs, let posterity judge.
I do not say that the sixteenth-century sports of Spain were not more
cruel than the English sports of to-day. I think they were. But that
Spaniards were inherently more cruel, that is to say, that their hearts
were more wickedly wanton, their sympathies more inhumane, or that they
enjoyed a more ardent pleasure in inflicting pain upon others than men
do now, I do not believe. The Spaniards were a nation of soldiers, and
soldiers are necessarily cruel. Men go to war to hurt the enemy, not
to be kind to him. Unquestionably the effect of bull-fights, like the
gladiatorial shows of imperial Rome, was debasing, tending to excite
a love of the bloody and terrible, and to render insipid tamer and
more refined amusements. This to them was a misfortune, although the
repulsive sport did foster a spirit of courage and endurance.
The _corrida de toros_, bull-run, or bull-fight, the national sport of
Spain, is a relic of Moorish chivalry, yet no less Spanish than Arabic;
for the institution as it exists in Spain is found neither in Africa
nor in Arabia. Originally, as in the ancient tournament, in the sport
engaged only cavaliers, or gentlemen, in whom were combined such skill
and strength that the head of a bull was sometimes stricken off by
a single blow of the _montante_. Since which time the tournament has
degenerated into a prize-ring, and the chivalrous bull-fight which in
principle was a display of courage combined with skill in horsemanship,
and in the use of the lance, has become a sort of dramatic shambles,
where the actors are low-born and mercenary professionals.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: SPANISH DOMESTIC LIFE.]
The home life of the Spaniard, which pictures his softer shades of
character, and shows the more delicate tracings of his mental and moral
sensibilities, must not be disregarded. There alone we shall see him as
he is, stripped of the paraphernalia attending his appearance before
men, with the intents and purposes of heart and mind laid open before
us.
We have noticed how the genius of the Mahometan clung to the soil long
after he was driven away; to this day southern Spain is more Arabic
than Gothic. The towns of Andalusia—of which Cádiz, with its whitewashed
antiquity and its streets and walls clean as a _taza de plata_, is the
key; and Seville, radiant with sunny gardens and glittering towers,
is the pride—consist of narrow, tortuous streets walled by Moorish
mansions enclosing cool courts. Shutterless windows, through which
half-muffled lovers whisper soft nothings to bar-imprisoned _señoritas_,
open without; fresh young love and musty antiquity thus mingling in
harmonious contrast. Then, favored by the voluptuous air of spring, or
broiling beneath the enervating heat of summer, are Granada, Córdova,
and Málaga, where glory and shame, heroic virtue and unblushing vice,
erudition and ignorance, Christianity and paganism were so blended that
the past and present seem almost one. As if proud of their Moorish
origin, these cities of southern Spain battle with time, and hold in
fast embrace the shadows of departed grandeur. The better class of
Moorish houses are yet preserved; and the otherwise unendurable heat
of this so-called oven of Spain is rendered supportable by the narrow,
crooked streets—so narrow, indeed, that in some of them vehicles can
not pass each other—and by the irregular, projecting stories of the
terrace-roofed houses.
Though widely separate in their religious systems much there is alike
in the national characteristics of these grave and haughty sheiks and
the Spaniards. To both were given conquest, wealth, and opportunity.
Both struggled blindly and bravely, sinking into national decay and
corruption, which closed in around them like a pestilence. But in their
religion there was no doubt a difference. One was sensual, the other
spiritual. In one were the seeds of progress, of intellectual culture,
and of all those enlightenments and refinements which make men more
fit to dominate this earth. And though the _Allah akbar_ echoes from
the receding hosts who worship God and his prophet, yet its mission
is fulfilled. Where now is the might of Mauritania? Where the power
and pride that caused Egypt to dream again of the days of the Pharaohs
and the Ptolemies? Syria and Palestine are desolate, Bedouinized. To
Bagdad remains but the memory of ancient splendor; her palaces are
heaps. No more the good Haroun al Raschid walks her streets; no more
the universities of Kufa and Bassora, Samarcand and Balkh enlighten the
world. The sons of Hagar have had their day; their work is done. What
Spain and her colonies now are need not here be told.
[Sidenote: DWELLINGS AND FURNITURE.]
Every Spanish town has its plaza, great square, or public market-place,
which every day presents a busy scene. Thither in early morning resort
the improvident—though not specially lazy—common people for their daily
supply of food. Then there is the _paseo_, or public promenade, or,
as it is more frequently called, the _alameda_, from _álamo_, poplar,
a beautiful walk, shaded on either side by trees. There may be seen
every pleasant day after the _siesta_, or midday sleep, groups of
either sex, and all classes, high and low, rich and poor, walking to
and fro, chatting, smoking, flirting, drinking in health and content
and merriment with the cool, delicious evening air; while ladies in
carriages and cavaliers on curveting steeds occupy and enliven the
roadway.
Numberless kinds of dwellings obtain in various parts, conspicuous among
which are the Asturian caverns, the subterranean abodes of La Mancha,
the forts of Castile, and the Moorish palaces of Andalusia. Stone, hewn
and unhewn, is the material employed in mountainous districts; _adobe_,
or sun-dried brick, with thatched roof, upon the plains. A common class
of architecture is a windowless parallelogram divided into two rooms,
one for the family, and the other for the cattle, the attic being used
as a barn. Houses of this kind are built in one and two stories. An
out-house for stores, which is also used as a sleeping-place for the
women, perched on pillars eight feet high, sometimes stands adjacent.
Across one end of the family room, which, of necessity, is used for
all domestic purposes, extends a fire-place, ten or fifteen feet in
length and six feet in depth, over which is a large bell-shaped chimney
extending out into the middle of the room. This style of building might
be elaborated, wings added, or the form changed. Tiled roofs are common,
and overhanging eaves. Some houses are of three or four stories; others
run out long and low upon the ground. More pretentious dwellings are
often in the form of a hollow square, with a _patio_ and garden within.
Of such are convents with cloisters, and over them ranges of corridors
and rooms.
Among the upper classes the apartments of the lady consist of an
antechamber, or drawing-room, a boudoir, a bed-room, a dressing-room,
and an oratory. The drawing-room is furnished with tapestry hangings
on which are represented battles and biblical scenes—war and religion
even here; polished oak or mahogany high-backed chairs, clumsy, and
elaborately carved; in the corners of the room triangular tables on
which stand heavy silver or gold candlesticks with sperm candles,
the light from which is reflected by small oval Venetian mirrors, in
fantastically wrought gold or silver frames; cupboards with glass doors
for plate, etc. In the boudoir is a toilet-table before Venetian mirrors
profusely draped in handsome lace; a book-case, work-table, arm-chairs,
sacred paintings and family portraits; in the sleeping-room, a tall
heavy bedstead with damask or velvet curtains, a crucifix—the image
of silver or gold, and the cross of ivory—with a little basin of holy
water near it, a _priedieu_ and prayer-book; in the dressing-room a
wardrobe, and all necessary toilet appliances; in the oratory an altar,
a crucifix, two or more priedieux, and, if mass is said, as is often
the case in the houses of the great or wealthy, images of saints by the
masters, with all the accompanying ornaments of devotion.
The dwellings of southern Spain, large and small, lean toward the
Arabic in architecture—Arabic decorations, with second-story balconies;
the rooms rich in carved ceilings, wainscoting, and arabesque; the
entrance from the street in city houses being through a vestibule and
an ornamented iron-grated gate. During the summer, when the sun's rays
strike like poisoned darts, the family live for the most part in the
patio. There upon the marble pavement, beside the cooling fountain, and
amidst fragrant orange, palm, and citron trees, visitors are received,
chocolate drank, and cigarettes smoked. There too they dance to the
music of the guitar, play cards, and take their siesta.
To oriental customs may be attributed the jealous privacy by which
the women of Spain were guarded by husbands and fathers. Besides her
natural weakness, woman was yet inferior, inept, characterless, not
to be trusted. The fortress-like houses of the better sort, which are
scattered all over the table-land of the Peninsula, with their spacious
inner court and iron-barred windows, were so arranged that the part
occupied by the female members of the household was separate from the
more public rooms of the men. This precinct was unapproachable by any
but the most intimate friend or invited guest. Their domestic policy,
like every other, was suspicious and guarded.
This is further illustrated by the mode of entering a house, which also
shows the effect of centuries of warfare upon manners. In outer doors,
and in those of distinct floors, and apartments, was inserted a small
grate and slide. On knocking, the slide moved back, and at the grating
appeared the lustrous, searching eyes of the inmate. "Quien es?" Who
is it? was the salutation from within. "Gente de paz." Peaceful people,
was the reply.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: WOMEN AND DRESS.]
Extreme sensitiveness with regard to dress characterizes Spaniards
of the better sort, and rather than appear in public unbecomingly
attired, they remain hidden at home, only stealing out for necessities
at nightfall, or perhaps in the early morn, and then back to their home
for the day. In this we see a strong mixture of pride and _bienséance_,
in which there is more sensitiveness than sense. But man can not live
by reason alone. He who in this factitious world is guided only by the
instincts of a sound mind, regardless of the frivolities of fashion, of
_convenance_, indifferent to his neighbor's ideas of propriety, and to
any taste except his own, commits a mistake. Though he alone is wise,
and all the world fools, yet of necessity he must become foolish, else
he is not wise.
Males, in their costume, were the birds of gay plumage at the beginning
of the sixteenth century. So fantastically clad was the English
nobleman in his laced doublet and open gown, that he was scarcely to be
distinguished from a woman. In the time of Charles V. courtiers dressed
in bright colors, but with his sombre son Philip, all was black—black
velvet trimmed with jet; and stiff—stiff collars, and stiff black
truncated cone hats, with brim scarcely an inch wide, in place of the
soft slouchy _sombrero_.
[Sidenote: THE MANTILLA AND CAPA.]
The national and characteristic garment of both sexes in Spain for about
three centuries was, for the outer covering, the _capa_, or cloak, of
the cavalier, and the _mantilla_ of the lady. In the reign of Charles
V. the former was a short cape, and the latter simply a head-dress;
but with time both enlarged until one reached below the knee, and the
other below the waist. Some writers give to these garments a remote
antiquity. They point to ancient coins where Iberia is represented as
a veiled woman, and ignoring sex claim that to the Iberians the Romans
gave the _toga_, and that for fifteen centuries the fashion continued.
Others deny such connection. It is undoubtedly true that the capa of
the sixteenth century was much shorter than the cloak of to-day, being
a cape rather than a cloak, and not at all resembling the Roman toga.
Sebastian Franc in his _Weltbuch_, Tübingen, 1534, writes: "Their women
wear a curious dress around the neck; they have an iron band to which
are fastened bent prongs reaching over the head, over which, when they
desire it, they draw a cloth for the protection of the head, and this
they hold to be a great ornament." To the men and women of Spain this
garment is as the shell to the turtle; within it, though on a crowded
thoroughfare, they may at any moment retire from the world, and ensconce
themselves within themselves. The cavalier with a peculiar fling,
utterly unattainable by a foreigner, throws the skirt over the breast
and shoulder so as to partially or completely hide the face according to
his pleasure. On the way to and from church the lady's face is covered;
and the gallant sighing for a glimpse of features divinely fair, is
obliged to enter the sanctuary, hide behind a column near the altar;
then as one female after another approaches, kneels, and unveils, he
may feast his eyes on the faces before him. The mantilla serves as a
bonnet, veil, and shawl; formerly it was but an oblong piece of cloth,
with velvet or lace border; later a lace veil was added as part of it;
and now the Spanish female face is becoming more and more visible in
public.
The capa is indispensable to the Spaniard; it fits his nature like a
glove, and is almost a part of him. It may be worn over a rich dress,
or it may conceal rags or nakedness; it may cover a noble, generous
heart, or a multitude of sins. Hidden beneath it, in secret the wearer
may work out his purpose, though in the market-place. It keeps out the
cold; it may hide the assassin's dagger; it serves as a disguise in love
intrigues, and is a grateful protection from importunate creditors.
Twisted round the left arm, it is a shield; at night, it is a bed;
and with a sword, _capa y espada_, it not unfrequently constitutes the
entire earthly possessions of the haughty, poverty-stricken cavalier.
Whatever be the character or condition of the wearer, dignity is lent
him by its ample folds, and comeliness by its graceful drapery. It is
an unpardonable breach of decorum for a muffled cavalier to address
a person, or for any one to speak to him while so muffled. Politeness
teaches him to throw open to his friend both his garment and his heart,
that it may be plain that no concealed weapon is in the one, or malice
in the other. A son dare not speak to his own father when his face is
covered by his cloak.
The peasantry flaunted the gayest and most picturesque attire on holiday
occasions; the _majo_, a rustic beau, wore a figured velvet waistcoat
with square velvet buttons, and brilliant with colored ribbons;
embroidered stockings, silver-buckled shoes, and a colored capa thrown
gracefully over the left shoulder. The dress of Fígaro in the play, is
that of an Andalusian dandy. The costume of Valencia is more Asiatic,
or Asiatic-antique it might be called, partaking somewhat, as it does,
of the ancient Greek costume—wide linen drawers, linen shirt, hempen
sandals, footless stockings, wide red woollen belt, gay velvet jacket
with silken sash, with a colored capa over all. The long hair is bound
by a silken band in the form of a turban. The female peasant dress is
no less showy; a red velvet bodice, with scarlet or purple petticoat,
all profusely embroidered, a gay-colored square-cut mantilla fastened
by a silver brooch, with chains and jewels and colored stones according
to the purse of the wearer.
[Sidenote: VARIOUS COSTUMES.]
The ordinary peasant dress of Estremadura consists of wide cloth
knee-breeches, closely resembling those of the Moors, a gabardine
of cloth or leather, and cloth leggings. The men wear the hair long.
The women have a fashion of putting on a great number of petticoats;
the rustic belles of Zamarramala, a village of Estremadura, manage
to carry from fourteen to seventeen. In Andalusia the men have short
jackets ornamented with jet or steel beads, knee-breeches, and highly
ornamented leathern leggings; the women wear short embroidered and
flounced petticoats, and a Moorish sleeveless jacket embroidered with
gold or silver and laced in front. Asturian peasants have wooden shoes
with three large nails in the soles, which keep them from the ground;
leathern shoes they frequently carry in their travels, and to and from
church, under their arms, or on their heads, putting them on just before
entering the village or church. The women wear ear-rings and necklaces
of glass imitation of coral; a handkerchief, folded triangularly, covers
the head; at funerals, a large black mantle is worn. The Castilians
wear sandals, called _abarcas_, tied to the ankle by narrow strips
of rawhide. The Estremadurans wear a hat, very broad-brimmed; the
Catalonians, a red Phrygian cap; the Valencians, a kind of Greek cap;
the Asturians, a three-cornered black or dark blue cap with velvet
facings; the Biscayans, a flat red woollen cap; the Andalusians, a
turban-like hat, or a silk handkerchief. In Aragon, as well as in some
of the southern provinces, the broad-brimmed slouching sombrero obtains.
Hats were invented by a Swiss, Pansian, in 1404, and a Spaniard first
manufactured them in London in 1510. Jews in Spain were obliged to wear
yellow hats; in Germany bankrupts, in like manner, were required to wear
hats of green and yellow.
The general costume of a Spanish nobleman consisted of a silk gabardine,
with sleeves close-fitting at the wrist but puffed and slashed between
the elbow and shoulder so as to show the fine linen shirt beneath;
chamois-skin doublet, thick but flexible; silk hose, and silk trowsers
slashed; long bell-shaped boots with golden spur-supporters; broad,
polished leathern belt, from which hung a long sword on the left side,
and a long dagger in a leathern or velvet scabbard on the right; a
round, soft, broad-brimmed beaver hat, with an ostrich-feather fastened
by a diamond brooch on the side or in front; a cape or cloak embroidered
or laced with gold or silver thread, fastened with cord and tassel,
and worn hanging from the left shoulder, or thrown around the body so
as to cover part of the face. Within doors, the cloak was laid aside;
a velvet doublet was substituted for the leathern one; and instead of
boots, shoes of leather or velvet, slashed over the toes, were worn.
The dress of the lady was a heavy, flowing brocade or velvet skirt, open
in front, displaying an underdress of light silk or satin; a chemisette
with slashed sleeves; a stomacher with long ends hanging in front, and
a velvet sleeveless jacket laced with gold or silver cord. The breast
was covered with lace, and the neck and shoulders were bare, except
when covered by the _toca_, a kind of head-dress, out of which by
elongation grew the characteristic mantilla. Her shoes were of velvet,
her stockings of silk or wool; from the waist on the right side hung a
reticule, a silver or gold whistle for calling servants, and a poniard.
Her _dueña_ wore a black skirt, and a large black mantle completely
covering the head, face, and shoulders down to the waist. Swords formed
no part of domestic dress prior to the fifteenth century.
Black was the color of the church, certain clerical orders excepted.
Those of the learned professions wore black. The ladies usually attended
church in black, and indeed were sometimes seen in sombre hues upon
the alameda. Black robes and a canoe-shaped hat covered the Basque
priest; and the friar, sackcloth and gray, bound round the waist with a
twisted cord. _Alguaciles_, or constables, followed the ancient cavalier
costume—broad-brimmed hat, black cloak, short knee-breeches, black
stockings, silver-buckled shoes, Vandyke ruffles, and white lace collar.
This in the Basque provinces only. Friars appeared in a hooded robe,
extending to the ankles, over woollen breeches and jacket. A cord was
tied round the waist from which hung a rosary. Hempen or leathern shoes
were worn, and by some orders broad hats. The robe of the friar was of
coarse wool; that of the clergyman serge, with a cloak, low leathern
shoes with buckle, black stockings, knee-breeches, a white collar,
and a black hat with broad brim turned up at the sides. The robes of
vicars, parish curates, and other church dignitaries were of silk. The
Franciscan's robe was of a yellowish gray color, the Dominican's white,
the Carmelite's reddish gray, the Capuchin's silver gray, the Jesuit's
black. The bishop's color was violet, the cardinal's red or purple.
* * * * *
Domestic routine in Spain, with allowances for class, season, and
locality, was substantially as follows. The noble or wealthy master
of a household was served before rising with chocolate, which service
was called the _desayuno_. He then rose and dressed; after which,
kneeling before the crucifix, he said a prayer; then he proceeded to
the avocations of the day, taking _las once_, or the eleven o'clock
luncheon of cake and wine, either at home or at the house of a friend,
or wherever he happened to be. After a twelve or one o'clock dinner
came the siesta. At five o'clock there was to be eaten the _merienda_,
consisting of chocolate, preserved fruit, and ices; and between nine and
eleven, supper. In the private chapel of the grandees mass was said.
The middle class usually attended church about sunrise; after which
breakfast, and at noon dinner.
[Sidenote: EXCESSIVE RELIGIOUS TRAINING.]
The religious training of children was excessive. At daybreak the
_angelus_ was recited, then to chapel or church to mass, after which
the child might breakfast; at noon angelus and dinner; after the siesta
vespers at church, and rosary at home; at six o'clock angelus and
chocolate; prayers at eight; supper at nine; after which more prayers
and to bed. The child was expected to attend all these devotions, the
night prayer perhaps excepted, the youngest children being sent to bed
after the rosary. And this not alone Sunday, but every day.
A national dish, centuries old, common to Spain and all Spanish
countries, called the _olla podrida_, constitutes a staple food with
almost all classes. It is made of meat and vegetables boiled together,
but usually served in two dishes, and its constituents depend upon
the resources of the cook, for everything eatable is put into it that
can be obtained. Beef, mutton, pork, and fowl; beans, peas, potatoes,
onions, cabbage, and garlic; the water in which the mess is boiled is
served as soup with rice or bread, and the two courses constitute the
whole of every meal of the lower classes. On the tables of the wealthy,
after the olla podrida, fish, roast meats, and a profuse dessert of
sweetmeats, jellies, preserves, and bonbons are served. The Andalusians
make a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, green-peppers, chiccory,
with oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and stale bread, which with them is a
staple dish, called _gazpacho_.
It was a gluttonous, sensual age, that of the century preceding
our epoch; but from these vices Spain was probably more free than
any other civilized nation of Europe. There the discipline of war
absorbed the attention which elsewhere was given to luxurious living.
We find nothing in Spain such as we are told about in England, where
the households of the great were composed of brawling retainers,
ill-mannered clowns, and riotous serving men and women who terminated
many a feast with bloodshed; where guests snatched and scrambled for
food, gorging themselves with whatever they could lay hands on; where
drunken broils were of daily occurrence, and the master of the household
was not unfrequently obliged to sheath his sword in the body of some
contumacious servant grown dangerous by the unbridled license in which
he had been indulged.
What shall we say of the monks and cardinals now grown fat from the
well filled coffers of the Church? With their wealth in some instances
they had grown sensuous and extravagant. Their cupboards were loaded
with rich viands, in which they freely indulged; and their tables were
surrounded by musicians and all the luxuries and delicacies the world
could contribute. Not to the faults of the few, however, would we call
too much attention, but to the virtues of the many; for during these
dark years of ignorance and voluptuousness the Church was planting and
watering the seeds of the sanctity of marriage and domestic life in
Spain, and surrounding the family altar with so many safeguards among
her people, that the long ages since have not sufficed to dispel nor
destroy them. The wealthy families of Spain had their court jesters,
but coarse buffoonery or indecent jests were seldom tolerated.
[Sidenote: FOOD AND FILTHINESS.]
Two persons often ate from one plate, using their fingers for forks.
A sheath-knife, or dagger, which they carried upon the person, served
to cut the food. Among the first books printed in Venice was a folio
volume on cookery, issued in 1475. In the English metrical _Stans Puer
ad Mensam_, following Wright, the guest is told to "bring no knyves
unskoured to the table;" in other words, his sheath knife should be
clean, and he is also informed that polite persons will not pick their
teeth with it while at table. It was considered a breach of good manners
to blow the nose with the same fingers used in conveying food to the
mouth. Hats were worn by the men, and head-dresses by the women, on all
domestic occasions. In France, the metrical _Contenances de Table_, or
manual of table manners, shows but little more refinement there than
elsewhere. Among other directions the reader is told first to examine
his seat whether it be clean:
"Enfant, prens de regarder peine
Sur le siege où tu te fierras,
Se aucune chose y verras
Qui soit deshonneste où vilaine."
He is forbidden to spit upon the table while at dinner:
"Ne craiche par dessus la table
Car c'est chose desconvenable."
Or to spurt water from his mouth into the basin used in common by the
company:
"Quant tu bouche tu laveras
Ou bacin point ne cracheras."
Or leave sops in his wine glass:
"Se tu fais souppes en ton verre
Boy le vin ou le gette à terre."
But by implication he may spurt and throw remnants on the floor, as much
as he pleases.
Even in their use of tobacco, of which they are excessively fond, the
Spaniards are temperate. Though they smoke it almost constantly, it is
in such small quantities, and in so mild a form, that tobacco does them
less injury than it inflicts on many other nations. It was the custom to
carry a daily supply wrapped in a lettuce or cabbage leaf to preserve it
moist. The cigarette was prepared for smoking by taking a small quantity
of tobacco, finely cut, rolling it in a piece of corn-husk or paper, and
lighting with flint, steel, and punk. Though the tobacco may be strong,
prepared in this way the effect is less injurious than when rolled in
larger quantities into a cigar, or cut from a plug and smoked from a
pipe or chewed.
Noble youths of both sexes were accustomed, to serve a sort of
apprenticeship for a number of years in the king's household. In like
manner the sons and daughters of gentlemen served in the houses of the
nobility, and common people in the houses of gentlemen, that each might
be benefited by the knowledge and refinement of his superior.
Spaniards, as I have said, are called inhospitable; but this charge must
be taken with allowance. Every phase of human nature has its generous
quality; locked in every heart is a wealth of kindliness which opens to
him who holds the key. By nature these people are reserved, suspicious.
They carry no window in their breast. In their domestic affairs they are
specially reticent before strangers. Their wives and daughters they hide
away; their troubles they cover within the ashes that preserve them;
their sensibilities shrink from cold contact with the world. If some
find certain Spaniards at given periods inhospitable, others at other
times and places find them very generous. In early times inns were not
common in Spain, and we are told that in certain places every private
house had its guest's quarters consisting of one or more rooms according
to the opulence of the owner. To this apartment every stranger of
whatsoever degree was welcome. There he lived as long as he pleased, fed
and cared for by the host; and—you may call it pride—if through poverty
provisions grew scarce, the family would undergo the greatest privation
rather than the guest should suffer want, or be forced to hasten his
departure. Furthermore all was free; to offer pay for entertainment was
deemed an insult, though a present might be given and accepted.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: AMUSEMENTS.]
While called a melancholy people, amusement appeared at times to be
the life of the nation. Royalty and religion at rest, peace here and
hereafter secured, there was nothing more of life than to enjoy it. To
labor when one might repose; to sigh when one might sing; to undergo the
pains of culture when sweet pleasure temptingly proposed a holiday—ah
no! Fools attempt to better their condition and make it worse. Let those
who need improving scour themselves; we know enough.
So lazily lapped in stupidity, beside their feast-days and bull-fights,
their passions and passion-plays, they lolled upon the greensward and
danced to tambourine and castanets, and wrestled, and ran races; they
fenced, fought, played cards, shook dice, and enlivened home monotony by
all sorts of games and gymnastic exercises. Dancing was carried to such
excess as to lead to dissoluteness and occasional death, even as it does
to-day. The dances of the peasantry in many instances bear a striking
resemblance to those of the native races of America. In Asturias, men,
and sometimes men and women, form a circle joining hands by the little
finger. A leader sings in plaintive monotone a description of some
Spanish feat of arms prior to the eleventh century, or of a tournament
of later days, or of some unhappy love adventure, or of a thrilling
incident in the conquest of America. At the end of every strophe, all
sing in chorus the refrain which sometimes terminates in an invocation,
as for example, May Saint Peter be with me! May the Magdalen protect
us! The dance is a long step forward, and two short steps backward and
laterally to the right, so that the circle keeps constantly moving in
that direction, meanwhile keeping time to the music with arms as well as
feet. These dances take place on Sunday afternoons, and on feast-days,
and when the priest is present men and women are separated in the dance.
The _fandango_, danced by two persons with castanets to the music of
the guitar, is peculiar to the south of Spain.
Between the eras proper of tournaments and bull-fights, a species
of tilting called _correr la sortija_ was greatly in vogue. A gold
finger-ring was suspended by a thread from the top of a pole, and at
it charged the cavalier with lance in rest and horse at full speed. The
smallness of the object, its constant motion, and its proximity to the
pole rendered it an exceedingly difficult feat to accomplish.
Cards and dice were at this time in the height of their fascination.
Every class, age, profession, and sex were filled with a passion
for gambling—a most levelling vice, at this juncture, bringing in
contact noble and commoner, knight and squire, women, servants, and
trades-people. An English poet about the year 1500 thus laments the
degeneracy of the nobles:
"Before thys tyme they lovyd for to juste,
And in shotynge chefely they sett ther mynde;
And ther landys and possessyons now sett they moste,
And at cardes and dyce ye may them ffynde."
From her low estate of mediæval drudge or plaything, woman was lifted
by the exaltation of the Virgin,—lifted too high by chivalry; then fell
too low with the sensual reaction. Finally, after many waverings, she
rises again, and in the more favored spheres takes her rightful place
beside her lord, his confidant and equal. At the time of which I write,
however, she was less respected than now, and hence less respectable;
less trusted, and consequently less trustworthy. Her virtue, fortified
by bolts and bars at home, was watched by servants abroad. Falling into
the customs of the invaders during Moslem domination, Castilian ladies
became more and more retired, until the dwelling was little better than
a nunnery. The days of tournaments, and jousts, and troubadours were
over, and indifference succeeded chivalric sentimentality.
[Sidenote: FEMALE CHASTITY.]
Seldom has Spanish society been conspicuous for its high moral tone.
Female chastity was an abstract quality, the property of the father
or husband, rather than an inherent virtue for the safe-keeping of
which the female possessor was responsible. The master of a household
exercised sovereign authority therein, claiming even the power of life
and death over the members of his family. He was addressed in the third
person as 'your worship;' sons dare not cover their head, cross their
legs, or even sit in his presence unless so directed; daughters were
betrothed without their knowledge, and to men whom they had never seen;
the selection of a husband rested entirely with the father, and the
daughter had only to acquiesce. Female decorum and purity were placed
under espionage. A dueña kept guard over the wife and daughter at home,
and closely followed at their heels whenever they stepped into the
street. Ladies, closely veiled, marched solemnly to church, preceded
by a _rodrigon_, or squire, with cushion and prayer-book, and followed
by a dueña. At service, her place was in front, and men took up their
station behind her. Teach woman first that she is inferior, next that
she is impotent; add to this intellectual inanity and implied moral
unaccountability, and you have a creature ripe for wickedness.
This excess of caution defeated its own purpose. Women, left much alone
within their cloister-like homes, waited not in vain for opportunity.
The gay mistress could often too easily win over her attendant, and make
of her dueña a go-between; yet if we may believe the record, infidelity
was rare, and for two reasons. First, woman in her seclusion escaped
many temptations; and secondly, a wholesome fear, the certainty that
vengeance, swift and sure, would follow the offence, resulting in the
death of one or both offenders, placed a curb on passion. Females of
the lower classes, left alone to take care of their virtue as best
they might, with faces open and actions free, were less given to
transgression than their wealthier sisters.
Lewd women could not testify in criminal cases. Respectable women
were permitted to testify, but the judge was obliged to wait on them
at their homes, as they were not allowed to attend court. Learning to
write was discouraged in females, as they could then have it in their
power to scribble love-letters to their gallants. Queen Isabella did
much to elevate and purify both religion and morals. The court of
Enrique IV., her predecessor, has been described as but little better
than a brothel, where "the queen, a daughter of Portugal, lived openly
with her parasites and gallants, as the king did with his minions and
mistresses." Maids of honor were trained courtesans, and the noblemen
of the court occupied their time in illicit amours and love intrigues.
From the king on his throne to his lowest subject, all who could afford
it kept a mistress.
Ware states that within a century the widows of Madrid were "compelled
to pass the whole first year of their mourning in a chamber entirely
hung with black, where not a single ray of the sun could penetrate,
seated on a little mattress with their legs always crossed. When this
year was over, they retired to pass the second year in a chamber hung
with grey." This savagism is paralleled by the Thlinkeets of Alaska,
who at certain times confine women in a little kennel for six months,
giving them one a size larger for the second six months; likewise by
the Tacullies of New Caledonia, who make the widow carry the deceased
husband's ashes upon her back in a bag for one or two years.
[Sidenote: EUROPEAN SOCIETY IN GENERAL.]
A glance at English and French society shows us, however, that the
character of the Spanish women of this epoch compared favorably with
that of their northern sisters. Though perhaps no chaster than the
French, they were not street-brawlers like the English women. These
latter, we are told, from whom the men would separate themselves in
their debauches, would likewise assemble at the public house, drink
their ale, talk loudly and lewdly, and gossip, swear, and fight. In a
religious play of the period, representing the deluge, Noah, when ready
to enter the ark, seeks his wife, and finds her carousing with her
gossips at the public drink-house.
"Young ladies, even of great families," says Wright, "were brought up
not only strictly but even tyrannically by their mothers, who kept
them constantly at work, exacted from them almost slavish deference
and respect, and even counted upon their earnings." A mother in those
days was accounted a little severe who beat her daughter "once in the
week, or twice, and sometimes twice a day," and "broke her head in two
or three places," or still worse, permitted her to "speak with no man,
whosoever come."
Witness the wooing of Matilda of Flanders by William the Conqueror.
Having had the audacity to refuse him, the noble suitor entered her
home, seized her long tresses, dragged her about the floor, struck her;
then flinging her from him, he spurned her with his foot. Matilda at
once accepted him, saying: "He must be a man of courage who dare beat
me in my father's palace."
Pedro el Cruel, king of Castile and Leon, about the middle of the
fourteenth century held good, and commanded, under heavy penalties,
that no one of the laboring classes, man or woman, who was able to
work, should be found begging. He fixed the day's wage of every class
with the most punctilious exactitude. Shoemakers, tailors, armorers,
and others who worked by the job, had a definite price attached to the
making of every article. A shoe of such and such leather, made after
such a fashion, with a double or single sole; a cloak, lined or unlined;
a weapon of an ordinary, or of a superior temper and finish—each article
in its fabrication was to cost just so much and no more.
It was an age of interference in the affairs of men, the strong against
the weak. It was in these trade regulations, and in sumptuary laws, the
superstition of political economy and social statics, that the science
of ignorance culminated. It was then that learned men threw dust into
the air, cast a cloud about their own intellect, and labored hard to
inculcate the principles of nescience into the minds of men. In England
the number of servants a nobleman might have was fixed by law, as was
also costume, and the number of courses at dinner. Soup and two dishes
legally constituted a Frenchman's dinner in 1340.
Ferdinand and Isabella were, perhaps, the most parentally inclined of
all. No affair, religious, moral, political, judicial, economical,
literary, industrial, mechanical, or mercantile could escape their
attention. From the regulation and organization of the high councils,
and of the civil and ecclesiastical tribunals, to the ordinances for
the leather-dressers and cloth-shearers; from the decrees concerning
the universities and the literary and scientific bodies, to the orders
that prescribed the weight of horseshoes; from the general laws on
commerce and navigation, to those which fixed the expenditure at
weddings and baptisms, and the amount of wax to be burned at funerals;
from the highest interests and rights of religion and of the throne,
down to the most humble and mechanical industries—all were considered,
legislated upon, and seen to by their Catholic Majesties, with infinite
pains and vigilance. In 1510, thinking the colonists of Española too
fond of ostentation and extravagance, Ferdinand issued a proclamation,
forbidding them to wear rich silks, brocades, or gold or silver lace.
Owners of vessels, in times of peace, were forced to engage at fixed
prices in perilous voyages of discovery or commerce.
[Sidenote: SUMPTUARY LAWS.]
In England it appears that the dress of the men commanded the special
attention of their rulers. Spaniards made men and women alike to
feel the iron heel of sumptuary legislation; while the English, in
laws of nearly coincident date, for the most part omitted the sex. By
distinctive qualities, Edward IV., 1461-1483, regulated the dress of his
people—from the royal cloth-of-gold down to the two-shillings-a-yard,
and under, cloth of the laboring classes; but, if we may believe
Sanford, he took care to exempt his women subjects from the provisions
of this act, save only the wives of the two-shillings-a-yard boor, who
might be expected to have other things to attend to.
The continental ladies, it appears, could flaunt it bravely upon
occasion, at least in France and Flanders. For through these countries
crusaded, in 1428, Thomas Conecte, a Carmelite friar, preaching against
the evils of the age, or what he considered as such. Among these, dress
held a place, and many other things not generally condemned at present.
His manner of going to work was peculiar, and is pretty well described
by Monstrelet.
In his audiences he always separated the men from the women by a
cord, "for he had observed some sly doings between them while he was
preaching." Having taken these wise precautions, he was accustomed
earnestly to admonish his hearers "on the damnation of their souls and
on pain of excommunication, to bring to him whatever backgammon-boards,
chessboards, nine-pins, or other instruments for games of amusement
they might possess." Right bitterly would he then attack the luxurious
apparel of ladies of rank; especially the monstrous head-gear which was
in fashion at that time; all of which bred trouble, as may readily be
imagined, and produced no good results.
We see the same style of preaching indulged in by the Wesleys in England
and Whitefield and others in America at different times, and ever with
the same lack of practical results. The most costly jewelry, the finest
apparel, grand houses and free living are as conspicuous among the
followers of these self-sacrificing and conscientious men as among the
members of any other church, or among those who are not members of any
church. And if the pious Carmelite friar failed in his crusade against
fine clothes, free living, and monstrous head-gear among the Spanish of
the fifteenth century, so have more modern crusaders failed in similar
attempts in later times.
* * * * *
This then was Spain and Spanish character, as nearly as I have been able
to picture them in the short space allotted, at or prior to the dawn
of the sixteenth century. We have found Spaniards the noblest race on
earth at that time; their men brave, their women modest. Before them
opened a career more brilliant than the world has ever seen before or
since. To follow them in some parts of that career is the purpose of
these volumes.
We have found these people after all not so very different from
ourselves—more loyal than we, but more ignorant; more religious, but
more superstitious; more daring, but more reckless; more enthusiastic,
but more chimerical. They were endowed with the virtues and vices of
their age, as we are with the virtues and vices of ours. They were
sincere in their opinions, and honest in their efforts; but we have
the advantage of them by four centuries of recorded experiences. Our
knowledge, our advantages, are superior to theirs; do we make superior
use of them? Spain lighted a hemisphere of dark waters, brought forth
hidden islands and continents, and presented half a world to the other
half. With all our boasted improvement, have we done more?
It is the custom of historical commentators to praise and to blame _ad
libitum_. This is right if it be done judiciously. We should praise
discreetly, and blame with steadiness. But there is really little to
praise or to blame in history, and most of it that is done is simply
praising or blaming the providence of progress. Would you blame the
Spanish people for being ignorant, submissive, and cruel? They were as
God and circumstances made them. Would you blame their king and princes
for domineering them? They were as the people and circumstances made
them. The people were indignant if their rulers did not impose upon
them. Says Grenville, writing in his memoirs so late as 1818: "The
Regent drives in the park every day in a tilbury, with his groom sitting
by his side; grave men are shocked at this undignified practice."
Meanwhile, amidst the many so-called spirits which in this epoch hovered
over man, the spirit of discovery was not the least potent. Curiosity,
the mother of science, became the mother of new worlds; gave birth to
continents, islands, and seas; gave form and boundary to earth. Over the
sea, the mists of the Dark Age had rested with greater density even than
on land. The aurora of progress now illumined the western horizon as of
old it did the eastern. Hitherto the great ocean, beyond a few leagues
from shore, was a mystery. As may be seen depicted on ancient charts,
it was filled, in the imaginations of navigators, with formidable
water-beasts and monsters, scarcely less terrible than those that Æneas
saw as he entered the mouth of Hades:
"Multaque præterea variarum monstra ferarum:
Centauri in foribus stabulant, Scyllæque biformes,
et centumgeminus Briareus, ac belua Lernæ
horrendum stridens, flammisque armata Chimæra,
Gorgones Harpyiæque et forma tricorporis umbræ."
Ancient geographers affirmed that the heat of the torrid zone was
intolerable, that men and ships entering it would shrivel. This belt of
consuming heat presented an impenetrable barrier between the known and
the unknown.
What wonder that intellect was stunted, civilization dwarfed, restricted
as was human knowledge to the narrow grave-like walls of western
Europe! No sooner were these ancient boundaries burst, and the black and
dreadful fog-banks which lay upon primeval ocean pierced, than fancy,
like a freed bird, bounded forth, swept the circumference of the earth,
soared aloft amid the stars, and dared even to ask of religion a reason.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: EUROPE AND AMERICA.]
One glance westward. On either side of an unswept sea, a Sea of Darkness
it was called by those that feared it, there rested at the opening of
this history two fair continents, each unknown to the other. One was
cultivated; its nations were well advanced in those arts and courtesies
that spring from accumulated experiences; the other, for the most part,
unmarred by man, lay revelling in primeval beauty, fresh as from the
Creator's hand. The leaven of progress working in one, brought to its
knowledge the existence of the other; the Sea of Darkness with its
uncouth monsters was turned into a highway, and civilized Europe stood
face to face with sylvan America. This world newly found was called the
New World; though which is the new and which the old; which, if either,
peopled the other, is yet undetermined. One in organism and in the
nature human, the people of the two worlds were in color, customs, and
sentiment several. The barbarous New World boasted its civilizations,
while the civilized Old World disclosed its barbarisms; on Mexican
and Peruvian highlands were nations of city-builders as far superior
in culture to the islanders and coast-dwellers seen by Columbus, as
were the European discoverers superior to the American highlanders. Of
probable indigenous origin, this lesser civilization shows traces of
high antiquity; even the ruder nations of the north leave far behind
them absolute primevalism.
I do not say with some that in America were seen in certain directions
marks of as high culture as any in Europe. There were no such marks.
But this unquestionably is true; that, as in Europe, we here find that
most inexplicable of phenomena, the evolution of civility; man's mental
and spiritual necessities, like his physical wants, appear everywhere
the same. The mind, like the body, craves nutriment, and the dimmed
imprisoned soul a higher sympathy; hence we see men of every clime
and color making for themselves gods, and contriving creeds which
shall presently deliver them from their dilemma. The civilizations of
America, unlike well-rooted saplings of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, were
sensitive-plants which collapsed upon the first foreign touch, leaving
only the blackness of darkness; hence it was the wild tribes, far more
than the cultivated nations, that influenced the character of subsequent
American societies.
In her civil and religious polities America was every whit as consistent
as Europe. Neither was altogether perfect or wise; and we wonder at the
blindness and stupidity of one as of the other. Although we could catch
but a glimpse of the Americans before they vanished, yet we might see
that intellect was not stationary, but growing, and that society was
instinct with intelligent and progressional activity.
[Sidenote: COMPARATIVE RELIGIONS.]
In their religions the Americans paralleled the rest of mankind. Every
religion derives its form and color from the mind of the worshippers,
so that by their gods we may know them. From elevated natures emanate
chaste and refined conceptions of the deity; from brutish natures coarse
conceptions. Christianity is the highest and purest of all religions;
but if we study the moral precepts of the foremost American nations,
we shall see that in many respects they were not far behind, and were
indeed in some instances in advance of Christianity. True, the Aztecs
practised human sacrifice, with all its attendant horrors; but what were
the religious wars, the expulsion of Jews, the slaughter of Infidels,
the burning of heretics, but human sacrifice? Moreover, while we turn
in horror from the sacrificial stone of the Aztecs, where the human
victims were treated as gods and whence their souls were sent direct
to Paradise, yet we find among them little of that most infamous of
crimes—persecution for opinion's sake; nor yet do we read of their
ingenuity being taxed for the contrivance of engines of the most
excruciating torture, as we do in the history of Christianity. Tortures
which, while killing the body, it was believed consigned the soul to
eternal agonies.
There was little in the social or political systems of Europe of which
the counterpart could not be found in America; indeed, the economical,
social, and political condition of every civilization finds its
counterpart in every other civilization; and there were institutions
then existing in America at whose feet Europe might have sat with
benefit.
[Sidenote: AMERICAN ABORIGINALS.]
Among the wilder tribes we find prevalent the patriarchal state, with
its hundreds of languages and theologies; a slight advance from which
are those associations of families banded for safety, thus presenting a
state of society not unlike that of European feudalism. From this point,
every quality and grade of government presents itself until full-blown
monarchy is attained, where a sole sovereign becomes an emperor of
nations with a state and severity equal to that of the most enlightened.
The government of the Nashua nations, which was monarchical and nearly
absolute, denotes no small progress from primordial patriarchy.
Like their cousins of Spain and England, the sovereigns of Mexico had
their elaborate palaces, with magnificent surroundings, their country
residence and their hunting-grounds, their botanical and zoological
gardens, and their harems filled with the daughters of nobles, who
deemed it an honor to see them thus royally defiled. There were
aristocratic and knightly orders; nobles, plebeians, and slaves;
pontiffs and priesthoods; land tenures and taxation; seminaries of
learning, and systems of education, in which virtue was extolled and
vice denounced; laws and law courts of various grades, and councils
and tribunals of various kinds; military orders with drill, engineer
corps, arms, and fortifications; commerce, caravans, markets, merchants,
pedlers, and commercial fairs, with a credit system, and express and
postal facilities.
They were not lacking in pleasures and amusements similar to those
of the Europeans, such as feasts with professional jester, music,
dancing; and after dinner the drama, national games, gymnastics, and
gladiatorial combats. They were not without their intoxicating drink,
delighting in drunkenness while denouncing it. Their medical faculty and
systems of surgery they had, and their burial-men; also their literati,
scholars, orators, and poets, with an arithmetical system, a calendar,
a knowledge of astronomy, hieroglyphic books, chronological records,
public libraries, and national archives.
The horoscope of infants was cast; the cross was lifted up; incense
was burned; baptism and circumcision were practised. Whence arose these
customs so like those of their fellow-men across the Atlantic, whom they
had never seen or heard of?
The conquerors found all this when they entered the country. They
examined with admiration the manufactures of gold, silver, copper,
tin, and lead, wrought to exquisite patterns with surprising skill.
They gazed with astonishment on huge architectural piles, on monumental
remains speaking louder than words; on temples, causeways, fountains,
aqueducts, and light-houses, surrounded as they were with statues and
intricate and costly stone carvings. They found that the Americans made
cloth, paper, pottery, and dyes, and were proficient in painting. Their
mosaic feather-work was a marvel.
There are many points of interest, well worth examination, which I have
not space here properly to mention. The interested reader, however, will
find all material necessary to careful comparison in my _Native Races of
the Pacific States_. He will there find described conditions of society
analogous to feudalism and chivalry; he will find municipal governments,
walled towns, and standing armies. There were legislative assemblies
similar to that of the Cortes, and associations not unlike that of the
Holy Brotherhood. To say that trial by combat sometimes occurred is
affirming of them nothing complimentary; but upon the absence of some
European institutions they were to be congratulated.
Although living lives of easy poverty, the wild tribes of America
everywhere possessed dormant wealth enough to tempt the cupidity alike
of the fierce Spaniard, the blithe Frenchman, and the sombre Englishman.
Under a burning tropical sun, where neither meat nor clothing was
essential to comfort, the land yielded gold, while in hyperborean
forests where no precious metals were discovered the richest peltries
abounded; so that no savage in all this northern continent was found so
poor that grasping civilization could find nothing to rob him of.
When Europe undertook the mastery of America, she found the people, as a
rule, ready to be friendly. Some at first were startled into the seizure
of their arms, the first impulse of the wild man on meeting anything
strange being to defend himself. But their fears were easily allayed,
their confidence easily gained, and their pledges of good faith were
usually to be depended upon.
[Sidenote: COMPARATIVE CHARACTERISTICS.]
The variations between them and their brethren across the Atlantic
were less of kind than of quality. They were more children than wild
beasts. Physically they were complete, but mentally they were not fully
developed. Their minds were not so broad, nor so strong or subtle as
those of white men. Their cunning partook more of brute instinct than
of civilized artifice. There was mind-power enough, but it lacked shape
and consistency. They were naturally no more blood-thirsty, or cruel, or
superstitious than their conquerors, but their cruelty and superstitions
were of coarser, cruder forms. The American aboriginal character has
been greatly misconstrued, and is to-day but imperfectly understood.
The chief difference, or cause of difference, between the people
of Europe and the more advanced nations of America, it seems to me,
lay in the ignorance of some few things, apparently insignificant in
themselves, yet mighty enough to revolutionize Christendom; such as the
use of iron, gunpowder, and movable types. The absence of horses, and
other of the more useful domestic animals, was also a disadvantage.
After reading of the Europeans of that day it is irony to call the
Americans revengeful or cruel. Where is it possible to find more
strongly developed those qualities which civilization most condemns
than among civilized nations—the same, only refined? So blind are we to
our own faults, so quick to see and condemn the faults of our weak and
defenceless neighbor!
Catalogue crime and place the white beside the red. Seldom was the
Indian treacherous until he had been deceived. The Indians tortured
their prisoners; so did the white men, hunting them with bloodhounds,
enslaving them, branding them with hot irons, beating and roasting them,
making them work in the mines until death relieved them by thousands,
butchering wives and children because the husband and father dared
strike a blow in their defence. It is well to call them brutal in
warfare when the white man so quickly adopts their most brutal customs;
it is well to call them beasts of prey, when the white man crosses the
ocean to prey upon those very beasts which he pretends to slur.
In speaking of the Indians, it has become the custom wilfully to
misapply terms. If a tribe resist an injury, it is called an outbreak;
if successful in war, it is a massacre; if successful in single combat,
it is a murder. Thus soldiers speak to cover the disgrace of defeat,
and thus reports are made by men who regard not decency in speaking
of a savage, to say nothing of fairness. It is enough that we have
exterminated this people, without attempting to malign them and exalt
our own baseness. What should we do were a foreign power to come in
ships to our shore and begin to slaughter our animals, to stake off our
land and divide it among themselves? We should drive them away if we
were able; but if we found them the stronger, we should employ every art
to destroy them, and in so doing regard ourselves as patriots performing
a sacred obligation. This is the Indians crime; and in so doing we
call him cunning, revengeful, hateful, diabolical. But the white man
brings him blankets, it may be said, brings him medicine, tells him of
contrivances, teaches him civilization. These things are exactly what
the savage does not want, and what he is much better off without. The
white man's comforts kill him almost as quickly as do his cruelties; and
the teachings of Christ's ministers are abhorrent if they are coupled
with the examples of lecherous and murderous professors of Christianity.
These, however, were by no means all that white men gave the Indian.
We might enumerate alcohol, small-pox, measles, syphilis, and a dozen
other disgusting adjuncts of civilization of which the savage before
knew nothing. Can savagism boast greater achievements? White men have
killed fifty Indians where Indians have killed one white man, and
this, notwithstanding that nine tenths of all injuries inflicted have
been perpetrated by white invaders. A thousand Indian women have been
outraged by men whose mothers had taught them the Lord's prayer, where
one white woman has been injured by these benighted heathen. At any
time in the history of America I would rather take my chances as a white
woman among savages, than as an Indian woman among white people.
[Sidenote: SIGNIFICATIONS OF PROGRESS.]
Brethren by procreation, but by destiny foes, as we behold them there
the so-called New and Old thus so strangely brought together, naturally
enough we ask ourselves, Whence came the one, and whither tends the
other? Whence came these dusky denizens of the forest, and for how many
thousands of ages has the feeble light of their intelligence struggled
with the darkness, dimly flickering, now gathering strength, now falling
back into dense obscurity; how long and in what manner has the divine
spark thus wrestled with its environment? And whither tends this fierce
flame of human advancement which just now bursts its ancient boundaries,
sweeps across the Sea of Darkness, absorbs all lesser lights, and
dazzles and consumes a hemisphere of souls? More especially, when we
look back toward what we are accustomed to call the beginning, and mark
the steady advance of knowledge, the ever-increasing power of mind;
when we consider the progress of even the last half century, and listen
to the present din and clatter of improvement, do we raise our eyes
to the future and ask, Whither tends all this? Whither tends with so
rapidly accelerating swiftness this self-begetting of enlightenment,
this massing of human acquirements; whither tends this perpetually
increasing domination of the intellectual over the material? Within the
past few thousand years we have seen our race emerge from barbarism,
and notwithstanding the inherent tendency to evil ever present in
our natures, we have seen mankind put on civilization and accept for
their faith Christianity, the purest and highest type of religion.
We have seen nations cease somewhat their hereditary growlings, and
brutal blood-sheddings, and mingle as brethren; we have seen wavy grain
supplant the tangled wildwood, gardens materialize from the mirage,
and magnificent cities rise out of the rocky ground. Thus we have seen
the whole earth placed under tribute, and this mysterious reasoning
intelligence of ours elevating itself yet more and more above the
instincts of the brute, and asserting its dominion over nature; belting
the earth with an impatient energy, which now presses outward from every
meridian, widening its domain as best it may toward the north and toward
the south, building equatorial fires under polar icebergs. All this and
more from the records of our race we have seen accomplished, and yet do
see it; civilization working itself out in accordance with the eternal
purposes of Omnipotence, unfolding under man's agency, yet independent
of man's will; a subtile, extraneous, unifying energy, stimulated by
agencies good not more than by agencies evil, yet always tending in its
results to good rather than to evil; an influence beyond the reach or
cognizance of man, working in and round persons and societies, turning
and overturning, now clouding the sky with blackness and dropping
disorder on floundering humanity, but only to be followed by a yet
more fertilizing sunshine; laying waste and building up, building up by
laying waste, civilizing as well by war and avarice as by good-will and
sweet charity, civilizing as surely, if not as rapidly, with the world
of humanity struggling against it, as with the same human world laboring
for it.
Slowly rattles along the dim present, well-nigh buried in its own dust;
it is only the past that is well-defined and clear to history.
SUMMARY OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE AND DISCOVERY FROM THE EARLIEST
RECORDS TO THE YEAR 1540.
Before entering upon the narration of events composing this history,
it seems to me important, in order as well properly to appreciate the
foregoing Introduction as to gain from succeeding chapters something
more than gratified curiosity, that an exposition of Early Voyages
should be given,—acting powerfully as they did on evolving thought and
material development, giving breadth and vigor to intellect, enthusiasm
to enterprise, and in elevating and stimulating that commercial spirit
which was eventually to depose kings, exalt the people, strip from
science its superstitions, from religion its cabalistic forms, and by
its associations, its negotiations, its adventurous daring, its wars,
its alliances, and its humanizing polities, to break the barriers of
ancient enmity and bring together in common brotherhood all the nations
of the earth.
Therefore, I now propose to give a chronological statement of every
authentic voyage of discovery made beyond the Mediterranean prior to
1540, while doubtful and disputed voyages will be discussed according
to their relative importance. I shall notice, moreover, such books and
charts relating to America as were produced during this period, with
fac-similes of the more important maps, to illustrate, at different
dates, the progress of discovery. It is my purpose, so far as possible,
in the very limited space allowed, to state fairly the conclusions of
the best writers on every important point.
* * * * *
One word as to the authorities consulted in the preparation of this
Summary. Of books relating to America, published prior to 1540, there
are in all about sixty-five; only twenty-five, however, contain original
information; twenty-three are general cosmographical works with brief
sections on America compiled from the original twenty-five; while
seventeen merely mention the New World or its discoveries, and are
therefore of no value in this connection. Of the forty-eight containing
matter more or less important, there are over two hundred editions, the
earliest of which only, in most instances, will be mentioned, and that
without extensive bibliographical notes. These books and charts I notice
in chronological order under dates of their successive appearance.
The subject of Early Voyages has been so frequently and so thoroughly
discussed by able modern writers that it is unnecessary, and indeed
impracticable in so condensed an essay, to refer to ancient authorities
alone, and prove everything from the beginning. I shall therefore,
besides the Spanish historians Peter Martyr, Oviedo, Las Casas,
Gomara, Herrera, and the standard collections of Ramusio, Grynæus,
Purchas, and Hakluyt, freely use the works of later writers according
to their relative worth. And of these last mentioned I epitomize
the following. _Historia del Nuevo-Mundo, escribíala D. Juan Baut.
Muñoz_, tom. i.—all ever published—_En Madrid_, 1793, contains a
clear well-written _prologo_, or essay, on the first three voyages of
Columbus with minor mention of contemporary discoveries. An account
is also given of the author's labors in beginning the large and
invaluable collection of documents completed and published by Martin
Fernandez de Navarrete, _Coleccion de los Viages y Descubrimientos que
hicieron por mar los Españoles desde fines del siglo XV._, 5 vols. 4to,
Madrid, 1825-37. This collection of Navarrete's is without doubt the
most valuable work on the subject of early American voyages, and the
foundation of all that followed; containing as it does the original
Spanish, Latin, and Portuguese texts of the more important Spanish
and Portuguese expeditions from 1393 to 1540—the Latin and Portuguese
done into Spanish—together with over five hundred original documents
from the Spanish archives, with extensive and generally impartial
notes by the editor. For a biographical sketch of this author see
chapter iii. of this volume. Washington Irving's _Life and Voyages
of Christopher Columbus and his Companions_, published in London,
1828-31 (edition used, that of New York, 1869, 3 vols.), is an able and
elegant abridged translation of Navarrete, and of _La Historia de el
Almirante D. Christoval Colon_, by his son Fernando Colon, in _Barcia_,
_Historiadores Primitivos_, tom. i., Madrid, 1749. Alexander von
Humboldt's _Examen critique de l'histoire de la Géographie du nouveau
continent, et des progrès de l'astronomie nautique aux 15ème et 16ème
Siècles_, 5 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1836-9, is a most exhaustive digest of
materials furnished by Navarrete and the older historians, illustrated
with the results of the author's personal investigations. The work
embraces two treatises; first, the causes which led to the discovery of
America; second, facts relating to Columbus and Vespucci, with the dates
of geographic discoveries. Humboldt's _Abhandlung über die ältesten
Karten_, printed as an introduction to _Ghillany_, _Geschichte des
Seefahrers Ritter Martin Behaim_, Nuremberg, 1853, of which I have only
a manuscript English translation, is an essay as well on the naming of
America as on early maps. Another important treatise is that of J. G.
Kohl, _Die beiden ältesten General-Karten von America_, Weimar, 1860,
of nearly two hundred large folio pages on the earliest manuscript and
printed maps, two of the former, dated 1527 and 1529, accompanying the
work, reproduced in chromo-lithographic fac-simile. The same author
has produced other works on the subject, the most important being _A
History of the Discovery of the East Coast of North America, published
in Collections of the Maine Historical Society_, 2d series, vol. i.,
Portland, 1869. This contains reduced copies of twenty-three early
maps, and is perhaps the most complete work existing, so far as the
northern coasts are concerned, giving comparatively little attention to
more southern voyages. _Kunstmann_, _Die Entdeckung Amerikas_, Munich,
1859, is a careful compilation of ninety-six imperial quarto pages,
with copious notes and references, written to accompany a collection
of thirteen large chromo-lithographic reproductions of manuscript
maps preserved in the Academy of Sciences at Munich, and generally
known as the _Munich Atlas_. Herr Kunstmann treats chiefly of the
Atlantic islands, with special reference to the connection between the
discoveries of Spaniards and Northmen. _Major's Life of Prince Henry of
Portugal_, London, 1868, is the best authority for Portuguese voyages as
well as for the revival of maritime enterprise in the fifteenth century.
_Stevens' Historical and Geographical Notes on the Earliest Discoveries
in America, 1453-1530_, New Haven, 1869, was written originally as
an introduction to a book by the author's brother on his proposed
interoceanic communication via Tehuantepec. It is a concise statement
of the whole matter, presenting some of its phases in a practically new
light. _Varnhagen_, _Le Premier Voyage de Amerigo Vespucci_, Vienna,
1869, must not be omitted as the chief support of a theory on Vespucci's
voyages which nearly concerns the first discovery of our Pacific States
territory proper. _Rafn_, _Antiquitates Americanæ_, Hafniæ, 1837, is the
source of nearly all our knowledge of the discoveries of the Northmen
in America in the tenth and following centuries; and _De Costa_, _The
Pre-Columbian Discovery of America_, Albany, 1868, presents an English
translation of the same Icelandic _sagas_ in which the enterprises
of the Northmen are recorded. The _Cartografía Mexicana_ of Orozco y
Berra, published by the Mexican Geographical Society, contains, as its
title indicates, a mention of early maps in chronologic order; and the
_Mapoteca Colombiana_ of Urricœchea, London, 1860, is another important
contribution of similar nature. There should be mentioned the excellent
review given in the first volume of _Bryant's History of the United
States_, which has appeared since this Summary was written; and I might
present quite a list of papers read before the various learned societies
of Europe and America on different topics connected with this subject in
late years, none of them I believe materially affecting my conclusions.
The above form but a small portion of the works devoted wholly or in
part to the subject, but they are believed to contain all the material
necessary for even a more detailed statement than my purpose demands.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: ADVENTURES OF THE ANCIENTS.]
Of the voyages of the ancients, properly so called, that is, of such as
preceded the fall of the Roman Empire at the end of the fourth century,
I shall here say little. These maritime expeditions, confined for the
most part to the Mediterranean, though extending for some distance
along the coasts of the Indian and Atlantic oceans, with occasional
voyages designedly or accidentally prolonged to more distant islands,
and it may be continents, come down to us through antique histories,
cosmographies, and poems, so mixed with vague hypothetical and
mythological conceptions, that the most searching investigation is often
unable to separate fact from fable. There are multitudes of classic
and mediæval legends adopted by Tasso, Pulci, and other Italian poets,
such, for example, as that which makes the Greek wanderer Ulysses the
pioneer of western adventure, which in a sober treatise are scarcely
worthy of mention. Turning to the dawn his vessel's poop, this son of
Laertes, it is said, passed Gibraltar, the bound ordained by Hercules
not to be overstepped by man, and, as Dante tells us, sailed for the
Happy Isles of the unknown Atlantic, unrestrained by son, or father, or
even Penelope's ever-weaving web of love.
A little journey was a wonderful exploit before the time of
Christ—instance the immortal fame achieved by Hanno, the Carthaginian,
in visiting the west coast of Africa, B. C. 570; by Herodotus, in making
the excursion of Egypt and India, B. C. 464-456; by Pytheas, in his
voyage to the British Isles, B. C. 340; by Nearchus, in descending the
Indus, B. C. 326; by Eudoxus, in his attempt to sail round Africa, B.
C. 130; by Cæsar, in undertaking the conquest of Gaul, B. C. 58; by
Strabo, in penetrating Asia some thirty or forty years later. After
the Christian era Pausanias, a Roman, in 175 wrote a guide-book of
Greece; Fa Hian, a Chinese monk, went westward into India in the year
400 or thereabout; Cosmas Indicopleustes travelled in India a century
and a half later and wrote a book to prove the world square, and the
universe an oblong coffer; Arculphe wrote of the Holy Land about 650; an
Englishman, Willibald, made the tour of southern Europe and Palestine,
setting out from Southampton in 721; in 851 went Soliman from Persia to
the China sea. So it has been said.
Indeed, the writings of Herodotus indicate that, over two thousand years
before Dias and Vasco da Gama, Africa was circumnavigated by a fleet of
Phœnician ships sent by Pharaoh Necho down the Red Sea with orders to
return to Egypt by way of the Pillars of Hercules. A Persian, Sataspes,
endeavored to accomplish the voyage from the other direction, but
failed. Plato's island of Atlantis, founded by the god Neptune, was of
great size, "larger than Asia and Libya together, and was situated over
against the straits now called the Pillars of Hercules." The climate
and soil were so good that fruits ripened twice every year. There were
metals, with elephants and other animals in abundance. Upon a mountain
was a beautiful city with gold and ivory palaces, having gardens and
statues. Unfortunately in time the sea swallowed up this island, so that
it could scarcely have been America.
[Sidenote: THE PROPHECY OF QUETZALCOATL.]
So far as these voyages and strange tales concern the possible knowledge
of America by the ancients, I have already discussed them in my _Native
Races of the Pacific States_. Therein is mentioned a theory which has
found many advocates, and to which I will again briefly allude in this
place. It is that at the beginning of the Christian era America was
visited by the Apostle St Thomas. He was accompanied by a number of
fellow-laborers in the ministry, who preached the gospel and planted
the Christian religion in America. The theory is ably advocated in the
excellent work of Rev. W. Gleeson, _The History of the Catholic Church
in California_. The principal arguments advanced may be briefly stated
as follows: First, that the whole tenor of Scripture teaching is in
favor of the supposition that the gospel was preached to all the world
from the beginning, rather than after the lapse of several centuries.
Second, that at a date fixed by Mexican hieroglyphics as a little before
the middle of the first century after Christ, a celebrated personage,
certainly the most remarkable in Mexican mythology, came from the north.
He is represented as a white man, with flowing beard, clad in a long
white robe, adorned with red crosses, head uncovered, and a staff in his
hand. This was the Quetzalcoatl, whom the Mexicans afterward worshipped,
and whose return was so anxiously looked for by them. See _Torquemada_,
_Monarq. Ind._ Third, that to him popular tradition ascribes the worship
paid to the cross, the practice of confession, and in a word all the
customs found on the arrival of the Spaniards to be nearly identical
with those of the Christian religion. _Veytia_, _Hist. Ant. de Mexico_.
Fourth, that the name Quetzalcoatl is synonymous with that of St Thomas.
See _Native Races_, v. 26. Fifth, that Quetzalcoatl promised on his
departure to return at some future day with his posterity and resume
the possession of the empire, and that day was looked forward to with
general confidence, _Prescott's Conq. Mex._, and that a general feeling
prevailed at the time of Montezuma that the period of his return had
arrived. _Veytia_, _Hist. Ant. Mex._ Sixth, that there were at the
convent of Nijapa, in the province of Oajaca, hieroglyphs containing
all the principal doctrines of the Christian religion, and the coming
of the Apostle to the country. _Id._
Sahagun, who wrote at the time of the conquest, speaks of the general
belief in this prophecy, and assures us that on the arrival of the
Spaniards they repeatedly offered them divine honors, believing that
their god Quetzalcoatl had returned. _Conq. Mex._, i. chap. iii.
"It is then undeniably true," says Gleeson, _Catholic Church in Cal._,
185, "that a popular tradition existed in the country respecting a
prophecy made by Quetzalcohuatl, in which was foretold the future
arrival of whites on the coast; and this, while it proves the reality
of the man, and his character as a teacher of religion, also proves the
still more important and appreciable fact of his being a Christian, and
of western origin; for, it was clearly set forth in the prophecy, that
the persons who should come would be whites, and of the same religion
as he. The time also seems to have been specified by the Apostle, if
we are to judge by the expression that they were expecting him every
day. And, indeed, Boturini assures us that the time mentioned in the
Mexican hieroglyphics was that in which the Christians arrived. The year
_ce acatl_ was that foretold by Quetzalcohuatl, and in that year the
Spaniards landed in the Country." On ancient voyages and cosmography
see also Humboldt, _Exam. Crit._, tom. i. pp. 125-206.
It is the results of ancient voyages, the point of geographical
knowledge attained by ancient civilization in its most advanced stage
and by it bequeathed to the Dark Age, and not the voyages themselves,
with which we have to do at present. This knowledge is found for the
most part embodied in the system of Ptolemy, the Alexandrian geographer
of the second century, whose works became the standard text-books, and
holding their prominence for fourteen hundred years were not superseded
as late as the sixteenth century, but were republished from time to
time, with additions, setting forth the results of new discoveries. In
this manner twenty-one editions appeared during the first half of that
century. Nor was even Ptolemy the originator of this prolonged system.
One hundred and fifty years before him was the Greek geographer Strabo,
who gave descriptions of countries and peoples, fixing his localities
usually by itinerary distances; and to this work of Strabo's, Ptolemy
added a century and a half of progress, and determined his localities
by astronomical observation. The work of Pomponius Mela, the Roman
geographer who wrote probably somewhat later than Strabo, is regarded
as no improvement on that of his predecessor.
Ptolemy's World was nearly all in the north temperate zone, embracing
about fifty degrees of latitude and one hundred and twenty of longitude.
The Fortunate Isles, now called the Canaries, were known to Ptolemy, and
by him used as a western limit or first meridian. This, and as a nucleus
of poetic myths, seem to have been their only use; as Muñoz says,
_Hist. del Nuevo Mundo_, p. 30: "Fuera de este uso apenas aprovecharon
sino para entretenir ociosas imaginaciones con fábulas de poetas."
The eastern limit was vaguely located in the region beyond the Ganges;
actually in about 100° east longitude. On the south were included the
African coasts of the Mediterranean and Red Sea, with the southern
coasts of Arabia and India proper—the term India being then applied
indefinitely to all eastern lands, including even parts of Africa—thus
fixing the southern bound at about 30° north latitude in the west, and
10° in the east. Northward the limit may be placed a little above 60°,
within which falls the southern part of the Scandinavian peninsula, then
supposed to be an island, and also the island of Thule, the location
of which is disputed, some claiming it to have been Iceland, others the
Faroe Islands, and others the Shetland Islands. But Ptolemy's latitudes
were all some ten degrees too far north, while in his longitudes he
went still further astray; since, reckoning from the Canaries as his
first meridian, he made his last meridian 180°, when it should have been
120°, and thus by narrowing half the circumference of the globe some
sixty degrees he made the world nearly one third less than it really
is. Authorities differ, however, as to what were Ptolemy's ideas. But
more of this hereafter. On the opposite page is a map in which the world
as known in these times is left white, the shaded portions being the
result of subsequent discoveries down to the last half of the fifteenth
century. A map of Ptolemy's World, reduced to its true proportions,
may be seen in _Goselin_, _Recherches sur la géographie systématique et
positive des anciens_, tom. iv., Paris, 1813.
[Illustration: THE WORLD; THE WHITE PART AS KNOWN AT THE END OF THE
FOURTH CENTURY, THE LIGHTLY SHADED PORTIONS AS KNOWN AT THE END OF
THE FIFTEENTH.]
Within these limits, then, geographical knowledge was confined at the
end of the fourth century; limits not sharply defined, but indefinite
and wavering according to ages, to the directions of conquest, and to
distances from Mediterranean centres. Beyond these limits was a realm
of darkness peopled by strange beings, creatures of poetic fancy or
crude conjecture. Just as the wonder-land of Homer to contemporaneous
eastern Greeks, was Italy, with its strange waters inhabited by very
strange beasts, and Sicily, and neighboring isles, where were the
Satyrs, and the gigantic one-eyed Cyclops eating milk and mutton and
men, so to later teachers were the strange seas beyond. On the north was
an impenetrable region of eternal ice; on the south, an equatorial zone
of burning heat; a barrier of frost on the one side and of fire on the
other, both equally uninhabitable to the European man, and cutting off
all communication with possible habitable lands elsewhere. The burning
zone, however, seems to have been a popular idea, rather than a part of
the system taught by Ptolemy, who, indeed, held that Africa extended
south-east and north-east toward the eastern parts of Asia, making of
the Indian Ocean an immense gulf not connected with the Atlantic on
the west. Strabo and other geographers who preceded Ptolemy gave Africa
approximately its correct shape; traditions of its circumnavigation even
were kept alive, in spite of Ptolemy's theory, influencing geographic
thought not a little during the fifteenth century. Irving is of opinion,
_Columbus_, vol. iii. p. 440, that modern authors consider the knowledge
of the ancients concerning Africa much less extensive than has been
generally supposed; but Major, _Prince Henry_, p. 89 et seq., accepts
a circumnavigation of Africa in the seventh century B. C., and also
Hanno's voyage far down the African coast, placing the date of the
latter 570 B. C. Among the philosophers of western Europe no definite
hypotheses appear to have been advanced as to the extent of land beyond
the known region; as to the ideas of the Arabs and Buddhist priests
concerning the matter it is difficult to determine. See _Kohl's Hist.
Discov._, p. 149; _Draper's Intellectual Development_, p. 451, New
York, 1872. Beyond the Fortunate Isles to the west stretched a _Mare
Tenebrosum_, or Sea of Darkness, as early writers express it, separating
the known western coast from the far unknown east. In this dark sea
tradition planted islands at various points, reiterating the fact of
their existence so often that names and locations were finally given
them on maps, though the islands themselves have never yet been found.
Except these fabulous islands, there was little thought of land between
the coasts of Europe and Asia. Compare maps in this volume; also _George
Bancroft's History of the United States_, vol. i. p. 6, Boston, 1870;
_D'Avesac_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voyages_, 1845, tom. cv. p. 293;
tom. cvi. p. 47.
To sum up the geographical knowledge of the ancients, we have first,
the sphericity of the earth surmised, although its size was vaguely
conceived and underrated; secondly, the positive knowledge of Europeans
limited to the unshaded portion of the map on page 73; thirdly, divers
theories respecting the conformation of southern Africa; fourthly,
a _mare oceanum_ stretching westward to the unknown Asiatic shore,
with hypothetical islands intervening, and expressed opinions that
this sea was navigable, and that possibly India might be reached by
sailing westward. These ideas, vague as they seem, were held only by
the learned few; the world of the ignorant reached scarcely beyond the
horizon of their actual experience. Not until long after its actual
circumnavigation, in the sixteenth century, was the popular mind able
to grasp the idea of the earth's sphericity.
* * * * *
We come now to mediæval times, when from the fifth to the fifteenth
century the cosmographical as well as all other knowledge of the
ancients lay well-nigh dormant; to the people a land of darkness as
well as a sea, though in some few colleges and convents these things
were thought of. "Ces ténèbres," says Humboldt, _Exam. Crit._, tom.
i. p. 59, "s'étendaient sans doute sur les masses; mais, dans les
couvens et les colléges quelques individus conservaient les traditions
de l'antiquité." Upon this world of darkness light first broke from
the far north, the voyages of the Scandinavians from the ninth to the
twelfth centuries being the _aurora borealis_ of maritime discovery.
These Northmen, as in their expeditions Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes
were indiscriminately called, by their warlike propensities made
themselves known and feared along the shores of Europe at an early
date; but their western discoveries were known only to themselves; at
all events, no trace of distant voyages to the west are found in the
records of their neighbors. It is only quite recently that the sagas
of the Northmen were brought to the attention of European scholars;
and when the Danish bishop, Müller, published his bibliography of the
sagas, 3 vols., Copenhagen, 1817-1820, these narratives were held to
be more fiction than fact. Even so late a writer as George Bancroft,
_History of the United States_, vol. i. pp. 5, 6, says that the story
of colonization by the Northmen "rests on narratives, mythological in
form, and obscure in meaning; ancient, yet not contemporary," and that
"no clear historic evidence establishes the natural probability that
they accomplished the passage." Irving, _Columbus_, vol. iii. pp. 432-5,
considers the matter "still to be wrapped in much doubt and obscurity."
Both of these authors, however, seem to have considered only the
evidence presented by Malte-Brun and Forster. Since their time proofs
beyond question have established the authenticity of these voyages of
the Northmen. The sagas on American discoveries are preserved in the
archives at Copenhagen, with a collection of other historical data,
reaching down to the fourteenth century, the date of their completion.
It is true that they deal somewhat in the marvellous—they would not
be authentic else, written at that time—but they contain tales no more
wonderful or monstrous than the writings of more southern nations. See
an account of the Copenhagen documents and the examination of their
authenticity in _De Costa's Pre-Columbian Discov. Am._, pp. i-lx. Two
nearly contemporary ecclesiastical histories—that of Adam of Bremen,
1073, and Ordericus Vitalis, about 1100—describe briefly the western
lands of the Northmen. Further reference, _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._,
p. 32; _Rafn_, _Antiquitates Am._, p. 337; _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, p.
76.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: THE NORTHMEN AND THEIR SAGAS.]
Vague notions were not wanting of communication with America before the
time of the Northmen, but these, whatever they were, are now to us pure
speculation and may be omitted here. Passing over a general movement
by which before the middle of the ninth century the Northmen appear
to have broken through their former bounds, and to have extended their
plundering raids in all directions, taking possession of the Shetland
and Faroe islands and even of the north of Britain, we come to the first
definite adventure westward.
[A. D. 860-4.] Two bold men, Naddod and Gardar, in one of their
coast-island cruises, were driven from their course to the north-west
and discovered Iceland, called by one Snowland, and by the other Gardar
Island. Kohl, _Hist. Discov._, p. 61, dates both voyages 860; Forster
gives 861 to Naddod's; other authors place the former in the year 860,
and the latter in 864.
[874.] Ingolf made a settlement in Iceland at a point still called
by his name. Other immigrants followed, and a flourishing colony was
founded. The Northmen found on the island Irish priests, who had come
there at a time not definitely known, but who immediately abandoned
the country to the new settlers. Within twenty years thereafter Iceland
was fairly well inhabited. De Costa, _Pre-Columbian Discov. Am._, pp.
xxii-iv., makes the date A. D. 875.
[876.] One Gunnbjörn, an Icelandic colonist, is reported to have seen
accidentally, from a distance, the coast of Greenland. Kohl dates this
voyage 877.
[982-6.] Eric the Red, banished from Iceland for murder in 982, sailed
west, found land, remained there three years, and returned, naming the
country Greenland to attract settlers. In 985, or 986, he sailed again
with a larger force, this time founding a settlement to which other
adventurers resorted. Of the first voyage Kohl makes no mention.
[983.] One of the sagas contains a report by an Irish merchant that one
Are Marson was carried in a storm to Whiteman's Land "in the Western
Ocean, opposite Vinland, six days' sail west of Ireland." Rafn thinks
this may have been that part of America in the vicinity of Florida;
others make it the Azores. There are also vague reports of later voyages
to the same land by Björn Asbrandson in 999, and by Gudleif in 1027.
In the present stage of investigation the proof is insufficient to
establish an Irish pre-Scandinavian discovery of America.
[990.] In this year, or, as De Costa makes it, in 986, Biarne, sailing
from Iceland in search of his father, who had previously gone to
Greenland, was carried far to the south-west, to within sight of land,
undoubtedly America, which he coasted north-east for several days and
returned to Greenland. Three points particularly noticed on the new
coast are conjectured by Kohl to have been Cape Cod, Nova Scotia, and
Newfoundland.
[1000.] Leif, son of Eric the Red, sailed from Greenland south-west in
search of the lands seen by Biarne, reached the same in reverse order,
landing probably at Newfoundland, which he named Helluland (Stony
Land); Nova Scotia, he called Markland (Woodland); and passing round
Cape Cod, made a settlement, named after himself, Leifsbudir, at some
point on Narragansett Bay. He called this country Vinland from the fact
that vines were found there, and the name was afterwards applied to the
whole region extending northward to Markland. In the spring of 1001 Leif
returned to Greenland with a cargo of grapes and wood.
[1002-5.] Thorwald, another of Eric's sons, sailed with one vessel to
Vinland, where Leif had landed, and lived there through the winter by
fishing. Early in 1003 he explored the country westward in boats, and in
the spring of 1004 doubled Cape Cod, naming it Kialarnes (Ship's Nose),
and perished in a battle with the Skraellings, or Indians, at some point
on the shore of Massachusetts Bay. His companions spent the winter at
Leifsbudir and returned to Greenland in 1005.
[1008.] In the spring of 1008 Thorfinn Karlsefne sailed from Greenland
with three vessels to Helluland—which name was applied not only to
Newfoundland but to the region north of that point—and thence along the
coast to Nova Scotia, and to Cape Cod. Here the party divided, Thorhall,
the hunter, in attempting to explore northward, being driven by a
storm to Ireland, while Thorfinn spent the winter farther south near
Leifsbudir, where a son was born to him. After an unsuccessful search
for Thorhall by one vessel, a third winter was spent in Vinland, and in
1011 Thorfinn returned to Greenland, leaving perhaps a small colony. De
Costa, _Pre-Columbian Discov. Am._, pp. 48-76, makes the date of this
voyage 1007-10.
[1012.] Helge, Finboge, and Eric's daughter Freydisa, who had before
visited America with her husband, sailed to Vinland, and such as
were not killed in the internal dissensions of the party returned to
Greenland in 1013. The records of this expedition are very slight. De
Costa's date is 1011-12.
[1035.] Adam of Bremen speaks of Frisian or German navigators who about
the year 1035 landed on an island beyond Iceland, where the inhabitants
were of great size, and were accompanied by fierce dogs—perhaps the
Eskimos.
[1121.] After the expeditions that have been mentioned, concerning each
of which the sagas contain one or more accounts, no farther regular
reports have been preserved; but various voyages are briefly alluded
to in different records, as though trips to the new regions of Vinland
were no longer of sufficient rarity to be specially noticed. Such
allusions refer to voyages made in 1121, 1285, 1288, 1289, 1290, and
1357. After 1357 no more is heard of the western lands. The settlements
were gradually abandoned both in Vinland and Greenland, as the power of
the Northmen declined, and so far as can be known, even their memory
was buried in the unread records of former greatness. On Scandinavian
discoveries, besides Rafn and De Costa, see _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung
Am._, p. 32; _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 61-85 and 478; _Humboldt_,
_Exam. Crit._, tom. ii. pp. 88-128; _Abstract of Rafn_, in _Journal
Lond. Geog. Soc._, 1838, vol. viii. pp. 114-29.
[Sidenote: DECLINE OF SCANDINAVIAN DISCOVERY.]
Thus after this play of northern lights upon the western horizon
for four or five centuries, enterprise in that direction languished,
and finally the Sea of Darkness lapsed into its primeval obscurity.
Nevertheless the deeds of the Scandinavians must have become more or
less known to other parts of Europe, for the spirit of uneasiness
which sent these Northmen across their western waters sent them
also—particularly the Danes—eastward in the Holy Crusades. It would
be well for the student to examine the works of Adam of Bremen, and
Ordericus Vitalis, who beside these pre-Columbian voyages describe also
the Crusades. Moreover, Iceland had Catholic bishops and was therefore
in communication with Rome, where the discoveries of the Northmen
must have been known. Rafn, _Antiquitates Am._, pp. 283, 292, and De
Costa, _Pre-Columbian Discov. Am._, pp. 106-109, give translations from
Scandinavian archives of contemporaneous descriptions of the earth in
which these New World discoveries of the Northmen are included. Sailing
charts and maps of the new discoveries must have been drawn by the
Northmen, for although none of them were preserved, yet in _Torfæus_,
_Grœnlandia antiqua_, Hauniæ, 1706, made by Icelandic draughtsmen in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and in Ptolemy's Geography, edition
of 1482, is information of certain things contained in no other charts
of the period extant, which must therefore have been partially compiled
from Scandinavian sources.
It is not to be supposed that the Northmen imagined that they had found
a new continent; very naturally to them Greenland, Helluland, Markland,
and Vinland were but the western continuation of Europe. It is to this
belief, as well as to the prevailing apathy and skepticism of the age
concerning matters beyond the reach of positive knowledge, that the
strange fact of the loss of all trace of these discoveries is due.
The exact results of these ancient expeditions, and their influence on
the subsequent revival of maritime enterprise, form a difficult and as
yet undecided point in the discussion of this subject. Kunstmann gives
particular attention to this matter, and attaches more importance to
northern voyages and their connection with later expeditions than most
other authors; still it has not yet been proved that Prince Henry,
Toscanelli, or Columbus in the fifteenth century had any knowledge of
north-western discoveries.
* * * * *
[1096-1271.] The Crusades—as expeditions, but chiefly for their
results—deserve a brief mention in this connection. When in the
seventh century Palestine passed from Christian to Mahometan hands,
in which possession it has remained with but temporary interruptions
to the present time, Christian pilgrimages to the Holy City for a few
centuries were allowed, and to some extent protected. By successive
changes of dynasty, however, power was transferred from the Arab to
the Turkish branch of the Mahometans, so that in the eleventh century
Christian pilgrims were cruelly oppressed, and hindered from their
pious visits to the tomb of Christ. Roused at first by the exhortations
of Peter the Hermit, Italy, France, England, and Germany sent armies
of the undisciplined and fanatical rabble to avenge the insults to
their faith, and wrest the Holy City from the power of barbarian
heretics. From the eleventh to the thirteenth century nine expeditions
were undertaken eastward in the prosecution of this work. Jerusalem
was several times taken and retaken, but finally the Crescent was
successful in resisting the encroachments of the Cross, and the Crusades
failed in their visionary purpose. Still the continued migration of
vast multitudes, from different nations through strange and distant
lands, contributed much to increase popular knowledge of the world, to
arouse fresh interest in regions hitherto little known, and to excite
curiosity respecting the countries still further to the east. Meanwhile,
commerce received an impetus from the work of furnishing supplies to
the crusaders; so that these expeditions are included by modern writers
as prominent among the causes which led to the coming revival of
civilization.
[1147.] During the twelfth century few maritime expeditions are reported
deserving of notice. At some not very clearly defined date before 1147,
eight Arabs, the Almagrurins, are said to have sailed thirty-five
days south-west from Lisbon with the intention of exploring the Sea
of Darkness. At the end of the thirty-five days they found and named
an Isle of Sheep, and twelve days farther south reached another island
peopled by red men. They are said to have found there a man who spoke
Arabic. Upon the whole the claim to a discovery of any part of America
in this voyage should be slight. If the voyage be authentic, the land
reached was perhaps the Canary Islands; some say those of Cape Verde.
[1160-73.] Benjamin de Tudela, a Spanish Jew, travelled for thirteen
years in India, bringing back considerable information respecting
Chinese Tartary and the islands of the Indian Ocean. _D. Benjamini_,
_Itinerarium ex versione Montani_, Antwerp, 1575; _Itinerarium D.
Benjaminis_, Leyden, 1633; _Travels of Benjamin, Son of Jonas_, London,
1783.
[1170.] In this year is placed the reported voyage of Madoc, a Welsh
prince, who, sailing to the west and north from Ireland, landed on an
unknown shore. He afterward returned to this new country with ten ships
with the intention of colonizing, but was never again heard of. This
voyage rests on very slight authority, but has claimed importance by
reason of reports, long believed, of the existence in various parts of
America of Welsh-speaking Indian tribes. These reports, like scores
of others referring the Americans to European relationships, proved
groundless. To say the least, the voyage of Madoc must be considered
doubtful. _The most ancient Discouery of the West Indies by Madoc the
sonne of Owen Guyneth, Prince of North-wales, in the yeere 1170; taken
out of the history of Wales, in Hakluyt_, vol. iii. p. 1.
[1246 et seq.] In the middle of the thirteenth century the desire
to extend Christianity was encouraged by rumored conversions already
made in the dominions of the Mogul, and especially by the report of a
powerful Christian monarch, Prester John, who had reigned somewhere in
the interior of Asia. This report led to the sending of several priests
as missionaries to the far East. Carpini in 1246, and Ascelino in 1254,
Italian Franciscans, penetrated to the region now known as Chinese
Turkestan. About the same time, 1253 according to Hakluyt, Rubruquis,
also a Franciscan, from Brabant, traversed the central Asiatic deserts.
He was the first to present a definite idea of the position of Tartary
and Cathay. A notice of his travels was given in the writings of Roger
Bacon in 1267. Toward the end of this century Odorico, of the same
order, visited Persia, India, and finally China, remaining three years
in Peking. _Viaggio del Beato Frate Odorico di Porto Maggiore del
Frivli fatto nell'Anno MCCCXVIII_ (half a century later than above), in
_Ramusio_, tom. ii., fol. 254. See also _Hakluyt's Voy._, vol. i. pp.
21-117; vol. ii. pp. 39, 53; _Navarrete_, _Col. Viages_, tom. i. pp.
ix. x.
[Sidenote: VENETIAN AND GENOESE EXPEDITIONS.]
[1250-95.] Nicolo and Maffio Polo, Venetian brothers, left Venice in
1250 on a trading trip north-eastward. Passing north of the Caspian Sea,
they spent three years at Bokhara, and afterward in 1265, proceeded to
the court of Kublai Khan at Kemenfu in Chinese Tartary, whence they
returned in 1269, intrusted with a mission to the Pope. In 1271 they
again set out, taking with them Marco, son of Nicolo. They revisited
the Tartar court, where they spent seventeen years, and returned by
sea down the Chinese and Indian coasts to Ormuz in Persia and thence
overland to Constantinople, reaching Venice in 1295. Marco seems to have
been a great favorite at the eastern court, where he was intrusted with
missions in all directions. By means of his own travels and by reports
of the natives from all sections whom he met, he gained an extensive
knowledge of China and adjoining countries, including the numerous
islands of the coast, chief among which was Zipangu, or Japan. From his
memoranda, he afterwards wrote in prison, a full account of his eastern
travels, which was copied and widely circulated in manuscript. See
_Hakluyt Society_, _Divers Voyages_, Introd., p. lii., London, 1850,
for an account of printed editions of Polo's work. Its authenticity
and general reliability are now admitted, though doubtless errors have
been multiplied by copyists. This journey of Marco Polo was by far the
most important, for revising geography, of any undertaken during the
middle ages. From this time the coasts of Asia were laid down on maps
and described with tolerable accuracy by cosmographers. _De i Viaggi
di Messer Marco Polo, Gentil 'hvomo Venetiano_, in _Ramusio_, tom. ii.
fol. 2-60; _Marco Polo de Veniesia de le meravegliose cose del mondo_,
Venice, 1496; _Marci Pauli veneti de regionibus orientalibus libri
tres_, Cologne, 1671.
The Venetians were the most enterprising navigators of the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. They reached England at an early
date,—_Estancelin_, _Recherches_, pp. 114-16, Paris, 1832—and not
improbably extended their commercial operations still farther north,
Iceland being at the time a flourishing republic with Catholic bishops.
_Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 92-4. No details however are preserved
of any particular one of these voyages, nor of such as may have been
directed toward Cape Non, the southern limit of oceanic navigation. Some
time during this century a Moor, Ibn Fatimah, was driven by storms from
Cape Non down past Cape Blanco, and his adventure was recorded in an
Arabian geography.
[1291.] Doria and Vivaldi, Genoese, undertook a voyage down the African
coast with a view of reaching India, and were last heard of at a place
called Gozora. On this voyage, which rests on several authorities,
has been founded a claim that the Italians preceded the Portuguese in
passing Cape Bojador. Major, _Prince Henry_, pp. 99-110, concludes
from an examination of all the documents that there are no grounds
for this claim, although admitting the voyage and its purpose, in fact
everything but its success. Gozora was probably Cape Non. Kohl regards
this expedition as uncertain. One of the documents gives the date as
1281; from which circumstance Kohl and Humboldt erroneously make of it
two voyages. D'Avesac, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voyages_, 1845, tom.
cviii. p. 45, has the date 1285. Muñoz, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, pp. 30-1,
speaks of Genoese expeditions and the rediscovery of the Canaries during
this century.
[1306.] On a map made by the Venetian Sanuto in 1306, Africa is
represented as surrounded by the sea, but there is no evidence that the
geography of that region is derived from any actual observations. The
map simply shows one of the two theories then held respecting the shape
of southern Africa.
[1332 et seq.] Sir John Mandeville, an English physician, between 1332
and 1366, travelled in eastern parts, including the Holy Land, India,
and China. On his return he wrote in three languages an account of his
adventures, with descriptions of the countries visited. See _Hakluyt
Soc._, _Divers Voy._, Introd. p. xliii. His work corroborates that of
Marco Polo, and although full of exaggerations, and probably tampered
with by copyists in respect to adventures and anecdotes, "yet," says
Irving, "his accounts of the countries which he visited have been found
far more veracious than had been imagined." _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_,
vol. iii. pp. 128-38; _Travels of Sir John Mandeville_, London, 1725.
[1341 et seq.] As we have seen, the Canaries were known to the ancients,
and made by Ptolemy the western limit of the world; but subsequently
they were nearly forgotten until rediscovered and visited, perhaps
several times, toward the middle of the fourteenth century, by the
Portuguese. There is a definite account of one of these voyages. Two
vessels were sent there by the King of Portugal in 1341, and nearly all
the islands of the group visited, but no settlement was made. Before
this, Luis de la Cerda represented to the Pope the existence of such
islands, and received by a bull of lordship of them, with the title of
Prince of Fortune. The king of Portugal claimed in 1345 to have sent
out previous expeditions to the islands. The project of Cerda proved
a failure and no colony was founded. Voyages to the Canaries became
quite frequent before the end of the century. _Galvano_, _Discoveries_,
London, 1862; and in _Collection of Curious Voyages_, London, 1812, p.
10; _Muñoz_, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, pp. 30-1; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung
Am._, pp. 1-4. Major, _Prince Henry_, pp. 139-45, dates the bull 1334.
[1346.] In August, 1346, Jaime Ferrer, a Catalan navigator, sailed from
Majorca in the Mediterranean to search down the African coast for the
Rujaura, or River of Gold, and never was heard from. This is proved by
a document in the Genoese archives, and by an inscription on a Catalan
map of 1375. Major shows this to have been an expedition in search of an
unknown or imaginary river of gold, whose supposed existence rested on
ancient traditions that a branch of the Nile flowed into the Atlantic,
and which belief was strengthened by the gold brought from Guinea by
the Arabs. Humboldt understands this Rujaura to have been the Rio d'Ouro
below Cape Bojador, an inlet named later by the Portuguese; and he also
states that Ferrer actually reached that point; but of this there seems
to be no evidence.
[1351 et seq.] The Azores appear to have been discovered by the
Portuguese early in this half century, appearing on a map of 1351.
There is however no account of the voyage by which this discovery was
made, although there is a tradition of a Greek who was there cast away
in 1370. On a Genoese map of the same date the Madeira group is shown,
having probably been discovered by Portuguese ships under Genoese
captains early in the fourteenth century.
[1364.] By Villault de Bellefond, _Relation des costes d'Afrique_,
Paris, 1669, it is stated that the Dieppese in 1364 made a voyage round
Cape Verde, and far beyond, establishing trading-posts, which were
repeatedly visited in the following years. On this account, repeated
by many writers—_Estancelin_, _Recherches_, p. 72; _Humboldt_, _Exam.
Crit._, tom. i. p. 285—is founded the French claim of having preceded
the Portuguese in passing Cape Bojador and occupying the gold coast.
Major, _Prince Henry_, pp. 117-33, maintains by strong proofs that this
voyage rests on no good authority, and that the French occupation of
that coast is of much later date.
[Sidenote: THE ZENI.]
[1380.] Nicolo Zeno, a Venetian, sailing northward for England, was
driven in a storm still farther north, and landed on some islands in
possession of the Northmen, which he named Friesland, but which are
supposed to have been the Faroe group. Kindly received by the people,
he sent to Venice for his brother, and both spent there the rest of
their lives, making frequent excursions to neighboring islands, and
gaining a knowledge of other more distant lands known to the Northmen,
including two countries called Drogeo and Estotiland, lying to the
southward of Greenland, which countries the Frieslanders claimed
once to have visited. Nicolo died in 1395, and Antonio in 1404, after
writing an account of their adventures, which, with a chart, he sent
to a third brother, Carlo. The manuscript was preserved by the family
and first published under the title _Dei Commentarii del viaggio in
Persia, etc._, Venezia, 1558. After passing the ordeal of criticism the
work is generally accepted as a faithful report of actual occurrences,
though embellished, like all writings of the time, with fable. _Dello
Scoprimento dell' Isola Frislanda Eslanda, en Grovelanda, et Icaria_,
in _Ramusio_, tom. ii. fol. 230-4; _Hakluyt's Voy._, vol. iii. pp.
121-8; _Bos_, _Leben der See-Helden_, pp. 523-7; _Cancellieri_, _Notizie
di Colombo_, pp. 48-9; _Lelewel_, _Géog. du moyen âge_, tom. iii. pp.
74 et seq. Irving, however, _Columbus_, vol. iii. pp. 435-40, sees in
this voyage only another of "the fables circulated shortly after the
discovery of Columbus, to arrogate to other nations and individuals the
credit of the achievement," while Zahrtmann, _Remarks on the Voy. to
the Northern Hemisphere, ascribed to the Zeni of Venice_, in _Journal
of the Geog. Soc._, vol. v. pp. 102-28, London, 1835, claims that the
whole account is a fable.
The chart by the brothers Zeni, published with the manuscript, is of
great importance as the first known map which shows any part of America.
It contains internal evidences of its own authenticity, one of which
is that Greenland is much better drawn than could have been done from
other or extraneous sources even in 1558. I give from Kohl's fac-simile
a copy of the map, omitting a few of the names.
[Illustration: ZENO'S CHART, DRAWN ABOUT 1390.]
There can be little doubt that the countries marked Estotiland, Drogeo,
and Icaria—possibly Nova Scotia, New England, and Newfoundland—owe their
position on this chart to the actual knowledge of America, obtained
either by a fishing-vessel wrecked there, as stated by the Zeni, or
from a tradition preserved since the time of the Northmen. The lines of
latitude and longitude were not on the original manuscript chart, but
were added by the editors in 1558. _Lelewel_, _Géog. du moyen âge_, tom.
iii. pp. 79-101, Bruxelles, 1852; _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 97-106.
At an unknown date, probably near the end of the thirteenth century,
Robert Machin, an Englishman, eloped with a lady in his own vessel
from Bristol. He steered for France, but was driven by a tempest to
the island of Madeira, where both died. Some of the crew escaped to
the African coast, where they were taken prisoners, but afterward were
redeemed by the Spaniards, to whom one of them related the discovery of
Madeira, his account leading to its rediscovery. Major concludes, "that
henceforth the story of this accidental discovery of Madeira by Machin
must be accepted as a reality," but the date cannot be fixed. That of
1344 often assigned to the voyage results from a misreading of Galvano.
Beside _Galvano_, _Discov._, pp. 58-9, see _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_,
vol. ii. p. 1672; _The Voyage of Macham, an English man, wherein he
first of any man discovered the Iland of Madera_, in _Hakluyt_, vol. ii.
pt. ii. p. 1; _Curious and Ent. Voy._, p. 13; _Major's Prince Henry_,
p. 67; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, p. 4.
[1402.] At the beginning of the fifteenth century, Jean de Betancourt
with a company of Norman adventurers conquered Lanzarote, one of the
Canary Islands. He afterward became tributary to the crown of Castile,
and by the aid of the Spanish government obtained possession of other
islands of the group, establishing there a permanent colony. _Muñoz_,
_Hist. del Nuevo Mundo_, pp. 30-33; _Peter Martyr_, dec. i. cap.
i., gives the date 1405; _Galvano_, _Discov._, p. 60; _Kunstmann_,
_Entdeckung Am._, p. 6; _Pinkerton's Col. Voy._, vol. xvi. pp. 808-15.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: PRINCE HENRY OF PORTUGAL.]
We enter now a new epoch in maritime discovery. Hitherto, if we exclude
the voyages of the Northmen, there had been no attempt worthy the name
of systematic ocean exploration. In the words of Major, "the pathways
of the human race had been the mountain, the river, and the plain, the
strait, the lake, the inland sea," but now a road is open through the
trackless ocean, "a road replete with danger, but abundant in promise."
Portugal, guided by the genius of Prince Henry the Navigator, was the
first to shake off the lethargy which had so long rested on Europe.
For some time past the Portuguese had been gradually eclipsing the
Italians in maritime enterprise; but not until a prince leaves the
pleasures of youth for the perils of the sea, throwing his life into
the cause with all the ardor of a devotee, does ocean navigation become
anything more than private commercial speculation, with now and then
some slight aid from governments. True, others had undertaken the
voyage round Africa, but Portugal was perhaps the first to make it. As
D'Avesac remarks, _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1846, tom. cx. p. 161:
"Les Portugais ne s'y engagèrent point les premiers; mais seuls ils y
persevérèrent, et les premiers ils atteignirent le but." Born in the
year 1394, at a time when under his father, John, Portugal was already
casting wistful glances over the Sea of Darkness, Prince Henry devoted
his early life to geographical studies and his later life to discovery.
Leaving the pomp and luxury of his father's court, he removed to the
coast of Algarve, and from the dreary headland of Sagres let fly his
imagination along the unknown shores of Africa. Drawing to him such
young noblemen as were willing to share his labors, he established a
school of navigation, giving special care to the study of cartography
and mathematics. The geographical position of his native land was to
the Portuguese, in regard to oceanic adventure, not unlike that of the
Italians in regard to Mediterranean navigation. Several causes united
to inspire this prince with so noble an ambition. He desired to promote
geographical science; to test the theories and traditions of the day; to
know the truth concerning the disputed question of the form and extent
of southern Africa; to turn the flow of riches, the gold and spices and
slaves of India, from Italy into his own country. Nor was this last
stimulant lessened by the fact that of late, by reason of Mahometan
encroachments on Christian dominions, the old avenues of eastern traffic
_via_ the Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf, or by the Red Sea and caravans
across the deserts, were yearly becoming more insecure, and this too at
a time when the taste for eastern luxuries was constantly increasing.
Yet other incentives were Christian rivalry and Christian zeal. Spain
had carried the cross to the Canaries; rumors kept coming in of Prester
John and his Christian kingdom, now supposed to be in Africa instead of
in Asia. Prince Henry moreover was grand master of the Order of Christ,
and it behooved him to be stirring. _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom.
i. p. xxvi.; _Muñoz_, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, pp. 33-4.
[1415.] Prince Henry began his voyages along the coast of Africa about
the year 1415, at which time João de Trasto was sent with vessels to the
Canaries. It was Henry's custom to despatch an expedition almost every
year, endeavoring each time to advance upon the last, and so finally
attain the end of the mystery—whereat the nobles grumbled not a little
about useless expense. Obviously progress southward at this rate was
very slow, and many years elapsed before Cape Bojador was passed and
unknown seas were entered. _Major's Prince Henry_, pp. 64-65.
[1416-28.] Meanwhile Pedro, Henry's brother, travelled extensively,
journeying through the Holy Land, visiting Rome, Babylon, and even
England. Fortunately he found at Venice a copy of Marco Polo's work,
and brought it home to Prince Henry. _Galvano's Discov._, pp. 66-7;
_Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp. 11, 12.
[1418.] Gonzalez and Vaz, who were sent this year by Prince Henry
on the regular annual expedition, were driven from their course and
rediscovered Porto Santo. _Galvano_, _Discov._, pp. 62-4; _Kunstmann_,
_Entdeckung Am._, pp. 11, 12; _Curious and Ent. Voy._, pp. 14, 15.
[1419.] Nicolo di Conti, Venetian, spent twenty-five years in India,
Mangi, and Java, returning in 1444, and confirming many of Polo's
statements. _Discorso sopra il Viaggio di Nicolo di Conti Venetiano_, in
_Ramusio_, tom. i. fol. 373. Twice in 1419, if we may credit Navarrete,
_Col. de Viages_, tom. i. p. xxvi., did Prince Henry's ships pass
seventy leagues beyond Cape Non.
[1420.] Gonzalez again embarks from Portugal intending to plant a
colony, and guided by one Morales, a survivor of Machin's voyage,
rediscovered Madeira. _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. i. pp.
xxvi-vii.; _Major's Prince Henry_, pp. 73-7; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung
Am._, p. 13; _Galvano's Discov._, pp. 63-4; _Aa_, _Naaukeurige
Versameling_, tom. i. pt. ii. p. 16. On a certain map dated 1459 is a
cape supposed to be Good Hope, with the statement that in 1420 an Indian
junk had passed that point from the east; but for this no authority is
given.
1431.] The Formigas and Santa María islands of the Azore group were this
year discovered by Cabral. Kunstmann, _Entdeckung Am._, p. 15, makes
the date August 15, 1432. For details of the discovery and settlement
of all the eastern Atlantic islands, see _idem_, pp. 1-25.
[1434-6.] Gil Eannes, after an unsuccessful attempt in the preceding
year, succeeded in 1434 in doubling Cape Bojador for the first time.
Muñoz, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, p. 34, makes the date 1433, and Navarrete,
_Col. de Viages_, tom. i. p. xxvii., 1423. In 1435 Eannes with Baldaya
passed fifty leagues beyond the cape, and in 1436 Baldaya advanced to
a point fifty leagues beyond the inlet since known as Rio d'Ouro.
[Sidenote: THE SLAVE-TRADE.]
[1441-8.] For several years after the successful doubling of Cape
Bojador, no new attempt of importance is recorded, but in 1441 the
voyages were renewed, and in the next eight years the exploration was
pushed one hundred leagues below Cape Verde. Prior to 1446 fifty-one
vessels had traded on the African coast, nearly one thousand slaves
had been taken to Portugal, and the discoveries in the Azores had been
greatly extended. By these explorations Prince Henry had exploded the
theory of a burning zone impassable to man, and of stormy seas impeding
all navigation; his belief that Africa might be circumnavigated was
confirmed; and he had obtained from the pope a grant to the crown of
Portugal of lands he might discover beyond Cape Bojador to the Indies
inclusive.
[1455-6.] According to Ramusio, _Viaggi_, tom. i. p. 105, Alvise
Cadamosto, a Venetian, the first of his countrymen as he claims to sail
down the new coast, made a voyage for Prince Henry to the Gambia River
below Cape Verde. This expedition derives its importance not from the
limit reached, where others had preceded him, but from his numerous
landing points, careful observations, and the detailed account published
by the voyager himself in _La Prima Navigazione, etc._, Vicenza, 1507;
also in _Ramusio_, _Viaggi_, tom. i. pp. 104-15. This explorer touched
at Porto Santo, Madeira, the Canaries, Cape Blanco, Senegal, Budomel,
Cape Verde, and the Gambia River.
[1457.] Cadamosto claims, _La seconda navigazione_, in _Ramusio_,
_Viaggi_, tom. i. pp. 116-20, to have made a second voyage, during which
he discovered the Cape Verde Islands; but Major, _Prince Henry_, pp.
278-88, shows that such a voyage was not made in that year, if at all.
[1460.] Diogo Gomez discovered the Cape Verde Islands, and their
colonization was effected during the following years. Major, _Prince
Henry_, pp. 288-99, publishes the original account for the first
time in English. Prince Henry died in November of this year. _Major's
Prince Henry_, p. 303; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, p. 19. Irving,
_Columbus_, vol. i. p. 30, fixes this date 1473; and Galvano, _Discov._,
p. 14, says 1463.
[1461.] The spirit of discovery and the thirst for African gold and
slaves had become too strong to receive more than a temporary check in
the death of its chief promoter. In the year following Prince Henry's
death a fort was built on the African coast to protect the already
extensive trade, and in 1461 or 1462 Pedro de Cintra reached a point
in nearly 5° north, being over six hundred miles below the limit
of Cadamosto's voyage. _La Nauigation del Capitan Pietro di Sintra
Portoghese, scritta per Meser Aluise da ca da Mosto_, in _Ramusio_, tom.
i. fol. 119.
[1469-89.] In 1469 Fernam Gomez rented the African trade from the king
of Portugal for a term of five years, and during that time pushed his
explorations under Santarem and Escobar to Cape St Catherine in 2°
south, first crossing the equator in 1471. Under João II., who succeeded
Alfonso V. in 1481, the traffic continued, and in 1489 Diogo Cam reached
a point in 22°, over two hundred leagues below the Congo River, planting
there a cross which is said to be yet standing. Martin Behaim, the
mathematician and cosmographer, accompanied Cam on this voyage, and an
error or interpolation in _Schedel_, _Registrum, etc._, Nuremberg, 1493,
gave rise to the unfounded report that they sailed west and discovered
America. _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. i. pp. 257, 283, 292, 309;
_Major's Prince Henry_, pp. 325-38; _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom.
i. p. xl.; _Harrisse_, _Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima_, p. 40;
_Galvano's Discov._, pp. 74-6; _Otto_, in _Am. Phil. Soc._, vol. ii.,
1786.
* * * * *
We enter now the Columbian epoch proper, to which, as we have seen, the
enterprises of Prince Henry and the Portuguese were precursory. About
1484, Christopher Columbus having proposed a new scheme of reaching
India by sailing west, the king of Portugal surreptitiously sent a
vessel to test his theory, which, after searching unsuccessfully for
land westward, returned to the Cape Verde Islands. _Muñoz_, _Hist. Nuevo
Mundo_, pp. 53-4 et al. Columbus had resided in Portugal since 1470,
and had made several trips in Portuguese ships down the African coast,
in the course of which he is supposed to have first conceived his new
project. Indignant at the conduct of the Portuguese king, Columbus left
for Spain. _Colon_, _Hist. del Almirante_, in _Barcia_, _Hist. Prim._,
tom. i. pp. 9-10; translation in _Pinkerton's Col. Voy._, vol. xii. pp.
1-16; and in _Kerr's Col. Voy._, vol. iii. pp. 1-242.
In 1486 Bartolomeu Dias sailed round Cape Good Hope and continued his
voyage to Great Fish River on the south-east coast, from which point
he was compelled to return on account of the murmurs of his men. The
cape, now for the first time doubled by Europeans, was seen and named
by him on his return. In 1487 King João sent two priests, Covilham and
Payva, to travel in the East, in the hope of gathering more definite
information respecting Prester John and his famous Christian kingdom.
Prester John they did not find, but Covilham in his wanderings reached
Sofala on the east coast of Africa in about 20° south latitude,
being the first of his countrymen to sail on the Indian Ocean. At
Sofala he learned the practicability of the voyage which Dias had
actually accomplished a little before, and a message to that effect
was immediately sent to the king. _Major's Prince Henry_, pp. 339-42;
_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. i. p. xl-i; _Humboldt_, _Exam.
Crit._, tom. i. pp. 230 et seq.; _Galvano's Discov._, pp. 77-8.
From this time to the great discovery of 1492, few expeditions remain
to be mentioned. It must not be forgotten, however, that by this time
trading voyages were of ordinary occurrence all along the eastern
Atlantic coast and its adjoining islands from Scandinavia to Guinea.
A lively commerce was carried on throughout this century between
Bristol and Iceland, and in the words of Kunstmann, substantiated by
older authorities, "a bull of Nicolas IV. to the bishops of Iceland,
proves that the pope in 1448 was intimately acquainted with matters in
Greenland." It seems incredible that during all this intercourse with
northern lands, no knowledge of America was gained by southern maritime
nations, yet so far as we know there exists no proof of such knowledge.
[1476.] John of Kolno, or Szkolny, is reported to have made a voyage
in the service of the king of Denmark in 1476, and to have touched on
the coast of Labrador. The report rests on the authority of Wytfliet,
_Descriptionis Ptolemaicæ augmentum_, Lovanii, 1598, fol. 188, supported
by a single sentence, "Tambien han ydo alla hombres de Noruega con el
Piloto Iuan Scolno," in _Gomara_, _Hist. Gen. de las Indias_, Anvers,
1554, cap. xxxvii. fol. 31; by a similar sentence in _Herrera_, _Hist.
Gen._, Madrid, 1601, dec. i. lib. vi. cap. xvi., in which the name is
changed to Juan Seduco; and by the inscription, _Jac Scolvus Groetland_,
on a country west of Greenland on a map made by Michael Lok in 1582,
fac-simile in _Hakluyt Soc._, _Divers Voy._, p. 55. According to Kohl,
_Hist. Discov._, pp. 114-15, this voyage is considered apocryphal by
Danish and Norwegian writers. Lelewel, _Géog. du moyen âge_, p. 106,
regards the voyage as authentic, and Kunstmann, _Entdeckung Am._, pp.
45-8, attaches to it great importance as the source of all the voyages
to the north which followed. Humboldt, _Exam. Crit._, tom. ii. pp.
152-4, gives but little attention to the voyage, and confesses his
inability to decide on its merits: "Je ne puis hasarder aucun jugement
sur cette assertion de Wytfliet."
[1477.] In this year Columbus, whom we first find with the Portuguese
traders on the African coast, sailed northward, probably with an English
merchantman from Bristol, to a point one hundred leagues beyond Thule,
in 73° north. _Colon_, _Hist. del Almirante_ in _Barcia_, tom. i. p. 4;
_Muñoz_, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, pp. 43-7; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom.
i. p. 272. He probably visited Iceland, although he gives the latitude
incorrectly, taking it very likely from ancient geography rather than
his own observations.
[1482.] According to Kunstmann, the edition of Ptolemy this year,
_Ptolomæi Cosmographia_, Ulmæ, 1482, lib. viii., contains a map that
includes Greenland, and must have been compiled from northern sources.
[1488.] Desmarquets, _Mémoires Chronologiques, etc._, Dieppe, 1785, tom.
i. pp. 92-8, states that one Cousin sailed from Dieppe early in 1488,
stood off further from land than other voyagers had done, and after
two months reached an unknown land and a great river, which he named
the Maragnon. Was this the Marañon in South America? He then sailed
south-eastward and discovered the southern point of Africa, returning
to Dieppe in 1489. The discovery was kept secret, but Cousin made a
second voyage round the cape and succeeded in reaching India. Major,
besides pointing out some inconsistencies in this account, shows that M.
Desmarquets "could commit himself to assertions of great moment which
are demonstrably false." He is not good authority for so remarkable a
discovery not elsewhere recorded.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: THE COLUMBIAN EPOCH.]
Before striking out with Columbus in his bold venture to the west,
let us sum up what we have learned thus far and see where we stand.
First, the geographical knowledge of the ancients was restricted to a
parallelogram extending north-west and south-east from the Atlantic
to the Indian ocean, comprising one hundred and twenty degrees east
and west by fifty degrees north and south; circumscribe this knowledge
with legendary stories and hypothetical and traditional beliefs
concerning the regions beyond; then add a true theory of the earth's
sphericity, though mistaken as to its size. This is all they knew,
and this knowledge they committed to the Dark Age, during which time
it was preserved, and, indeed, little by little enlarged, as we have
seen. During the latter part of the fifteenth century, particularly,
a powerful impulse had been given to discovery, especially toward the
south; so that now the limits of the ancients were moved eastward
at least forty degrees, to the eastern coasts and islands of Asia,
chiefly by the travels of Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville. Toward
the south, the true form of Africa had been ascertained, and its coasts
had been explored by the Portuguese, except a space of about fifteen
degrees on the south-west. Northward the old limit had been advanced
but slightly, but within this limit much information had been gained
by actual navigation about regions only vaguely described by Ptolemy.
Westward, in what was still a Sea of Darkness, great discoveries had
been made by the Northmen, but their results were now practically lost;
while toward the south, several important groups of islands had been
added to the known world. See map on page 73, where the regions added
during this period are lightly shaded. And now, within the old bound
the world is much better known than at the beginning of the period, and
many minor geographical errors of the ancients have been corrected by
the Crusaders, and others who attempted on a smaller scale to extend
the Catholic faith, as well as by commercial travellers in distant
lands. Again, by the influx of Mahometans into Europe during five or six
centuries, eastern luxuries had been introduced to an extent hitherto
unknown, and had in fact become necessities in Christian courts, thus
making the India trade the great field of commercial enterprise even
by the tedious and uncertain overland routes where middle-men absorbed
the profits, and rendering the opening of other and easier routes an
object of primary importance. The almost exclusive possession of trade
_via_ the old routes by the Italians, furnished an additional motive
to other European nations for explorations by sea. The art of printing,
recently invented, facilitated the diffusion of learning, so that it was
impossible for the world ever again to lapse into the old intellectual
darkness. The astrolabe, the foundation of the modern quadrant, had been
adapted by a meeting of cosmographers in Portugal to the observation
of latitudes by the sun's altitude, and thus the chief obstacle to long
sea-voyages was removed. The polarity of the magnet had long been known,
but the practical adaptation of the magnetic needle to purposes of
navigation occurred about the beginning of the fourteenth century. The
mariner's compass, however, only attained its highest purpose toward the
close of the fifteenth century, when the Sea of Darkness was traversed.
But before this, the greatest impediments to ocean navigation had been
overcome by voyages actually made through the aid of the new inventions.
Beside the coasts brought to light by these voyages, they had done much
to dispel the old superstitions of burning zones, impassable capes, and
unnavigable seas.
[Sidenote: REAL AND IMAGINARY ISLANDS.]
We have seen that, as a result either of the poetic fancy or of the
actual discovery of the ancients, various islands were traditionally
located in the Atlantic. Most of them undoubtedly owed their existence
to the natural tendency of man to people unknown seas with fabulous
lands and beings, "Il est si naturel à l'homme de rêver quelque chose
au-delà de l'horizon visible," observes Humboldt. For a full account
of the history and location of these islands, "dont la position est
encore plus variable que le nom," and the important part played by them
in ancient and middle-age geography, see _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._,
tom. ii. pp. 156-245, and _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp. 6 et seq.,
and 35-37. In the fifteenth century, with the revival of maritime
enterprise, came a renewal and multiplication of the old fables.
Monastic scholars, by their continued study of the old writers, by their
attempts to reconcile ancient geography with fabulous events in the
lives of the saints, and by their inevitable tendency to exaggeration,
had contributed largely to their preservation. Still, throughout the
preceding period, the belief in the existence of such islands had
been vague and hypothetical; but when the actual existence of numerous
islands in the western ocean was proved, and the Canary, Madeira, Azore,
and Cape Verde groups were discovered and explored, the old ideas
were naturally revived and confirmed, and with them rose a desire to
rediscover all that had been known to the ancient voyagers. The reported
wonders of the fabulous isles, having on them great and rich cities,
were confidently sought in each newly found land, and not appearing in
any of them, the islands themselves were successively located farther
and farther to the west, out in the mysterious sea, to be surely brought
to light by future explorations.
And of a truth, this wondrous western empire was subsequently brought
to light; peoples and cities were found, but beyond the limits within
which the wildest dreams of their discoverers had ever placed them. On
this foundation not a few speculators build a theory that America was
known to the ancients. The chief of the hypothetical isles were San
Brandan, Antilia, and the Island of the Seven Cities; their existence
was firmly believed in, and they were definitely located on maps of
the period. San Brandan is said to have been visited by the saint whose
name it bears in the sixth century. It was at first located far north
and west of Ireland, but gradually moved southward until at the time
of Columbus' first voyage it is found nearly in the latitude of Cape
Verde. To the inflamed imagination mirage is solid earth, or sea, or
a beautiful city; an island which was long supposed to be visible from
Madeira and the Canaries had something to do with the location of this
island of the saint, and of the others.
Antilia, and the Island of Seven Cities, according to Behaim's map, are
identical. See page 93 this volume; also a reputed letter of Toscanelli,
about the existence of which Humboldt thinks there may be some doubt.
The only tangible point in the traditionary history is the migration
of seven bishops, driven from the Peninsula by the Moorish invasion in
the eighth century, who took refuge there and built the Seven Cities.
The history and location of this Island of the Seven Cities in the
fifteenth century are similar to those of San Brandan Island. Galvano
says a Portuguese ship was there in 1447. Brazil, Bracie, or Berzil,
was another of these wandering isles, whose name has been preserved
and applied to a rock west of Ireland, to one of the Azore islands,
and to a country in South America. This name has been the theme of much
discussion, which, so far as I know, leads to no result beyond the fact
that the name of a valuable dye-wood known to the ancients was afterward
applied to lands known or conjectured to produce such woods. _Humboldt_,
_Exam. Crit._, tom. ii. pp. 214-45; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp.
7-10, and 35 et seq. Kunstmann attaches greater geographical importance
to the fabulous isles than Humboldt, connecting them in a manner
apparently not quite clear to himself with the previous discoveries
of the Northmen. Thus stood facts and fancies concerning the geography
of the world, when the greatest of discoverers arose and achieved the
greatest of discoveries.
* * * * *
Although in the chapters following I speak more at length of the
deeds of the Genoese and his companions, yet in order to complete
this Summary it is necessary to mention them here. I shall attempt no
discussion concerning the country, family, date of birth, or early
life of Christopher Columbus. For the differences of opinion on
these points, with numerous references, see _Harrisse_, _Bibliotheca
Americana Vetustissima_, New York, 1866, p. 2 et seq. Born somewhere
in Italy, probably Genoa, about 1435, he received something more than
a rudimentary education, went to sea at the early age of fourteen, and
in 1470, which is about the date of his coming to Portugal, had already
an extensive experience in the navigation of the Mediterranean, and
was skilled in the theory as well as the practice of his profession.
We have already seen him with the Portuguese on the African coast, and
with the English in Iceland. In fact, before his first voyage westward
in 1492, he was practically acquainted with all waters then navigated
by Europeans.
The promptings which urged forward this navigator to the execution
of his great enterprise may be stated as follows: The success of the
Portuguese in long voyages down the African coast suggested to his
mind, soon after 1470, that if they could sail so far south, another
might sail west with the same facility and perhaps profit. Says his
son: "Estando en Portugal, empeçó à congeturar, que del mismo modo que
los Portugueses navegaron tan lejos al Mediodia, podria navegarse la
buelta de Occidente, i hallar tierra en aquel viage." _Colon_, _Hist.
del Almirante_, in _Barcia_, tom. i. p. 4; edition of Venetia, 1709,
pp. 22-3; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. i. p. 12; _Navarrete_, _Col.
de Viages_, tom. i. p. lxxix; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. i. lib.
i. cap. 1-7. His ardent imagination once seized with this idea, every
nook and corner of geographical knowledge was searched for evidence
to support his theory. By intercourse with other navigators he learned
that at different times and places along the western coasts of Europe
and Africa, objects apparently from unknown western lands had been
washed ashore, suppositionally by the wind, really by the Gulf Stream
or other oceanic currents. _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. ii. p. 249.
Though well aware of existing rumors of islands seen at different times
in the western ocean, it was not upon these, if any such there were,
that he built his greatest anticipations of success. In the writings of
the ancients he found another stimulant. Filled with fervent piety and
superstitious credulity, he pored over every cosmographical work upon
which he could lay his hands, as well the compilations of antiquated
notions, such as the _Imago Mundi_ of Pierre D'Ailly, or the more
modern travels of Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville. _Colon_, _Hist.
del Almirante_, in _Barcia_, tom. i. p. 4 et seq.; _Major's Prince
Henry_, pp. 349, 352; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. i. pp. 46, 60;
_Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp. 74-6.
[Sidenote: EVOLUTION OF THE GRAND CONCEPTION.]
The result of these studies was a complete acquaintance with the
geographical knowledge of the day, with the greater part of what I have
thus far epitomized, the doings of the Northmen excepted. From all
this he knew of the earth's sphericity; he believed that the larger
part of the world's surface was dry land; that the land known to
Ptolemy extended over at least 180 degrees, or half the circumference
of the globe, that is, from the Canaries to the Ganges; he knew that
by later travels the eastern limit of geographical knowledge had been
moved much farther east, even to Cathay; he believed that far out in
the ocean lay the island of Zipangu; he knew that some eight or ten
degrees had been added on the west by the discovery of the Azores;
he believed that at most only one third of the circumference remained
to be navigated; that this space might naturally contain some islands
available as way stations in the voyage; that the explorations in the
East were very indefinite, and consequently Asia might, and probably
did, extend farther east than was supposed; that Ptolemy's figures
were not undisputed—Marino making the distance from the Canaries to the
Ganges 225 degrees instead of 180, while another geographer, Alfragano,
by actual measurement, made each degree about one sixth smaller than
Ptolemy, thus reducing the size of the earth, and with it the remaining
distance to India; that several ancient writers—see quotations from
Aristotle, Strabo, Seneca, et al., in _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. i.
pp. 38, 61, 98 et seq.—had pronounced the distance to India very short,
and had affirmed that it might be navigated in a few days; and finally
that other scholars, as Toscanelli, had arrived at the same conclusions
as himself, possibly before himself. _Cartas de Pablo Toscanelli, Físico
Florentin, á Cristobal Colon y al Canónigo Portugues Fernando Martinez,
sobre el descubrimiento de las Indias_, in _Navarrete_, tom. ii. pp.
1-4; _Muñoz_, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, pp. 48-9. See also, on Columbus'
motives, _Irving's Columbus_, vol. i. pp. 42-51, and vol. ii. p. 148;
_Muñoz_, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, pp. 45-7; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom.
ii. pp. 324-9; _Stevens' Notes_, p. 28; _Major's Prince Henry_, pp.
347-52; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, p. 74. Many of these conclusions
were erroneous, being founded on an incorrect idea of longitude;
but this reduction of the earth's size was an error most fortunate
for discovery, inasmuch as with a correct idea of the distance to be
traversed, and with no suspicion of an intervening continent, such an
expedition as that of the Genoese would not have been undertaken at the
time.
Such were the ideas and aspirations of Columbus before his undertakings;
later in life a theologic mysticism took possession of his mind,
and his success was simply a fulfillment of divine prophecy in which
cosmographical realities went for nothing. See _Cartas de Don Cristobal
Colon_, in _Navarrete_, tom. i. p. 330.
All attempts to diminish the glory of Columbus' achievement by proving
a previous discovery whose results were known to him have signally
failed. The reports of mysterious maps which have been claimed to have
prompted his enterprise evidently amount to nothing in view of the fact
that Columbus never suspected the existence of any new countries, yet
that he saw maps of the world, including the Asiatic coasts, can not
be doubted. The case of the pilot Sanchez, said to have died in the
house of Columbus, and to have told him of lands he had seen toward the
west, if true, is likewise of little moment as touching the honor due
to Columbus, for many men were confident of having seen such lands from
the Canaries and other islands, and several voyages had been made in
search of them, all of which was certainly known to Columbus. The story
of Sanchez was started by Oviedo, who gives no authority or date for the
event; it was repeated generally with disapproval by other historians,
until revived by Garcilaso de la Vega with date and details; but his
date, 1484, is ten years after Columbus is known to have proposed his
scheme to the Portuguese government. Columbus originated no new theory
respecting the earth's form or size, though a popular idea has always
prevailed, notwithstanding the statements of the best writers to the
contrary, that he is entitled to the glory of the theory as well as to
that of the execution of the project. He was not in advance of his age,
entertained no new theories, believed no more than did Prince Henry,
his predecessor, or Toscanelli, his contemporary; nor was he the first
to conceive the possibility of reaching the east by sailing west. He
was however the first to act in accordance with existing beliefs. The
Northmen in their voyages had entertained no ideas of a New World, or
of an Asia to the west. To knowledge of theoretical geography, Columbus
added the skill of a practical navigator, and the iron will to overcome
obstacles. He sailed west, reached Asia as he believed, and proved old
theories correct.
There seem to be two undecided points in that matter, neither of which
can ever be settled. First, did his experience in the Portuguese
voyages, the perusal of some old author, or a hint from one of the
few men acquainted with old traditions, first suggest to Columbus his
project? In the absence of sustaining proof, the statement of the son
Fernando that the father should be credited with the reconception of
the great idea, goes for little. Second, to what extent did his voyage
to the north influence his plan? There is no evidence, but a strong
probability, that he heard in that voyage of the existence of land
in the west. It is hardly possible that no tradition of Markland and
Vinland remained in Iceland, when but little more than a hundred years
had passed since the last ship had returned from those countries, and
when many persons must have been living who had been in Greenland. If
such traditions did exist, Columbus certainly must have made himself
acquainted with them. Still his visit to the north was in 1477, several
years after the first formation of his plan, and any information gained
at the time could only have been confirmatory rather than suggestive.
Both Humboldt and Kunstmann think that even if he ever heard of the
discoveries of the Northmen—which is thought probable by the latter—this
knowledge would not have agreed with, nor encouraged, his plans. Kohl,
_Hist. Discov._, pp. 115-20, believes that such a knowledge would have
been the strongest possible confirmation of his idea of the nearness
of Asia and Europe, in which opinion I concur. The idea of Draper,
_Hist. Int. Develop._, p. 446, that had Columbus known of the northern
discoveries he would have steered farther to the north, seems of no
weight, since he sought not the northern but the southern parts of
India.
[Sidenote: FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS.]
What Columbus had to contend with at this juncture was not, as I have
said, old doctrines oppugnant to any new conception, but the ignorance
of the masses, who held no doctrine beyond that of proximate sense,
which spread out the earth's surface, so far as their dull conceptions
could reach, in one universal flatness; and the knowledge of courts,
whence alone the great discoverer could hope for support, was but
little in advance of that of the people. Then the Church, with its
usual firmness and conservatism, was against him. The monks, who were
then the guardians of learning, knew, or might have known, all that
Prince Henry, Columbus, and other earnest searchers had ascertained
regarding the geography of the earth; but what were science and facts
to them if they in any wise conflicted with the preconceived notions
of the Fathers, or with Church dogmas? "II est vrai," says Humboldt,
"que les scrupules théologiques de Lactance, de St. Chrysostôme et de
quelques autres Pères de l'Eglise, contribuèrent à pousser l'esprit
humain dans un mouvement rétrograde." And again, the African expeditions
of the Portuguese had not on the whole been profitable or encouraging
to other similar undertakings, and the financial condition of most
European courts was not such as to warrant new expenses. Portugal, more
advanced and in better condition to embark in new enterprises than any
other nation, now regarded the opening of her route to India _via_ the
Cape of Good Hope an accomplished fact, and therefore looked coldly
on any new venture. Nor were the extravagant demands of Columbus with
respect to titles and authority over the new regions of Asia which he
hoped to find, likely to inspire monarchs, jealous of their dignities,
with favor toward a penniless, untitled adventurer. Passing as well
the successive disappointments of Columbus in his weary efforts to
obtain the assistance necessary to the accomplishment of his project,
as his final success with Queen Isabella of Castile, let us resume our
chronological summary.
[Illustration: MARTIN BEHAIM'S GLOBE, 1492.]
[1492.] Shortly before the sailing of Columbus, the learned astronomer
Martin Behaim, of Nuremberg, constructed a globe showing the whole
surface of the earth as understood by the best geographers of the
time. This globe has been preserved, and I present a fac-simile of the
American hemisphere published in _Ghillany_, _Geschichte des Seefahrers
Ritter Martin Behaim_, Nürnberg, 1853. The entire globe may be seen
in _Jomard_, _Les Monuments de la Géographie_, no. xv., Paris, 1854. A
section of the globe is given by Irving, _Columbus_, vol. i. p. 53 (see
also _Id._, p. 135), by _London Geog. Soc. Journal_, 1848, vol. xviii.
p. 76; and a copy from Ghillany, with some of the names omitted, may be
found in _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, p. 147, map no. iv.
The chart by which the voyage of Columbus was made is supposed to
have been a copy of Behaim's Globe, which indeed may be regarded as
the exponent of geographical conceptions, those of Columbus as well
as those of the learned men and practical navigators of the day. By
an inscription on the original, the Asiatic coast is known to have
been laid down from Marco Polo, and to the islands of Antilia and San
Brandan are joined other inscriptions giving their history as I have
before indicated. Sailing from Palos on the 3d of August, 1492, with
one hundred and twenty men in three vessels commanded by himself and the
two brothers Pinzon, Columbus was at last fairly launched on the Sea of
Darkness. After a detention of three weeks at the Canaries, he sailed
thence the 6th of September; marked, not without alarm, the variation
of the needle on the 30th of September; and on the 12th of October
discovered San Salvador, or Cat Island.
So far all was well; all was as the bold navigator had anticipated;
all accorded with current opinions, his own among the number; he had
sailed certain days, had accomplished a certain distance, and had
reached triumphantly one of the numerous islands mentioned by Marco
Polo, and, God willing, would soon find the larger island of Zipangu.
Alas for mathematical calculations, for that other third of the earth's
circumference; alas for the intervening continent and broad Pacific sea,
which baffled the great discoverer to the day of his death!
Passing over the cruise through the Bahamas, or Marco Polo's archipelago
of seven thousand islands, in which the discoverers touched successively
at Concepcion, Exuma (Fernandina), and Isla Larga (Isabela), we find
Columbus sailing from the last-mentioned island on the 24th of October
for Zipangu, with the intention of proceeding thence to the main-land,
and presenting his credentials to the great Khan.
Touching at the Mucaras group, Columbus arrived at Zipangu, which was
none other than the island of Cuba, on the 28th of October, and gave to
the island, in place of its barbarous appellation, the more Christian
name of Juana. Cruising along the northern shore of Cuba, in frequent
converse with the natives, he soon learned that this was not Zipangu,
was not even an island, but was the veritable Asiatic continent itself,
for so his fervid mind interpreted the strange language of this people.
Unfortunately he could not find the Khan; after diligent search he
could find no great city, nor any imperial court, nor other display
of oriental opulence such as were described by Marco Polo and Sir John
Mandeville—only naked barbarians and thatched huts; so after advancing
west beyond Savana la Mar, the discoverers returned to the eastern end
of Cuba, visiting on the way the group El Jardin del Rey. Postponing
the exploration of the coast toward the south-west, Columbus returned
eastward and followed the northern coast of Española, turning off on his
way to discover the Tortugas, and arriving at La Navidad, where he built
a fort and left a colony of thirty-nine men. Now, Española, and not Cuba
as he had at first supposed, was the true Zipangu; for the main-land
of China could not by any possibility be the island of Japan; and in
this belief Columbus sailed for Spain on the 16th of January, reaching
the Azores on the 18th of February, and arriving at Palos the 15th of
March, 1493. _Primer viage de Colon_, in _Navarrete_, tom. i. pp. 1-197;
_Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, vol. i. booke ii. pp. 10-13; _Sammlung
aller Reisebeschreibungen_, tom. xiii. p. 10; _Napione_ and _De Conti_,
_Biografia Colombo_, pp. 305-36; _Peter Martyr_, dec. i. cap. i.;
_Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i. pp. 21-31, 46-55; _Colon_, _Hist. del
Almirante_, in _Barcia_, tom. i. pp. 13-38; _Irving's Columbus_, vol. i.
pp. 124-289; vol. iii. pp. 447-68; _Major's Prince Henry_, pp. 356-7;
_West-Indische Spieghel_, p. 10; _Cancellieri_, _Notizie di Colombo_,
pp. 66-76.
[1493.] Just before reaching the Azores, Columbus wrote on shipboard two
letters describing his voyage, one under date of the 15th of February,
and the other of the 14th of March. The manuscript of one, with copies
printed in Spain probably during this same year, are yet preserved. Of
the other, both the original manuscript and Spanish copies, if any were
printed, are lost; but of a Latin translation, six editions are extant,
supposed to have been printed in 1493, in France and in Italy, under
the title _Epistola Christofori Colom_, or _De Insulis Inventis_, etc. A
poetical paraphrase of the same letter appeared the same year as _Dati_,
_Questa e la Hystoria_, etc., Florence, 1493, and four other works of
this year contain slight allusions to Columbus. Seven or eight editions
of Columbus' letters appeared in different forms during the next forty
years. Both letters may be found with Spanish translations in the first
volume of Navarrete's collection. For the bibliographical notices of
this sketch I have depended chiefly on Harrisse, _Bib. Am. Vet._, as the
latest and most complete essay on early American books, notwithstanding
the few blunders that have subjected it to so much ridicule. I shall
not consider it necessary to repeat the reference with each notice, as
Harrisse's work is arranged chronologically.
[Sidenote: PAPAL BULL OF PARTITION.]
As soon as Columbus had explained to Ferdinand and Isabella the nature
of his important discovery, the Spanish sovereigns applied to the Pope
for the same grants and privileges respecting lands discovered, and to
be discovered, in the west, that had before been granted the Portuguese
in the south and east. His Holiness, accepting the Spanish statements
that the concessions demanded did not in any way conflict with previous
grants to the Portuguese, by bull of May 2, 1493, ceded to Spain all
lands which might be discovered by her west of a line drawn from pole
to pole, one hundred leagues west of the Azores; the Portuguese to have
all new lands east of the same line. It is obvious that his Holiness
fixed this line arbitrarily, without a thought of the position or
importance of the corresponding meridian at the antipodes. This opposite
meridian, according to the idea of longitude entertained at the time,
would fall in the vicinity of India proper; and the Portuguese, besides
their natural jealousy of this new success of Spain, feared that the
western hemisphere thus given to her rival might include portions of
their Indian grants. Hence arose much trouble in the few following years
between the two courts. See _infra_.
Amidst the enthusiasm following his success Columbus had no difficulty
in fitting out another expedition. Embarking from Cádiz September
25, 1493, with seventeen vessels and over 1,200 men, among whom were
Alonso de Ojeda and Juan de la Cosa, _el almirante_, or the admiral,
as Columbus was now called, touched at the Canaries, discovered
Dominica the 3d of November, and Guadalupe a few days later; thence
sailing north-west through the Caribbean Archipelago, he occasionally
landed and gave names to islands. Resting two days at Puerto Rico, he
reached the coast of Española on the 22d of November, and on the 27th
anchored off the port of Navidad. The settlement established at this
place in the previous voyage had totally disappeared; the colonists
as is supposed falling victims to internal dissensions and general
excesses. A new city called Isabela was then founded at another port of
this island, and Ojeda was sent inland to explore the country. After a
short absence he returned, reporting the country rich in gold. On the
second of February, 1494, twelve vessels, with specimens of the people
and products of the country, were despatched for Spain under Antonio
de Torres. By this departure was also sent a request for immediate
supplies. Recovering from a serious illness, Columbus checked a revolt
among his people on the 24th of April, built a fort in the interior,
and then sailed to explore the main coast of Asia—as he supposed, but in
truth Cuba—south-westward from the point where he left it on his first
voyage. Following the south coast of Cuba the admiral at length reached
the vicinity of Philipina, or Cortés Bay, where the shore bends to the
southward. This to him seemed conclusive proof that it was indeed the
main-land of Asia which he was coasting. The statements of the natives
who said that Cuba was in fact an island, but that it was so large that
no one had ever reached its western extremity, confirmed him in his
belief—since one might question the knowledge of a boundary which no
one had ever reached and from which no one had ever come. The theory of
the age was thus made good, and that was sufficient; so Columbus brought
all his crew, officers and men, before the notary, and made them swear
that the island of Cuba was the continent of Asia—an act significant of
methods of conversion in those days. He even proposed to continue the
voyage along the coast to the Red Sea, and thence home by way of the
Mediterranean, or, better still, round the Cape of Good Hope, to meet
and surprise the Portuguese; but his companions thought the supplies
insufficient for so long a voyage, and the admiral was persuaded to
postpone the attempt.
Returning therefore to Española, on the way back Columbus discovered
and partially explored Jamaica, Isla de Pinos, and the small islands
scattered to the southward of Cuba, arriving at Isabela on the 4th of
September. There he found matters in a bad way. The colony, comprising
a motley crew of lawless adventurers, ever ready to attribute success
to themselves and ill-fortune to their governor, trumped up numerous
complaints which caused the admiral no little trouble. Margarite, to
whom had been given a command for an expedition inland, had revolted and
sailed with several ships for Spain. Open war had been declared with the
natives, and the colonists were hard pressed; but the admiral's presence
and Ojeda's impetuous bravery soon secured order. Meanwhile two arrivals
inspired the colonists with fresh courage; that of Bartolomé Colon,
brother of the admiral, with three ships, and that of Torres, with four
vessels laden with supplies. With the gold that had been accumulated,
and specimens of fruits and plants, and five hundred natives as slaves,
Torres was sent back to Spain, accompanied by Diego Colon, whose mission
was to defend his brother's interests at court. The pacification of the
natives was then completed, and heavy taxes were imposed upon them. In
October, 1495, arrived Juan de Aguado, sent by the king to ascertain
the facts concerning charges against the admiral. This man, in place
of executing his commission fairly, only stirred up the accusers of
Columbus to greater enmity—which quality of justice well accorded with
the temper of his master Ferdinand. On account of these troubles, as
well as from the discovery of a new gold mine, which proved beyond
question that Española was the ancient Ophir of King Solomon, Columbus
decided to return to Spain. So leaving his brother, Bartolomé, in
command as _adelantado_, or lieutenant-governor, he sailed with Aguado,
on the 10th of March, in two caravels, carrying 225 Spaniards and thirty
natives. Touching at Marigalante, and Guadalupe, he arrived at Cádiz
June 11, 1496. _Segundo Viage de Cristobal Colon_, in _Navarrete_, tom.
i. pp. 198-241; _Colon_, _Hist. del Almirante_, in _Barcia_, tom. i.
pp. 42-73; _Peter Martyr_, dec. i. cap. 2-4; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._,
tom. i. pp. 31-5; _Napione_ and _De Conti_, _Biografia Colombo_, pp.
331-50; _Irving's Columbus_, vol. i. pp. 338-497; vol. ii. pp. 1-87;
_Major's Prince Henry_, p. 358; _Humboldt's Exam. Crit._, tom. iv. p.
217; _Cancellieri_, _Notizie di Colombo_, pp. 93-9. The letters which
Columbus sent to Spain by Torres in February, 1494, if ever printed, are
lost; but in _Syllacio_, _ad Sapiẽtissimũ ... de insulis_, etc., Pavia,
1494 or 1495, appeared certain letters from Spain to the author of this
work, describing the second voyage of Columbus.
[1494.] Thus during the absence of Columbus on his second voyage we have
seen the ocean route between Spain and Española six times navigated;
first, by the fleet of twelve vessels sent back to Spain by the admiral
under Antonio de Torres; second, by Bartolomé Colon, who followed his
brother to Española with three ships; third, by Margarite, who revolted
and left Española during the absence of Columbus in Cuba; fourth, by
Torres in command of four vessels from Spain with supplies for the
colony; fifth, by the return of the same four ships to Spain with gold
and slaves; and sixth, by Juan de Aguado with four ships from Spain in
August, 1495.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: REPARATION OF THE WORLD.]
With the division of the world by Pope Alexander VI., Portugal was not
satisfied. The world was thought to be not so large then as now, and
one half of it was not enough for so small a kingdom which had boasted
so great a navigator as Prince Henry. It was not their own side, but
the other side, that troubled the Portuguese, fearing as they did that
the opposite meridian threw into Spain's half a part or the whole of
India. So Spain and Portugal fell to quarrelling over this partition
by his Holiness; and the matter was referred to a commission, and
finally settled by the treaty of Tordesillas in June, 1494, which moved
the line 270 leagues farther west. About the location of this line of
demarcation, and its effect on Brazil, and the Moluccas, much has been
written, though little has been said as to the motive that prompted
Portugal in making this change. The fact is, that at a time when the
Spice Islands were but vaguely known, and the existence of Brazil not
even suspected, it is impossible to conceive why Portugal desired to
change the partition line from 100 leagues to 370 leagues west of the
Azores; for the change could only diminish the possessions of Portugal
in India by 270 leagues, as in truth it did, including the Moluccas
in the loss, and gaining in return 270 leagues of open Atlantic sea!
True, there proved to be an accidental gain of a part of Brazil, but
there could have been no idea at the time that this partition line
cut through any eastern portion of lands discovered by Columbus to the
west. In whatever light we imagine them to have regarded it, there is
still an unexplained mystery. The Pacific ocean was unknown; between the
discoveries of Spain and Portugal, so far as known, all was land—India.
By carrying the partition line westward, Portugal may have thought to
find some western land; at all events, it is generally believed that the
effect of the partition in the antipodes was not well considered; that
the only point in question was the right of making discoveries in the
western ocean, and that the treaty of Tordesillas was decided in favor
of Spain—Portugal being forced to yield the main point, but insisting on
the change of partition in order to give her more sea-room. On the other
hand it may be claimed that the antipodes, of which they knew so little,
were the avowed object of all the expeditions sent out by both parties.
See the original bull and treaty in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom.
ii. pp. 28, 130; also _Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella_, vol. ii. pp.
173-83; _Calvo_, _Recueil Complet des Traités_, Paris, 1862, tom. i. pp.
1-36; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, vol. i. booke ii. pp. 13-15; _Curious
and Ent. Voy._, p. 20; _Cancellieri_, _Notizie di Colombo_, p. 183.
Italy, and especially Venice, as we have seen, was the first of the
European states to display in any marked degree in mediæval times that
commercial spirit so early and so well developed in the Phœnicians.
Portugal caught the flame under John the Great, 1385-1433, and led the
van of a more daring discovery and exploration by conquests on the
north-west coast of Africa. Simultaneously Prince Henry was sending
expeditions farther down the western coast of Africa, and among the
islands of the Atlantic. His country reaped the reward in 1486, when
the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope opened her a way by sea to
Hindostan, and to the commerce of the Orient, and gave at the same time
the death-blow to Venetian ascendancy in that market.
But Spain, as chance would have it, did not lag far behind her sister
kingdom. The fact of the great navigators, Columbus and Vespucci, being
Italians, and yet having to seek assistance of Spain, sufficiently
indicates in what direction the swing of maritime power was tending.
The astronomical schools of Córdova, Seville, and Granada had well
prepared Spain for the application of astronomy to navigation, and the
long internal wars had bred those bold and enduring spirits who alone
are fitted to conduct with success great enterprises of certain danger
and uncertain result.
* * * * *
It is claimed by some that John and Sebastian Cabot made their first
voyage and discovered Newfoundland in 1494. The claim rests on a
statement of the Spanish ambassador to England in a letter dated July
25, 1498, to the effect that during the past seven years several vessels
had been sent each year from Bristol in search of Brasil and the Islands
of the Seven Cities, and on an inscription on Sebastian Cabot's map
of 1544, which states that land was first discovered by the Cabots on
June 24, 1494. _D'Avesac_, _Letter on the Voyages of John and Sebastian
Cabot_, in _Kohl_, pp. 506-7. But other authors consider the map—even
if made by Cabot, which is extremely doubtful—insufficient authority to
prove such a voyage.
[1495.] At the solicitation of the brothers Pinzon and other navigators,
a license was granted April 10, 1495, permitting any native-born
Spaniard to make private voyages for trade and discovery from Cádiz
to the Western India; such expeditions to be under the inspection
of government, one of whose officials was to accompany each vessel
to ensure the payment to the crown of one tenth of the profit of the
voyage. For this document in full, see _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_,
tom. ii. p. 165. See also _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. i. pp. 356 et
seq. Whether any one actually took advantage of this license before its
repeal—which was on June 2, 1497, at the instigation of Columbus—is a
disputed point of some importance in connection with certain doubtful
expeditions to be considered hereafter.
[1496.] Pedro Alonso Niño sailed from Cádiz June 17, 1496, just after
the return of Columbus, in command of three vessels laden with supplies
for the colony at Española.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: AMERIGO VESPUCCI.]
[1497.] Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine navigator, claims to have set
sail from Cádiz with four vessels in the service of the king of Spain on
the tenth, or twentieth, of May, 1497. In what capacity he accompanied
the expedition, or who was its commander, he does not state, but says
that he was chosen by the king to go with the expedition. "Me ad talia
investiganda in ipsam societatem elegit." Sailing south-south-west to
the Canaries, 280 leagues from Lisbon, he remained there eight days, and
then sailed west-one-quarter-south-west 1,000 leagues in twenty-seven,
or thirty-seven, days, to a point on the main-land in 16° north and 75°
west of the Canaries—that is to say, on the coast of Central America
near Cape Gracias á Dios. This must have been about the 1st of July,
some days perhaps after Cabot's landing farther north, which was the
24th of June. The Spaniards went ashore in boats, but the natives
were too timid to trade; so that continuing their voyage for two days
north-west in sight of the flat coast, they reached a more secure
anchorage, established friendly relations with the people, and found
some traces of gold. The ships then followed the coast for several
days, to a port where was found a village built over the water like
Venice, and there fought with the natives (of Tabasco?); sailed eighty
leagues along the coast to a region of many rivers (Pánuco?), where
they were kindly received by people of a different language, and made a
journey of eighteen leagues inland, visiting many towns. This province
was called by the inhabitants Lariab, and is situated in the torrid
zone, near the tropic of Cancer, in 23° north. Again they started,
pursued a north-west course and frequently anchored, sailing thus 870
leagues, until after thirteen months, that is to say in June, 1498,
they reached "the best harbor in the world" (port of Cape Cañaveral?),
in 28° 30', where they resolved to repair their ships for the return
voyage. There they remained thirty-seven days, and when about to depart,
the natives complained of certain cannibals who came each year from
an island 100 leagues distant to attack them. The Spaniards, in return
for their kindness, promised to avenge their wrongs. Accordingly they
sailed north-east and east to a group of islands, some of which were
inhabited (Bermudas?); landing at one of them called Ity, they defeated
the cannibals, and made 250 prisoners, with a loss of one man killed
and twenty-two wounded. Returning, they arrived at Cádiz October 15,
1499, with 222 prisoners, who were sold as slaves. The above is the
account given by Vespucci in a letter written in 1504, according to
the edition adopted as authentic and original by Varnhagen, _Le premier
Voyage de Amerigo Vespucci_, who believes that Vicente Yañez Pinzon and
Juan Diaz de Solis were the commanders. This voyage is not generally
regarded as authentic; and a long and complicated discussion has arisen
on the question whether the account given is to be regarded as true,
as wholly a fabrication, or as belonging to a subsequent voyage and
accidentally or intentionally dated back two years. As this voyage, if
actually made as claimed by M. Varnhagen, would be the first to touch
the territory which I denominate the Pacific States, I find it necessary
to give in this place the leading points in the discussion. In what
may be called the standard authorities on American discovery, such as
Navarrete, Humboldt, and others, is found fully presented the question
of the authenticity of Vespucci's voyage, always, however, under the
supposition that the land claimed to have been visited was the coast
of Paria. The theory of M. Varnhagen, that that region must be sought
in North America, reopens the question and introduces some new features
which cannot be passed by unnoticed in this connection. Without entering
upon the somewhat complicated bibliography of Vespucci's narrations, or
taking up the question of his claims in the matter of naming America,
I shall attempt to state briefly, and as clearly as I am able, the
arguments for and against the authenticity of a voyage, in which perhaps
is involved the question of the first post-Scandinavian discovery of
the North American continent.
[Sidenote: THE DISPUTED VOYAGE OF VESPUCCI.]
Besides Vespucci's own statement, in a letter written in 1504, no
contemporary document has been found which mentions such an expedition,
though most diligent search for such documents has been made in the
Spanish archives by partisans and opponents of the Florentine's claim.
This absence of confirmatory documents is the more noticeable as the
expedition was made under royal patronage. In another and previously
written letter describing his second voyage in 1499, Vespucci not only
makes no mention of this voyage, but even excuses his long silence by
saying that nothing had occurred worth relating. True, a short letter
of one Vianello, dated 1506, published by Humboldt, mentions a voyage
to which no date is given, made by Vespucci in company with Juan de la
Cosa. M. Varnhagen supposes this to have been the voyage in question,
and a large river discovered at the time to have been the Mississippi;
but, beside the fact that there is no reason for attributing the date
of 1497 rather than any other to this voyage, Vianello's letter, with
two others, published by Harrisse, indicates a much later date for the
expedition with Juan de la Cosa.
Moreover, not only is there a want of original records, but contemporary
historians are silent respecting this expedition; the first mention by
later writers being a denial of its authenticity when it was thought
to conflict with the admiral's claims as discoverer of the continent.
Yet, on the supposition of a voyage to the North American coast, there
are some passages in the historians Peter Martyr, Oviedo, Gomara, and
Herrera, which point more or less definitely to an exploration of the
gulf of Honduras before 1502. Peter Martyr, dec. i. cap. vi., writing
before 1508, says that many claim to have sailed round Cuba; and later,
dec. i. cap. x., he mentions a report that Pinzon and Solis had explored
the coast of Honduras, giving, however, no dates. Oviedo, _Hist.
Gen._, tom. ii. p. 140, says positively that the gulf of Honduras was
discovered not by Columbus, but by Pinzon and Solis, and that before
the former discovered the Amazon, or the latter the Rio de la Plata,
that is to say before 1499. Gomara, _Hist. de las Indias_, fol. 63,
states that Pinzon and Solis are said by some to have explored the
coast of Honduras three years before Columbus, which would make it in
1499. Herrera, _Hist. Gen._, dec. iv. lib. viii. cap. iii., says that
the gulf of Honduras was named Hibueras from the gourds found floating
in its waters by the first Spaniards who sailed along the coast. To M.
Varnhagen, this it may be random remark of Herrera is proof positive
that as Columbus did not enter or name the gulf, he was not the first
Spaniard who sailed along the coast. Whatever weight may be attached to
these passages from the historians, in proving a voyage to North America
previous to that of the admiral, such evidence is manifestly increased
by the fact that the date of the voyage attributed to Pinzon and Solis
seems to rest entirely on the statement of Herrera, _Hist. Gen._, dec.
i. lib. vi. cap. xvi., who describes the expedition with other events
under the date of 1506. Yet in the testimony in the lawsuit hereinafter
to be mentioned, it is implied, though not expressly stated, that the
voyage was after that of Columbus, since special pains was taken by
the king to prove the coast explored by Pinzon to be distinct from that
discovered by the admiral. Another point is that in this same testimony
the name 'Caria' is given to a place visited during Pinzon's voyage,
and for this name Vespucci's 'Lariab' may possibly be a misprint.
Humboldt, _Exam. Crit._, tom. iv. pp. 59, 267, 272-4, repeatedly states
it as an undeniable fact that Vespucci was employed in Spain in fitting
out the vessels for the third voyage of Columbus, up to the date of the
sailing of the expedition, May 30, 1498, and consequently could not
himself have sailed in May or any other month of 1497. He makes this
statement on the authority of documents collected by Muñoz. Harrisse,
_Bib. Am. Vet._, p. 57, states, also on the authority of Muñoz, that
from April, 1497, to May 30, 1498, Vespucci was "constantly travelling
from Seville to San Lúcar." Vespucci is known to have succeeded Juanoto
Berardi, who died in December, 1495, in a contract to fit out vessels
for the Spanish government, and to have received money on account of
that contract on the 12th of January, 1496. Irving, with access to the
documents of Muñoz, says that four caravels fitted out by Vespucci
sailed February 3, 1496, but were driven back; and he speaks of no
evidence of his presence in Spain in 1497 or 1498. Navarrete, relying
on the same Muñoz documents—which consist of extracts from the books of
expenses of Indian armadas in the Casa de Contratacion in Seville—gives
no date to the sailing and wreck of the four vessels mentioned by
Irving, but implies that the event took place before Berardi's death.
After speaking of the receipt of money on the 12th of January, 1496,
he states that Vespucci "went on attending to everything until the
armada was despatched from San Lúcar." _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. p.
317. He does not state that the fleet thus fitted out was that in which
Columbus sailed in 1498. Muñoz in the printed portion of his work is
silent on the subject. Varnhagen, _Vespuce et son Premier Voy._, p. 18,
argues that Humboldt had no authority whatever for applying Navarrete's
statement respecting the armada despatched from San Lúcar to the
admiral's fleet, that statement having probably been his authority, and
not the original documents of Muñoz; and that the four vessels whose
fitting-out Vespucci personally superintended were much more probably
those in which he himself sailed and made the voyage in question.
Varnhagen furthermore thinks that the death of Berardi furnished a
reasonable motive for the resolution formed by Vespucci to visit the
Indies, and a favorable opportunity for carrying out his resolution. If
it can be proved that Vespucci was in Spain in 1497 and 1498, of course
the question of his claimed voyage admits of no farther discussion;
but if Humboldt's only authority be his interpretation of Navarrete's
statement, even if the interpretation be not unnatural or improbable,
the matter must still be considered doubtful until the original Muñoz
documents are produced.
The silence of contemporary documents respecting Vespucci's voyage
carries the greater weight from the fact that there are special reasons
for the existence of such documents, if the voyage had been actually
made. In 1508 a suit was begun by Diego Colon against the Spanish
crown for the government of certain territory claimed by virtue of
the discovery of Paria by his father, the admiral. The suit continued
to 1513, and every effort was made by the crown to prove a previous
discovery of the coast in question; hundreds of witnesses were examined,
and their testimony has been preserved and published in Navarrete's
collection. In this suit Vespucci was not summoned as a witness,
although much of the time in royal employ, having held the office of
_piloto mayor_ from 1508 to his death in 1512. No claim was advanced
for his discovery, although the voyage is stated to have been made
under royal patronage, and by proving its authenticity the crown would
have gained its object. Indeed, Vespucci's name is only mentioned once
in all the testimony, and that as having accompanied Alonso de Ojeda
in his voyage of 1499. That no one of the many witnesses examined knew
of Vespucci's voyage in 1497, if it were a fact, is hardly possible.
Not only were the witnesses silent on the Florentine's expedition, but
many of them, including Ojeda, affirmed that Paria was first discovered
by Columbus, and next afterward by Ojeda himself. Now as Vespucci
accompanied Ojeda, the latter would surely have known of any previous
discovery by Vespucci, and as Ojeda was not friendly to Columbus he
certainly would have made the fact known. Moreover, the admiral's
charts and sailing-directions were followed by Ojeda in his voyage,
which would hardly have been done with a skilful pilot like Vespucci
on board, and one who had visited the coast before. True, this last
point would have little weight if the coast of Paria was not the region
visited by Vespucci, while the other points would be little if at all
affected by the theory that North America was the coast explored. No
other Spanish voyage to the new region was neglected; indeed, to have
so completely disregarded Vespucci's expedition, it must be supposed
that the king not only knew exactly what region he explored, but had a
positive conviction that said region was entirely distinct from Paria;
and we have seen that no such definite opinion was held at the time, but
on the contrary, special pains was taken to prove that the new regions
were "all one coast." When it is considered that Vespucci's voyage, that
is the voyage of Pinzon and Solis, was mentioned in the testimony, the
failure to summon the piloto mayor appears all the more remarkable. What
more efficient witness could have been brought forward? Thus the silence
of the testimony in this suit on the question under discussion, must
be deemed something more than mere negative proof, as it is termed by
M. Varnhagen. This gentleman also notes that only one witness mentions
that Vespucci accompanied Ojeda in 1499; but he does not note that the
presence of Vespucci on Ojeda's ships was of no importance to either
party in the suit, while a previous discovery by him was of the very
greatest importance to the crown.
[Sidenote: VESPUCCI'S VOYAGE FURTHER CONSIDERED.]
The date of sailing from Cádiz is given by different editions of
Vespucci's letter as May 10, and May 20, 1497; and of his return as
October 1, 15, and 18, 1499. From these dates two difficulties arise;
first, the duration of the voyage is stated in the letter to have been
eighteen months, while the period between the dates of sailing and
return is twenty-nine months; and again, Vespucci is known to have
sailed with Ojeda in May, 1499, that is, five months before he returned
from the voyage in question. One way of reconciling the first difficulty
is to suppose that the author reckoned time by the Florentine method,
then common in familiar correspondence, according to which the year
began the 25th of March. Then in case of a very natural misprint in
the original of May for March, the voyage really began in 1498, its
duration being thus reduced to nineteen months. A more simple method of
removing both difficulties is to suppose a misprint of 1499 for 1498
as the date of the return; this would reduce the time to seventeen
months. Several later editions have made this change. The edition
claimed as original by M. Varnhagen has the date 1499 according to his
translation, and strangely enough the editor makes no allusion to it in
his notes, although in a former pamphlet he speaks of 1498 as the date
of the return. I attach very little weight to discrepancies in dates
in this relation except as evidence against any intentional deception
on the part of Vespucci. Confusion in dates is common in all relations
of the period; and Vespucci's letters were written hastily, not for
publication, and merely to interest his correspondents by a description
of the marvels he had seen in his New World adventures. It may here be
stated that the long and bitterly argued question of the rival claims of
Vespucci and Columbus in the matter of naming America has no bearing on
the present discussion. There is no evidence that the voyage in question
had any influence in fixing the name America; and to pronounce this
expedition not authentic has no tendency to weaken Vespucci's reputation
for honesty, which may now be considered fully established; nor do the
arguments against intentional falsification on Vespucci's part tend to
prove the voyage authentic.
Several coincidences between the narratives of this voyage and that
of Ojeda have led many writers to conclude that both describe the same
expedition, the dates having been accidentally or intentionally changed.
Humboldt, after a careful examination, was convinced that the two
voyages were identical. But when we consider that Humboldt, Navarrete,
and Irving formed their conclusions without a suspicion of a voyage
to North America, and before that question had ever once arisen; that
Navarrete severely criticises Vespucci's narrative as applied to Ojeda's
voyage; that two of the strongest coincidences—the mention of Paria as
the coast visited, and the discovery of a town built over the water like
Venice—have no weight in view of the new theory, since the province is
called Lariab in the original edition, and that method of building was
not uncommon in all the tropical regions of America, it must be admitted
that this argument has by itself little force against the authenticity
of Vespucci's voyage.
The right granted to private individuals by the Spanish government in
April, 1495, to make voyages of discovery at their own expense, subject
to certain regulations, was partially revoked in June, 1497, after
Vespucci's claimed departure. All authorities agree that during this
time such private voyages, or even clandestine expeditions, may have
been and probably were made, of which no records have been preserved.
It is argued that Vespucci's voyage may have been of this number,
although claimed to have been made under royal patronage, and by no
means clandestine. It is even suggested that the revocation of the right
of private navigation, brought about by the influence of Columbus, was
purposely delayed until after Vespucci's departure—all of which proves,
if it proves anything, simply that there was nothing to prevent Vespucci
from making the voyage.
We have seen how certain statements of the old chroniclers may be taken
as indicative of a voyage along the Central American coast previous
to that of Columbus. There are also similar indications in some of the
early maps. Thus Juan de la Cosa's map representing Cuba as an island
in 1500 (see page 115 this volume) might be accounted for by such a
voyage as Vespucci claims to have made. It will be seen hereafter that
early maps show some slight traces of a knowledge of Florida before its
discovery in 1512 (pp. 128-9 this vol.) In the Ruysch map of 1508 (p.
126 this vol.) the eastern coast of what seems to be Cuba is identified
by M. Varnhagen with the main-land; in his opinion the inscription at
the north point of that coast refers directly to Vespucci's expedition,
and 'Cape S. Marci' at the southern point may indicate Vespucci's
arrival on Saint Mark's day, especially as his uncle was a priest of
the order of St Mark. If this appears somewhat far-fetched, perhaps
more weight should be attached to the name 'Cape Doffin de Abril' on
the southern point of what may be Florida on the Ptolemy map of 1513 (p.
130 this vol.), for at the end of April Vespucci may, according to his
narrative, have been at that point. On this matter of an early voyage it
may be noted that Columbus, striking the coast at Guanaja Island in 1502
in search of a passage westward, instead of following westward, as he
naturally would have done, at least to the head of the gulf of Honduras,
turned directly east. A knowledge on his part that Vespucci had already
explored westward and northward without finding a passage, would account
for his actions. But they have already been satisfactorily accounted for
by the fact that he simply proposed to sail along the sinuosities of the
supposed southern coasts of Asia to India, rather than to penetrate any
intervening continent, whose existence he did not suspect.
[Sidenote: CONCLUSIONS CONCERNING THE VOYAGE OF VESPUCCI.]
In addition to the leading arguments for and against the voyage in
question, the following minor points are urged:
It is claimed that the command of such an expedition would not have been
given to a foreigner, and Vespucci did not become a naturalized citizen
of Spain until 1505. But on the other hand, if Vespucci had rendered no
other service to Spain than to have accompanied Ojeda, he would hardly
have received so many favors from the government, especially after
having served four years under the king of Portugal.
Señor Navarrete finds a difficulty in Vespucci's claim to have brought
back to Spain 222 slaves in the few small vessels under his command.
Vespucci also speaks of Ferdinand as king of Castile, which it was not
customary to do until after Isabella's death.
The high opinion held of Vespucci during his life by Columbus and his
zealous friends is of little weight, because the admiral's claim to
have discovered the supposed Asiatic continent or islands adjacent
thereto was undoubted; but the favorable opinions expressed by later
writers, especially by Fernando Colon, writing after America was known
to be distinct from Asia, tend to prove that the Florentine made in
his lifetime no claim to a voyage in 1497. Yet the publication and
circulation of his letter in several languages, uncontradicted for
years, would indicate its authenticity, unless it be taken as a sign
of carelessness for dates and details so long as they were not supposed
to conflict with the admiral's claims. It must also be remembered that
the same voyager's second, third, and fourth expeditions have all been
disputed and have at last proved authentic.
M. Varnhagen applies to Vespucci and his men the well-known tradition
related by Sahagun and others of white men who appeared at Pánuco from
the east before the coming of the Spaniards. He also supposes Guerrero,
the soldier found by Cortés at Cozumel, and believed by other authors
to have been a survivor with Aguilar of Valdivia's shipwreck in 1512,
to have been left in Yucatan by Vespucci; but he gives no reason for
this belief, except that Guerrero had married among the natives, and
had adopted many of their customs. By the same writer it is thought much
more likely that Cape Gracias á Dios was named by Vespucci after a long
voyage in search of land, than by Columbus after following the coast a
few days and taking possession; especially as Columbus in his own letter
simply mentions his arrival at the cape, the fact of his having given
the name coming from other sources.
The events of the voyage, and the description of the coast visited
by Vespucci as given in his letter, furnish no evidence whatever for
or against the authenticity of the expedition; but if it be admitted
from outside evidence that the voyage was actually made, and was
distinct from that of Ojeda, while the narrative has nothing except the
occurrence of the name Paria in favor of a South American destination,
from it may be gathered the following points in support of the theory
that a more northern coast was the one explored. The course sailed
from the Canaries, W. ¼ SW.; the time thirty-seven days; the distance
1,000 leagues, taking the distance from Lisbon to the Canaries, 280
leagues, as a scale of measurement; the latitude of the landing 16°,
and longitude 75° west of the Canaries; and the arrival by sailing up
the coast at a province situated in about 23°, and near the tropic of
Cancer, are worthy of consideration, since a series of blunders such
as these is hardly probable. The natives of Lariab were of different
language from and hostile to the nations passed further south, as the
Huastecs of the Pánuco region are known to have been with respect to
the Mexicans. Moreover, Lariab has a slight claim to being a Huastec
word, since Orozco y Berra gives three names of places in that language
containing an _l_ and ending in _ab_; but of course this would interfere
sadly with the theory that Lariab is a misprint of Caria. Vespucci's
description of the natives, criticised by Navarrete as incorrect when
applied to the people of Paria, agrees better, as M. Varnhagen thinks,
with the aborigines of Honduras. Other parts of Vespucci's vague and
rambling descriptions apply well enough to the North American coasts,
or in fact to any part of tropical America, north or south.
The application of the narrative to North America is not, however,
without its difficulties. Vespucci makes no mention of the Antilles,
through which his course must have led him; perhaps not seeing them
by reason of fog; or he had instructions not to concern himself with
what the admiral had already discovered. He also refers to a larger
work, never published, in which details were to be given. Neither does
he mention the prominent peninsulas of Yucatan and Florida, nor the
lofty mountain peaks which he would naturally have seen in following
the Mexican coast. He claims to have sailed north-west from Pánuco 870
leagues (over dry land?) to the best harbor in the world. M. Varnhagen's
explanation of this difficulty is that Vespucci simply states
incidentally that he left Pánuco "tuttavia verso il Maestrale" still
toward the north-west, not intending to include in this course the whole
voyage of 870 leagues. All the windings of the coast and the entering
and leaving of many ports or rivers must be taken into account to make
up a distance of 870 leagues between Pánuco and Cape Cañaveral; and the
latter port would hardly be considered the 'best harbor in the world'
except by a great stretch of the imagination, or by a navigator little
acquainted with good harbors. The archipelago of Ity has generally been
supposed to be Hayti, but there is probably no reason for the identity
beyond the resemblance of names. The Bermudas when discovered in 1522
were uninhabited, but this does not prove that they were always so; the
Spaniards may have returned and captured the people for slaves. Indeed
the Bermudas may have been the archipelago of San Bernardo, famous
for its fierce Carib population, but generally located off the gulf of
Urabá. It may even have been named by Vespucci, for on San Bernardo's
day, the 20th of August, he was probably there.
Thus have I given, and let me hope without prejudice, the arguments for
and against this disputed voyage; and from the evidence the reader may
draw his own conclusions. To me the proofs seem conclusive that Vespucci
made no voyage to South America prior to 1499, when he accompanied
Alonso de Ojeda. Against a North American expedition the evidence,
if less conclusive, is still very strong; since the most that can be
claimed in its favor is a probability that the Central American coast
was visited by some navigator before 1502, and a possibility, though
certainly a very slim one, that Vespucci accompanied such navigation.
On this voyage see _Navigationum Alberici Vesputii Epitome_, in
_Grynæus_, _Novus Orbis_, pp. 122, 155; _Varnhagen_, _Le Premier
Voyage de Vespucci_; Id., _Vespuce et son Prem. Voy._; also in _Société
Géog._, _Bulletin_, Jan. and Feb., 1853; _Harrisse_, _Bib. Am. Vet._,
pp. 58-68, and _Additions_, pp. xxvii-viii.; _Lester and Foster's
Life of Vespucius_, pp. 93-139; _Leben der See-Helden_, p. 24;
_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 183-241, 291-3, 309-34;
_Irving's Columbus_, vol. iii. pp. 395-418; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._,
tom. iv. v.; _Major's Prince Henry_, pp. 370-5; _Kerr's Col. Voy._,
vol. iii. p. 342; _Eerste Zee-Togt van Alonso D'Ojeda, en Amerikus
Vesputius_, in _Gottfried_, _Reysen_, tom. iii. p. 38; _Cancellieri_,
_Notizie di Colombo_, pp. 41-7, 257.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: CABOT AND VASCO DA GAMA.]
[1497.] To continue our chronological summary. Following the brilliant
success of Spain, England was the first nation to attempt discovery
to the westward. Fully acquainted with the achievements and hypotheses
of Columbus, having been indeed almost persuaded by him to embrace his
beliefs, King Henry VII. on the 5th of March, 1496, granted a license
to John Cabot, a Venetian citizen and trader of Bristol, to attempt
discoveries in that direction.
Either from respect for Portuguese and Spanish rights in the south, or
from some vague hints received from the Northmen during their trading
voyages to Iceland, or possibly from a dim idea of the advantages of
great-circle sailing, the English determined to attempt reaching India
by a northern route. This expedition of Cabot's, with perhaps several
vessels, sailed from Bristol probably in May, 1497; discovered land the
24th of June on the coast of Labrador between 56° and 58°; sailed some
300 leagues in a direction not known, but probably northward; and one
vessel, the _Matthew_, returned to Bristol in August of the same year.
No further details of the voyage are known, and those given, which are
the conclusions of Humboldt, Kohl, and Stevens, have all been disputed
in respect to date, commander, and point of landing. D'Avesac, as we
have seen (pp. 98-9), insists on a previous voyage in 1494. Biddle,
_Memoir of Sebastian Cabot_, London, 1831, p. 42 et seq., claims that
Sebastian Cabot was the commander. Robinson, _Account of Discov. in
the West_, Richmond, 1848, pp. 81-93, explains that by a change in the
method of reckoning time after 1752, the date should properly read 1498.
Many authors moreover confound this voyage with a later one. _Hakluyt's
Voy._, vol. iii. pp. 4-11; _Galvano's Discov._, pp. 87-9; _Viages
Menores_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. pp. 40-1. Irving, _Columbus_,
vol. ii. p. 316, names but one voyage and regards the accounts as
"vague and scanty." See also _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. i. pp.
279, 313; _Hakluyt Soc._, _Divers Voy._, pp. lxviii., 19-26; _Kohl's
Hist. Discov._, pp. 121-35; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp. 48-53;
_Stevens' Notes_, pp. 17-19; _Pinkerton's Col. Voy._, vol. xii. p. 158;
_Bancroft's Hist. U. S._, vol. i. p. 13.
The Portuguese, to complete their discovery of the route to India by
way of the Cape of Good Hope, sent out Vasco da Gama with four ships.
Sailing from Lisbon July 8, 1497, he doubled the Cape of Good Hope
the 22d of November, passed the limit reached by Dias on the 17th of
December, received intelligence of Prester John at several points on the
eastern coast, and anchored at Calicut May 20, 1498. Trading somewhat,
jealous of everybody, after quarrelling with Arabian merchants and
failing to make good his arbitrary measures, he thought best to return.
Accordingly he set sail the 29th of August, passed the cape March 20,
1499, and reached Lisbon about the end of August. Thus Gama was the
first to accomplish the grand object of so many efforts, and to reach
India by water. His achievement would doubtless have been regarded as
the most glorious on record, both to himself and to Portugal, had not
Columbus for Spain reached the same continent, as he supposed, farther
east several years before. _Navigatione di Vasco di Gama_, in _Ramusio_,
tom. i. fol. 130; _Galvano's Discov._, pp. 93-4; _Navarrete_, _Col.
de Viages_, tom. i. pp. xli.-ii.; _Major's Prince Henry_, pp. 391-406;
_Voyages, Curious and Entertaining_, p. 103; _Leben der See-Helden_, p.
40; _Notizie di Vasquez di Gama_, in _Cancellieri_, _Notizie_, p. 165.
[1498.] After the return of the Cabots in August, 1497, with the news
of having discovered the northern regions of Cathay, King Henry issued
a new patent dated February 3, 1498, and, probably in May of the same
year, two vessels with 300 men sailed from Bristol under command of
Sebastian Cabot. Little is known of the voyage, save that he reached
the coast of Labrador, which he followed northward until at a certain
point where the coast trends eastward he found much ice even in July.
This northern limit is placed by Ramusio at latitude 56°; by Gomara,
who states that Cabot himself gives a much higher latitude, at 58°;
by Galvano, at above 60°. Kohl follows Humboldt in the opinion that
it was 67° 30', which would place it on the Cumberland peninsula.
Cabot then turned southward and sailed as near shore as possible. The
southern limit of this voyage is more indefinite than the northern.
In a conversation with Peter Martyr, prior to 1515, Cabot stated that
he reached the latitude of Gibraltar, and the chronicler adds that he
sailed so far west that he had Cuba on his left. Cabot's remark would
place him in latitude 36°, near Cape Hatteras, while Martyr's addition
might apply to any locality on the east coast. Martyr's statement is
the only authority for the supposition by Humboldt and others—see
_Exam. Crit._, tom. i. p. 313, and Preface to Ghillany—that Cabot
reached Florida. Stevens, _Notes_, pp. 17-19 and 35, considers Peter
Martyr's remark as absurd, since it would place Cabot near Cincinnati.
He is satisfied that the southern limit was the gulf of St Lawrence,
founding this belief on maps of 1500 (see p. 115 this vol.) and 1508
(p. 126 this vol.), 1514, and 1544, the latter said to have been
made by Cabot himself. That Cabot did not reach the southern coast of
the United States seems proved by the fact that he was in Spain from
1513 to 1524, holding high positions, including that of piloto mayor,
while that coast was actually being explored, and he making no claim
to a previous discovery. The point reached, therefore, must remain
undetermined between Cape Hatteras, where Kohl fixes it, and the gulf
of St Lawrence, with a strong probability, as I think, in favor of
the latter. Nothing whatever is known of the route or date of Cabot's
return. And it is to be remembered that concerning this voyage we have
only one contemporary document, which is a letter dated in 1498, stating
simply that the expedition was still absent. All additional details are
from accounts written after the geography of the New World was better
known in consequence of the discovery of the South Sea. Nothing, then,
can be proved by Cabot's voyages beyond the discovery of the continent
in June, 1497, and the exploration of the coast from the gulf of St
Lawrence to above 60° in 1498. The statement of Asher, _Life of Henry
Hudson_, London, 1860, that Cabot "was the first to recognize that a
new and unknown continent was lying as one vast barrier between western
Europe and eastern Asia," accepted also by Kohl, _Hist. Discov._, p.
145, appears to me utterly without foundation. Cabot's complaint that
a new-found land—that is a land further north and east than any part of
Asia described by Polo—was a barrier to his reaching India, and the fact
that on a map made as late as 1544, and doubtfully attributed to him,
a separate continent is shown, seem weak authority for according him so
important a discovery, especially when other voyagers and geographers,
intimate with him and fully acquainted with his discoveries, continued
for many years to join those discoveries to the Asiatic continent.
See, beside references on page 107, _Peter Martyr_, dec. iii. cap.
vi.; _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, fol. 31, 115; _Robertson's Hist. Amer._,
book ix.; _American Antiq. Soc., Transact._, 1865, p. 25 et seq.;
_Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 135-46, 481; _Stevens' Notes_, pp. 35, 52;
_Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp. 53-4.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: THIRD VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS.]
Returned from his second voyage, Columbus found his popularity waning,
and with it the enthusiasm for new discoveries. The voyage had not
been profitable, had not been fruitful enough in gold to satisfy the
adventurers who accompanied him, and the ghastly faces of the mariners
more than counteracted the effect of the specimens of native products
exhibited. It was difficult, therefore, to obtain men for a new
enterprise. Still, notwithstanding the reports of his numerous enemies,
the admiral was considerately treated at court, and finally, by the
efforts of the queen, six vessels were made ready, and Columbus embarked
from San Lúcar on a third voyage May 30, 1498. This time he determined
to steer farther to the south than before, in order to reach, as he
supposed, the richer parts of Asia. After touching at Madeira, Porto
Santo, and the Canaries, he divided his fleet, sent three vessels direct
to Española, and with the other three reached the Cape Verde Islands
the 27th of June. Thence he sailed first south-west and west through
the region of tropical calms, and then northward to Trinidad Island,
where he arrived the 31st of July. Coasting the island on the south, in
sight of the main-land, he entered the gulf of Paria, landed, and found
much gold of an inferior quality, and an abundance of pearls; from which
circumstance, that land, which was the northern end of South America,
was for some time thereafter known as the Pearl Coast. Passing out by
the Boca del Drago on the 14th of August, he followed the northern coast
of Paria to the island of Cubagua, beginning to suspect meanwhile that
the land on his left was the main-land of Asia. Ill health and the state
of his supplies did not permit him to satisfy himself on that point at
the time, and consequently he turned his course north-west for Española.
On the 30th of August he arrived at the mouth of the river Ozema, where
he met his brother Bartolomé, who informed him of the internal discords
and external wars of the colonists. Francisco Roldan had refused to
submit to the admiral's authority, and on the 18th of October five ships
were despatched for Spain with news of the rebellion. By this departure
Columbus sent letters and charts describing this Pearl Coast, as his
present South American discoveries which yielded so many gems were
called. During the whole year following, peace was maintained among the
colonists only by the most humiliating concessions of Columbus to Roldan
and his crew. On the 5th of September, 1499, Alonso de Ojeda arrived at
Española from the Pearl Coast, whither he had been to take advantage of
the discoveries and misfortunes of the admiral.
Vessels laden with complaints by and against Columbus were despatched
for Spain in October; needy, ambitious courtiers held King Ferdinand's
willing ear against him; from his persistent advocacy of Indian
slave-traffic the friendship of his patron, Queen Isabella, grew
cold; and in July, 1500, Francisco de Bobadilla was sent to Española
with powers to investigate. Arrived at Santo Domingo August 23, the
commissioner assumed at once authority, which at most was his right
only after careful and conscientious inquiry, seized Columbus and his
brother, and in October sent them in irons to Spain. _Colon_, _Hist.
del Almirante_, in _Barcia_, tom. i. pp. 74-99; _Peter Martyr_, dec. i.
cap. vi.-vii.; _Tercer Viage de Cristobal Colon_, in _Navarrete_, tom.
i. pp. 242-76; _Napione_ and _De Conti_, _Biografia di Colombo_, pp.
350-75; _Cancellieri_, _Notizie di Colombo_, pp. 99-108, where is given
Columbus' letter received in Spain in December, 1498, but apparently
not printed at the time.
During this third voyage, while about the gulf of Paria, new visions
of the earth's form filled the mind of the great navigator, inflamed
as it was by illness and anxiety. The world was indeed for the most
part spherical, as had been supposed, but in this great central region
on the equator he believed the surface to rise gradually to a great
height, making the earth pear-shape with the terrestrial paradise, or
birth-place of man, on its apex, the waters and islands visited by him
being on the borders of this elevated portion. It is not necessary to
enumerate the natural phenomena, scientific writings, and scripture
texts with which he confirmed his theory. In his distracted enthusiasm
he leaves us somewhat uncertain as to his idea of the situation of this
new region with respect to India proper and those parts of Asia found by
him in a former voyage farther north. If he had supposed it to be simply
a southern extension of Marco Polo's Asia, he would not subsequently
have sought for a strait or passage to India to the north rather than
to the south of this point. Gama's successful circumnavigation of
Africa forbade a revival in the mind of Columbus of the old theory of
Ptolemy, that Africa extended east and north so as to enclose the Indian
Ocean like an immense gulf. The admiral's idea, so far as he formed a
definite one on the subject, must have been that of a large island, or
detached portion of the Asiatic continent, occupying very nearly the
actual relative position of the Australian archipelago, and only vaguely
included, if at all, in ancient or mediæval knowledge of the far East.
No other conclusion could rationally be drawn from his letters and
subsequent actions; and we shall find such an idea of the geography of
these parts often repeated in following years. We shall also see how
unfortunate it was for the posthumous glory of the great discoverer in
the matter of naming the western world, that he did not more clearly
specify his idea of this new land—for I believe this was the first
suspicion that new lands of any considerable extent existed—and that his
account of this and his fourth voyage were not more widely circulated
in print.
[1499.] The discovery of the Pearl Coast, made known in Spain in
December, 1498, caused several expeditions to be sent out in the
following year. These were trading and not exploring voyages, and their
commanders had no thought of cosmography, caring little whether Paria
were the terrestrial paradise or the infernal regions, so that pearls,
and gold, and slaves were abundant. No connected journals of these
voyages have been preserved, our knowledge of them being derived from
statements of the early historians and from testimony in the famous
lawsuit with the heirs of Columbus, printed in Navarrete's collection.
[Sidenote: MINOR EXPEDITIONS.]
The first was that of Alonso de Ojeda, who, by the influence of Bishop
Fonseca, the admiral's most bitter enemy, obtained a commission to
visit the Pearl Coast, avoiding, however, lands discovered by the
Portuguese and by Columbus prior to 1495. In company with Juan de la
Cosa and Amerigo Vespucci, Ojeda embarked with four vessels from Santa
María, near Cádiz, on the 20th of May, 1499. Sailing by the admiral's
charts, he touched at the Canaries, and after twenty-four days reached
the main-land of South America between 3° and 6° north latitude—that
is according to Ojeda's testimony; but Vespucci's account of what was
probably the same voyage brings them first upon the continent further
south. This is claimed by Varnhagen, _Examen de quelques points de
l'histoire géographique du Brazil_, Paris, 1858, as the first discovery
of Brazil. Following the coast north-west for 200 leagues without
landing, but discovering the two great rivers Essequebo and Orinoco,
they landed on Trinidad Island, the first inhabited coast which they
touched, where they traded for pearls and found traces of the admiral
who had preceded them. Out through the Boca del Drago, following the
coast of Paria to the gulf of Pearls, or Curiana, landing on Margarita
Island, anchoring in the bay of Corsarios, they continued from port to
port to Chichirivichi, where they had a fight with the natives, and
spent twenty days in a port near by. Ojeda then visited Curazao and
the gulf of Venezuela, where was found a town built over the water
like Venice. On the 24th of August he discovered Lake Maracaibo, and
afterward followed the coast westward to Cape de la Vela, whence he
directed his course, on the 30th of August, to Española, arriving, as
we have seen, September 5, 1499. He finally returned to Spain in the
middle of June, 1500, the voyage having yielded but a small profit.
_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 4-11 and 543-5; _Major's
Prince Henry_, pp. 367-9; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. iv. pp. 195,
220; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i. p. 76.
The second minor expedition to South America was that of Pedro Alonso
Niño and Cristóbal Guerra, similar in its object to that of Ojeda. A
few days after Ojeda's departure they sailed from Palos in one vessel
with thirty-three men, reaching the main-land farther north, and some
fifteen days later than Ojeda. They traded on the coast of Cumaná for
three months, their western limit being the region of Chichirivichi,
started for home February 13, 1500, and arrived in Spain about the
middle of April with a large quantity of pearls. _Peter Martyr_, dec.
i. cap. viii.; _Gomara_, _Hist. de las Indias_, fol. 98; _Navarrete_,
_Col. de Viages_, tom. ii. p. 147; tom. iii. pp. 11-18, 542; _Irving's
Columbus_, vol. iii. p. 37-42; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. iv. p.
220.
The third expedition of this year was that of Vicente Yañez Pinzon,
who had commanded a vessel under Columbus in 1492. Sailing early in
December, 1499, from Palos with a fleet of four vessels he crossed the
equator, and on the 20th of January—Peter Martyr says the 26th, and
Irving the 28th of January—discovered land in latitude 8° south, at Cape
St Augustine, which he named Santa María de la Consolacion. Varnhagen,
_Examen_, pp. 19-24, entertains doubts regarding the spot where Pinzon
first landed, and thinks it quite as likely to have been some cape
further north. From this point, wherever it may have been, Pinzon
followed the coast to the north, touched at various places, discovered
the Amazon, and in due time reached the gulf of Paria. Thence he sailed
through the Boca del Drago, arrived at Española on the 23d of June, and
returned to Spain in September, 1500. This voyage was as disastrous
as the preceding one had been profitable. Peter Martyr states, dec.
i. cap. ix., that Paria was thought to be a part of Asia beyond the
Ganges. See also _De Navigatione Pinzoni Socii Admirantis, et de rebus
per eum repertis_, in _Grynæus_, _Novus Orbis_, p. 119; _Navarrete_,
_Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 18-23; _Major's Prince Henry_, p. 369;
_Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. i. pp. 313-14; tom. iii. p. 221.
Here belongs Amerigo Vespucci's account of a second voyage made in
conjunction with others in the service of the king of Spain. Departing
in May, 1499—some editions of his letters have it 1489—from Cádiz
and touching at the Canaries he steered south-west for nineteen days,
sailing in that time 500 leagues to a point on the main-land in latitude
5° south,—from incorrect readings of the originals some editors make
him say 800 leagues and latitude 8°—where the days and nights are
equal on the 27th of June, at which time the sun enters Cancer. Thence
coasting eastward forty leagues; then north-west to a beautiful island
and convenient harbor; and yet eighty other leagues to a secure harbor
where he remained seventeen days and gathered many pearls; thence to
another port; then to an island fifteen leagues from the main-land; and
again to another island, which was called Gigantes, where captives were
taken; then to a fine bay where the ships were refitted; and finally,
after forty-seven days at this last place they sail for Antilla, that is
Española. Two months and two days are spent at Antilla, whence on the
22d of July they embark for Spain, and reach Cádiz September 8, 1500.
_De Secundariæ Navigatinis Cursu_, Latin text and Spanish translation
of Vespucci's letter in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. pp.
242-62.
It has never been claimed that Vespucci attempted discoveries in 1499
as chief in command. The voyage described by him is without doubt that
of Pinzon or Ojeda, although D'Avesac, in _Bulletin de la Soc. Géog._,
makes it identical with that of Lepe. Humboldt, _Exam. Crit._, tom. iv.
pp. 200 et seq., by comparing the details decides that it was that of
Pinzon, and by the same method he concludes that Vespucci's first voyage
was that under Ojeda. As the points of resemblance are slight in either
case; as Vespucci is known to have accompanied Ojeda; as he would have
been obliged to return to Spain before Ojeda in June, 1500, in order
to sail with Pinzon in December, 1499; and as Vespucci describes an
astronomical phenomenon which, as Humboldt admits, could not possibly
have taken place during Pinzon's voyage, I am inclined to accept the
generally received opinion that Ojeda's is the voyage described. "There
can now be no doubt that Vespucci's voyage in 1499 was identical with
that of Ojeda." _Major's Prince Henry_, p. 370; _Varnhagen_, _Exam._,
pp. 1-19. Navarrete and Irving imply that this was the only voyage made
by Vespucci for the crown of Spain. However it may be, for the purposes
of this Summary the question is of little importance; for there are
no disputed points of geographical import depending on the two trading
voyages, one of which Vespucci attempts to describe; and if there were,
his account in the different forms in which it exists is so full of
blunders that it could throw but little light upon the subject.
[Sidenote: LEPE, GUERRA, AND CABRAL.]
The fourth minor expedition of this year was that of Diego de Lepe,
who sailed in less than a month after Pinzon—that is near the end
of December, 1499—with two vessels. Touching main-land below Cape St
Augustine, he observed the south-western trend of the coast below that
point; but of his voyage along the shore nothing is known save that
he reached the Pearl Coast. Before the 5th of June he had returned
to Spain. _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 23-4, 553-5;
_Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. i. pp. 314-15; tom. iv. pp. 221-2.
There are some scattered hints collected in _Biddle's Memoir of
Sebastian Cabot_, pp. 91 et seq., of a new expedition in 1499 by the
Cabots, directed this time to tropical regions. They are not sufficient
to render it probable that such a voyage was made, although Ojeda
reported that he found several Englishmen cruising on the Pearl Coast.
_Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 41; _Kohl's Hist.
Discov._, p. 145.
[1500.] In this year Cristóbal Guerra made a second voyage to the Pearl
Coast with some success, and returned to Spain before November 1, 1501.
_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 24-5. Spain also made
preparations to explore the northern lands discovered by the Cabots, but
without any known results. _Peschel_, _Geschichte der Entd._, Stuttgart,
1858, p. 316; _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 41-46;
_Biddle's Mem. Cabot_, p. 236; _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 192-3. In
_Diccionario Universal, Apénd._, article 'Viages,' p. 805, is mentioned
a voyage to the Pearl Coast by Alonso Velez de Mendoza in two vessels.
No authorities are given.
The year following the return of Gama from his successful voyage to
India, Pedro Alvarez Cabral was entrusted with the command of thirteen
well-armed vessels, and sent to establish commercial relations with
the new countries now made accessible to Portuguese enterprise. Cabral
embarked from Lisbon on the 9th of March, 1500; thirteen days later
he left behind him the Cape Verde Islands, pursuing a south-westerly
course. Whether he was driven by storms in this direction, or wished to
avoid the calms of the Guinea coast, or whether he entertained a hope of
reaching some part of the regions recently discovered by the Spaniards
is not known. Certain it is, however, that notwithstanding his having
sailed for India, on the 22d of April—Humboldt says in February—he found
himself on the coast of Brazil in about latitude 10° south, leaving a
gap probably of some 170 leagues between this point and the southern
limit of Lepe and Pinzon. Thence he coasted southward, took formal
possession of the land on the 1st of May at Porto Seguro, and named the
country Vera Cruz, which name soon became Santa Cruz. Cabral immediately
sent Gaspar de Lemos in one of the ships back to Portugal with an
account and map of the new discoveries. Leaving two convicts with the
natives of that coast, Cabral continued his journey for India on the 22d
of May. Off the Cape of Good Hope he lost four vessels, in one of which
was Bartolomeu Dias, the discoverer of the cape, and reached Calicut
on the 13th of September. Returning he met at Cape Verde a fleet, on
board of which is supposed to have been Amerigo Vespucci, and arrived
at Lisbon July 23, 1501. _Navigation del Capitano Pedro Alvares_, in
_Ramusio_, tom. i. fol. 132-9; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, vol. i.
booke ii. pp. 30-1; _Cancellieri_, _Notizie di Colombo_, pp. 48-9;
_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 45-6, 94-101; _Humboldt_,
_Exam. Crit._, tom. i. p. 315; tom. iv. p. 223; tom. v. pp. 53, 61.
The Portuguese did not overlook the north while making their important
discoveries to the south. Two vessels, probably in the spring of 1500,
were sent out under Gaspar Cortereal. No journal or chart of the voyage
is now in existence, hence little is known of its object or results.
Still more dim is a previous voyage ascribed by Cordeiro to João
Vaz Cortereal, father of Gaspar, about the time of Kolno, which, as
Kunstmann views it, "requires further proof." Touching at the Azores,
Gaspar Cortereal, possibly following Cabot's charts, struck the coast
of Newfoundland north of Cape Race, and sailing north discovered a land
which he called Terra Verde, perhaps Greenland, but was stopped by
ice at a river which he named Rio Nevado, whose location is unknown.
Cortereal returned to Lisbon before the end of 1500. _Cancellieri_,
_Notizie di Colombo_, pp. 48-9; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, p. 57;
_Galvano's Discov._, pp. 95-6; _Major's Prince Henry_, p. 374; _Kohl's
Hist. Discov._, pp. 166-8, 174-7. Biddle, _Mem. Cabot_, pp. 137-261,
thinks that Cortereal landed south of Cape Race; Humboldt, _Exam.
Crit._, tom. iv. p. 222, is of the opinion that Terra Verde was not
Greenland.
In October of this same year Rodrigo de Bastidas sailed from Cádiz with
two vessels. Touching the shore of South America near Isla Verde, which
lies between Guadalupe and the main-land, he followed the coast westward
to El Retrete, or perhaps Nombre de Dios, on the isthmus of Darien,
in about 9° 30' north latitude. Returning, he was wrecked on Española
toward the end of 1501, and reached Cádiz in September, 1502. This
being the first authentic voyage by Europeans to the territory herein
defined as the Pacific States, such incidents as are known will be given
hereafter. For references to this voyage, see _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._,
tom. i. p. 76; tom. ii. p. 334, where the date given is 1502; _Gomara_,
_Hist. Ind._, fol. 67, date of voyage also 1502; _Viages Menores_, in
_Navarrete_, tom. iii. pp. 25-8, 545-6; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec.
i. lib. iv. cap. xi.; _Galvano's Discov._, pp. 99-100, date of voyage
1503; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. i. pp. 360-1; tom. iv. pp. 224;
_Voyages, Curious and Ent._, p. 436; _Churchill's Col. Voy._, vol. viii.
p. 375; _Harris' Col. Voy._, vol. i. p. 270; _Major's Prince Henry_,
pp. 369-70; _Asiento que hizo con sus Majestades Católicas Rodrigo de
Bastidas_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc. Inéd._, tom. ii. pp.
362-467; _Robertson's Hist. Am._, vol. i. p. 159; _Quintana_, _Vidas de
Españoles Célebres_, 'Balboa,' p. 1.
[Sidenote: EARLIEST EXISTING MAPS.]
Of the many manuscript maps and charts made by navigators prior to this
time none have been preserved. In the year 1500, however, a map of the
world was made by the veteran pilot Juan de la Cosa, who had sailed with
Columbus on his second voyage, and had accompanied Alonso de Ojeda to
the Pearl Coast. It is preserved in the Royal Library of Madrid, and
shows in a remarkably clear manner all discoveries up to that date.
Drawn in colors and gold on ox-hide, on a scale of fifteen leagues to
the degree, it lays down the parallels of Gibraltar and Paris, beside
the equator and tropic of Cancer, and gives a scale at the top and
bottom. _Stevens' Notes_, p. 16. Humboldt first published a copy of
the American portion, and the whole, or parts thereof, have been since
published or described in _Lelewel_, _Géog. du moyen âge_, tom. ii. pp.
109 et seq., atlas, no. 41; _Sagra_, _Hist. physique et politique de
l'île de Cuba_, Paris, 1838, and atlas; _Ghillany_, _Geschichte_, etc.,
pref. by Humboldt; _Jomard_, _Monuments de géog._, atlas no. xvi., which
gives a full-sized fac-simile; _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 151-5, 239,
plate v., being a copy of the northern part from Humboldt with additions
from Jomard. Stevens in his _Notes_, see pp. 11-16, 33, 51, and plate
i., produces a photo-lithographic copy of the western hemisphere from
Jomard. I give a copy of the central portions of the western hemisphere
from Humboldt, Stevens, and Kohl.
[Illustration: JUAN DE LA COSA'S MAP, 1500.]
The upper portion is North America, and the lower South America, between
which a continuous coast line remains as yet undiscovered.
All the newly found regions are represented as parts of Asia,
and consequently names are applied only to islands and particular
localities. Up to this time three portions of the supposed Asiatic
seaboard have been explored. First, there are the discoveries of the
Cabots in the north, represented as extending from 'Cabo de Yngleterra'
westward to the flag which bounds the 'Sea discovered by the English.'
This direct western trend of the coast, most likely laid down from
Cabot's charts, is one of the strongest evidences that the coast
explored by Cabot was the northern shore of the gulf of St Lawrence.
Another reason for entertaining such belief is the use of the words _Mar
descubierta por Yngleses_ instead of _Mare Oceanus_, thus indicating
that it was a sea or gulf and not the open ocean. Cosa could not at
the time have known the results of Cortereal's voyage. On Cabot's
coast various points are named, but farther to the north-east and to
the south-west the line is laid down indefinitely and without names,
probably from Marco Polo. Kohl puts the inscription _Mar descubierta_,
etc., farther south and west than on the original, and thinks the curve
in the coast west of the last flag to be Cape Cod. Then we have in
the south the northern coast of South America quite accurately laid
down from Cape de la Vela south-eastward to the limit of Pinzon's
voyage in 1499; with a nameless coast-line south-east to the locality
of Cape St Augustine. From Cape de la Vela we have the same imaginary
coast-line without names extending westward, as if to meet the line
from the north-east; but just at the point where the lines must meet,
or be separated by a strait leading to India proper, the non-committal
map-maker inserted a picture—indicated by the double dotted lines—thus
avoiding the expression of his opinion as to whether the Pearl Coast
was joined to Asia, or was detached from the continent. On the original
map no attempt is made to show inland topography, although the copies of
Humboldt and Kohl have some lakes and rivers. I have taken the liberty
to indicate the indefinite, nameless coasts by a dotted line for greater
clearness. The last of the three several explored regions shown by this
map are the central islands, Cuba, Española, and others discovered by
Columbus, who was accompanied in at least one of his voyages by the
author himself. In this part of the map some difficulty has arisen from
the fact that Cuba is represented as an island, while Columbus is known
to have held the opinion that it was a part of the mainland; an opinion,
as before stated, which was subscribed to under oath by all his men,
including Juan de la Cosa. On the original, the western part of Cuba
is cut off by green paint, the conventional sign of _terra incognita_,
which leads Stevens to infer that the pilot "did not intend to represent
Cuba to be an island," but that he only supposed it to be such. This,
however, by no means implies that the draughtsman intended to say that
Cuba was not an island, but rather that he was not certain that it was
an island, but only supposed it to be. It will be remembered that the
natives affirmed from the first that it was an island, although so large
that no one had ever reached its western extremity. This statement,
together with his own observations during the voyage, probably caused
Juan de la Cosa to afterward change the opinion to which he had perhaps
hastily subscribed at the request of Columbus. There can be but little
doubt of the authenticity of this map, although Stevens considers it has
been distorted in the various copies and descriptions. That the author
did not himself make any later additions to it is evident from the fact
that his own subsequent discoveries are not shown.
[1501.] Again King Henry of England issues commissions permitting
private persons to make discovery at their own expense. So far as known,
however, no voyage was effected under this royal encouragement, although
it is not improbable that intercourse with Newfoundland was continued
after Cabot's discovery. _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, p. 55; _Kohl's
Hist. Discov._, pp. 185-7; _Biddle's Mem. Cabot_, p. 228 et seq.;
_Peschel_, _Geschichte der Entd._, p. 334 et seq.
[Sidenote: JUAN DE NOVA AND THE CORTEREALS.]
The Portuguese, more practical in their attempts, push discovery in
all directions. Juan de Nova with four vessels sails from Lisbon March
5, 1501, doubles the Cape of Good Hope, and returning reaches Lisbon
September 11, 1502, having discovered Ascension Island on the voyage
out, and St Helena on the return. _Galvano's Discov._, pp. 97-8;
_Major's Prince Henry_, p. 413; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. iv. p.
225; tom. v. p. 107. The Cape of Good Hope route to India may now be
declared open; voyages thither from this time cannot properly be called
voyages of discovery; hence of the frequent subsequent voyages of the
Portuguese to India I shall make no mention except of such as in some
way relate to America. For a summary of these later voyages see _Major's
Prince Henry_, pp. 413-18.
Gaspar Cortereal this year makes a second voyage to the regions of the
north, sailing from Belem, near Lisbon, May 15, 1501, with two or three
vessels, touching probably at some point in Newfoundland, and coasting
northward some six or seven hundred miles. He does not, however, reach
the Terra Verde of the former voyage on account of ice. One of the
vessels—Kunstmann says two—returned, arriving at Lisbon October 8,
1501; the other with the commander was never afterward heard from. One
of the chief objects of this expedition seems to have been the capture
of slaves. The name Labrador is applied by Cortereal to this discovery,
"and is perhaps the only permanent trace of Portuguese adventure within
the limits of North America." _Bancroft's Hist. U. S._, vol. i. p.
16; _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. p. 44; _Major's Prince
Henry_, p. 374; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. iv. p. 224; _Kohl's
Hist. Discov._, pp. 169-71; _Peschel_, _Geschichte der Entd._, pp. 331
et seq.; _Biddle's Mem. Cabot_, pp. 237 et seq.
The Portuguese also send an expedition to prosecute the discoveries
begun by Cabral, who has not yet returned from India, but whose
discovery of Brazil has been reported by Lemos. Strangely enough no
documents exist in the Portuguese archives touching this voyage, nor is
the name of its commander known, although Varnhagen thinks it may have
been Manuel. It is known as Vespucci's third voyage, and its incidents
are found only in his letters. The authenticity of this as of his other
voyages has been often doubted and denied, and as it is the voyage that
resulted in the naming of America, it has given rise to much discussion,
into which however I shall not enter. The discussion does not affect the
voyage itself, nor the leading facts connected with it, the questions
being whether Vespucci was in command, which indeed he does not claim to
have been; and above all, whether the results of the voyage entitled him
to the honor of naming America, which they certainly did not, even had
he commanded, from the fact that other navigators had discovered both
of the Americas before him. Navarrete, one of Vespucci's most jealous
enemies, admits that he visited the coast of Brazil in a subordinate
capacity in some Portuguese expedition; and Humboldt, in an essay of 115
pages, effectually defends the veracity of Vespucci in his accounts of
his voyages, which the distinguished commentator quotes with notes on
the variations of different editions.
Vespucci was induced to leave Seville in order to accompany the
fleet, which consisted of three vessels—some editions say ten, some
fourteen—and which sailed from Lisbon on the 13th of May. Passing the
Canaries without landing, to the African coast and Basilica in 14°,
probably Cape Verde, there he remained eleven days. At this place he
met Cabral's fleet returning from India and learned the particulars
of the voyage, including the American discoveries, of which he gives
a full account in a letter written at the time under date of June 4,
1501, which is a strong proof of the veracity of his other accounts.
See extracts in _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. v. pp. 34-44. It is
extraordinary that in the several accounts of this meeting the name
of Vespucci's commander is not mentioned. From Cape Verde the fleet
sailed south-west sixty-seven days and touched the main-land the 17th
of August, at a point in 5° south latitude, taking possession for the
king of Portugal. Thence it followed the coast south-east, doubled
Cape St Augustine, and went on in sight of land for 600 leagues to
a point in 32° south—according to Gomara, 40°; Navarrete thinks it
could not have been over 26°. Having found no precious metals during
a voyage of ten months, the Portuguese abandoned this coast on the
13th (or 15th) of February, 1502, and after having been driven by
storms far to the south-east, and discovering some land whose identity
is uncertain—Humboldt thinks it was an accumulation of ice, or the
coast of Patagonia—they reached the coast of Ethiopia on the 10th of
May, the Azores toward the end of July, and Lisbon September 7, 1502.
Vespucci gives full descriptions of the natives of Brazil, but these
descriptions, together with the numerous conflicting statements, or
blunders of the various texts relating to details of the voyage, I pass
over as unimportant to my purpose. That Vespucci was with a Portuguese
fleet which in 1501-2 explored a large but ill-defined portion of the
Brazilian coast, there can be no doubt. _Grynæus_, _Novus Orbis_, pp.
122-30; _Ramusio_, _Viaggi_, tom. i. pp. 139-44; _Viages Menores_, in
_Navarrete_, tom. iii. pp. 46, 262-80; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom.
v. pp. 1-115; _Major's Prince Henry_, pp. 375-7; _Galvano's Discov._,
pp. 98-9.
[1502.] Miguel Cortereal sailed from Lisbon May 10, 1502, in search of
his brother Gaspar, only to share his brother's fate. Neither of his
two vessels appears to have returned. _Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_,
tom. iii. p. 44; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. iv. p. 226; _Major's
Prince Henry_, p. 374; _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 171-2.
It is probable that Portuguese fishermen continued their trips more
or less to Labrador and Newfoundland, but if so, no accounts have been
preserved. _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 187-92; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung
Am._, pp. 69, 95; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii. lib. v. cap. iii.
In January, 1502, Alonso de Ojeda with four vessels departed from
Cádiz on a second voyage to the Pearl Coast, with the intention of
there establishing a colony. Accompanied by Garcia de Ocampo, Juan de
Vergara, Hernando de Guevara, and his nephew Pedro de Ojeda, he touched
at the Canaries and Cape Verde Islands, and reached the gulf of Paria.
Refitting his vessels, on the 11th of March he set sail and coasted
north-westward, touching at various points until he came to a port
which he called Santa Cruz, probably Bahía Honda, about twenty-five
miles east of Cape de la Vela. During the voyage along the coast the
vessels were much of the time separated, following different courses. At
Santa Cruz Ojeda found a man who had been left by Bastidas, and there
he determined to establish his colony. A fort was built, and a vessel
sent to Jamaica for supplies; but the colony did not prosper. To other
troubles were added dissensions among the fiery leaders, and about
the end of May Ojeda was imprisoned by his companions; the colony was
finally abandoned, and its governor brought as a prisoner to Española
in September. The few disputed points of this voyage concern only the
personal quarrels of Ojeda and his fellow-captains. _Navarrete_, _Col.
de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 28-39, 168-70, 591 et seq.; _Humboldt_, _Exam.
Crit._, tom. i. p. 360; tom. iv. p. 226.
[Sidenote: FOURTH VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS.]
On the eleventh of May, 1502, Columbus embarked from Cádiz on his
fourth and last voyage. Refitting at Española, he directed his course
westward, discovered _terra firma_ at the Guanaja Islands, off the north
coast of Honduras, and sailing southward, followed the shores of the
supposed Asia to El Retrete on the isthmus of Darien, where terminated
the discovery of Bastidas from the opposite direction, whose chart may
have been in the admiral's possession. Particulars of this voyage are
given hereafter. See _Cuarto y Último Viage de Cristobal Colon_, in
_Navarrete_, tom. i. pp. 277-313; _Colon_, _Hist. del Almirante_, in
_Barcia_, tom. i. pp. 101-18; _Gomara_, _Hist. de las Indias_, fol. 31;
_Peter Martyr_, dec. iii. cap. iv.; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. i.
lib. v.-vi.; _Benzoni_, _Historia del Mondo Nvovo_, Venetia, 1572, fol.
28; _Galvano's Discov._, pp. 100-1; _Robertson's Hist. Am._, vol. i.
pp. 164-74; _Burke's European Settlements in Am._, vol. i. pp. 37-45;
_Napione_ and _De Conti_, _Biografia Colombo_, pp. 379-406; _Laharpe_,
_Abrégé_, tom. ix. p. 122; _Acosta_, _Comp. Histórico de la Nueva
Granada_, cap. i.; _Navigatio Christophori Colvmbi_, in _Grynæus_,
_Novus Orbis_, p. 90, and elsewhere.
Since the admiral's discovery, in 1498, of the Pearl Coast, that is,
the extreme northern shore of South America, nothing had occurred to
modify his views formed at that time concerning the new regions, except
to show that this southern addition of the Asiatic continent was much
larger than had at first been supposed. His special aim in this fourth
voyage was to do what various circumstances had prevented him from
doing before, namely, to sail along the eastern and southern coasts of
Asia to India, passing, of course, through the supposed strait between
the main-land and the land of Paria. It is certainly extraordinary
that this idea entertained by Columbus corresponded so closely with
the actual conformation of the eastern Asiatic coast, and its southern
addition of the Australian archipelago; that this conformation is so
closely duplicated in the American coasts; and that the position of
the admiral's hypothetical strait was almost identical with the actual
narrowest part of the American continent. Columbus followed the coast
to the western limit of Bastidas' voyage and could find no opening
in the shore, either because the ancient chroniclers were faulty in
making no mention of this great supposed southern extension of Asia, or
because the strait had in some way escaped his scrutiny. He therefore
abandoned the search, and gave himself up to other schemes, but he
never relinquished his original idea, and died, 1506, in the belief
that he had reached the coast of Asia, and without the suspicion of a
new continent. Moreover, his belief was shared by all cosmographers and
scholars of the time. _Peter Martyr_, dec. i. cap. viii.; _Humboldt_,
_Exam. Crit._, tom. i. p. 26; tom. iv. p. 188; Preface to _Ghillany_;
_Major's Prince Henry_, p. 420; _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 140, 238-9;
_Draper's Int. Develop._, p. 445; _Stevens' Notes_, p. 37.
[1503.] Another expedition was sent by Portugal in search of the
Cortereals, but returned unsuccessful. _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._,
p. 58; _Peschel_, _Geschichte der Entd._, p. 334.
According to Harrisse, _Bib. Am. Vet._, pp. 173-4, we have "authentic
deeds and depositions proving beyond doubt a French expedition to Brazil
as early as 1503;" in support of which he refers to _De Gonneville_,
_Mémoires_, Paris, 1663; _De Brosses_, _Hist. des Navigations_, Paris,
1756, tom. i. pp. 104-14; _Revista Trimensal_, Rio de Janeiro, tom. vi.
p. 412-14; _D'Avesac_, in _Bulletin de la Soc. Géog._, tom. xiv. p. 172.
In 1503 the Portuguese sent a third fleet of six vessels under Gonzalo
Coelho to make farther explorations on the coast of Brazil, then called
Santa Cruz, and to sail, if possible, around its southern extremity to
India, an idea that seems to have been conceived during the preceding
voyage, but which could not then be carried into effect for want of
supplies. Vespucci commanded one of the vessels, and set out with
high hopes of accomplishing great things for his country, his God, and
himself. This is known as Vespucci's fourth voyage. Beyond the account
which he gives in his letters, little is known of it except the fact
that Coelho made such a voyage at the time. The identity of the two
expeditions has not been undisputed, but Humboldt and Major both show
that there can be little doubt in the matter. The fleet sailed from
Lisbon on the 10th of June—Vespucci says May—remained twelve or thirteen
days at the Cape Verde Islands, and thence sailed south-east to within
sight of Sierra Leone. The navigators were prevented by a storm from
anchoring, and so directed their course south-west for 300 leagues
to a desert island in about lat. 3° south, supposed to be Fernando de
Noronha, where Coelho lost his ship on the 10th of August. Vespucci's
vessel was separated from the rest for eight days, but afterward joined
one of them, and the two sailed south-west for seventeen days, making
300 leagues, and arriving at the Bahía de Todos os Santos. Remaining
there two months and four days, they followed the coast for 260 leagues
to the port now called Cape Frio, where they built a fort and left
twenty-four men who had belonged to the vessel which had been wrecked.
In this port, which by Vespucci's observations was in lat. 18° south
and 35° (or 57°) west of Lisbon, they remained five months, exploring
the interior for forty leagues; they then loaded with Brazil-wood, and
after a return voyage of seventy-seven days arrived in Lisbon June 28
(or 18), 1504. Vespucci believed the other ships of the fleet to have
been lost, but after his account was written, Coelho returned with
two ships; nothing, however, is now known of his movements after the
separation. _Di Amerigo Vespucci Fiorentino_, in _Ramusio_, tom, i.,
_Lettera prima_, fol. 139, _Lettera secondo_, fol. 141, _Sommario_,
fol. 141; _Viages de Vespucio_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. pp. 281-90;
_Southey's Hist. Brazil_, vol. i. p. 20.
[Sidenote: DIVERS EXPEDITIONS.]
Alfonso de Alburquerque sailed from Lisbon April 6, 1503, with four
vessels for India; but shaping his course far to the south-west, after
twenty-four (or twenty-eight) days he reached an island previously
discovered by Vespucci; thence he touched the main-land of Brazil, after
which he proceeded around the Cape of Good Hope to India, and returned
to Lisbon September 16, 1504. _Viaggio fatto nell'India per Giovanni di
Empoli_, in _Ramusio_, tom. i. fol. 158; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_,
vol. i. pp. 32-3. _Bergomas_, _Nouissime historiarũ omniũ_, etc.,
Venetiis, 1503, a book of chronicles published with frequent additions
to date, contains, for the first time, in this edition, a chapter on the
newly found islands of Columbus. In my copy, which is dated ten years
later, this chapter is on folio 328. At least nine editions of the work
appeared before 1540.
[1504.] Soon after the return from his third voyage, Vespucci wrote a
letter to Piero de' Medici, setting forth its incidents. This letter,
which bears no date, was probably written in corrupt Italian, and after
circulating to some extent in manuscript, as was the custom at the
time, it may have been printed, but no copies are known to exist, and
the original is lost. Translations were made, however, into Latin and
German, which appeared in small pamphlet form in at least seventeen
different editions before 1507, under the title of _Mundus Novus_,
or its equivalent. The earliest edition which bears a date is that of
1504, but of the nine issues without date, some undoubtedly appeared
before that year. It is probable that other editions have disappeared
on account of their undurable form. None of Vespucci's other accounts
are known to have been printed before 1507.
This same year the _Libretto de tutta le Navigazione del Re di Spagna_
is said to have been printed at Venice, being the first collection of
voyages, and containing, according to the few Italian authors who claim
to have seen it, the first three voyages of Columbus and those of Niño
and Pinzon. If authentic, it was the first account of the voyage of
Columbus to the Pearl Coast; but no copy is known at present to exist,
and its circulation must have been small compared with Vespucci's
relations. _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. iv. pp. 67-77; _Harrisse_,
_Bib. Am. Vet._, nos. 22-41.
A chart made about 1504 has been preserved which shows Portuguese
discoveries only. In the north are laid down Newfoundland and Labrador
under the name of 'Terra de Cortte Reall,' and Greenland with no name,
but so correctly represented as to form a strong evidence that it was
reached by Cortereal. On the south we have the coast of Brazil, to
which no name is given; between the two is open sea, with no indication
of Spanish discoveries. _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp. 127-8, and
_Munich Atlas_, no. iii.; _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 174-7, plate viii.
With the year 1504 the fishing voyages of the Bretons and Normans to
Newfoundland are said to have begun, but there are no accounts of any
particular voyage. _Sobre las navegaciones de los vascongados á los
mares de Terranova_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 176; _Viages Menores_,
_Id._, p. 46. Kunstmann, _Entdeckung Am._, p. 69 et seq., makes these
trips begin with Denys' in 1503.
Juan de la Cosa equipped and armed four vessels, and was despatched
in the service of Queen Isabella of Spain, to explore and trade in the
vicinity of the gulf of Urabá, and also to check rumored encroachments
of the Portuguese in that direction. All that is recorded of the
expedition is that in 1506 the crown received 491,708 maravedís as the
royal share of the profits. _Carta de Cristobal Guerra_, in _Navarrete_,
tom. ii. p. 293; _Carta de la Reina_, in _Id._, tom. iii. p. 109; _Real
Cédula, adicion_, _Id._, p. 161. Stevens, in his _Notes_, p. 33, gives
the date as 1505.
[1505.] Alonso de Ojeda, with three vessels, made a third voyage to
Coquibacoa and the gulf of Urabá. _Noticias biográficas del capitan
Alonso Hojeda_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 169.
The letter written by Columbus from Jamaica July 7, 1503, describing
the events of his fourth voyage, is preserved in the Spanish archives.
If printed, no copies are known to exist, but an Italian translation
appeared as _Copia de la Lettera_, Venetia, 1505.
A Portuguese map made about 1505 by Pedro Reinel shapes Newfoundland
more accurately than the map of 1504, being the first to give the
name 'C. Raso' to the south-east point; but Greenland is drawn much
less correctly. _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp. 125-7; _Munich
Atlas_, no. i. Plate ix. in _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 177-9,
differs materially from the fac-simile in the _Munich Atlas_. See also
_Peschel_, _Geschichte der Entd._, p. 332; _Schmeller_, _Ueber einigen
der handschriftlichen Seekarten_, in _Akademie der Wissenschaften_,
_Abhandl._, tom. iv. pt. i. p. 247 et seq.
[1506.] The Bretons under Jean Denys are said to have explored the gulf
of St Lawrence, and to have made a map which has not been found. The
reports of this and of succeeding voyages northward are exceedingly
vague. _Charlevoix_, _Hist. de la Nouvelle France_, Paris, 1744, tom. i.
p. 4; _Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 41; _Kohl's Hist.
Discov._, pp. 201-5; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, p. 69; _Bancroft's
Hist. U. S._, vol. i. p. 16.
Vicente Yañez Pinzon made a second voyage with Juan Diaz de Solis,
in which he explored the gulf of Honduras, from the Guanaja Islands,
the western limit of Columbus' voyage, to the islands of Caria on the
coast of Yucatan, in search of the passage which was still believed
to exist between the main continent of Asia and the land known as the
Pearl Coast, Santa Cruz, or, in the Latin translations of Vespucci, as
the _Mundus Novus_, or New World. Brief mention of this voyage may be
found in _Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 46, repeated in
_Irving's Columbus_, vol. iii. p. 52; and _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._,
tom. iv. p. 228. See also _Reise des Diaz de Solis und Yanez Pinzon_,
in _Sammlung aller Reisebeschreibungen_, tom. xiii. p. 157.
Tristan da Cunha in a voyage to India, sailing from Lisbon March 6,
1506, round Cape St Augustine, heard of—_eut connaissance de_—a Rio São
Sebastião in the province of Pernambuco, and discovered the island since
called by his name, in 37° 5' south latitude, on his passage to the Cape
of Good Hope. Galvano does not mention that Cunha reached America.
* * * * *
On the 20th of May, 1506, at Valladolid, died the great admiral of the
Western Ocean, Christopher Columbus; whose story, notwithstanding his
innumerable historians, is nowhere more fully comprehended than in the
simple lines which may be seen to-day upon his tomb:
"Por Castilla y por Leon
Nuevo Mundo halló Colon."
_Maffei_ of _Volterra_, _Commentariorum urbanorum_, Rome, 1506, a kind
of geographical encyclopædia, contains a section on the _loca nuper
reperta_. Five editions are mentioned as having been issued in the years
1510, 1511, and 1530, all but one at Paris.
M. Varnhagen claims that the original mixed Italian text of Vespucci's
first voyage was printed in Florence in 1505 or 1506, and that several
copies have been preserved. This is the text used by him in his defense
of Vespucci. See _Premier Voy._, Vienna, 1869, and _Vespucci, son
caractère_, etc., Lima, 1865, in which the letter is reproduced. I find
no mention by any other author of such an edition.
[1507.] No voyages are mentioned in this year; but the bibliography
of the year is remarkable. _Montalboddo_ (or Zorzi), _Paesi Nouamente
retrouati, Et Nouo Mondo da Alberico Vesputio, Florentino, intitulato_,
Vicentia, 1507, is the second collection of voyages issued, and the
first of which any copies at present exist. This work is divided into
six books, of which the fourth and fifth relate to America, the fourth
being a reproduction of the _Libretto_ of 1504, while the fifth is
the _Nouo Mondo_, or third voyage of Vespucci; and its mention in
the title shows how important a feature it was deemed in a work of
this character. In the following year, besides a new Italian edition,
there appeared a German translation under the title of _Ruchamer_,
_Newe unbekanthe landte_, Nuremberg, 1508, and a Latin translation,
_Itinerariũ Portugallẽsiũ_, Milan, 1508. At least fourteen editions in
Italian, Latin, German, and French appeared before 1530.
[Sidenote: THE NAMING OF AMERICA.]
_Hylacomylus (Waldsee-Müller)_, _Cosmographiæ Introdvctio ... Insuper
quatuor Americi Vespucij Nauigationes_, Deodate (St Dié, Lorraine),
1507, is the title of a work which appeared four times in the same
place and year. It is the first collection of Vespucci's four voyages,
and generally regarded as the first edition of the first and fourth,
although as we have seen M. Varnhagen claims an Italian edition of the
first in 1506. This account of the third voyage is different from that
so widely circulated before as _Mundus Novus_. Three other editions of
the work, or of the part relating to Vespucci, appeared in 1509 and
1510. In _Hylacomylus_ the following passage occurs: "But now that
those parts have been more extensively examined, and another fourth
part has been discovered by Americus (as will be seen in the sequel),
I do not see why we should rightly refuse to name it America, namely,
the land of Americus or America, after its discoverer, Americus, a man
of sagacious mind, since both Europe and Asia took their names from
women." Here we have the origin of the name 'America.' To the northern
discoveries of Columbus, Cabot, and Cortereal, on the islands and coast
of the supposed Asia, no general name was given because those regions
were already named India, Cathay, Mangi, etc., while names were applied
by Europeans only to particular places on the new coasts. When Columbus
in 1498 explored the northern coast of South America he had no doubt
it was a portion, though probably a detached portion, of Asia, and
the terms Paria and the Pearl Coast sufficed to designate the region
during the succeeding trading voyages. Concerning these voyages, only a
letter of Columbus and a slight account of Pinzon's expedition had been
printed, apparently without attracting much attention. The voyages of
Columbus, Bastidas, and Pinzon along the coast of Central America were
almost unknown. Meanwhile the fame of the great navigator had become
much obscured. His enterprises on the supposed Asiatic coast had been
unprofitable to Spain. The eyes of the world were now directed farther
south. By the Portuguese the coasts of Brazil had been explored for a
long distance, proving the great extent of this south-eastern portion of
the supposed Asia, whose existence was not indicated on the old charts,
and which certainly required a name. These Portuguese explorations and
their results were known to the world almost exclusively by the letter
of Vespucci so often printed. To the Latin translation of the letter,
the name _Mundus Novus_ had been applied, meaning not necessarily a
new continent, but simply the newly found regions. The name 'America'
suggested itself naturally, possibly through the influence of some
friend who was an admirer of Vespucci, to the German professor of
a university in Lorraine, as appropriate for the new region, and he
accordingly proposed it. Having proposed it, his pride and that of his
friends—a clique who had great influence over the productions of the
German press at that period—was involved in securing its adoption. No
open opposition seems to have been made, even by the Portuguese who
had applied the name 'Santa Cruz' to the same region; still it was
long before the new name replaced the old ones. In later years, when
America was found to be joined to the northern continent, and all that
great land to be entirely distinct from Asia, the name had become too
firmly fixed to be easily changed, and no effort that we know of was
made to change it. Later still some authors, inadvertently perhaps,
attributed the first discovery to Vespucci. This aroused the wrath of
Las Casas and others, and a discussion ensued which has lasted to the
present time. See list of partisans on both sides in _Harrisse_, _Bib.
Am. Vet._, pp. 65-7. Muñoz and Navarrete insist that Vespucci was an
impostor, but others, headed by Humboldt, have proved conclusively that
the name 'America' was adopted as the result of the somewhat strange
combination of circumstances described, without any intentional wrong to
Columbus. This conclusion is founded chiefly on the following reasons,
namely: The honor to Vespucci resulted chiefly from his third voyage in
1501, and not from his first voyage in 1497, which last mentioned is
the only one possible to have claimed precedence over Columbus in the
discovery of the continent. Furthermore, neither Columbus nor Vespucci
ever suspected that a new continent had been found; and to precede Cabot
in reaching Asia, Vespucci, even if relying on his first voyage, must
have dated it somewhat earlier in 1497 than he did; while to precede
Columbus he must have dated it before 1492, when, as they both believed,
Columbus had touched Asia at Cuba. Then, again, there is no evidence
whatever that Vespucci ever claimed the honor of discovery. He was on
intimate terms with the admiral and his friends, and is highly spoken
of by all, especially by Fernando Colon, who was extremely jealous in
every particular which might affect his father's honor. Moreover, it is
certain that Vespucci did not himself propose the name 'America;' it is
not certain that he even used the term Mundus Novus or its equivalent
in his letters; and it is quite possible that he never even knew of
his name being applied to the New World, since the name did not come
into general use until many years after his death, which occurred
in 1512. The most serious charge which in my opinion can be brought
against Vespucci is neglect—perhaps an intentional deception for the
purpose of giving himself temporary prominence in the eyes of his
correspondent—in failing to name the commanders under whom he sailed;
and with exaggeration and carelessness in his details. But it is to be
remembered that his writings were simply letters to friends describing
in familiar terms the wonders of his voyages, with little care for dry
dates and names, reserving particulars for a large work which he had
prepared, but which has never come to light. "After all," says Irving,
"this is a question more of curiosity than of real moment ... about
which grave men will continue to write weary volumes, until the subject
acquires a fictitious importance from the mountain of controversy heaped
upon it." _Cancellieri_, _Notizie di Colombo_, pp. 41-8; _Humboldt_,
_Exam. Crit._, tom. iv. and v., and Preface to _Ghillany_; _Navarrete_,
_Col. de Viages_, tom. i. p. cxxvi.; _Major's Prince Henry_, pp. 380-8;
_Kohl's Hist. Discov._, p. 496; _Harrisse_, _Bib. Am. Vet._, pp. 65-6;
_D'Avesac_, _Martin Hylacomylus_, Paris, 1867; _Muñoz_, _Hist. Nuevo
Mundo_, p. x.; _Stevens' Notes_, pp. 24, 35, 52 et seq.; _Viages de
Vespucio_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 183; _Carta del Excmo. Sr.
Vizconde de Santarem_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. pp. 309-34. Ludd,
_Speculi Orbis_, Strasburg, 1507, adopts Waldsee-Müller's suggestion
so far as to speak of the 'American race,' or people, _gentis Americi_.
Major, _Prince Henry_, pp. 380-8, explains the connection between this
and other works of the time influenced by the St Dié clique. See also
_Stevens' Notes_, p. 35.
[1508.] Pinzon and Solis, with Pedro Ledesma as pilot, were sent by
Spain for the third time to search southward for the strait which they,
as well as Columbus and Bastidas, had failed to find farther north
and west. Sailing from San Lúcar June 29, 1508, they touched at the
Cape Verde Islands, proceeded to Cape St Augustine, and followed the
coast south-west to about 40° south latitude, returning to Spain in
October, 1509. _Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 47. Kohl,
_Die beiden ältesten Karten von Am._, p. 110, joins this voyage to the
preceding one of 1506.
Another of the uncertain French voyages to Newfoundland is reported
to have taken place in 1508, under the command of Thomas Aubert, from
Dieppe. _Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 41; _Kohl's Hist.
Discov._, pp. 203-5.
In 1508 the governor of Española sent Sebastian de Ocampo to explore
Cuba. He was the first to sail round the island, thus proving it such,
as Juan de la Cosa probably imagined it to be eight years earlier. _Aa_,
_Naaukeurige Versameling_, tom. vi. p. 1; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec.
i. lib. vii. cap. i.; _Stevens' Notes_, p. 35.
[Sidenote: BOOKS AND MAPS OF THE PERIOD.]
_Ptolemy_, _In hoc opere hæc continentvr, Geographiæ Cl. Ptolemæi_,
Rome, 1508, is said to be the first edition of this work which contains
allusions to the New World. Other editions of Ptolemy, prepared by
different editors, with additional text and maps, and with some changes
in original matter, appeared in 1511, 1512, 1513, 1519, 1520, 1522,
1525, 1532, and 1535. The edition first mentioned contains, in addition
to the preceding one of 1507, fourteen leaves of text and an engraved
map by Johann Ruysch—the first ever published which includes the New
World. Copies have been printed by Lelewel in his _Géog. du moyen âge_,
atlas; by Santarem, in his _Recherches_, Paris, 1842, atlas; and by
Humboldt, Kohl, and Stevens. I have taken the annexed copy from the
three last mentioned authorities, omitting some of the unimportant
names.
[Illustration: MAP BY JOHANN RUYSCH, 1508.]
This map follows closely that of Juan de la Cosa in 1500, but
illustrates more clearly the geographical idea of the time. The
discoveries of Cabot, whom Ruysch is supposed to have accompanied, as
well as those of Cortereal in the north, of Greenland, Labrador, and
Newfoundland, are laid down with tolerable accuracy; and the rest of the
supposed Asiatic coast as in Behaim's globe is taken from Marco Polo.
In the centre we have the lands discovered by Columbus, and the old
fabulous island of Antilia restored. To 'Spagnola' (Española) is joined
an inscription stating the compiler's belief that it was identical with
Zipangu, or Japan. Western Cuba is cut off by a scroll, instead of by
green paint as in the map of Juan de la Cosa, with an inscription to the
effect that this was the limit of Spanish exploration. Ruysch, having
as yet no knowledge of Ocampo's voyage performed during this same year,
evidently entertained the same idea respecting Cuba that was held by
Juan de la Cosa, but did not venture to proclaim it an island. In the
south, the New World is shown under the name 'Terra Sanctæ Crucis sive
Mvndvs Novvs.' An open sea separates the New World from Asia, showing
that Ruysch did not know of the unsuccessful search for this passage
by Columbus, Bastidas, and Pinzon. It is worthy of remark that the name
America is not used by this countryman of Hylacomylus. Humboldt thinks
that he had not seen the _Cosmographiæ Introdvctio_, but had read some
other edition of Vespucci's third voyage. _Exam. Crit._, tom. ii. pp.
5, 9; tom. iv. p. 121, and Preface to _Ghillany_. See also _Kunstmann_,
_Entdeckung Am._, pp. 136-7; _Harrisse_, _Bib. Am. Vet._, pp. 107-8;
_Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 156-8; _Stevens' Notes_, pp. 31-2.
[Sidenote: OCCUPATION OF TIERRA FIRME.]
[1509.] Stimulated by the admiral's gold discoveries at Veragua, which
had been corroborated by subsequent voyages. King Ferdinand of Spain
determined to establish colonies on that coast. The region known as
Tierra Firme was to that end divided into two provinces, of which Alonso
de Ojeda was appointed governor of one, and Diego de Nicuesa of the
other. Ojeda sailed from Española November 10, 1509, and Nicuesa soon
followed. Their adventures form an important part of early Central
American history, and are fully related in the following chapters.
During the succeeding years frequent voyages were made back and forth
between the new colonies, Jamaica, Cuba, and Española, which are
for the most part omitted here as not constituting new discoveries.
_Peter Martyr_, dec. ii. cap. i.; _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, fols. 67-9;
_Galvano's Discov._, p. 109-10; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. ii. pp.
421-8; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. i. cap. vii. lib. vii. et seq.
The _Globus Mundi_, Strasburg, 1509, an anonymous work, was the first
to apply the name America to the southern continent. _Humboldt_, _Exam.
Crit._, tom. iv. p. 142; _Major's Prince Henry_, p. 387.
[Illustration: PETER MARTYR'S MAP, 1511.]
[1511.] Juan de Agramonte received a commission from the Spanish
government, and made arrangements to sail to Newfoundland and the lands
of the north-western ocean, but nothing further is known of the matter.
_Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 42; _Sobrecarta de la
Reina Doña Juana_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 122. _P. Martyris_,
_Anglimediolanensis opera_, Seville, 1511, is the first edition of Peter
Martyr's first decade; containing in ten letters, or books, accounts of
the first three voyages of Columbus, certain expeditions to the Pearl
Coast, and closing with a brief mention of the admiral's fourth voyage.
The learned author was personally acquainted with Columbus, and his
relations are consequently of great value. This work contains a map, of
which I give a copy from Stevens, the only fac-simile I have seen.
The map shows only Spanish discoveries, but it is by far the most
accurate yet made. Cuba, now proved to be an island, is so laid down. No
name is given to the Mundus Novus, which, by a knowledge of the Spanish
voyages, is made to extend much farther north and west than in Ruysch's
map; but above the known coasts a place is left open where the passage
to India it was believed might yet be found. The representation of a
country, corresponding with Florida, to the north of Cuba, under the
name of 'Isla de Beimini,' may indicate that Florida had been reached
either by Ocampo in 1508, by some private adventurer, as Diego Miruelo,
who is said to have preceded Ponce de Leon, or, as is claimed by some,
by Vespucci in his pretended voyage of 1497; but more probably this
region was laid down from the older maps—see Behaim's map, p. 93—and
the name was applied in accordance with the reports among the natives of
a wonderful country or island, which they called _bimini_, situated in
that direction. The map is not large enough to show exactly the relation
which Peter Martyr supposed to exist between these regions and the rest
of the world, but the text of the first decade leaves no doubt that he
still believed them to be parts of Asia.
The _Ptolemy_ of 1511 has a map which I have not seen, but which from
certain descriptions resembles that of Ruysch, except that it represents
Terra Corterealis as an island separated from the supposed Asiatic
coast; the name Sanctæ Crucis for South America being still retained. As
long as the new lands were believed to be a part of Asia, the maps bore
some resemblance to the actual countries intended to be represented,
but from the first dawning of an idea of separate lands we shall see
the greatest confusion in the efforts of map-makers to depict the New
World. _Harrisse_, _Bib. Am. Vet._, no. 68; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung
Am._, 133; _Kohl_, _Die beiden ältesten Karten von Am._, p. 33. A copy
of this map was published in _Lelewel's Atlas_.
[1512.] The West India Islands, in which the Spaniards are at length
firmly established, become now the point of new departures. Conquerors
and discoverers henceforth for the most part sail from Española or
Cuba rather than from Spain. Juan Ponce de Leon, a wealthy citizen who
had been governor of Puerto Rico, fitted out three vessels at his own
expense, and sailed in search of a fountain, which according to the
traditions of the natives had the property of restoring youth, and
which was situated in the land called Bimini far to the north. This
infatuation had been current in the Islands for several years, and, as
we have seen, the name was applied to such a land on Peter Martyr's
map of 1511. Sailing from Puerto Rico March 3, 1512, Ponce de Leon
followed the northern coast of Española, and thence north-west through
the Bahamas, reaching San Salvador on the 14th of March. Thirteen days
thereafter he saw the coast of Florida, so named by him from the day
of discovery, which was Pascua Florida, or Easter-day. The native name
of the land was Cautio. On the 2d of April the Spaniards landed in
30° 8', and took possession for the king of Spain; then following the
coast southward they doubled Cape Corrientes (Cañaveral) May 8, and
advanced to an undetermined point on the southern or eastern coast,
which Kohl thinks may have been Charlotte Bay. All this while they
believed the country to be an island. On the 14th of June Ponce de
Leon departed from Florida, and on his return touched at the Tortugas,
at the Lucayos, at Bahama, and at San Salvador, arriving at Puerto
Rico the 21st of September. He left behind one vessel under Juan
Perez de Ortubia, who arrived a few days later with the news of having
found Bimini, but no fountain of youth. _Reise des Ponce de Leon, und
Entdeckung von Florida_, in _Sammlung aller Reisebesch._, tom. xiii. p.
188; _Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. pp. 50-3: _Real cédula
dando facultad á Francisco de Garay_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 148;
_Uitvoerlyke Scheepstogt door den Dapperen Jean Ponze de Leon gedaan
naar Florida_, in _Gottfried_, tom, iii.; _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, fols.
50-2; _Galvano's Discov._, p. 123. Kohl places the voyage in 1513,
relying on Peschel, who, he says, has proved the year 1512 to be an
impossible date.
In 1512 the Regidor Valdivia was sent by the colonists from the gulf of
Darien, then called Urabá, to Española for supplies. Being wrecked in
a violent tempest, he escaped in boats to the coast of Yucatan, where
he and his companions were made captives by the natives. Some were
sacrificed to the gods, and then eaten; only two, Gonzalo Guerrero and
Gerónimo de Aguilar, survived their many hardships, the latter being
rescued by Cortés in 1519. _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i. pp.
368-72; _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, fol. 21-2; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec.
ii. lib. iv. cap. vii.; _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yucathan_, pp. 24-9.
The very rare map in _Stobnicza's Ptolemy_, Cracoviæ, 1512, I have not
seen. It is said to show the New World as a continuous coast from 50°
north latitude to 40° south. Neither in the text nor in the map is found
the name America.
[Sidenote: DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN.]
[1513.] In September, 1513, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa set out from the
settlement of Antigua on the gulf of Urabá, and crossing the narrow
isthmus which joins the two Americas, discovered a vast ocean to the
southward on the other side of the supposed Asia. The Isthmus here runs
east and west, and on either side, to the north and to the south are
great oceans, which for a long time were called the North Sea and the
South Sea. After exploring the neighboring coasts he returned to Antigua
in January, 1514, after an absence of four months. _Galvano's Discov._,
pp. 123-5; _Peter Martyr_, dec. iii. cap. i.; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._,
tom. iii. pp. 9-17; _Andagoya's Narrative_, p. 7; _Carta del Adelantado
Vasco Nuñez de Balboa_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc. Inéd._,
tom. ii. p. 526.
The _Ptolemy_ of 1513 has a map which is said to have been made by
Hylacomylus as early as 1508, but concerning which there seems to be
much uncertainty. I give a copy from the fac-simile of Stevens and
Varnhagen.
The name Cuba does not appear, and in its place is Isabela. Many of the
names given by other maps to points on the coast of Cuba are transferred
to the main-land opposite. The compiler evidently was undecided whether
Cuba was a part of the Asiatic main or not, and therefore represented
it in both ways. The coast line must be regarded as imaginary or taken
from the old charts, unless, as M. Varnhagen thinks, Vespucci actually
sailed along the Florida coast in 1497. This map if made in 1508 may
be regarded as the first to join the southern continent, or Mundus
Novus, to the main-land of Asia. This southern land is called 'Terra
Incognita,' with an inscription stating expressly that it was discovered
by Columbus, notwithstanding the fact that its supposed author proposed
the name America in honor of Vespucci only the year before. In fact the
map is in many respects incoherent, and is mentioned by most writers but
vaguely. _Harrisse_, _Bib. Am. Vet._, no. 74; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._,
tom. iv. pp. 109 et seq., and Preface to _Ghillany_; _Kunstmann_,
_Entdeckung Am._, pp. 130-2; _Kohl_, _Die beiden ältesten Karten von
Am._, p. 33; _Varnhagen_, _Nouvelles Recherches_, Vienna, 1869, p. 56;
_Stevens' Notes_, pl. ii. no. i. pp. 13, 14, 51; _Major's Prince Henry_,
pp. 385-6; _Santarem_, in _Bulletin de la Soc. Géog._, May, 1847, pp.
318-23.
[Illustration: MAP FROM PTOLEMY, 1513.]
The name America is thought by Major to occur first on a manuscript map
by Leonardo da Vinci, in the queen's collection at Windsor, to which he
ascribes the date of 1513 or 1514.
[1514.] Pedrarias Dávila, having been appointed governor of Castilla
del Oro, by which name the region about the isthmus of Darien was now
called, sailed from San Lúcar with an armada of fifteen vessels and over
2000 men, April 12, 1514. The special object of this expedition was to
discover and settle the shores of the South Sea, whose existence had
been reported in Spain, but whose discovery by Vasco Nuñez de Balboa was
not known before the departure of Pedrarias. _Herrera_, dec. i. lib.
x. cap. xiii.; _Peter Martyr_, dec. ii. cap. vii.; dec. iii. cap. v.;
_Galvano's Discov._, p. 125; _Quintana_, _Vidas de Españoles Célebres_,
'Balboa,' p. 28; _Robertson's Hist. Am._, vol. i. p. 207. See chapter
x. of this volume.
[1515.] Juan Diaz de Solis sailed from Lepe October 8, 1515, with three
vessels, and surveyed the eastern coast of South America from Cape San
Roque to Rio Janeiro, where he was killed by the natives. _Navarrete_,
_Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 48-50. Three vessels were fitted out at
Seville, well manned and armed for a cruise against the Caribs, under
command of Juan Ponce de Leon, but the Spaniards were defeated in their
first encounter with the savages at Guadalupe, and the expedition was
practically abandoned.
[Sidenote: GRADUAL ENLARGEMENT OF THE TWO AMERICAS.]
The adventures of Badajoz, Mercado, Morales, and others in 1515-16 and
the following years, by which the geography of the Isthmus was more
fully determined, are given elsewhere.
_Schöner_, _Luculentissima quædã terræ totius descriptio_, Nuremberg,
1515, and another edition of the same work under the title _Orbis
Typvs_, same place and date, have a chapter on America 'discovered by
Vespucci in 1497.' In _Reisch_, _Margaritha Philosophica_, Strasburg,
1515, an encyclopedia frequently republished, is a map which is almost
an exact copy of that in the _Ptolemy_ of 1513, except in its names.
The main-land to the north-west of Cuba is called Zoana Mela, but the
names of certain localities along the coast are omitted. Both Cuba
and Española are called Isabela, and the southern continent is laid
down as 'Paria seu Prisilia.' _Harrisse_, _Bib. Am. Vet._, nos. 80-2;
_Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp. 130-1; _Kohl_, _Die beiden ältesten
Karten von Am._, p. 33; _Stevens' Notes_, p. 52; fac-simile, pl. iv.
no. 2.
[1516.] After Ponce de Leon's voyage in 1512 or 1513, and probably
before that time, trips were made by private adventurers northward from
Española and Cuba to the Islands and to Florida. Among these is that of
Diego de Miruelo in 1516, who probably visited the western or gulf coast
of Florida, and brought back specimens of gold. No details are known of
the expedition. _Garcilaso de la Vega_, _La Florida del Inca_, Madrid,
1723, p. 5.
_Lettera di Amerigo Vespucci_, Florence, 1516, the second collection of
the four voyages; _Peter Martyr_, _Ioannes ruffus, De Orbe Decades_,
Alcala, 1516, the first edition of three decades; and _Giustiniani_,
_Psalterium_, Genoa, 1516, which appends a life of Columbus to the
nineteenth Psalm, are among the new books of the year.
[1517.] Eden, in his dedication of an English translation of _Munster's
Cosmography_, in 1553, speaks of certain ships "furnished and set
forth" in 1517 under Sebastian Cabot and Sir Thomas Pert; but so faint
was the heart of the baronet that the voyage "toke none effect." On
this authority some authors have ascribed a voyage to Cabot in 1517,
to regions concerning which they do not agree. An expedition whose
destination and results are unknown, can have had little effect on
geographical knowledge; and Kohl, after a full discussion of the
subject, seems to have proved against Biddle, its chief supporter,
that there is not sufficient evidence of such a voyage. _Navigatione
di Sebastiano Cabota_, in _Ramusio_, tom. ii. fol. 212; _Kunstmann_,
_Entdeckung Am._, pp. 54-5; _Roux de Rochelle_, in _Bulletin, Soc.
Géog._, Apr. 1832, p. 209; _Peter Martyr_, dec. iii. cap. vi.
Francisco Hernandez de Córdoba, with three vessels and 110 men, sailed
from La Habana February 8, 1517, sent by the governor of Cuba to make
explorations toward the west. Touching at Cape Catoche, in Yucatan,
he coasted the peninsula in fifteen days to Campeche, and six days
later reached Potonchan, or Champoton, where a battle was fought with
the natives, and the Spaniards defeated. Accounts indicate that the
explorers were not unanimous in supposing Yucatan to be an island, as
it was afterward represented on some maps. Failing to procure a supply
of water in the slough of Lagartos, Córdoba sailed across the Gulf to
Florida, and thence returned to Cuba, where he died in ten days from
his wounds. I find nothing to show what part of Florida he touched.
_Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i. pp. 349-51; _Peter Martyr_, dec.
iv. cap. i.; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i. pp. 497-8; _Galvano's
Discov._, pp. 130-1; _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 8-9; _Herrera_, _Hist.
Gen._, dec. ii. lib. ii. cap. xvii.; _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yucathan_,
pp. 3-8; _Prescott's Mex._, vol. i. pp. 222-24; _Viages Menores_, in
_Navarrete_, tom. iii. pp. 53-5; _West-Indische Spieghel_, p. 188;
_Icazbalceta_, _Col. Doc._, tom. i. pp. 338-41.
[1518.] The following year Juan de Grijalva was sent from Cuba to carry
on the explorations begun by Córdoba. Grijalva sailed from Santiago
de Cuba April 8, 1518, with four vessels, reached the island of Santa
Cruz (Cozumel) on the 3d of May, took possession on the 6th of May, and
shortly after entered Ascension Bay. From this point he coasted Yucatan
270 leagues, by his estimate, to Puerto Deseado, entered and named the
Rio de Grijalva (Tabasco), and took possession of the country in the
vicinity of Vera Cruz about the 19th of June. Advancing up the coast to
Cabo Rojo, he turned about and entered Rio Tonalá, engaged in a parting
fight at Champoton, followed the coast for several weeks, and then
turned for Cuba, arriving at Matanzas about the 1st of November. During
his absence, Cristóbal de Olid had coasted a large part of Yucatan in
search of Grijalva's fleet. _Peter Martyr_, dec. iv. cap. iii.-iv.;
_Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i. pp. 351-8, _Oviedo_, _Hist.
Gen._, tom. i. pp. 502-37; _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 8-11, 56-8;
_Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii. lib. iii. cap. i. ix.; _Robertson's
Hist. Am._, vol. i. pp. 240-4; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat.
Civ._, tom. iv. pp. 40-50; _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yucathan_, pp. 8-16;
_Diaz_, _Itinéraire_, in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, série i. tom. x. pp.
1-47; _Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. pp. 53-64; _Alaman_,
_Disertaciones_, tom. i. pp. 45-8; _Reise des Johann Grijalva und
allererste Entdeckung Neuspaniens_, in _Sammlung_, tom. xiii. p. 258;
_Itinerario de Juan de Grijalva_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. Doc._, tom.
i. p. 281.
I may here remark that such manuscript maps, made generally by pilots
for government use, as have been preserved are, as might be expected,
far superior to those published in geographical works of the period.
I give a copy of a Portuguese chart preserved in the Royal Academy at
Munich.
From the fact that Yucatan is represented as a peninsula, though not
named, while the discoveries of Grijalva and Cortés are not shown, the
date of 1518 may be ascribed to the map. Stevens believes it to have
been made some time about 1514; Kohl about 1520; Kunstmann some time
after 1511. Unexplored coasts are left out instead of being laid down
from old Asiatic maps; as for example the United States coast from
Newfoundland (Bacalnaos) to Florida (Bimini), and the Gulf coast from
Florida to Yucatan. In the central region the names 'Terram Antipodum'
and 'Antilhas de Castela' are used without any means of deciding to
exactly what parts they are to be applied. The South Sea discovered by
Balboa in 1513 is here shown for the first time with the inscription
'Mar visto pelos Castelhanus.' To South America the name 'Brasill' is
given. The presence of two Mahometan flags in locations corresponding
to Honduras and Venezuela, shows that the compiler still had no doubt
that he was mapping parts of Asia. _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp.
129 et seq.; _Munich Atlas_, no. iv., from which I take my copy; _Kohl's
Hist. Discov._, pp. 179-82, pl. x.; _Stevens' Notes_, pp. 17, 53, pl.
v. Pomponius Mela's _Libri de situ orbis_, Vienna, 1518, contains a
commentary by Vadianus, written however in 1512, in which the name
America is used in speaking of the New World. Other editions appeared
in 1522 and 1530.
[Illustration: MAP IN MUNICH ATLAS, SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN DRAWN ABOUT
1518.]
[1519.] _Stobnicza's Ptolemy_ of 1519 alludes to the New World
discovered by Vespucci and named after him.
_Enciso_, _Suma de geografia_, Seville, 1519, is the first Spanish work
known which treats of the new regions. The author was a companion of
Ojeda in his unfortunate attempt to found a colony on Tierra Firme.
Another edition appeared in 1530.
[Sidenote: CONQUEST OF MEXICO.]
On February 18, 1519, Hernan Cortés set sail from Cuba to undertake
the conquest of the countries discovered by Córdoba and Grijalva. After
spending some time on the island of Cozumel, where he rescued Gerónimo
de Aguilar from his long captivity (see p. 129), he followed the coast
to Rio de Grijalva, where he defeated the natives in battle, and took
possession of the land in the name of the Catholic sovereigns. From this
place he continued his voyage sailing near the shore to Vera Cruz, where
he landed his forces and began the conquest of Montezuma's empire, the
history of which forms part of a subsequent volume of this series.
Francisco de Garay, governor of Jamaica, prompted by the reports of
Ponce de Leon, Córdoba, and Grijalva, despatched four vessels in 1519,
under Alonso Alvarez Pineda, who sailed northward to a point on the
Pánuco coast (where, according to Gomara, an expedition had been sent
during the preceding year, under Camargo). Prevented by winds and shoals
from coasting northward as he desired, he sailed along in sight of the
low gulf shores until he reached Vera Cruz, where he found the fleet of
Cortés. Troubles between the commanders arose from this meeting which
will be narrated hereafter.
Garay continued for some time his attempts to found a settlement in the
region of Pánuco, but without success. _Peter Martyr_, dec. v. cap. i.;
_Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, fol. 55-6; _West-Indische Spieghel_, p. 202;
_Gomara_, _Hist. Conq._, fol. 222-7; _Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_,
tom. iii. pp. 64-7; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, p. 73.
Soon after landing at Vera Cruz Cortés despatched for Spain a vessel
under the pilot Antonio de Alaminos, with messengers who were to clear
up before the king certain irregularities which the determined conqueror
had felt obliged to commit, and furthermore to establish his authority
upon a more defined basis. Alaminos sailed July 16, 1519, following a
new route north of Cuba, through the Bahama Channel, and down the Gulf
Stream, of which current he was probably the first to take advantage.
Touching at Cuba and discovering Terceira he reached Spain in October.
_Diaz del Castillo_, _Hist. Verdadera de la Conqvista_, Madrid, 1632,
fol. 37-9; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii. lib. v. cap. xiv.; _Kohl's
Hist. Discov._, pp. 243-5.
The history of the Darien colonies is elsewhere recounted in
this volume, and the introduction here of the numerous land and
water expeditions on and along the Isthmus would be confusing and
unprofitable. Suffice it to say that in 1519 the city of Panamá was
founded, and a second expedition sent under Gaspar de Espinosa up the
South Sea coast. The northern limit reached was the gulf of San Lúcar
(Nicoya), latitude 10° north, in Nicaragua, and the expedition returned
to Panamá by land from Burica. _Andagoya's Narrative of the Proceedings
of Pedrarias Dávila_, London, 1865, pp. 23-4; _Kohl_, _Die beiden
ältesten Karten von Am._, p. 162; _Oviedo_, _Hist Gen._, tom. iii. p.
61 et seq.
We have seen several unsuccessful attempts by both Spaniards and
Portuguese to find a passage to India by the southern parts of Brazil,
Santa Cruz, or America. In 1519 a native of Oporto, Fernando de
Magalhaens, called by Spaniards Magallanes, and by English authors
Magellan, after having made several voyages for Portugal to India _via_
Good Hope, quit the Portuguese service dissatisfied, entered the service
of Spain, and undertook the oft-repeated attempt of reaching the east
by sailing west. His particular destination was the Moluccas, which the
Spaniards claimed as lying within the hemisphere granted to them by the
treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. It appears that Magellan had seen some
map, of unknown origin, on which was represented a strait instead of
an open sea at the southern point of America—probably the conjecture of
some geographer, for, says Humboldt, "dans le moyen âge les conjectures
étaient inscrits religieusement sur les cartes." See _Exam. Crit._,
tom. i. pp. 306, 326, 354; tom. ii. pp. 17-26. Sailing from San Lúcar
September 20, 1519, with five ships and 265 men, he reached Rio de
Janeiro on the coast of Brazil on the 13th of December, and from that
point coasted southward. An attempt to pass through the continent by the
Rio de la Plata failed, and on March 31, 1520, the fleet reached Port
St Julian in about 49° south, where it remained five months until the
24th of August. On the 21st of October Magellan arrived at Cabo de las
Vírgenes and the entrance to what seemed, and indeed proved, to be the
long-desired strait. Having lost one vessel on the eastern coast, and
being deserted by another which turned back and sailed for Spain after
having entered the strait, with the remaining three he passed on, naming
the land on the south Tierra del Fuego, from the fires seen burning
there. Emerging from the strait, which he called Vitoria after one of
his ships, on the 27th of November he entered and named the Pacific
Ocean. Then steering north-west for warmer climes he crossed the line
February 13, 1521, arrived at the Ladrones on the 6th of March, and at
the Philippines on the 16th of March. This bold navigator, "second only
to Columbus in the history of nautical exploration," was killed on the
27th of April, in a battle with the natives of one of these islands; the
remainder of the force, consisting of 115 men under Caraballo, proceeded
on their way, touching at Borneo and other islands, and anchoring on the
8th of November at the Moluccas, their destination. From this point one
of the vessels, the _Vitoria_, in command of Sebastian del Cano, sailed
round the Cape of Good Hope, and reached San Lúcar September 6, 1522,
with only eighteen survivors of the 265 who had sailed with Magellan.
Thus was accomplished the first circumnavigation of the globe.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: THE NAMING OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN.]
As to the circumstances attending the naming of the Pacific Ocean, a few
words may not be out of place. Magellan was accompanied by one Antonio
Pigafetta, of Vicenza, afterward Caviliere di Rhodi, who wrote in bad
Italian a narrative of the voyage, which was rewritten and translated
into French, _Primer voyage autour du Monde, par le Chevallier
Pigafetta, sur l'Escadre de Magellan pendant les années 1519, 20, 21,
et 22_, by Charles Amoretti. "Le mercredi, 28 novembre," says Pigafetta,
liv. ii. p. 50, "nous débouquâmes du détroit pour entrer dans la grande
mer, à laquelle nous donnâmes ensuite le nom de mer Pacifique; dans
laquelle nous naviguâmes pendant le cours de trois mois et vingt jours,
sans goûter d'aucune nourriture fraiche." And again, p. 52, "Pendant cet
espace de trois mois et vingt jours nous parcourûmes à peu près quatre
mille lieues dans cette mer que nous appelâmes Pacifique, parce que
durant tout le temps de notre traversée nous n'essuyâmes pas le moindre
tempête;" or, as Ramusio, _Viaggio atorno il mondo fatto et descritto
per M. Antonio Pigafetta_, in _Viaggi_, tom. iii. fol. 393, puts it,
"Et in questi tre mesi, & venti giorni fecero quattro mila leghe in
vn golfo per questo mar Pacifico, il qual ben si puó chiamar pacifico,
perche in tutto questo tempo senza veder mai terra alcuna, non hebbero
né fortuna di vento, né di altra tempesta." Peter Martyr, dec. v. cap.
vii., speaks of it only as "the huge Ocean" first found by Vasco Nuñez,
and then called the South Sea. Galvano, _Discov._, p. 142, alludes to
it as a "mightie sea called Pacificum." Oviedo, _Hist. Gen._, tom. ii.
p. 22, merely remarks: "Es aquel estrecho en algunas partes mas ó menos
de media legua, y çircundado de montañas altissimas cargadas de nieve, y
corre en otra mar que le puso nombre el capitan Fernando de Magallanes,
el _Mar Pacífico_; y es muy profundo, y en algunas partes de veynte é
çinco hasta en treynta braças." Gomara, _Hist. Ind._, fol. 120, says,
"No cabia de gozo por auer hallado aq̃l passo para el otro mar del Sur,
por do pẽsava llegar presto alas yslas del Maluco," without any mention
of the word Pacific. The _Sammlung aller Reisebeschreibungen_, tom.
xi. p. 346, gives it essentially the same as Pigafetta: "In einer Zeit
von drey Monaten und zwanzig Tagen, legete er viertausend Meilen in
einer See zurück, welche er das friedfertige oder stille Meer nannte;
weil er keinen Sturm auf demselben ausstund, und kein anderes Land sah,
als diese beyden Inseln." Kohl, _Die beiden ältesten Karten von Am._,
p. 161, is unable to find the name on the old maps: "Der Name 'Oceano
Pacifico,' der auch schon auf den Reisen des Magellan und Loaysa in
Schwung kam, steht nirgends auf unseren Karten." Herrera, dec. ii.
lib. ix. cap. xv., describes the exit from the strait in the language
following: "a veynte y siete de Nouiẽbre, salio al espacioso mar del
Sur, dando infinitas gracias a Dios." Navarrete, _Viages al Maluco;
Primero el de Hernando de Magallanes_, in tom. iv. pp. 49-50, of his
collection says: "Salió pues Magallanes del _estrecho que nombraron
de Todos los Santos_ el dia 27 de Noviembre de 1520 con las tres naos
Trinidad, Victoria, y Concepcion, y se halló en una mar oscura y gruesa
que era indicio de gran golfo; pero despues le nombraron _Mar Pacífico_,
porque en todo el tiempo que navegaron por él, no tuvieron tempestad
alguna." Happening thus, that in this first circumnavigation of the
globe, as the strangers entered at its southern end the South Sea of
Vasco Nuñez, the waters greeted them kindly, in return they gave them
a peaceful title; other voyagers entering this same sea at other times
gave to it a far different character. For further reference see _Voyage
de Fernando de Magelhaens_, in _Berenger_, _Col. Voy._, tom. i. pp.
1-26; _Aa_, _Naaukeurige Versameling_, tom. ix. pt. ii. p. 7; _Purchas_,
_His Pilgrimes_, vol. i. pt. ii. pp. 33-46.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: MAPS AND BOOKS.]
A manuscript map supposed to have been made by Maiollo in 1519, of
which a fac-simile is given in the _Munich Atlas_, no. v., shows the
islands and main-land from Yucatan south and east, closely resembling,
except in names of localities, the map of 1518 (see page 133). The
eastern part of Brazil is called 'Sante Crucis,' and on the Pearl Coast
is an inscription to the effect that it was discovered by Columbus.
_Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp. 135-6; _Schmeller_, in _Abhandl.
Akademie der Wissensch._, tom. iv. pt. i. p. 253.
[1520.] An anonymous pamphlet without date, _Copia der Newen Zeytung_,
is a translation of a letter describing a voyage of two thousand miles
along the Brazilian coast. Harrisse places it under date of 1520, and
thinks it may furnish grounds for the belief that Magellan was not the
first to reach the strait. Varnhagen, _Hist. Brazil_, Madrid, 1854,
maintains that the voyage described was under Solis and Pinzon in 1508.
Humboldt, _Exam. Crit._, tom. v. p. 249, applies the description to some
later voyage made between 1525 and 1540.
To _Varthema_, _Itinerario Nello Egitto_, Venetia (supposed to be 1520),
is joined an account of Grijalva's voyage to Yucatan in 1518 (see page
132), translated from the original diary of Juan Diaz, chaplain of the
expedition. Other editions appeared in 1522-26-35. _Discorso sopra lo
itinerario di Lodouico Barthema_, in _Ramusio_, tom. i. fol. 160. The
Itinerary of Diaz is not given by Ramusio. _Provinciæ sive Regiones
in India Occidentali_, Valladolid, 1520, is a Latin translation of
an account, by an unknown author, of the conquest of Cuba by Diego
Velazquez. _Pigghe_, _De æquinoctiorum sol_, etc., Paris, supposed to
have been printed in 1520, has a passage on the lands discovered by
Vespucci. _A New Interlude_, London, 1519 or 1520, has a verse in which
the name America is used.
A globe made by John Schöner in 1520 is preserved in Nuremberg, and
copies have been given by Ghillany, Lelewel, and Kohl, of which I give
a reduction.
[Illustration: SCHÖNER'S GLOBE, 1520.]
This is the first drawing to represent all the regions of the New World
as distinct, although not distant, from the Asiatic coast, which is laid
down mostly as in Behaim's globe, with some imaginary additions round
the north pole. This separation was undoubtedly a mere conjecture of
the compiler, for the voyage of Magellan, which might have suggested
such an idea, was not yet known or even consummated, and the map shows
no knowledge of the later voyages even to the eastern coast. All the
northern discoveries are given as an island, 'Terra Corterealis.'
The central and southern parts—except their separation from Asia—are
accurately copied from the map of Ptolemy, 1513 (see page 130), although
a strait leads through the Isthmus into the South Sea. 'Terra de Cuba'
is the name applied to the northern part of what may be regarded as
the nucleus which afterward grew into North America, while the southern
part is called Paria. Several names of localities on the coast, as 'C.
Dellicontis' and 'C. Bonaventura,' are retained from the map of 1513,
although Kohl erroneously calls all the names new and original. To
the southern continent various names are applied, as America, Brazil,
Paria (repeated), Land of Cannibals and of Parrots. On the original
is an antarctic region round the south pole, called 'Brasiliæ Regio,'
and separated from America in lat. 42° south by a strait, although
the discovery of such a strait could not at the time have been known.
_Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. ii. p. 28. Several globes of about this
date preserved in Germany are said to agree with this of Schöner's in
their general features. _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 153-63, pl. vii.,
and _Beiden ältesten Karten von Am._, p. 33; _Harrisse_, _Bib. Am.
Vet._, p. 141.
In the _Solinus-Camers_, _Enarrationes_, Vienna, 1520, was published
a woodcut map, the first to give the name America. The map was made by
Petrus Apianus, and afterward used by him in his cosmography. According
to various descriptions it agrees very nearly with Schöner's globe
except in the extreme north, where Engronelant is represented very
much as in the map of the Zeni in 1400 (see page 82). _Kunstmann_,
_Entdeckung Am._, pp. 134-5; _Kohl_, _Beiden ältesten Karten von Am._,
p. 33; _Harrisse_, _Bib. Am. Vet._, pp. 184, 192.
Cortés with his second letter dated October 30, 1520, sent to Spain
a map of the Gulf of Mexico, which was printed in 1524. The map is
valuable only for its list of names along the whole extent of the gulf
coast, and it is therefore unnecessary to reproduce it here. Yucatan
seems to be represented as an island. _Stevens' Notes_, pp. 38, 53, pl.
iv. no. vii.
In 1520 Lucas Vazquez de Aillon and other wealthy citizens of Española
sent two vessels, probably under one Jordan, to the Lucayos Islands
for slaves. Not succeeding according to their expectations in the
islands, the Spaniards directed their course northward toward the
country discovered by Ponce de Leon in 1513, and finally touched the
coast in about 32° or 33°—Port Royal according to Navarrete; Stevens
says Cape Fear—a region probably never before visited. They called the
country Chicora, and the place of landing was named Cabo de Santa Elena
and Rio Jordan. They made no explorations in any direction. One vessel
and nearly all the slaves were lost on the return. _Navarrete_, _Col.
de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 69-71; _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 245-8;
_Stevens' Notes_, p. 48.
Pánfilo de Narvaez sailed from Cuba in 1520 with a large force to
dispossess Cortés, who had declared himself independent of his chief
Velazquez; but after many reverses his forces went over to his opponent.
_Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, fol. 52-5; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i. p.
540; _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i. p. 474.
[Sidenote: SOUTH SEA DISCOVERIES.]
The conquest of Mexico once accomplished, Hernan Cortés very soon turned
his attention to the South Sea coasts. Hearing from natives that the
Pacific extended as far north as the land he had conquered, he sent
small parties to explore and take possession, which they did at two
points, Tehuantepec and Zacatula, before the end of 1521. Cortés was
fully acquainted with the cosmographic theories of the time, and was
enthusiastic in their application to the discovery of islands and main,
rich in spices and precious metals. It was now established in a general
way, as shown by the best maps, that the newly discovered lands were
not the main Asiatic continent of Marco Polo, but a great south-eastern
projection of that continent, probably separated from it by a strait.
Cortés' idea was to sail down the coast as he termed it, northward at
first, until he should either reach the rich Indian lands, or on the
way find the strait which should afford a short cut from Spain to those
lands. His efforts will be briefly noticed here in chronologic order,
but fully presented in another part of my work. The best and almost only
authority is _Cortés_, _Cartas_.
[1521.] Juan Ponce de Leon, learning from other voyagers that the land
of Florida discovered by him was not, as he had believed it to be, an
island, fitted out an expedition in Puerto Rico and sailed to repeat in
Florida the glorious achievements of Cortés in New Spain. He reached the
west coast of the peninsula, but was killed by the natives soon after
landing, and his men returned without having accomplished their object.
_Peter Martyr_, _De nvper svb D. Carolo repertis Insulis_, Basiliæ,
1521, is the first edition of a part of the fourth decade.
[1522.] Pomponius Mela, _De Orbis Sitv_, Basiliæ, 1522, reproduced
Apianus' map of 1520 (see page 137), also _Kohl_, _Beiden ältesten
Karten_, p. 33. The _Ptolemy_ of this year, edited by Frisius, contains
two maps resembling in their general appearance the Ptolemy map of
1513, and showing but little advance in geographical knowledge. These
maps are also in the edition of 1525. _Asher's Catalogue_, no. civ.,
Berlin, 1873. _Translationus hispanischer_, etc., n.p., n.d., has a
slight notice of the City of Mexico. _Ein Schöne Newe Zeytung_, Augsburg
(1522), notices the voyages of Columbus and the conquest of Mexico.
_Of the newe lãdes and of ye people founde by the Messengers of the
Kynge of portygale_, attributed to this year, is regarded as the first
book in English to treat of America, which it calls Armenica. _Cortés_,
_Carta de Relaciõ_, Seville, 1522, is the letter dated October 30, 1520,
supposed to be the conqueror's second letter, the first having been
lost. Eight other editions or translations appeared in various forms
before 1532.
In 1522 Pascual de Andagoya followed the west coast of America southward
from Panamá, to a point six or seven days' sail below the gulf of San
Miguel in the province of Birú (Peru), a little beyond Point Pinos.
Information obtained during this expedition concerning more southern
lands, furnished the motive for the conquest of Peru undertaken a few
years later by Francisco Pizarro. _Pascual de Andagoya_, _Narrative_,
pp. 40-1.
Gil Gonzalez Dávila with a fleet of four vessels sailed from the islands
in the Bay of Panamá, January 21, 1522, to explore the South Sea coast
north-westward. Reaching the gulf of Nicoya, the limit of Espinosa's
voyage, Gil Gonzalez proceeded by land and discovered Lake Nicaragua.
The pilot Andres Niño continued westward, discovered and named the gulf
of Fonseca, and reached, according to Herrera, dec. iii. lib. iv. cap.
v.-vi., the province of Chorotega, having discovered 350 leagues of
sea-coast from Nicoya, or 650 leagues from the gulf of San Miguel. Peter
Martyr places Niño's ultimate limit at 300 leagues beyond the gulf of
San Vicente; Ribero's map at 140 leagues west of the bay of Fonseca.
Kohl, _Beiden ältesten Karten von Am._, pp. 163-9, thinks he probably
reached the mountains south of Soconusco. See also _Navarrete_, _Col.
de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 413, 417-18; _Galvano's Discov._, pp. 148-9;
_Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii. pp. 97-114; _Squier's Nicaragua_,
New York, 1860, pp. 157-61. Not long afterward the cities of Granada
and Leon were founded, and communication with Nicaragua from the south
became of frequent occurrence.
In 1522 Pedro de Alvarado occupied Tututepec on the Pacific; while at
Zacatula a _villa_ was founded, and a beginning made there on several
vessels for exploration northward. _Cortés_, _Cartas_, Letter of May
15, 1522.
[1523.] Francisco de Garay fitted out a new fleet of eleven vessels,
with 850 men, which sailed from Jamaica June 26, 1523. This force was
intended for the conquest and settlement of Pánuco, but soon united with
the army of Cortés without having accomplished anything of importance.
_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 67-9; _Herrera_, _Hist.
Gen._, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. v.-vi.; _Peter Martyr_, dec. vii. cap.
v.; _Cortes_, _Carta tercera de Relaciõ_, Seville, 1523. This third
letter was written May 15, 1522. Other editions appeared in 1524, and
1532. For the bibliography of Cortés' letters see _Harrisse_, _Bib. Am.
Vet._, pp. 215-23. _Maximilian_, _De Molvccis Insulis_, Coloniæ, 1523,
is a letter written by the emperor's secretary, describing Magellan's
voyage round the world. Other editions are mentioned as having appeared
in 1523, 1524, 1534, 1536, and 1537.
[1524.] _Apianus_, _Cosmographicus Liber_, Landshutæ, 1524, contains
a short chapter on America, which the author describes as an island,
because he says it is surrounded by water; furthermore, he affirms
this land was named from Vespucci, its discoverer. The map of
_Solinus-Camers_, 1520, is repeated in this and in several succeeding
editions of the cosmography. _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp. 134-5.
Francis, _De Orbis Sitv ac Descriptione_, Antwerp, 1524, also describes
the New World.
In 1524 Cortés' fleet at Zacatula was not yet launched, the work having
been delayed by fire. The conquest of Colima had however made known a
good port, and brought new rumors of rich islands further north. The
conqueror's plans were unchanged and his enthusiasm undiminished. His
use of the term "la costa abajo," or down the coast, when he meant
to sail northward, has sadly confused many writers as to his real
intentions, and as to his ideas of the strait. _Cortés_, _Cartas_,
Letter of Oct. 15, 1524.
In 1524 was made the first official French expedition to the New
World. A fleet of four vessels was made ready under Giovanni Verrazano
at Dieppe, but three of his ships were separated from him in some
inexplicable manner before leaving European waters; and in the remaining
one, the _Dauphine_, with fifty men, he sailed on the 17th of January,
1524, from an island near Madeira. After a voyage of forty-nine days,
during which time he sailed 900 leagues, Verrazano struck the United
States coast in about latitude 34°, perhaps at Cape Fear. Thence he
sailed first southward fifty leagues, then turning about he followed
the coast northward, frequently touching, to Newfoundland, whence he
returned to Dieppe in July, 1524. Verrazano in his journal mentions
only one date, and names but one locality; consequently there is much
difference of opinion concerning his landings.
The southern limit of the voyage, so far as it can be known, was in the
vicinity of Cape Romain, South Carolina, though some authors, apparently
without sufficient authority—the voyager says he saw palms—have placed
the limit in Florida. It is probable that a large part of the United
States coast was for the first time explored during this voyage, which
also completed the discovery of the whole eastern shore-line of America,
except probably a short but indefinite distance in South Carolina and
Georgia, between the limits reached by Ponce de Leon in 1513 and by
Verrazano; one intermediate point having also been visited by Aillon
in 1520. _Relatione di Giouanni da Verrazzano Fiorentìno della terra
per lui scoperta in nome di sua Maestà, scritta in Dieppa, adi 8_,
Luglio, MDXXIIII., in _Ramusio_, tom. iii. fol. 420. In the preface to
this volume, edition of 1556, the author states that it is not known
whether New France is joined to Florida or not. _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._,
dec. iii. lib. vi. cap. ix.; _Hakluyt's Divers Voy._, pp. 55-71; _New
York Hist. Soc._, _Collections_, 1841, series ii. vol. i.; _Kohl's
Hist. Discov._, pp. 249-70; _Hakluyt's Voy._, vol. iii. pp. 295-300;
_Aa_, _Naaukeurige Versameling_, tom. x. app. p. 13. A chart given by
Verrazano to Henry VIII. is said to have been used by Lock in compiling
the map published in _Hakluyt's Divers Voy._, London, 1582. (Reprint by
the Hakluyt Society, 1850. Copy in _Kohl_, p. 290.)
In 1522 Pedro de Alvarado had accomplished the conquest of Tehuantepec
on the South Sea; in 1524 and the following years he extended his
explorations and conquests by land across the isthmus over all the
north-western region of Central America, joining his conquests to
those of his countrymen from Panamá. In 1523 Cristóbal de Olid made
an expedition by water to Honduras in the service of Cortés, founding
a settlement; and in 1524 Cortés himself marched overland from
Mexico to Honduras. _Lettres de Pédro de Alvarado à Fernan Cortés_,
in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, série i. tom. x. pp. 107-50, and in
_Ramusio_, _Viaggi_, tom. iii. fol. 296-300; _Peter Martyr_, dec.
viii. cap. v. x.; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii. pp. 434, 439,
475-87; _Gomara_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, fol. 228-33, 245-6, 250-74;
_Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. iii. lib. iii. cap. xvii.; lib. vi. cap.
x.-xii.; lib. vii. cap. viii.-ix.; lib. viii. cap. i.-vii.; _Alaman_,
_Disertaciones_, tom. i. pp. 203-25; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist.
Nat. Civ._, tom. iv. pp. 546-50, 598 et seq., 631-705.
[Sidenote: CONQUEST OF PERU.]
In this same year, 1524, Francisco Pizarro sailed from Panamá southward,
and began the conquest of Peru, which, as related elsewhere in this
volume, brought to light, before 1540, nearly the whole western coast of
South America. For references to Pizarro's discovery see a later chapter
of this volume.
A meeting of the leading pilots and cosmographers of Spain and Portugal,
known as the Council of Badajoz, was convened for the purpose of
settling disputed questions between the two governments. Failing in
its primary purpose, the council nevertheless contributed largely to
a better knowledge of New World geography. Indeed, from this time the
European governments may be supposed to have had, and to have delineated
on their official charts, tolerably accurate ideas of the general form
of America and of its relation to Asia, except in the north-west,
although the existence of a passage through the continent was still
firmly believed in. Writers on cosmography and compilers of published
maps did not, however, for a long time obtain the knowledge lodged in
the hands of government officials.
[1525.] The man who accompanied Magellan in 1519, but left him after
entering the strait and returned with one vessel to Spain, was named
Estévan Gomez. In 1525 this captain was sent by Spain to search for a
corresponding strait in the north. Although an official expedition, and
the only one ever sent by Spain to northern parts, no journal has been
preserved, and only slight particulars derived from the old chroniclers
are known. Gomez expected to find a strait somewhere between Florida
and Newfoundland, probably not knowing the result of Verrazano's voyage
of the preceding year. Cabot was at the time piloto mayor in Spain, and
if Verrazano had, as is claimed for him by some, reached the southern
United States coasts, it is not likely that Gomez would have looked
there so confidently for his strait. This voyage lasted about ten
months, and in it Gomez is supposed to have explored the coast from
Newfoundland to a point below New York—possibly to Georgia or Florida.
_Peter Martyr_, dec. vi. cap. x.; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. iii.
lib. viii. cap. viii.; _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 271-81; _Navarrete_,
_Col. de Viages_, tom. iv. p. viii.; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._,
pp. 70-1. According to Harrisse, _Fries_, _Auslegung der Mercarthen oder
Cartha Marina_, Strasburg, 1525, contains a map of the world, including
America, but Kohl states that this map, although made in 1525, was not
published till 1530. Other publications of the year are: _Pietro Arias_
(Pedrarias Dávila), _Lettere di Pietro Arias Capitano generale, della
conquista del paese del Mar Occeano_, written from Darien, and printed
without place or date; _Pigafetta_, _Le voyage et nauigation faict par
les Espaignolz es Isles de Mollucques_, an abridgment of the original
account by the author, who was with Magellan; _Cortes_, _La quarta
Relacion_, Toledo, 1525, dated October 15, 1524.
García de Loaisa sailed from Corunna July 24, 1525, to follow Magellan's
track. Passing through the strait between January and May, 1526, he
arrived at the Moluccas in October. _Viages al Maluco, Segundo el del
Comendador Fr. Garcia de Loaisa_, in _Navarrete_, tom. v.; _Burney's
Discov. South Sea_, vol. i. pp. 127-45; _Relaciones del viaje hecho á
las islas Molucas_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, tom. v. p. 5.
[1526.] One small vessel of Loaisa's fleet, under command of Santiago
de Guevara, became separated from the rest June 1, 1526, after having
reached the Pacific Ocean. Guevara decided to steer for the coast of
New Spain, which was first seen in the middle of July; and on the 25th
he anchored at Tehuantepec. _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. v. pp.
176-81, 224-5.
Cortés' exploring vessels, begun in 1522—the first having been burned
on the stocks, others were built in their place—were now, after long
delay, nearly ready to sail; and Guevara's vessel was brought up from
Tehuantepec to join them. _Cortés_, _Cartas_, Letter of September, 1526.
Aillon, in 1523, was made adelantado of Chicora, the country discovered
by him in 1520, and immediately prepared a new expedition with a view
to colonize the country, explore the coasts, and to find, if possible,
a passage to India. The preparations were not completed until July,
1526, when he sailed from Española with six vessels, 500 men, and
ninety horses. He reached the Rio Jordan—perhaps St Helena Sound, South
Carolina—and thence made a careful exploration northward, at least
to Cape Fear, and probably much farther. Aillon died on the 18th of
October, and after much internal dissension 150 men, all that remained
alive, returned to Santo Domingo. _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom.
iii. pp. 71-4, 153-60; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, p. 71.
Oviedo, _De la Natural hystoria de las Indias_, Toledo, 1526, describes
the New World, but this book is not the great historical work,
lately printed, by the same author. It may be found also in _Barcia_,
_Historiadores Primitivos_, and in _Ramusio_.
Sebastian Cabot attempted a voyage to India in 1526, sailing with
four vessels in April, with the intention of bearing succor to Loaisa.
Owing to insubordination among his officers, and other misfortunes, he
reached only the Rio de la Plata, and after extensive explorations in
that region, returned to Spain, having been absent four years. _Oviedo_,
_Hist. Gen._, tom. ii. p. 169; _Diccionario Universal_, Mexico, apend.,
'Viages,' tom. x. p. 807; _Roux de Rochelle_, in _Bulletin de la Soc.
Geog._, April, 1832, p. 212.
[1527.] June 10, 1527, an English expedition—the last officially sent by
that nation within the limits of my sketch—sailed from Plymouth, still
in search of a north-west passage. The two vessels sailed in company
to latitude 53°, and reached the coast, where, on the 1st of July, they
were separated by a storm, and one of them was probably lost. The other,
under John Rut, turned southward, followed the coast of New England,
often landing, probably reached Chicora, and returned to England _via_
the West India Islands, arriving early in October. _Hakluyt's Divers
Voy._, pp. 27, 33; _Biddle's Mem. Cabot_, pp. 114, 275; _Oviedo_, _Hist.
Gen._, tom. i. p. 611; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii. lib. v. cap.
iii.
Francisco Montejo, who had accompanied the expeditions of Grijalva and
Cortés, and had since been sent by the latter as ambassador to Spain,
obtained from the king in 1526 a commission as adelantado to conquer the
"islands of Yucatan and Cozumel." He sailed from Seville in 1527, landed
at Cozumel, penetrated the northern part of the peninsula, and during
the following years fought desperately to accomplish its conquest,
but failed. A small colony struggled for existence at Campeche for
several years, but in 1535 not a single Spaniard remained in Yucatan.
_Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yucathan_, pp. 59-94; _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, fol.
62-3; _Stephens' Incidents of Travel in Yucatan_, New York, 1858, vol.
i. pp. 56-62.
_La Salle_, _La Salade_, Paris, 1527, contains references to Greenland
and other northern parts of America.
[Sidenote: PACIFIC COAST EXPLORATIONS.]
In July, 1527, three of the vessels built by Cortés made a preliminary
trip up the Pacific coast from Zacatula to Santiago in Colima and
back—the first voyage along that coast. _Relacion ó Derrotero_, in
_Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, tom. xiv. pp. 65-9; _Relacion
de la Derrota_, in _Florida, Col. Doc._, pp. 88-91. But an order from
Spain required the fleet to be sent to India direct—instead of by the
roundabout route proposed by Cortés—for the relief of Loaisa; and the
three vessels sailed from Zacatula in October under Saavedra, arriving
safely in India. Guevara's ship was too worm-eaten to accompany them;
but several vessels were already on the stocks at Tehuantepec to replace
those sent across the ocean. _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, introd. pp.
vi.-xi.; _Navarrete_, _Col. Viages_, tom. v. pp. 95-114, 181, 440-86;
_Gil_, _Memoria_, in _Boletin de la Soc. Mex. Geog._, tom. viii. p. 477
et seq.
In 1527 Robert Thorne, English ambassador to Charles V., wrote a book
or memorial to Henry VIII. on cosmography, on the Spanish and Portuguese
discoveries, and on the importance of exploring northward for a passage
to Cathay. It was afterward printed as _The booke made by the right
worshipful M. Robert Thorne_, in _Hakluyt's Voy._, vol. i. pp. 214-20.
In 1526 a commissioner was appointed to correct the Spanish charts.
Fernando Colon was charged with the revision, and in 1527 a map was made
called _Carta universal en que se contiene todo lo que del mundo se ha
descubierto fasta agora_. This map has been preserved, and a fac-simile
is given in _Kohl_, _Beiden ältesten Karten von Am._ It shows the whole
eastern coast line from the strait of Magellan to Greenland, and the
western coast from Panamá to the vicinity of Soconusco, and indicates
that the information in possession of the Spanish government was
remarkably accurate and complete. Yucatan is represented as an island,
and the discoveries on the Pacific side of South America are not laid
down; otherwise this map varies but little except in names from a map
made by Diego Ribero, in 1529, of which I shall give a copy. _Kohl_,
_Beiden ältesten Karten von Am._, pp. 1-24; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._,
tom. ii. p. 184, and Preface to _Ghillany_.
[1528.] Bordone, _Libro di Benedetto Bordone Nel qual si ragiona de
tutte l'Isole del mondo_, Vinegia, 1528, gives maps of the larger
American islands, and also a map of the world, the American part of
which I copy from the original. No part of the western coast is shown,
although the New World is represented as distinct from Asia.
Kohl, _Beiden ältesten Karten von Am._, p. 34, mentions another work
printed at Venice the same year, which has a map resembling that of
Schöner in 1520.
Pánfilo de Narvaez sailed from Spain in 1527 with five ships and 600
men, to conquer the northern shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and after
losing some of his ships by storm, and many of his men by desertion,
in cruising about Española, Cuba, and other islands, he landed in
the vicinity of Tampa Bay April 14, 1528, and nearly all the company
perished in an attempt to follow the coast toward Vera Cruz. _Cabeça de
Vaca's Relation_, New York, 1871, pp. 13-20; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._,
dec. iv. lib. iv. cap. iv.-vii.; lib. v. cap. v.
[Illustration: MAP BY BENEDETTO BORDONE, 1528.]
[1529.] Major, _Prince Henry_, pp. 440-52, entertains the opinion that
Australia was discovered probably before 1529, and certainly before
1542.
In 1529 was made the before-mentioned Spanish official map by
Diego Ribero, which may be supposed to show all that was known by
European pilots at that time of New World geography. It contains some
improvements and additions to Colon's map of 1527 with the same title,
although criticised, perhaps justly, by Stevens as partisan in its
distribution of the new regions among the European powers. I give a
copy reduced from the full-sized fac-simile in _Kohl_, _Beiden ältesten
Karten von Am_.
Greenland is called Labrador and is joined to the continent, as the
separating strait had not at the time been explored. It will be noticed
that Greenland is far less accurately laid down on this and other late
maps than on some earlier ones which are supposed to have derived some
of their details from northern sources. Labrador, Newfoundland, and
Nova Scotia have the general name of Bacallaos. Many of the numerous
islands along the coast are named in the original. Corresponding
perhaps to the New England and middle United States we have the 'Tiera
de Estevã Gomez,' stated by an inscription to have been discovered by
the Spaniards in 1525. From this land to Florida extends the 'Tiera de
Ayllon,' between which and 'Nveva España' comes the 'Tiera de Garay,'
thus dividing nearly all of the northern continent among the Spaniards.
The West India Islands have here their true number, position, and names.
Yucatan is given in its true proportions but is separated by a strait
from the main-land. The South Sea coast is represented only to the limit
of the voyage of Gil Gonzalez Dávila on the north, and extends southward
to the port of Chinchax in about latitude 10° south, including,
according to an inscription, the countries which had been reached by
Pizarro in 1527. The form of South America is correctly laid down and
the name 'Mvndvs Novvs' is applied to the whole, which is divided into
the provinces of 'Castilla del Oro,' 'Perv,' 'Tiera del Brasil,' 'Tiera
de Patagones,' and 'Tiera de Fernã de Magallaes,' or land of Magellan.
South of the strait is the 'Tiera de los Fuegos,' whose true form and
extent were not known until Schouten and Le Maire doubled Cape Horn in
1616.
* * * * *
Thus far I have copied or mentioned all maps which could throw any light
on the progress of geographical knowledge, and have endeavored to give
a statement of all the voyages by which this progress was made. Thus
far we have seen the coasts of both North and South America, except in
the south-west and the far north-west, more or less carefully explored
by European voyagers; we have seen the New World recognized as distinct
for the most part from Asia, a tolerably correct idea of its form and
extent given by government pilots, and the name America applied, except
on official maps, to the southern continent. Henceforth voyages to
the parts already discovered become of common occurrence, and numerous
maps, both in manuscript and print, are made, no one of which I shall
attempt to follow. In the expeditions of the next and concluding ten
years of this Summary I shall notice chiefly those by which a knowledge
was acquired of the countries lying toward California and the great
Northwest, presenting several maps to illustrate this part of the
subject.
[1530.] During the absence of Cortés in Spain no progress had been
made in maritime exploration; and by 1530 his ships on the stocks at
Tehuantepec were ruined, but he made haste to build more. _Cortés_,
_Cartas_, letters of Oct. 10, 1530, and April 20, 1532.
[Sidenote: NUÑO DE GUZMAN.]
Nuño de Guzman, formerly president of the audiencia of New Spain, and
the inveterate enemy of Cortés, undertook with a large force, recruited
in Mexico, the conquest of the region lying to the north-west of that
city. The northern limit of his conquest in 1530-1 was Culiacan, between
which and Mexico the whole country was brought under Spanish control by
expeditions sent by Guzman in all directions under different leaders.
_Relation di Nvnno di Gvsman_, in _Ramusio_, tom. iii. fol. 331, and
abridged in _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, vol. iv. p. 1556; _Jornada que
hizo Nuño de Guzman á la Nueva Galicia_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de
Doc._, tom. ii.; _Primera relacion_, p. 288; _Tercera relacion_, p. 439;
_Cuarta relacion_, p. 461; _Doc. para Hist. de Mex._, serie iii. p. 669;
_Mota Padilla_, _Conquista de Nueva Galicia_, MS. of 1742; _Oviedo_,
_Hist. Gen._, tom. iii. pp. 559-77; _Gil_, _Memoria_, in _Boletin de la
Soc. Mex. Geog._, tom. viii. p. 424 et seq.
[Illustration: DIEGO RIBERO'S MAP, 1529.]
Hakluyt, in his _Voyages_, vol. iii. p. 700, states that one William
Hawkins, of Plymouth, made voyages, in a ship fitted out at his own
expense, to the coast of Brazil in 1530 and 1532, bringing back an
Indian king as a curiosity.
[Sidenote: PETER MARTYR, PTOLEMY, AND MUNSTER.]
_Peter Martyr_, _De Orbe novo_, Cõpluti, 1530, is the first complete
edition of eight decades; and _Opus Epistolarum_, of the same date and
place, is a collection of over eight hundred letters written between
1488 and 1525, many of them relating more or less to American affairs.
In the _Ptolemy_ of 1530, in several subsequent editions, and in
_Munster's Cosmography_ of 1572 et seq., is the map of which the
following is a reduction.
[Illustration: THE NEW WORLD, FROM PTOLEMY, 1530.]
I give this drawing, circulated for many years in standard works,
to illustrate how extremely slow were cosmographers to form anything
like a correct idea of American geography, and how little they availed
themselves of the more correct knowledge shown on official charts. The
following map, made in 1544, illustrates still further the absurdities
circulated for many years under the name of geography. Scores of
additional examples might be given.
[Illustration: RUSCELLI'S MAP, 1544.]
[1532.] At last, in the middle of 1532, Cortés was able to despatch from
Acapulco two vessels, under Hurtado de Mendoza and Mazuela, to make the
first voyage up the coast beyond Colima. Mendoza touched at Santiago and
at the port of Jalisco, near the later San Blas, discovering the islands
of Magdalena, or Tres Marías. Then they took refuge from a storm in a
port located only by conjecture, probably on the Sonora coast, where
after a time the vessels parted. Mendoza went on up the coast. Having
landed and ascended the Rio Tamotchala—now the Fuerte—he was killed,
with most of his men, by the Indians. The rest were massacred a little
later, when the vessel grounded and broke up at the mouth of the Rio
Petatlan, or Sinaloa. Meanwhile, Mazuela with the other vessel returning
down the coast was driven ashore in Banderas Bay, where all his men but
two or three were killed by the natives. Authorities, being voluminous,
complicated, and of necessity fully presented elsewhere, are omitted
here.
_Cortes_, _De Insvlis nvper inventis_, Coloniæ, 1532, is a translation
of Hernan Cortés' second and third letters, with Peter Martyr's _De
Insulis_, and a letter from Fray Martin de Valencia, dated Yucatan, June
12, 1531, with some letters from Zumárraga, first bishop of Mexico.
_Grynævs_, _Novvs Orbis_, Paris and Basle, 1532, is a collection of the
voyages of Columbus, Pinzon, Vespucci, and others. In this work the
assertion is made that Vespucci discovered America before Columbus,
which aroused the wrath of Las Casas, and seems to have originated
the subsequent bitter attacks on Vespucci. About the maps originally
published with this work there seems to be some doubt, most copies, like
my own, having no map. According to _Stevens' Notes_, pp. 19, 51-2,
pl. iii. no. 4, the Paris edition of _Grynæus_ contained a map made
by Orontius Fine in 1531. The following is a reduction from Stevens'
fac-simile on Mercator's projection:
[Illustration: ORONTIUS FINE'S MAP, 1531.]
All of the New World, so far as explored, is represented with tolerable
accuracy, but the unexplored South Sea coast is made to extend westward
from the region of Acapulco, and to join the southern coast of Asia,
which is laid down from the ancient chronicles. Instead of being, as
Stevens terms it, a "culmination of absurdities," I regard this map as
more consistent with the knowledge of the time than any other printed
during the first half of the sixteenth century. North America when found
was regarded as Asia; South America was at first supposed to be a large
island, and later an immense south-eastern extension of Asia; subsequent
explorations, chiefly that of Magellan, showed the existence of a
vast ocean between southern America and southern Asia; official maps
left unexplored regions blank, expressing no theory as to the northern
extension of the Pacific Ocean; other maps, as we have seen, without
any authority whatever, make that ocean extend north and completely
separate Asia from the New World. The present map, however, clings to
the original idea and makes North America an eastern extension of Asia,
giving the name America to the southern continent.
The map in the Basle edition of _Grynæus_, also given in _Stevens'
Notes_, pl. iv. no. 4, closely resembles _Schöner's Globe_ of 1520 (see
page 137).
[Sidenote: LOWER CALIFORNIA DISCOVERED.]
[1533.] The expedition of Becerra, Grijalva, and Jimenez, sent out by
Cortés to search for Hurtado de Mendoza and to continue north-western
discoveries, sailed from Santiago in November. This voyage, like those
following, will be fully treated elsewhere in this work. The only
result, so far as the purposes of this chapter are concerned, was the
discovery of the Revilla Gigedo group of islands and the southern part
of the peninsula of Lower California, supposed then to be an island.
Jimenez landed and was killed at Santa Cruz, now known as La Paz. The
subsequent expedition of 1535-6, headed by Cortés in person, added only
very slightly to geographical knowledge of the north-west. Many points
were touched and named along the coast; but comparatively few can be
definitely located except by the aid of information afforded by the
earlier explorations of Guzman by land.
Schöner, _Opvscvlvm Geographicvm_, supposed to have been printed in
1533, maintains that the New World is part of Asia, and contains, so far
as known, the first charge against Vespucci. _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._,
tom. v. pp. 174-5. Other books of the year are: _Franck_, _Weltbuch_,
Tübingen, 1533, which includes America in a description of the world;
and _Zummaraga_, _Botschafft des Grossmechtigsten Königs Dauid_, n.p.,
n.d., containing a letter from Mexico dated in 1532.
[1534.] In 1534, 1535, and 1540, Jacques Cartier made three voyages for
France, in which Newfoundland and the gulf and river of St Lawrence
were carefully explored. _Prima Relatione di Iacqves Carthier della
Terra Nvova detta la Nuoua Francia, trouata nell'anno_ MDXXXIIII., in
_Ramusio_, tom. iii. fol. 435; _Hakluyt's Voy._, vol. iii. pp. 201-36;
_Sammlung alter Reisebeschreibungen_, tom. xv. p. 29.
Simon de Alcazaba sailed from San Lúcar in September, 1534, with two
ships and 280 men, intending to conquer and settle the western coast of
South America south of Peru. After spending a long time in the strait
of Magellan, he was finally prevented by the mutiny of his men from
proceeding farther. His explorations in the Patagonian regions were more
extensive than had been made before. Seventy-five men, the remnant of
his expedition, reached Española in September, 1535, one vessel having
been wrecked on the coast of Brazil. _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. ii.
pp. 155-65; _Galvano's Discov._, pp. 198-9; _Herrera_, dec. v. lib. vii.
cap. v.; _Diccionario Univ._, app. tom. x. p. 807; _Burney's Discov.
South Sea_, vol. i. p. 171.
The books of 1534 are, _Francis of Bologna_, _La Letera_, Venetia, n.d.;
_Chronica compendiosissima_, Antwerp, 1534, containing letters from
priests in Mexico; _Vadianus_, _Epitome_, Tigura, 1534, includes the
Insulæ Oceani; _Peter Martyr_, _Libro Primo Della Historia_, Vinegia,
1534, which has joined to it a libro secondo by Oviedo, and an anonymous
third book on the conquest of Peru; two anonymous works, _Letera de
la nobil cipta_, and _Copia delle Lettere del Prefetto della India_,
being letters from Peru, the latter describing the conquest; _Honter_,
_De cosmographiæ_, Basileæ, 1534, with a chapter on the new islands;
_Xeres_, _Uerdadera relacion de la conquista del Peru_, Seville, 1534;
and an anonymous work on the same subject, _La conquista del Peru_,
Seville, 1534.
[1535.] In this year appeared the first edition of the great historical
work of Gonzalo Hernandez de Oviedo y Valdés, _La Historia general de
las Indias_, Seville, 1535. Only nineteen of the fifty books which
comprise the whole work appear in this edition; the work complete
has since been published in Madrid, 1851-5. Steinhowel, _Chronica
Beschreibung_, Franckenfort, 1535, has a chapter on 'America discovered
in 1497.'
[1536.] In April, 1528, as we have seen, Pánfilo de Narvaez had landed
on the west coast of Florida, probably at Tampa Bay, and attempted
with three hundred men to reach Pánuco by land. The company gradually
melted from famine, sickness, and battles with the savages, until
only Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca with a few companions remained. They
were held as slaves by the natives of the Gulf coast for six years;
and then escaping, traversed Texas, Chihuahua, and Sonora, by a route
which has not been very definitely fixed. Cabeza de Vaca with three
companions reached the Spanish settlements in northern Sinaloa early in
1536, and their reports served as a powerful incentive to more extended
exploration. _Relatione che fece Alvaro Nvnez detto Capo di vacca_, in
_Ramusio_, tom. iii. fol. 310-30; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, vol. iv.
p. 1499; _Cabeça de Vaca's Relation_, New York, 1871; _Ternaux-Compans_,
_Voy._, série i. tom, vii.; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii. p. 582 et
seq.; _Barcia_, _Historiadores Prim._, tom. i.
_Peter Martyr_, _De Rebus Oceanicis_, Paris, 1536, contains nine
decades. This work, with _Sacro Bosco_, _Sphera Volgare_, Venetiis,
1537, and _Nunez_, _Tratado da Sfera_, Olisipone, 1537, closes the
bibliographical part of this Summary, in which, following Harrisse as
the latest authority, I have endeavored to mention all the original
works by which the geographical results of voyages of discovery were
made known prior to 1540.
[1537.] After the abandonment of California by the colony, Cortés sent
two vessels under Hernando de Grijalva and Alvarado (not Pedro) to Peru
with supplies and reinforcements for Pizarro. There are vague reports
that Grijalva sailed westward from Peru and made a long cruise in the
Pacific, visiting various islands which cannot be located. _Herrera_,
_Hist. Gen._, dec. v. lib. viii. cap. x.; dec. vii. lib. v. cap. ix.;
_Galvano's Discov._, pp. 202-3; _Burney's Discov. South Sea_, vol. i.
p. 180.
[1538.] Fernando de Soto landed on the west coast of Florida, crossed
the peninsula to that part discovered by Aillon in 1526, wandered four
or five years in the interior of the southern United States and followed
the course of the Mississippi, probably as far up as to the Ohio. Here
Soto died, and the remnant of his company, after penetrating farther
west to the buffalo country, floated down the Mississippi and returned
to Mexico in 1543. Soto's travels are esteemed by Kohl as "the principal
source of knowledge regarding these regions, for more than a hundred
years." _Discov. and Conq. of Terra Florida_, _Hakluyt Soc._, London,
1851; _Selection of Curious Voy._, _Sup. to Hakluyt_, London, 1812, p.
689; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, vol. iv. p. 1532; _Ferdinands von Soto
Reise nach Florida_, in _Sammlung_, tom. xvi. p. 395.
[1539.] In August, 1539, three vessels under Alonso de Camargo were
despatched from Seville for India _via_ the South Sea, and reached Cabo
de las Vírgenes January 20, 1540. One of the vessels was wrecked in the
strait of Magellan; another returned to Spain, and the third entered
the Pacific, and finally, after touching Chile in 38° 30', arrived at
Arequipa in Peru. This voyage is supposed to have afforded the first
knowledge of the intermediate coast between the strait of Magellan and
Peru. _Diccionario Univ._, app. tom. x. p. 807; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._,
dec. vii. lib. i. cap. viii.; _Burney's Discov. South Sea_, vol. i. p.
186.
[Sidenote: NEW MEXICO INVADED.]
Cabeza de Vaca brought to Sinaloa and thence to Mexico accounts of
wonderful towns in the northern regions traversed by him; and in March,
1539, Fray Marcos de Niza, accompanied by one of the men who had seen
the reported wonders, set out from Culiacan and proceeded northward in
search of the Seven Cities of whose existence other rumors were current
besides those brought by Alvar Nuñez. Marcos de Niza reached the Pueblo
towns of Zuñi and brought back greatly exaggerated reports of the
wealth of the people and the magnificence of their cities. _Relatione
del Reverendo Fra Marco da Nizza_, in _Ramusio_, tom. iii. fol. 356;
_Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, vol. iv. p. 1560; _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_,
_Col. de Doc._, tom. iii. p. 325; _Hakluyt's Voy._, vol. iii. pp.
366-73; _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, série i. tom. ix. p. 256. See also
_Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner_, in _Pacific R. R. Reports_, vol. iii.
pp. 104-8.
Niza's report prompted Cortés to renewed efforts in his Californian
enterprise, and in July, 1539, Francisco de Ulloa was sent from Acapulco
with three vessels to prosecute the discoveries by water. Ulloa spent
some time in the port of Santiago for repairs, lost one vessel in a gale
near the entrance to the gulf, visited Santa Cruz, and then followed
the main coast to the mouth of the Colorado, and returned along the
coast of the Peninsula to Santa Cruz, where he arrived on the 18th of
October. From this place he doubled the southern point of California,
and sailed up the western coast to Cedros Island, and somewhat beyond.
During the whole voyage he touched and named many places, whose names
have seldom been retained, but some of which may be with tolerable
certainty identified. In April the vessels separated, one returning by a
quick passage to Colima. Ulloa himself with the other vessel attempted
to continue his explorations northward, with what success is not
known. According to Gomara and Bernal Diaz, he returned after several
months spent in fruitless endeavors to reach more northern latitudes;
other authorities state that he was never heard from. Preciado, who
accompanied the expedition, wrote of it a detailed but not very clear
narrative or journal. _Relatione dello scoprimento che nel nome di
Dio va à far l'armata dell' illustrissimo Fernando Cortese_, etc.
(Preciado's Relation), in _Ramusio_, tom. iii. 339-54, and in _Hakluyt's
Voy._, vol. iii. pp. 397-424; _Gomara_, _Hist. Conq._, fol. 292-3;
_Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Conq._, fol. 234; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec.
vi. lib. ix. cap. viii. et seq.; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, vol. v.
p. 856; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. xxii.-vi.; _Burney's Discov.
South Sea_, vol. i. pp. 193-210; _Venegas_, _Noticia de la California_,
quoted from _Gomara_, tom. i. pp. 159-61; _Clavigero_, _Storia della
California_, tom. i. p. 151.
[1540.] Also in consequence of Marcos de Niza's reports, Francisco
Vazquez de Coronado, who had succeeded Nuño de Guzman and Torre
as governor of New Galicia, set out from Culiacan in April, 1540,
penetrated to the Pueblo towns, or the Seven Cities of Cibola, and
thence to the valley of the Rio Grande and far toward the north-east
to Quivira, whose location, fixed by him in latitude 40°, has been a
much disputed question. While in Sonora, he sent forth Melchor Diaz,
who explored the head of the gulf, and the mouths of the rivers, Gila
and Colorado, where he found letters left by Alarcon. See _infra_. From
Cibola, Coronado sent Garcia Lopez de Cárdenas west, who passed through
the Moqui towns and followed the Colorado for some distance. Coronado
returned in 1542. _Relatione che mando Francesco Vazquez di Coronado_,
in _Ramusio_, tom. iii. fol. 359; _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. de
Doc._, tom. iii. p. 511. _Hakluyt's Voy._, vol. iii. pp. 373-82, has the
same and Gomara's account. _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voyages_, série i. tom.
ix., gives the relations of Coronado, Castañeda, and Jaramillo. See also
_Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner_, in _Pacific R. R. Reports_, vol. iii.
pp. 108-12; _Simpson_, in _Report of Smithsonian Institution_, 1869.
To coöperate with Coronado's land expedition, Hernando de Alarcon
was despatched from Acapulco in May, 1540. Alarcon followed the coast
to the head of the gulf, and ascended the Buena Guia (Colorado) some
eighty-five leagues in boats, but hearing nothing from Coronado, he
returned after burying letters, which, as we have seen, were found by
Melchor Diaz. Beside the references given above, see _Sutil y Mexicana,
Viage_, p. xxviii.; _Burney's Discov. South Sea_, vol. i. pp. 211-16;
_Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, vol. iv. p. 1560; _Schoolcraft's Arch._,
vol. iv. p. 21 et seq.; vol. vi. p. 60; _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iii.
p. 671.
I here present reductions of two maps of the time to illustrate the
explorations on the north-west coast, with which I close this sketch.
The first was made by the pilot Castillo in 1541, and is taken from
_Cortés_, _Hist. Nueva-España_, edited by Lorenzana, Mexico, 1770, p.
325.
[Illustration: CASTILLO'S MAP, 1541.]
[Sidenote: CALIFORNIA AND ARIZONA DISCOVERED.]
A similar chart is mentioned by Señor Navarrete as existing in the
hydrographic archives in Madrid. The second, from the _Munich Atlas_,
no. vi., is of uncertain date. Peschel places it between 1532 and 1540;
and it was certainly made about that time, as Yucatan is represented as
an island, and California as a peninsula, although later it came again
to be considered an island, as at its first discovery.
[Illustration: MANUSCRIPT MAP, AUTHOR UNKNOWN, SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN
DRAWN BETWEEN 1532 AND 1510.]
This, then, was Discovery. And in the progress of discovery we may
trace the progress of mind. We can but wonder now, when we see our
little earth belted with steam and lightning, how reluctantly the infant
intellect left its cradle to examine its surroundings. Wrapped in its
Mediterranean swaddlings, it crept forth timidly, tremblingly, slowly
gaining courage with experience, until, throwing off impediments, it
trod the earth in the fearless pride of manhood. Like all science,
philosophy, and religion, cosmography was at first a superstition.
Walled within narrow limits, as we have seen, by imaginary frost and
fire, shaken from fear of heaven above and hell beneath, there is little
wonder that the ancients dared not venture far from home; nor that, when
men began to explore parts unknown, there should appear that romance
of geography so fascinating to the Greek mind, that halo thrown by the
dimness of time and distance over strange seas and lands. From this time
to that of the adaptation of the magnet to purposes of navigation, about
a score of centuries, there was little progress in discovery.
Is it not strange how the secrets of nature, one after another, reveal
themselves according to man's necessities? Who would have looked for
the deliverance of pent-up humanity from certain mysterious qualities
in magnetic iron ore, which floated toward the north that side of a
cork on which it was placed? When Vasco da Gama and Columbus almost
simultaneously opened to Europe oceanic highways through which were
destined to flow the treasures of the eastern and the western Indies,
then it was that a new quality was discovered in the loadstone; for in
addition to its power to take up iron, it was found to possess the rare
virtue of drawing gold and silver from distant parts into the coffers
of European princes; then it was that paths were marked out across the
Sea of Darkness, and ships passed to and fro bearing the destroyers of
nations, and laden with their spoils.
CHAPTER II.
COLUMBUS AND HIS DISCOVERY.
1492-1500.
EARLY EXPERIENCES—THE COMPACT—EMBARKATION AT PALOS—THE
VOYAGE—DISCOVERY OF LAND—UNFAVORABLE COMPARISON WITH
THE PARADISE OF MARCO POLO—CRUISE AMONG THE ISLANDS—ONE
NATURE EVERYWHERE—DESERTION OF PINZON—WRECK OF THE
SANTA MARÍA—THE FORTRESS OF LA NAVIDAD ERECTED—RETURN
TO SPAIN—RIGHTS OF CIVILIZATION—THE PAPAL BULL
OF PARTITION—FONSECA APPOINTED SUPERINTENDENT OF
THE INDIES—SECOND VOYAGE—NAVIDAD IN RUINS—ISABELA
ESTABLISHED—DISCONTENT OF THE COLONISTS—EXPLORATIONS OF THE
INTERIOR—COASTING CUBA, AND DISCOVERY OF JAMAICA—FAILURE
OF COLUMBUS AS GOVERNOR—INTERCOURSE WITH SPAIN—DESTRUCTION
OF THE INDIANS—GOVERNMENT OF THE INDIES—DIEGO AND
BARTOLOMÉ COLON—CHARGES AGAINST THE ADMIRAL—COMMISSION
OF INQUIRY APPOINTED—SECOND RETURN TO SPAIN—THIRD
VOYAGE—TRINIDAD DISCOVERED—SANTO DOMINGO FOUNDED—THE
ROLDAN REBELLION—FRANCISCO DE BOBADILLA APPOINTED TO
SUPERSEDE COLUMBUS—ARBITRARY AND INIQUITOUS CONDUCT OF
BOBADILLA—COLUMBUS SENT IN CHAINS TO SPAIN.
In the developments of progress the agent, however subordinate to
the event, cannot fail to command our intelligent curiosity. The fact
is less one with us than the factor. The instrument is nearer us in
pulsating humanity than the event, which is the result of inexorable
causations wholly beyond our knowledge. That America could not have
remained much longer hidden from the civilized world does not lessen the
vivid interest which attaches to the man Columbus, as he plods along the
dusty highway toward Huelva, leading by the hand his boy, and bearing
upon his shoulders the more immediate destinies of nations.
Nor are we indifferent to the agencies that evolved the agent. Every
signal success springs from a fortuitous conjunction of talent
and opportunity; from a coalition of taste or training with the
approaching fancy or dominant idea of the times. While assisting his
father wool-combing, the youthful Genoese was toughening his sinews
and acquiring habits of industry; while studying geometry and Latin
at Pavia, while serving as sailor in the Mediterranean, or afterward
cruising the high seas, he was knitting more firmly the tissues of his
mind, and strengthening his courage for the life-conflict which was to
follow. Without such discipline, in vain from the north and south and
west might Progress come whispering him secrets; for inspiration without
action is but impalpable breath, leaving no impression, and genius
unseasoned by application decomposes to corruption all the more rank by
reason of its richness.
His marriage with the daughter of Bartolommeo Perestrello, a
distinguished navigator under Prince Henry; his map-making as means
of support; his residence on the isle of Porto Santo, and his interest
while there in maritime discovery; his conversations and correspondence
with navigators and cosmographers in various quarters; his zealous
study of the writings of Marco Polo, Benjamin of Tudela, and Carpini,
and his eager absorption of the fantastic tale of Antonio Leone, of
Madeira; his ponderings on ocean mysteries, and his struggles with
poverty; his audience of John of Portugal, and the treachery of that
monarch in attempting to anticipate his plans by secretly sending out a
vessel, and the deserved defeat which followed; his sending his brother
Bartolomé with proposals to England; his stealing from Lisbon with his
son Diego, lest he should be arrested for debt; his supposed application
to Genoa; his interviews with the dukes of Medina Sidonia and Medina
Celi, and the letter of the latter to Queen Isabella of Castile; his
visit to the court at Córdova, and the dark days attending it; the
conference of learned men at Salamanca, and their unfavorable verdict;
the weary waitings on the preoccupied sovereigns at Málaga and Seville;
the succor given at La Rábida, and the worthy prior's intercession with
the queen; the humble dignity of the mariner at Granada amidst scenes
of oriental splendor and general rejoicings, which only intensified his
discontent; the lofty constancy in his demands when once a royal hearing
was obtained; the fresh disappointment after such long delay, and the
proud bitterness of spirit with which he turned his back on Spain to
seek in France a patron for his schemes; the final appeal of Santángel,
who afterward assisted in obtaining the money, and the conversion of
Isabella, who now offered, if necessary, to pledge her jewels to meet
the charges of the voyage; the despatching of a royal courier after the
determined fugitive, who returned in joy to receive the tardy aid—these
incidents in the career of Columbus are a household story.
And therein, thus far, we see displayed great persistency of purpose by
one possessed of a conception so stupendous as to overwhelm well-nigh
the strongest; by one not over-careful in money-matters, or morality;
proud and sensitive whenever the pet project is touched, but affable
enough otherwise, and not above begging upon necessity. It was a long
time to wait, eighteen years, when every day was one of alternate hope
and despair; and they were not altogether worthless, those noiseless
voices from another world, which kept alive in him the inspiration that
oft-times now appeared as the broken tracery of a half-remembered dream.
[Sidenote: TERMS OF AGREEMENT.]
An agreement was made by the sovereigns and the mariner, that to
Columbus, his heirs and successors forever, should be secured the office
of admiral, and the titles of viceroy and governor-general of all the
lands and seas he should discover, with power to nominate candidates
from whom the sovereigns might choose rulers for the realms discovered;
that one tenth of the net returns of gold, pearls, or other commodities
brought therefrom should be his; that in disputes arising from the new
traffic he, or his lieutenant, should be sole arbitrator within his
domain, the high admiral of Castile being judge within his district;
and that by contributing one eighth of the cost of any enterprise to the
regions found by him he should receive one eighth the profits. To these
dignities and prerogatives was added the right of the discoverer, and
of his heirs, to prefix to their names the title 'Don,' which should
elevate them into respectability beside the grandees of Spain. This
agreement was signed by Ferdinand as well as by Isabella, although the
crown of Castile alone assumed the risk, and alone was to receive the
benefit.
* * * * *
It was not a common spectacle in those days along the southern
seaboard of Spain, that of science urging religion into its service.
Nevertheless, by royal order, reiterated by Peñalosa in person with
pronounced effect, the devil-fearers of Palos were forced to provide
ships and seamen for what they regarded as anything but an orthodox
adventure. This they did with the greatest reluctance.
Even under pressure of that civil and ecclesiastical system so
completely interwoven in Spain that to disobey one was rebellion against
both, even in the face of king and priest, these mechanical sea-farers,
who halted not before tangible danger in any form, shrank from the
awful uncertainty of a plunge into the mysteries of the dim, lowering,
unintelligible west. Then came bravely forward the brothers Pinzon, and
not only assisted in providing two ships, so that Queen Isabella, after
all, might wear her jewels while her deputy was scouring the high seas
for new dominions, but furnished Columbus with money to equip another
vessel and to pay his eighth of the charge which should secure him
one eighth of the profits—a service never sufficiently remembered or
rewarded by either Columbus, his masters, or successors.
[Sidenote: FIRST VOYAGE.]
The expedition comprised one hundred and twenty men, in three small
vessels, the _Santa María_, decked, and carrying the flag of the
admiral, and the _Pinta_ and _Niña_, open caravels, commanded by Martin
Alonso Pinzon and Vicente Yañez Pinzon respectively. Among others were
the inspector-general of the armament, Rodrigo Sanchez; the chief
alguacil, Diego de Arana; the royal notary, Rodrigo de Escobar; and
four pilots, Francisco Martin Pinzon, Sancho Ruiz, Pedro Alonso Niño,
and Bartolomé Roldan. The commander-in-chief with his tall, enduring
form bowed by an idea; his long, thin face, with its large, round eyes,
high forehead, straight, pointed nose; features, in which tenacity
and gloom struggled for the predominance, surrounded by thin locks and
gray beard—was scarcely a personage either to inspire confidence or win
affection. The squadron sailed from the port of Palos August 3, 1492.
But for the fact that it was the first, the voyage was quite
commonplace; the most serious occurrences being the breaking of a
rudder, which obliged the expedition to put in at the Canaries for
repairs, and the variation of the needle, which caused a little fright
among the pilots. The sea was tranquil, toward the last extremely so,
and the wind generally favorable; yet no small trepidation attended this
gradual loosening of hold upon the substantial world, and the drifting
daily farther and farther into the fathomless unknown. Hence it was with
the wildest joy that early in the morning of the 12th of October the cry
of Land! was heard, and that soon afterward the venturesome navigators
felt beneath their feet the indubitable isle to which they gave the name
San Salvador, taking possession for Castile.
Now the sovereigns had promised that he who first saw land should
be recompensed by a pension of ten thousand maravedís, equivalent to
thirty-six dollars. It was at two o'clock in the morning that Rodrigo de
Triana, a mariner on board the _Pinta_, gave the signal, the first that
proved true after several had been mistakenly made; whereupon he claimed
the reward. But previously, during the night, Columbus had fancied he
descried a fitful light that should be on some shore. On the strength
of this surmise he secured to himself the insignificant sum, which,
to say nothing of its justness, was not a very magnanimous proceeding
in so great a discoverer. We are told of Triana, that, burning under
a sense of wrong, after returning to Spain, he passed into Africa and
turned Mahometan. However this may have been, dawn had shown them the
island, which seemed itself but dawn, to be dispelled by the full sun's
rays when the night's dream had passed. Over the trackless waste of
sea, suspended between earth and sky, the good ships had felt their
way, until now, like goddesses, they sat at anchor on the other side of
Ocean.
* * * * *
Though this land was unlike the Zipangu of his dreams, Columbus was not
disposed to complain; but rather, midst tears and praises, to kiss the
earth, be it of whatsoever quality, and smile benignantly upon the naked
natives that crept timidly forward, wondering whether the ships were
monsters of the deep, or bright beings dropped from heaven.
Of a truth, it was a wonderful place, this India of Marco Polo that
the Genoese now sought. Intersected by rivers and canals, spanned by
bridges under which the largest ships might sail, were fertile provinces
fragrant with fruit and spices. Mangi alone boasted twelve thousand
cities with gorgeous palaces, whose pillars and roofs were emblazoned
in gold, and so situated as to be compassed within a few days' travel.
The cities and fortresses of Cathay were counted by tens of thousands,
and their busy population by millions. On every side were gardens and
luxurious groves; pleasure-boats and banqueting-barges floated on the
lakes, and myriads of white sails swept over the bays. The mountains
were veined with silver, the river-beds paved with gold, and pearls
were as common as pebbles. Sheep were as large as oxen, and oxen were
as large as elephants. Birds of brilliant plumage filled the enchanting
air, and strange beasts of beauty and utility roamed the forests. The
inhabitants were arrayed in silks and furs, and fed on luscious viands;
there were living springs that cured all diseases. The army of the great
Khan, the happy ruler of all these glories, was in number as the grains
of the sand which the sea surrounds; and as for vessels of war, and
horses, and elephants, there were a thousand times ten thousand. What a
contrast to such a creation was this low-lying strip of jungle-covered
sand, peopled by copper-hued creatures dwelling in huts, and sustaining
life by the natural products of the unkempt earth! This, however, was
but an outlying island of Cathay; the main-land of Asia could not be far
distant; in any event, here was India, and these people were Indians.
[Sidenote: THE TWO INDIAS COMPARED.]
There was little enough, now appearing, in the India thus far found
to enrich Spain. In their noses the natives displayed gold, always a
royal monopoly when discovered; and they brought cotton for barter,
on which the admiral immediately laid the same restriction. Being
informed, by signs, that the metal came from the south, after examining
the shore thereabout in boats, the Spaniards set sail on the 14th, took
possession of Santa María de la Concepcion on the 15th, of Fernandina,
now Exuma, the day following, and afterward of Isabela, now Isla Larga,
or Long Island; also of a group to which they gave the name Islas de
Arena. Soils and other substances, atmospheres and sunshines, were all
familiar; plants and animals, though differing in degree and kind, were
similar to those they had always been accustomed to see. One creation
was everywhere apparent; one nature; one rule. It was wonderful,
stupendous! And if these human kind have souls, what a mighty work is
here to fit them for eternity!
Crossing the Bahama Bank, they came on the 28th to Cuba, which Columbus
called Juana, and which, with its dense uprolling green spangled with
parrots, gay woodpeckers, and humming-birds, scarlet flamingoes and
glittering insects; its trees of royal palm, cocoanut, cedar, mahogany,
and shrubs of spicy fragrance; its unknown fruits and foods; its
transparent waters whose finny denizens flashed back the sunlight from
their variegated scales, all under the brightest of skies, all breathed
upon by softest airs, and lapped in serenest seas, was more like his
own Zipangu, if, indeed, it was not Mangi itself.
Coasting eastward, the _Pinta_ sailed away and left the other vessels,
and it was with deep chagrin that Columbus saw no attention paid
his signals to return. Pinzon had heard of gold-fields in advance of
him, and he was going to reap them. The wreck of the _Santa María_
a month afterward, leaving the admiral only the little _Niña_, made
his situation all the more critical, and made him feel more keenly
than ever the desertion. Nor was this the first indication of mutiny
and disruption among his people during the voyage. If the truth
must be told, the character of the man, though inured to the cruel
hardihood of the age, seems here to be undergoing change; else it was
not originally as either he or his friends have estimated. The new
and varied experiences amidst the new and varied phenomena attending
the idea and its consummation make it a matter of no wonder that his
head began to be a little turned. He had pondered painfully on what
Aristotle taught regarding the sphericity of the earth, on what Seneca
said about sailing to the Indies westwardly, and on the terrestrial
paradise placed by Dante at the antipodes of the holy city; and now he
was here among those happy regions of which so long ago philosophers
had spoken and poets sung. Under the inspiration of rare intelligence,
and by wonderful courage and force of will, this Genoese sailor had
brought to his own terms the world's proudest sovereigns. Success,
in his mind the most perfect, the most complete, was by this time
proved beyond peradventure. At the outset he had suspected himself the
special agent of the supernatural; now he was sure of it. It was meet,
therefore, that all men should fear and obey him. Impelled to activity,
he was impelled, if necessary, to severity. During the passage he had
deemed it expedient several times to mislead the sailors, who were
consequently backward about reposing in him the respect and confidence
due a commander. Suspicious of the Spanish sovereigns from the first,
his fears constantly increased as the magnitude of his discovery slowly
unfolded before him, that he should eventually be robbed of it. He was
jealous lest any of those who had shared with him the perils of the
adventure should secure to themselves some part of the honor or profit
attending it. He had quarrelled with the Pinzons, who, having staked
their money and lives on what was generally regarded a mad risk, thought
some consideration from the commander their due. The admiral's temper
was tamed somewhat by the very boldness of Pinzon's act; for when the
_Pinta_ returned from her cruisings, little was then said about it; but
if ever the opportunity should come, her commander must pay dearly for
his disobedience.
[Sidenote: SAILING AMONG THE ISLANDS.]
Cuba failed to display any opulent oriental city, but furnished tobacco
and maize, gifts from savagism to civilization as comforting, perhaps,
as any received in return. The mariners next discovered and coasted
Hayti, or Española, thus occupying the greater part of December. On the
northern side of the island, out of the wrecked _Santa María_ and her
belongings, Columbus built and equipped a fortress, which he called La
Navidad; and leaving there thirty-nine men under command of Diego de
Arana, with Pedro Gutierrez and Rodrigo de Escobedo, lieutenants, on
the 4th of January, 1493, he embarked for Spain. Those left behind were
expected by the ardent-minded admiral, during his absence, to obtain,
in trade, a ton of gold, beside discovering mines and spices.
Violent storms attended the homeward voyage; but on the 15th of March
the expedition reached Palos in safety, after touching at the Azores
and the coast of Portugal. Then followed rejoicings. Over Spain, over
Europe, the tidings flew: A New World to the westward! Bells rang and
choirs pealed hosannas. A New World for Spain; now were their Catholic
Majesties well paid for their losses and trials in connection with
Mahometans and Jews!
With six natives, and divers birds and plants and other specimens from
the Islands, Columbus set out for Barcelona, then the residence of the
Spanish sovereigns. Throughout the journey, the highway and houses were
thronged with spectators eager for a glimpse of the strange spectacle.
Arrived at court, the great mariner was most graciously received,
being permitted even to be seated in the presence of royalty. He
told his tale. It is said that all present wept. Columbus was as much
excited as any. In a delirium of joy he vowed within seven years to
appoint an army of four thousand horse and fifty thousand foot for the
rescue of Jerusalem, and to pay the cost out of his own pocket; but,
unfortunately, he never found himself in funds sufficient to fulfil
his pious promise. The original compact between the sovereigns and the
discoverer was confirmed, and to the latter was granted a family coat
of arms. While Columbus was fêted by the nobles, and all the world
resounded with his praises, Martin Alonso Pinzon lay a-dying; the reward
for his invaluable services, exceeding a hundred-fold all that Isabella
and Ferdinand together had done, being loss of property, loss of health,
the insults of the admiral, the scorn of the queen, all now happily
crowned by speedy death.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: A HAPPY PEOPLE.]
Never had nature made, within historic times, a paradise more perfect
than this Cuba and this Hayti that the Genoese had found. Never was a
sylvan race more gentle, more hospitable than that which peopled this
primeval garden. Naked, because they needed not clothing; dwelling
under palm-leaves, such being sufficient protection; their sustenance
the spontaneous gifts of the ever generous land and sea; undisturbed
by artificial curbings and corrections, and tormented by no ambitions,
their life was a summer day, as blissful as mortals can know. It was as
Eden; without work they might enjoy all that earth could give. Disease
and pain they scarcely knew; only death was terrible. In their social
intercourse they were sympathizing, loving, and decorous, practising
the sublimest religious precepts without knowing it, and obeying Christ
more perfectly than many who profess to serve him. With strangers
the men were frank, cordial, honest; the women artless and compliant.
Knowing no guile, they suspected none. Possessing all things, they gave
freely of that which cost them nothing. Having no laws, they broke none;
circumscribed by no conventional moralities, they were not immoral.
If charity be the highest virtue, and purity and peace the greatest
good, then were these savages far better and happier beings than any
civilization could boast. That they possessed any rights, any natural or
inherent privileges in regard to their lands or their lives; that these
innocent and inoffensive people were not fit subjects for coercion,
treachery, robbery, enslavement, and slaughter, was a matter which
seems never to have been questioned at that time by either discoverer,
adventurer, or ruler. However invalid in any of the Spanish courts might
have been the argument of a house-breaker, that in the room he entered
he discovered a purse of gold, and took it, Spaniards never thought of
applying such logic to themselves in regard to the possessions of the
natives in the new lands their Genoese had found.
What Spain required now was a title such as the neighboring nations of
Europe should recognize as valid. So far as the doctrine was concerned,
of appropriating to themselves the possessions of others, they were
all equally sound in it. Europe with her steel and saltpetre and
magnetic needle was stronger than naked barbarians, whose possessions
were thereupon seized as fast as found. The right to such robbery has
been held sacred since the earliest records of the human race; and it
was by this time legalized by the civilized nations. Savagism had no
rights which civilization was bound to respect. The world belonged not
to Christian or Mahometan, but to whatever idea, principle, or power
could take it. In none of their pretended principles, in none of their
codes of honor or ethics, was there any other ultimate appeal than brute
force; their deity they made to fit the occasion, whatever that might
be. This they did not know, however. They thought themselves patterns
of justice and fair morality; and all that troubled them was in what
attitude they would stand toward each other with regard to their several
discoveries and conquests. But while such was the recognized condition
of affairs at the beginning of the sixteenth century among the reckless
adventurers of Spain, such were not the teachings of the Church, nor
the views of the intelligent and right thinking men of the time. True,
the army of fortune-seekers who first rushed to the new world in search
of gold came for lust and plunder, but with them, and inspired with
very different motives, came the missionaries of the cross, pointing
the savages to civilization and a purer religion than their own. But
civilization and religion, it must be confessed, had little to recommend
them in the examples of unprincipled men who were ever present to give
the lie to the teachings of the priests.
[Sidenote: THE WORLD PARTITIONED BY THE POPE.]
Thus it was that the Spanish sovereigns, being Christian, applied
for a confirmation of title to Alexander VI., then sovereign pontiff
of Christendom, at the same time insinuating, in a somewhat worldly
fashion, that learned men regarded the rights of their Catholic
Majesties secure enough even without such confirmation. No valid
objections before the holy tribunal could be raised against Christian
princes powerful enough to sustain their pretensions to ownership while
propagating the true faith in heathen lands; but Pope Eugene IV. and
his successors had already granted Portugal all lands discovered by
Portuguese from Cape Bojador to the Indies. In order, therefore, to
avoid conflict, the bull issued the 2d of May, 1493, ceding Spain the
same rights respecting discoveries already granted Portugal, was on the
day following defined to this effect:—An imaginary line of demarcation
should be drawn from pole to pole, one hundred leagues west of the
Azores and Cape Verde Islands; all lands discovered east of that line
should be Portugal's, while west of that line all should belong to
Spain. Thus by a very mortal breath and the flourish of a pen, the
unknown world, with all its multitudes of interests and inhabitants,
was divided between these two sovereignties, occupying the peninsula of
south-western Europe; though in their wisdom they forgot that if the
world was round, Portugal in going east and Spain in going west must
somewhere meet, and might yet quarrel on the other side. Subsequently,
that is to say on the 7th of June, 1494, by treaty between Spain and
Portugal the papal line of partition was removed, making it three
hundred and seventy leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, Portugal
having complained of want of sea-room for southern enterprise. This
removal ultimately gave the Portuguese Brazil. And ecclesiastics claim
that care was ever exercised by the Spanish crown to comply with the
obligations thus laid upon it by this holy sanction.
Appointed to take charge of the affairs of the New World was Juan
Rodriguez de Fonseca, arch-deacon of Seville, and afterward patriarch
of the Indies. Although high in ecclesiastical preferment, he was a
bustling man of business, and ably filled the office during a period
of some thirty years. Of unflinching devotion to his sovereign, sedate,
stern in the accomplishment of his duty, and obliged as he was, in the
interests of the crown, to exercise occasional restraint on the rashness
or presumption of the conquerors, he incurred their enmity and was
reviled by their biographers. That he was retained so long in office by
such able monarchs as Ferdinand and Charles goes far to prove invalid
the charges of misrule and villainy so liberally made against him.
Associated with Fonseca was Francisco Pinelo, as treasurer, and Juan de
Soria as _contador_, or auditor. Their chief office was at Seville, with
a custom-house at Cádiz belonging to the same department. This was the
germ of the famous _Casa de Contratacion de las Indias_, or India House
of Trade, so long dominant in the government of the New World.
[Sidenote: THE SECOND VOYAGE.]
Thus all went swimmingly. Columbus found no difficulty in fitting out
a fleet for a second venture, a royal order being issued that all
captains, with their ships and crews, in all the Andalusian ports,
should hold themselves in readiness for that purpose. Seventeen vessels
sailed from Cádiz the 25th of September, 1493, having on board twelve
hundred persons,—miners, mechanics, agriculturists, and gentlemen,—with
horses, cattle, sheep, goats, hogs, and fowls; the seeds of vegetables,
of orchard fruits, of oranges, lemons, and grain for planting;
together with provisions, medicines, implements, goods for trade, arms,
ammunition, and all the requirements for founding a colony. Among the
passengers were Diego Colon, the admiral's brother, Bernal Diaz de Pisa,
contador, Fermin Cedo, assayer, and Alonso de Ojeda and Juan de la Cosa,
subsequently famous in New World discoveries; also twelve priests,
chief among whom was Bernardo Buil, a Benedictine monk, sent by the
pope as his apostolic vicar, with all the ornaments and vestments for
full service, which always had a wonderful effect upon the natives. The
work of conversion had already been begun by baptizing in solemn state
the six savages brought over by Columbus, Ferdinand and Isabella with
Prince Juan standing sponsors. The 3d of November the expedition reached
Dominica, so named from the day of arrival, Sunday. Next was discovered
an island to which Columbus gave the name of his ship, _Marigalante_;
then Guadalupe, where were tamed geese, and pine-apples, also human
bones, significant of the presence of the horror-breeding Caribs,
or cannibals. Thus cruising among these Caribbee Islands, and naming
them one after another, Columbus continued his way and finally came to
Navidad, only to find the fortress in ruins, its former occupants having
fallen victims to their own follies.
Choosing a site a little to the east of Navidad, still on the north
side of Hayti, the Spaniards landed their effects, and laid out a city,
which they called Isabela, surrounding it with ramparts. As soon as the
vessels could be laden with gold, they were to be sent back to Spain;
but the death of the Spaniards left at Navidad had somewhat marred
original plans.
While Columbus lay ill, directing affairs as best he might, early in
January, 1494, two parties under Ojeda and Gorvalan reconnoitred the
island, each in a different direction, and returning, reported gold.
As it was inconvenient to their anchorage, and as many of the colonists
were prostrate with disease, it was deemed best to let the ships go back
empty rather than detain them longer; hence, on the 2d of February,
twelve of the largest craft put to sea under command of Antonio de
Torres, having on board further specimens of the people and products
of the country. By this departure was sent a request for immediate
supplies.
Murmurs now arose against Columbus, the sick and disappointed ones
complaining most loudly that he had deceived them, had lured them
thither with false hopes to die. And they begged Diaz de Pisa, already
at the head of a faction, and Cedo, who said there was not gold in those
isles in paying quantities, to seize the remaining ships and sail with
them for Spain. But the admiral hearing of it, arrested Diaz, and held
him in irons on board one of the vessels to await trial in Spain.
Recovered from illness, Columbus left his brother Diego in command at
Isabela, and set out, at the head of four hundred men, for the golden
mountains of Cibao, in the interior of the island, intending there to
build a fortress, and to work the mines on an extensive scale. Arrived
at a favorable locality, where gold seemed plentiful in the brooks, the
Spaniards threw up a strong wooden fort, which they called Santo Tomás,
a piece of pleasantry aimed at the doubting assayer, Cedo. Leaving
in command Pedro Margarite, Columbus returned to Isabela. Afterward a
smaller post was built, called Magdalena, and the command was given to
Luis de Arriaga.
The natives could not welcome so large an invasion, which they now
clearly saw would bring upon them serious results. Thereupon they
withdrew from the vicinity of Santo Tomás, refusing all intercourse with
its inmates; and as a Spanish hidalgo could by no means work, even at
gold-gathering, success in that direction was not marked. Provisions
and medicine then began to fail, and fresh discontent arose, even Father
Buil arraying himself in opposition to the admiral.
As much to keep his people occupied as through any expectation of
profit, Columbus sent another expedition into the interior of Hayti, and
himself crossed to the south side of Cuba in three caravels, intending
thence to reach Cathay. Soon he discovered to the southward a lofty
isle, which he called at first Santa Gloria, then Santiago, but which
finally retained its native name, Jamaica, that is to say, Island of
Springs. After reaching nearly the western end of Cuba, thinking it
still the continent of Asia, and that possibly he might by that way
reach Spain, in which event he could then see what was beyond, he
coasted the south sides of Jamaica and Hayti, and returned to Isabela,
where he arrived insensible from excitement and fatigue. When he awoke
to bodily suffering, which for a time had been drowned in delirious
energy, there, to his great joy, he found his brother Bartolomé, who
had come from Spain with three well-laden ships to his assistance.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: COLONIZATION A FAILURE.]
Great events generally choose great men for their accomplishment, though
not unfrequently we see no small dust raised by an insignificant agent.
As a mariner and discoverer, Columbus had no superior; as colonist and
governor, he had by this time proved himself a failure. There are some
things great men cannot do as well as their inferiors. It was one thing
to rule at sea, and quite another to rule on shore. In bringing to his
India these unruly Spaniards, he had sown for himself the whirlwind.
Had he been more judicious in the selection of his followers, his
later days would have been more successful as well as more peaceful.
Discovery was his infatuation; he was never for a moment unattended by
a consuming curiosity to find a western way to civilized India. Had he
been possessed of sound practical judgment in the matter, of the same
knowledge of himself and of political affairs that he had of navigation,
he would have seen that he could not, at the same time, gratify his
passion for discovery and successfully govern colonies. In his fatal
desire to assume rulership, and upon the ill-understood reports of
simple savages, with no knowledge of the resources or capabilities of
the country, without definite purpose or mature plans, he had brought
upon himself an avalanche of woes. Beside his incapacity for such a
task, his position was rendered all the more trying by the fact that he
was a foreigner, whose arbitrary acts galled his impatient subordinates,
and finally wrought them to the pitch of open rebellion. The Spaniards
were quick enough to perceive that this Genoese sailor was in no wise
fitted to lay the foundation of a prosperous Spanish colony; and when
during his absence he left in command his brother, to whom attached no
prestige of high achievement to make up for his misfortune in not being
born in Spain, complications grew daily worse. Even the ecclesiastics
were against the admiral; for with a foresight born of a deep study of
human nature they saw that between the fires of the real and the unreal
this man was becoming mad. They saw the religious hypochondria, which
had already inflamed his intellect, now aggravated by the anxieties
incident to the government of a turbulent element under circumstances
unprecedented, undermining his health, and bringing rapidly upon him
those mental and physical distempers which rendered the remainder of
his life prolonged misery. Thus we may plainly see how Columbus brought
upon himself the series of calamities which are commonly found charged
to unscrupulous sovereigns and villainous rivals.
And thickly enough misfortunes were laid upon him on his return to
Isabela. Margarite, who had been ordered to explore the island, leaving
Ojeda in command at Santo Tomás, had abandoned himself to licentious
idleness, followed by outrages upon the natives, which notwithstanding
their pacific disposition had driven them to retaliation.
[Sidenote: TREATMENT OF THE NATIVES.]
And here was the beginning of these four centuries of such rank
injustice, such horrible atrocities inflicted by the hand of the
stronger upon the weaker, of the civilized upon the savage, that should
make a man blush to own kinship to a race so defiled before its maker
in whose image it was created.
It is the self-same story, old and new, from Española to Darien and
Mexico, from Brazil to Labrador, and from Patagonia to Alaska, by sailor
and cavalier, Spaniard and Englishman, by gold-hunter and fur-hunter—the
unenlightened red man welcoming with wonder his destroyer, upon whom
he is soon forced to turn to save himself, his wife, his children, but
only at last to fall by the merciless arm of development beneath the
pitiable destiny of man primeval.
Throwing off all pretence of allegiance to Columbus, when satiated
with his excesses, Margarite, with a mutinous crew at his heels and
accompanied by Father Buil, had taken such ships as best suited them
and had departed for Spain. Two _caciques_, or native chieftains,
Guatiguana, and Caonabo the Carib, with their followers had arisen in
arms, had killed some of the Spaniards, had besieged Magdalena and Santo
Tomás, and had even cast an ominous eye on Isabela. Such were the chief
occurrences at the settlement during the absence of the admiral.
First of all, Columbus made his brother Bartolomé _adelantado_, that is
to say, leader of an enterprise, or governor of a frontier province.
Then he sent relief to the fortress of Magdalena, and established
another military post near where was subsequently Santiago, which he
called Concepcion. Later the chain was continued by building other
posts; one near the Rio Yaquí, called Santa Catalina, and one on the
river Yaquí, called Esperanza. Meanwhile Ojeda offered to take the
redoubtable Carib, Caonabo, by stratagem; which was accomplished,
while he was surrounded by a multitude of warriors, by first winning
the admiration and confidence of the cacique, and then on the plea of
personal ornamentation and display obtaining his consent to wear some
beautiful bright manacles, and sit bound behind Ojeda on his steed; in
which plight he was safely brought by the dashing cavalier at the head
of his horsemen into Isabela.
About this time Antonio de Torres arrived with four ships from Spain,
and was sent back with the gold which had been collected, and five
hundred Indians to be sold as slaves. By this departure went Diego Colon
to refute the charges of incompetency and maladministration now being
preferred against his brother at court.
Though suffering from a fresh attack of fever, on the 27th of March,
1495, accompanied by the adelantado and all his available forces,
Columbus set out from Isabela to subjugate the caciques of the island,
who had combined to extirpate the Spaniards. Charging the naked red
men amidst the noise of drum, trumpet, and halloo, with horse and
bloodhound, lance, sabre, and firelock, a peace was soon conquered.
Multitudes of the inhabitants were butchered, and upon the rest
was imposed such cruel tribute that they gradually sank beneath the
servitude. But when the white men thus had the domain to themselves,
they did not know what to do with it. It was not for them to till the
soil, or labor in the mines; hence famine threatened, and they were
finally reduced to the last extremity.
There is little wonder, under the circumstances, that orders were issued
in Spain to depose Columbus, first by the appointment of a commission
of inquiry, and finally by removal.
[Sidenote: GOVERNMENT OF THE INDIES.]
Thus far the government of the Indies, as the New World began to be
called, had been administered solely by the admiral, according to
agreement, with Fonseca as superintendent in Spain. None but they were
permitted to freight or despatch any vessel to the New World. Columbus
was authorized to appoint two subordinate officers subject to royal
sanction; and yet the sovereigns took offense when he named Bartolomé
adelantado, which office was not that of lieutenant-governor, as many
writers aver, but nearer that of territorial governor, with political
as well as military powers, usually appointed by and subject only to
the king. Assuming a certain degree of state, the admiral appeared at
Isabela richly dressed, with ten _escuderos de á pié_, or squires of
foot, and twenty _familiares_, composing his civil and military family.
He had been directed before leaving Spain to appoint in each of the
several settlements or colonies which should be planted an _alcalde_,
or justice, exercising the combined duties of mayor and judge, with
jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases, appeal being to the admiral;
also an _alguacil mayor_, or high sheriff; and, if necessary, an
_ayuntamiento_, or town council. All edicts, orders, and commissions
must be issued in the name of the sovereigns, countersigned by the
notary, with the royal seal affixed. The admiral had been further
directed to build a warehouse where the royal stores should be kept,
and all traffic should be subject to his direction. When he sailed upon
his Cuban expedition he left for the direction of the colony a junta,
of which his brother Diego was president, and Alonso Sanchez Carvajal,
Juan de Luxan, Pedro Fernandez Coronel, and Father Buil, councillors.
Diego Colon was a well-meaning man, gentle and discreet, approaching in
visage and dress nearer the priest than the cavalier; he was neither
shrewd nor energetic. Bartolomé was quite the opposite, and in many
respects was the ablest of the brothers. Powerful in mind and body,
authoritative and determinate in demeanor, generous in disposition,
fearless in spirit, a thorough seaman, a man of no narrow worldly
experience, fairly educated, and talented with the pen, he was neither
the amiable, inefficient Diego, nor the dreamy, enthusiastic admiral.
Quick to notice in their deputy any indication of misrule, or undue
assumption of authority, their Majesties did not fail to lend an
attentive ear to the charges preferred against him. Yet the record
does not show from first to last that either Isabella or Ferdinand
ever really desired or intended to do Columbus injustice or injury.
When Torres returned from Spain, after the first accusation had
been made, the sovereigns, besides a letter expressing the warmest
confidence in the discoverer, and high consideration for the affairs
of the colony, sent a special _real provision_ ordering all to obey
the admiral as themselves, under penalty of ten thousand maravedís for
every offence. When further accusations came, instead of divesting him
of his authority, they sent as commissioner of inquiry Juan Aguado,
a warm friend of the admiral. Often they checked Fonseca's too harsh
measures with regard to Columbus and his brothers, and interposed their
royal protection from such officers as acted too severely under the
exasperating folly of the admiral. To satisfy the discoverer would have
been impossible for any patron, so wild were his desires, so chimerical
his plans, so injudicious his acts.
* * * * *
Aguado arrived at Isabela in October. He brought four caravels laden
with supplies, and Diego Colon, passenger. Soon it was noised abroad
that the conduct of the admiral was to be questioned, whereat both white
men and red rejoiced. Aguado could but see the pitiable state of things
upon the island, idleness, poverty, excesses, and disobedience among the
colonists, folly and mismanagement among the rulers, and seeing, could
but report accordingly; for which, and for no other reasons that I am
able to discover, the biographers of Columbus heap upon the commissioner
opprobrious epithets.
When Aguado returned to Spain, Columbus accompanied him to make such
excuses before the sovereigns as best he might. They embarked from
Isabela March 10, 1496, leaving the adelantado in command, and carrying
with them two hundred and twenty-five disaffected colonists, and a
number of Indian captives, among whom was the proud and once powerful
chieftain, Caonabo, so treacherously taken by Ojeda. Contrary winds and
starvation attended them, Caonabo dying during the voyage. Arrived at
Cádiz in June, the admiral found Pedro Alonso Niño about to sail with
three caravels for Hayti. Niño carried out more priests, and brought
back more slaves.
Columbus appeared in Spain in a Franciscan garb and with dejected
demeanor. To all the world, except to himself, it was by this time
evident that his gorgeous India was a myth, and settlement on the
supposition of its existence a mistake. He seemed now dazed by reverses,
as formerly he had been dazed by successes. Nevertheless, he continued
to make as much as possible of his discoveries, parading a brother of
Caonabo in a broad gold collar with a massive gold chain attached.
Still the sovereigns were gracious. They scarcely alluded to the
complaints and ever-increasing charges against the admiral, but
confirmed anew his dignities, enlarged his perquisites, and showed
him every kindness. The title of adelantado was formally vested by
them in Bartolomé. When asked for more ships and money, they readily
granted both; moreover, they offered the admiral a tract of land in
Hayti, twenty-five by fifty leagues, which, however, he declined; they
offered him sixty sailors, a hundred and forty soldiers, one hundred
miners, mechanics, and farmers, and thirty women, the services of all
to be paid by the crown. But because there was some delay, occasioned
by the operations in Italy and the armada for Flanders, the biographers
of the admiral again break out in abuse of the sovereigns and their
servants. The truth is, Ferdinand and Isabella stood by the Genoese
much longer than did their subjects. For example, when certain millions
of maravedís, equivalent to over a hundred thousand dollars to-day,
had been appropriated, and eight vessels equipped, so unpopular had
the admiral and his enterprises become, that it was found necessary to
press sailors into the service, and empty the prisons for colonists.
And it was only when their admiral, viceroy, and governor of the Indies
so far forgot himself, when on the point of sailing, as publicly, and
with his own hand and foot, to strike down and kick Jimeno de Berviesca,
an official under Fonseca, that the sovereigns began to realize the
unfitness of Columbus for the management of colonies. It was a serious
offense to attack a public servant; and when this was done under the
very eyes of royalty, and by the man they had so delighted to honor, the
truth came home to them, and they never afterward regarded the Genoese
with the same degree of favor. Yet for his great merits, his genius,
enthusiasm, and perseverance, and for the glory unparalleled conferred
by him on Spain, they would ever be to him just and generous. He could
never become again the pauper pilot, as he had been called at Granada
while begging help for his first voyage.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: THIRD VOYAGE.]
Two vessels were despatched to the colony under Pedro Fernandez Coronel
early in 1498. On the 30th of May Columbus embarked from San Lúcar
with six vessels, arrived at the northern seaboard of South America,
and discovered there the isle of Trinidad the 31st of July, sailed
through the gulf of Paria, where gold and pearls were seen in profusion,
discovered the Margarita Islands, and came to Hayti, arriving off the
river Ozema, on the southern side of the island, the 30th of August.
Prior to the last departure of the admiral for Spain, gold had been
discovered in this vicinity, and during his absence a military post,
called San Cristóbal, had been planted there, and at the adjacent
harbor a fort built, which was named Santo Domingo, and which was from
this time the capital of the Indies. At intervals during the past two
years, the adelantado at the head of his marauders had scoured the
island, collecting the quarterly tribute, and making observation on such
measures as he thought might increase the same. Insurrections had been
occasionally organized by the caciques, but were usually stifled by the
prompt and politic action of the adelantado. Many of the colonists had
gradually relaxed in their loyalty to Columbus, until finally, at the
instigation of Francisco Roldan, they declared their independence of the
adelantado, though still acknowledging fealty to Spain. After creating
no small disturbance about Concepcion and Isabela, Roldan had retired
with his band to the province of Jaraguá.
[Sidenote: AFFAIRS AT SANTO DOMINGO.]
On landing at Santo Domingo, the admiral first proclaimed his approval
of the adelantado's measures, and then set about to pacify the
colonists. With the common people, many officers of trust had joined the
revolt of Roldan. Columbus offered amnesty to all, which was at first
refused, and letters from both sides were sent to Spain. But at length
there was reconciliation; Roldan became a partisan of Columbus, and
assisted in subduing other hostile factions, which resulted in flinging
Adrian de Moxica off the battlements of Fort Concepcion.
The distracted state of the colony, the continued charges against
Columbus, and the inadequate returns from large outlays, impelled
the sovereigns to send out another commission with power to punish
offenders, civil and criminal, and, if necessary, to supersede the
admiral in the government. The commissioner chosen for this purpose was
Francisco de Bobadilla, an arrogant, shallow-minded man, who delighted
rather in degrading merit than in exercising justice. He was authorized
by letters patent to acquaint himself concerning the truth of the
rebellion against the admiral; what robberies, cruelties, or other
overt acts had been committed; he was directed to seize the person and
sequestrate the property of any offender, or punish in any way he might
deem best. A provisional letter was addressed by the sovereigns to the
admiral of the ocean sea, ordering him to surrender to the commissioner
all forts, arms, ships, houses, cattle, or other public property, which
letter was to be used only if necessary. Bobadilla, accompanied by a
body-guard of twenty-five men, sailed with two caravels in July, 1500,
and arrived at Santo Domingo on the 23d of August. By this opportunity
some of the Indians sent over by Columbus as slaves were returned in
charge of six friars. It is doubtful whether the enslavement of the red
man could ever have been made profitable, but whether it could or not,
the Catholic Church is entitled to much credit for thus promptly setting
its foot upon the diabolical traffic which had already received the
approval of some of the first jurists of the day. Indeed the doctrine
that the Indians were not endowed with souls was rapidly spreading,
and had found many believers, and had not the pope fortunately at this
juncture decided against the proposition, the subject of Indian slavery
would not have been so easily or so quickly settled.
[Sidenote: UNWARRANTED CONDUCT OF BOBADILLA.]
Among the first objects to meet the eye of Bobadilla, on landing, were
the bodies of two Spaniards swinging from gibbets, which argued not very
favorably for the quietude of the island. Columbus was absent at Fort
Concepcion; the adelantado and Roldan were pursuing rebels in Jaraguá;
Diego Colon, who was in charge at Santo Domingo, was peremptorily
commanded to surrender certain prisoners, which he refused to do until
the admiral, whose commission was higher than that of Bobadilla, and
under whom he served, should order it.
Thereupon Bobadilla broke open the jail, and the prisoners were finally
set at liberty. He not only assumed the custody of the crown property,
but he entered the house of Columbus, took possession of his effects,
and made his residence there. He sided with the late insurgents, giving
ear only to them. Next he ordered to appear before him the admiral,
who came with all quietness, and was immediately ironed and cast into
prison. The brothers of Columbus met the same fate. It was a most
villainous proceeding on the part of Bobadilla, wholly unauthorized,
wholly unnecessary. Columbus was condemned before he was tried. While in
the act of coming forward of his own accord, not with hostile front, but
unattended, he was seized, manacled, and incarcerated. It was not until
afterward that he was charged with inflicting on the colonists, even on
hidalgos, oppressive labor, abuse, and cruel punishments; with failing
to provide them sufficient food; with opposing royal authority; with
secreting gold and pearls; and with unjust treatment of the natives,
making unnecessary war upon them, levying iniquitous tribute, preventing
their conversion, and sending them as slaves to Spain. Some went so far
as to hint at an intended transfer of allegiance to some other power.
But were all the calumnies true, twice told, which vile, revengeful men
had heaped upon him, he would not have merited the treatment that he now
received at the hand of their Majesties' agent. Ever loyal, high-minded,
and sincere, ever performing his duties to the best of his ability,
the worst that can be truthfully said of him is that he was unfitted
by temperament and training, unfitted by his genius, by those very
qualities which made him so superior to other men in other directions,
for organizing in a tropical wilderness that social thrift upon which
might be built a staid community out of the ignorant, presumptuous, and
desperate element fresh from conflicts with Jews and Moors.
After having been subjected to much insult and indignity, the three
brothers were placed on shipboard and sent to Spain. Andrés Martin,
master of the caravel, offered to remove the manacles, but the admiral
said no. It was by the king's agent the irons were put on; it must be
by the king's order if ever they are taken off. "And I will always keep
these chains," he added with proud bitterness, "as memorials of reward
for faithful services."
Both Ferdinand and Isabella and all the people were shocked to see the
illustrious discoverer in such a plight. Immediately the sovereigns
heard of it the chains were stricken off, and the prisoners released.
From the odious abasement into which he had been unjustly thrust by an
infamous agent, Columbus was once more lifted high into favor by the
sovereigns, whose moist eyes testified their hearts' sincerity.
CHAPTER III.
DISCOVERY OF DARIEN.
RODRIGO DE BASTIDAS—EXTENSION OF NEW WORLD PRIVILEGES—THE
ROYAL SHARE—JUAN DE LA COSA—SHIPS OF THE EARLY
DISCOVERERS—COASTING DARIEN—THE TERRIBLE TEREDO—WRECKED
ON ESPAÑOLA—SPANISH MONEY—TREATMENT OF BASTIDAS BY
OVANDO—ACCUSED, AND SENT TO SPAIN FOR TRIAL—HE IS IMMEDIATELY
ACQUITTED—FUTURE CAREER AND CHARACTER OF BASTIDAS—THE ARCHIVES
OF THE INDIES—THE SEVERAL COLLECTIONS OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS
IN SPAIN—THE LABORS OF MUÑOZ AND NAVARRETE—BIBLIOGRAPHICAL
NOTICES OF THE PRINTED COLLECTIONS OF NAVARRETE,
TERNAUX-COMPANS, SALVÁ AND BARANDA, AND PACHECO AND CÁRDENAS.
The first Spaniard to touch the territory which for the purposes of my
work I have taken the liberty to denominate the Pacific States of North
America was Rodrigo de Bastidas, a notary of Triana, the gypsy suburb
of Seville.
[Sidenote: THE NEW WORLD OPENED TO SETTLEMENT.]
Although the discoveries of Columbus had been made for Castile, and
Castilians regarded their rights to the new lands superior to those
of any others, even other inhabitants of Spain; and although at first
none might visit the New World save those authorized by Columbus or
Fonseca; yet, owing to inadequate returns from heavy expenditures, and
the inability of the admiral properly to control colonization in the
several parts of the ever-widening area, at the solicitation of several
persons desirous of entering the new field of commerce and adventure at
their own charge, on the 10th of April, 1495, the sovereigns issued a
proclamation granting native-born subjects of Spain permission to settle
in Hayti, or Española,[III-1] as I shall continue to call the island,
and to make to other parts private voyages of discovery and trade, under
royal license. The regulations were that the vessels so sailing should
be equipped under royal inspection, that they should depart only from
the port of Cádiz, and that they should carry one or two crown officers.
The sovereigns retained, without payment, one tenth of the tonnage, and
were to receive one tenth of the gross returns. Settlers on Española
were to receive grants of land, and one year's provision; of the gold
they gathered they were to pay two thirds to the crown; on all other
products one tenth. Although this step was taken without consulting
Columbus, it was the aim of the sovereigns fully to respect his rights
in the matter; therefore, and in lieu of his property in one eighth of
all the tonnage, for every seven vessels thus privately adventured he
was privileged to despatch one on his own account. The admiral still
complaining, such parts of the proclamation as in any wise interfered
with his rights were revoked, and his former privileges confirmed, the
2d of June, 1497.[III-2]
Among those to take advantage of this permission, beside Bastidas, was
Alonso de Ojeda, who embarked with four vessels from Spain in May, 1499,
in company with Juan de la Cosa and Amerigo Vespucci, sailed along the
seaboard of South America from Paria and the Pearl Coast, discovered by
Columbus, to the gulf of Venezuela, so called because like Venice the
native villages were built over the water. At Cape de la Vela, Ojeda
left the coast and crossed to Española, whence he was driven off by
Roldan at the command of Columbus. He reached Spain in June, 1500; and
though his ships were crowded with slaves, after paying expenses there
were left but five hundred ducats to divide among fifty-five persons.
Sailing in a caravel of only fifty tons, a few days later than Ojeda,
were Pedro Alonso Niño and Cristóbal Guerra, who, following the track
of Columbus and Ojeda to the Pearl Coast, thence crossed to Margarita,
returned to the main-land and coasted Cumaná, and finally returned to
Spain, arriving about two months before Ojeda, well laden with gold and
pearls. This was the first really profitable voyage, pecuniarily, to
the New World. Then there was Vicente Yañez Pinzon, who sailed in four
caravels in December, 1499, and shortly after Diego de Lepe, in two
vessels, both going to Brazil.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: VOYAGE OF BASTIDAS.]
Quite exceptional to the ordinary adventurer was Bastidas. He was a man
of standing in the community, possessed of some means himself and having
wealthy friends; he was intelligent and influential, and withal humane,
even Las Casas admitting that no one ever accused him of illtreating
the Indians.
The friends of the honest notary, among them Juan de Ledesma, were
ready enough to join him, pecuniarily, in a venture to the famous Pearl
Coast, as the South American shore of the admiral's third voyage was
now called. Obtaining from Fonseca's office a royal license,[III-3]
and enlisting the coöperation of Juan de la Cosa, already veteran in
western pilotage, Bastidas equipped two caravels,[III-4] embarked at
Cádiz in October, 1500, took on board wood, water, meat, and cheese at
Gomera, and steering a little north of the admiral's last track, came
to a green isle, which he called Isla Verde, and reached the mainland
near Venezuela. Coasting westward, he passed Santa Marta, and arrived
at the Magdalena River in March, 1501, so naming it on arrival from the
day, which was that of the woman's conversion. There he narrowly escaped
shipwreck. Continuing, and trading on the way, he found the ports of
Zamba and Coronados—the latter so called because the natives wore large
crowns—the islands of San Bernardo, Barú, and the Arenas, off Cartagena
Bay. Next he saw Fuerte and tenantless Tortuga, touched at the port of
Cenú, passed Point Caribana, entered the gulf of Urabá, and saw the
_farallones_, or craggy islet peaks, rising abruptly from the water
near the Darien shore. Thus far from Cape de la Vela he had discovered
one hundred and fifty leagues[III-5] of new seaboard. And because when
the tide was low the water was fresh, he called the place Golfo Dulce.
Thus came the Spaniards upon the isthmus that unites the two Americas;
and along it they sailed to Point Manzanilla, in which vicinity were El
Retrete and Nombre de Dios.[III-6]
[Sidenote: GLORIES OF THE ISTHMUS.]
It is a balmy beginning, this of these men from Spain, of that
intercontinental commerce which is shortly to bring destruction on one
side and retrogression on the other; a commerce which shall end only
with the next general cataclysm. Threading their way among islands
smothered in foliage, which seemed upon the glossy water-surface as
floating fragments of the thickly matted verdure of the mainland,
listening to notes unfamiliar to their ears, and seeing these strange
men and women so like and yet so unlike Spaniards, they find themselves
wondering whether they are in the world or out of it. We who so well
know our little planet and its ways can scarcely imagine what it was in
the darkness to be taken up at Seville, and put down amidst the magic
play of light and shade at Darien. Probably now the world was round; yet
still it might be fungiform, or crescent-shaped, or amorphous, having
a smooth or ragged edge, from which a fearful slipping-off might any
moment ensue. All they can know is what they see, and that they cannot
half know, for they can scarcely more than half see or feel or smell.
Some part of the perpendicular rays of the incandescent sun falling on
their toughened skins they can feel; some part of the water that from
the surcharged reservoirs of low-lying clouds so frequently and freely
pours upon the spot whence it is pumped by this same vertical sun. They
can turn their bewildered eyes toward the south and see beyond its clean
white border the mainland stretching off in billows of burnished green
to the far-away hazy horizon, where like a voluptuous beauty it imprints
a kiss upon the blushing sky; they may lie in the gray mist of evening
and dream, and dream, their minds—how many removes from the intelligence
of the impatient sea and the self-tuned life upon the shore? Or they may
drift about in the amber light of a soft vaporous morning without much
dreaming; one thing at least to them is real, and that is gold. Without
the aid of divine revelation they fathom the difference between the
precious solid substance and hollow brass. So do the savages, thinking
the latter much the prettier; and thus both sides, each believing the
others fools and well cheated, are happy in their traffic. The Spaniards
are enchanted less by the lovely garb in which nature everywhere greets
them than by the ease with which the golden harvest is gathered. Thus
all betokens the most flattering success when a luckless event casts a
shadow over their bright fortunes.
The two ships were found to be leaking badly. An examination was made,
when the bottoms were found pierced by teredos;[III-7] and thus before
they knew it their vessels were unfit for service. Hoping still to reach
Cádiz, Bastidas immediately set sail, touched at Jamaica for wood and
water, and continued his voyage as far as Contramaestre, an islet one
league distant from Española, where he was obliged to anchor and repair
his ships. Again embarking for Spain, he was met by a gale which threw
him back upon the island. Buffeted in a second attempt, he ran the
ships for safety into the little port of Jaraguá, where they filled and
sank, the loss in vessels, slaves, Brazil-wood, cloth, and gold, being
not less than five millions of maravedís.[III-8] For notwithstanding
the estimable reputation for piety, justice, and humanity which he
has always borne, the good Bastidas did not scruple gently to entrap
on board his ships, along the shore of Darien, several scores of
unsuspecting natives, to be sold as slaves; nor, having thus exercised
his virtues in the klopemania of the day, did he scruple to abandon
with his sinking ships the greater portion of these innocent wretches
in order to save the more of his gold, which was deemed of greater
proximate and certain value than the bodies or even the souls of the
heathen.
Thus observing everywhere, as perforce we must as we proceed, the
magnanimity and high morality with which our so prized and petted
civilization greeted weak, defenseless, and inoffensive savagism, we
are prepared when shipwrecked mariners are thrown upon a distant isle
inhabited by their own countrymen, subjects of the same sovereigns—we
are prepared by their reception, which we shall presently see, to
exclaim with uplifted hands, Behold, how these brethren love one
another!
After burning superfluous ammunition, the Spaniards gathered up
their valuables, and placing them on the backs of such captives as
for that purpose they had kindly permitted to live, set out in three
divisions over separate routes, so as to secure a more liberal supply
of provisions on the way, for Santo Domingo, distant seventy leagues.
In his license, as we have seen, Bastidas was authorized to trade only
in lands discovered by himself. But on the way his followers with their
trinkets had purchased food from the natives; for which offence, on
his arrival at Santo Domingo, Bastidas was seized by Bobadilla and cast
into prison. In vain did all the shipwrecked company protest that they
had bought only such articles as were necessary for their nourishment
during the march. To their affirmations the governor turned a deaf ear;
and as Bobadilla was about to depart for Spain, the notary was ordered
thither for trial, sailing in July, 1502.
Before the sovereigns Bastidas found no difficulty in justifying his
conduct; and so rich were the returns from his traffic with the natives
of Darien, that notwithstanding the unfortunate termination of the
adventure he was enabled to pay a large sum into the royal treasury. For
their important successes, to Rodrigo de Bastidas was awarded an annual
pension of fifty thousand maravedís, and to Juan de la Cosa a similar
sum with the title of alguacil mayor of Urabá, all to be paid them out
of returns from the new lands which they had found. "Such," remarks
Irving, "was the economical generosity of King Ferdinand, who rewarded
the past toils of his adventurous discoverers out of the expected
produce of their future labors."[III-9]
[Sidenote: ARCHIVES OF THE INDIES.]
The most fertile source of information relative to the early affairs
of America is the _Archives of the Indies_, a general term comprising
various collections in various places. From this source many writers
have drawn, and are still drawing; many documents have been printed,
and many yet remain to be printed. Altogether the collections are very
numerous, as the government required full records, and in some cases
copies, to be kept of official documents concerning discovery, conquest,
and settlement. The several council-chambers and public offices where
the business was transacted were the first depositories of these papers,
the chief places then being Seville, Cádiz, and Madrid. In 1566 Philip
II. ordered all collections, ecclesiastic and secular, to be united,
and deposited in the fortress of Simancas. Again in 1717, when all the
councils were consolidated in one, Felipe V., who founded the _Academia
de la Historia_, among other things for the gathering and preserving
of materials for history, directed all papers to be conveyed annually
to the _Archivo de Simancas_. These provisions could not have been
fully carried out, or else a very extensive system of copying must have
been practised; for later, when the Archives were thrown open to the
search of historians, the accumulation at Simancas, though large, did
not appear to be much greater than at some other places. Further than
this, there were family archives in the houses of those who had played
prominent parts in public affairs, and ecclesiastical relaciones in the
convents of the several orders, of little less importance than public
records. And while the government insisted on the making of complete
records, and observed great care in preventing their contents from being
known, especially to foreigners, little pains was taken to preserve
them from damage or destruction, or to arrange them for convenient
reference. Therefore when they came to light it was in the form of
bulky masses of unassorted, worm-eaten, and partially illegible papers.
Many documents, mentioned by contemporary writers, are known to have
been lost, and their contents blotted from existence. Fernando VI.,
1746-1759, commissioned Burriel and Santiago Palomares to examine the
archives of the kingdom and to copy and form into a collection such of
the manuscripts as they should deem best. This collection was placed
in the _Biblioteca Nacional_ at Madrid. Other collections were made
during the two following reigns by Abella, Traggia, Velazquez, Muñoz,
Navarrete, Sans, Vargas Ponce, and Villanueva, which found lodgment in
various localities.
The early chroniclers of the Indies picked up their knowledge as best
they might, by observation, by conversation, and by the examination
of written evidence. Las Casas and Oviedo spent much time in the New
World; Peter Martyr had access to whatever existed, beside talking with
everybody who had been to America; Gomara copied much from Oviedo.
Everything was at the disposal of Herrera as crown historiographer,
as a matter of course, though he did not always make the best use of
his opportunities. Gashard affirms that both Cabrera and Herrera were
ignorant of the existence of many of the most valuable documents of
their day. Ramusio, Hakluyt, Purchas, and others, succeeded in getting
now and then an original paper on the Indies to print in their several
collections. Among the first English historians who attempted for
purposes of history to utilize the Archives of the Indies was William
Robertson, who published the _History of the Reign of the Emperor
Charles_, London, 1769; and in 1777, his _History of America_, 2 vols.
4to, several editions appearing subsequently also in 8vo. Robertson was
a Scotch clergyman of great learning and ability. His style was elegant
and vigorous, and he was by far the most philosophic writer on America
up to his time. Although his statements are full of errors, intensified
by dogmatism, but for which he cannot always be blamed, all who have
come after him have profited by his writings; and some of these, indeed,
have reaped richer rewards than he to whom they owed their success, and
with far less labor.
[Sidenote: ROBERTSON AND MUÑOZ.]
Early in his work Mr Robertson applied to the proper authorities at
Madrid, Vienna, and St Petersburg for access to material. Germany and
Russia responded in a spirit of liberality, but Spain would none of
it. In 1775 Robertson ascertained that the largest room occupied by
the _Archivos de Simancas_ was filled with American papers, in 873
bundles; that they were concealed from strangers with solicitous care,
Spanish subjects even being denied access without an order from the
crown; and that no copies could be obtained except upon the payment
of exorbitant fees. However, through the assistance of Lord Grantham,
English ambassador at Madrid, and by preparing a set of questions
to be submitted to persons who had lived in America, much new and
important information was elicited, and copies of certain manuscripts
were obtained. The letters of Cortés, and the writings of Motolinia,
Mendieta, and others, which Robertson used in manuscript, have since
been printed.
It is greatly to be regretted that the learned Juan Bautista Muñoz
did not live to complete his _Historia del Nuevo Mundo_, only the
first volume of which appeared. This was published in Madrid, in 1793,
bringing his work down to 1500. Muñoz was born near Valencia in 1745,
graduated at the University, and in 1779 was commissioned by the king
to write a history of America, all public and private material being
placed at his disposal by royal order. Many papers were wanting in
the archives of the department of the Indies in Madrid; whereupon he
went to Simancas, Seville, Cádiz, and other towns, armed with a royal
_cédula_, which opened to him family and monastic accumulations as
well as all public depositories. So great was the confusion in which
he found the royal archives, that it seemed to him as if they had been
disarranged purposely to hide what they contained. Even in the indices
of the _Archivo Secreto del Consejo de Indias_ there was scarcely
any indication of papers belonging to the earlier American periods.
Nevertheless, by persistent search, mass after mass of rich material was
unearthed in the secret archives as well as in the _Real Casa Audiencia
de la Contratacion_, the archives at Simancas, the royal libraries of
Madrid and the Escorial, the _Contaduría Principal_ of the _Audiencia de
Indias_ in Cádiz, the _Archivo General de Portugal_, the monastery of
Monserrate, the colleges of San Bartolomé and Cuenca at Salamanca, and
San Gregorio at Valladolid, the cathedral of Palencia, the Sacromonte of
Granada, and in the convents of San Francisco of Tolosa in Guipúzcoa,
Santo Domingo of Málaga, and San Acacio, San José, and San Isidro del
Campo of Seville, until it may be said of him that his efforts were
buried beneath the magnitude of their invocation. Then it was that he
found he had undertaken greater things than he could accomplish. Even
with the aid of government he could not master the confused masses;
for money and men unlimited cannot accomplish everything without time.
The indefatigable Muñoz worked faithfully; the king complained of the
meagre results; the author died doing his best, and his work to this
day remains undone. During his labors he made an extensive collection
of papers, memorials, and other manuscripts relating to America, known
as the _Coleccion de Muñoz_, which he once intended to publish, but this
with a portion of his history was left in manuscript. Irving states that
the papers of Muñoz were left with Señor Uguina, and Ternaux-Compans
claims to have obtained all of Uguina's manuscripts; but Prescott
asserts that the collection of Muñoz was deposited in the archives of
the Royal Academy of History at Madrid, and was there augmented by the
manuscripts of Vargas Ponce, obtained chiefly from the archives of the
Indies at Seville. Prior to 1793 the _Archivo General de Indias_ was
established at Seville, and a large quantity of old papers conveyed
thither from Madrid and Simancas. About 1810 the archives at Simancas
were sacked by Napoleon; in 1814 the remnant was re-arranged and
classified.
Before the death of Muñoz, Navarrete was commissioned by the king to
search the archives for documents relating to the doings of the Spanish
navy. By him personally, or under his direction when occupied in other
duties, the search was continued from 1789 to 1825. The results of these
labors were as follows: before 1793, twenty-four folio volumes of copies
from the Royal Library at Madrid, the collections of the marquises
of Santa Cruz and of Villafranca, of the dukes de Medina Sidonia and
del Infantado, and from the _Biblioteca de los estudios reales de San
Isidro_, and the _Biblioteca alta del Escorial_; after 1793, seventeen
volumes of copies from the _Archivo General de Indias_, including the
papers in the _Casa de Contratacion_ in Seville, the _Colegio de San
Telmo_, the _Biblioteca de San Acacio_, and from the collection of the
Conde del Aguila. With this material, increased by subsequent researches
in the libraries of the Royal Academy of History in Madrid, and other
public institutions, and in many private collections, particularly
that of the Duke of Veraguas, and with access to the Muñoz collection,
Navarrete began in 1825 the publication of his _Coleccion de los Viages
y Descubrimientos, que hicieron por mar los Españoles desde fines del
Siglo_ XV., in 5 vols., Madrid, 1825-37, in which he printed over 500
documents, many of them of the highest importance. As this collection
constitutes one of the chief authorities upon the early affairs of
Darien, a brief notice of the author may not be out of place.
[Sidenote: MARTIN FERNANDEZ DE NAVARRETE.]
Martin Fernandez de Navarrete was born in 1765 in Ábalos in old Castile.
He entered the seminary of Vergara in 1777, where he studied Latin and
mathematics and displayed some literary taste. In 1780 he joined the
navy, was stationed first as a midshipman at Ferrol, joined Córdoba's
squadron in 1781, and cruised in the summer of that year on the English
coast. He did good service before Gibraltar in September, 1782, and
in the battle off Cape Espartel the 20th of October following. In
1783, having been promoted to a naval ensigncy, he was appointed to
the Cartagena department, and cruised in consequence against the Moors
during the years 1784-5. On the close of the Algerine wars he studied
the higher mathematics, navigation, and manœuvring with Gabriel de
Císcar, distinguishing himself in these branches. In 1789, his health
forcing him to quit active service, he was commissioned by Carlos IV.
to examine the archives of the kingdom and collect manuscripts relating
to marine history; a work for which his zeal and knowledge particularly
fitted him. This was the beginning of his famous Collection of Voyages,
although its first volumes did not appear till thirty-six years after.
When the war broke out between France and Spain in 1793, he joined the
squadron commanded by Juan de Lángara, who appointed him his chief aid,
_primer ayudante_, and secretary. He was still at sea, in 1796, when war
was declared against England; but in 1797, Lángara being named minister
of marine, and unwilling to lose his young secretary, he brought him to
Madrid, giving him a place in the department. Here, in 1802, Navarrete
published, as a preface to the _Relacion del Viage hecho por las goletas
Sutil y Mexicana_, a résumé of Spanish discoveries on the Californian
and Northwest coasts, that has been much cited in the English-American
disputes about the Oregon boundary. Meanwhile his merits were recognized
in Madrid. In 1807 he was named _ministro fiscal_ of the supreme council
of the admiralty court, he holding already the rank of captain. But
in this year came the French invasion, overturning all things. Madrid
fell in 1808. In 1812 Navarrete was found in Cádiz; in 1814 in Murcia.
Fernando regained his throne, however, May 14, 1814; four months after
which event Navarrete returned to Madrid. In 1815 he proposed from his
place in the Spanish Academy that new system of orthography which has
been adopted for its dictionary. He interested himself also in the fine
arts, and as secretary of the Academy of San Fernando contributed many
valuable papers to its Transactions. Soon after his return to Madrid,
being little pleased with the stormy and veering statesmanship of the
day, he retired as much as possible from politics, and began to collect
materials for his life of Cervantes—an excellent and very complete work
published by the academy, with its edition of _Don Quijote_, in 1820.
Honors continued to cluster around the historian. Toward the close
of 1823 he was appointed director of the hydrographic department, and
he became for many years in fact, if not in name, the great and chief
naval authority of Spain; and this without prejudice to his literary
activity. In 1825 appeared the first two volumes of his Collection of
Voyages; the third appeared in 1829; the fourth and fifth in 1837; while
the sixth and seventh were still unfinished at the author's death. On
the publication of the _Estatuto Real_, in 1834, he received a place in
the new peerage, and sat afterward as senator for his own province, in
almost every legislature. But his studious life and pacific character
were hardly destined to shine in a political career, nor was it for
the interest of science that they should. In the winter of 1844, in
the seventy-ninth year of his age, Navarrete died. The Academy issued
a posthumous work of his in 1846, a dissertation on the history of
the nautical and mathematical sciences in Spain. A collection of his
smaller works, _Coleccion de Opúsculos_, was begun in 1848 by his son.
The two volumes which have already appeared consist mainly of short
biographies of Spanish navigators and literary men, previously scattered
in periodicals and in the transactions of the various academies and
societies. Navarrete was a man of learning and research, as clearly
appears; inclined somewhat to verbosity; tiresome to most readers,
though pronounced _elegante y castizo_ by his contemporaries. Of the
historical value of his works, however, there is but one opinion.
Humboldt speaks of his Collection of Voyages as 'one of the most
important monuments of modern times,' and calls him 'the most accurate
historian of the geographical discoveries on the New Continent.' The
Baron de Zach, M. de Berthelot, Prescott, Helps, Irving, and Stirling,
have all given him much consideration. Indeed, the friends of Navarrete
cannot complain that he has not been honored. Decorated with grand
orders, member in high place of many academies and societies, his
lot was more fortunate than is usual among literary men. The parts
of Navarrete's collection which bear most directly upon this history
are: _Relacion de Diego de Porras_, i. 282-96; _Carta que escribió D.
Cristóbal Colon_, i. 296-313; _Relacion hecha por Diego Mendez_, i.
314-29; _Cartas de Colon_, i. 330-52; _Viages Menores_, iii. 1-74; _Real
cédula por la cual, con referencia á lo capitulado con Diego de Nicuesa
y Alonso de Hojeda_, iii. 116-17; _Noticias biográficas del capitan
Alonso Hojeda_, iii. 163-76; and the _Establecimientos ó Primeras
Poblaciones de los Españoles en el Darien_, including instructions to
Pedrarias, letters of Vasco Nuñez, memorial of Rodrigo de Colmenares,
and the relation of Pascual de Andagoya, iii. 337-459.
Scarcely was Navarrete's _Coleccion de Viages_ put to press, when
Washington Irving heard of it, and went to Madrid with the intention
of translating it into English. But he soon saw that with less labor
he could accomplish a work which would yield him greater returns.
Navarrete, who had already collected the material and prepared the way,
was still disposed to lend the genial American every assistance; it was
necessary for him to make few original investigations; so that under the
circumstances the _Life of Columbus_ was by no means a difficult task
for so ready a writer. Humboldt visited Madrid before coming to America,
but seems to have consulted no important historical documents not in the
possession of others. Prescott obtained from the collections of Muñoz
and Navarrete 8000 foolscap pages of copies, most of which having any
importance have since been printed by Icazbalceta, Alaman, and others.
Between the years 1837 and 1841 Henri Ternaux-Compans published at
Paris twenty volumes of _Voyages, relations, et mémoires originaux
pour servir à l'histoire de la découverte de l'Amérique_, containing,
beside translations of several rare and then unobtainable works,
some seventy-five original documents, several of them from the Muñoz
collection, and others obtained from the Spanish archives in some
unexplained way, possibly not wholly disconnected with the French
campaign on the Peninsula. Among his translations are documents relating
to the conquest and settlement of Central America and Mexico, the
relations of Cabeza de Vaca and Ixtlilxochitl, Oviedo's History of
Nicaragua, Zurita's Report on New Spain, and Ixtlilxochitl's History of
the Chichimecs. Ternaux-Compans also published _Recueil de documents
et mémoires originaux sur l'histoire des possessions espagnoles dans
l'Amérique_, Paris, 1840; and _Bibliothèque américaine_, a catalogue of
books on America appearing prior to 1700.
The project of printing original papers selected from national and
family archives was agitated in Spain by Campomanes, Jovellanos,
Villamil, and others, who collected and wrote much upon the subject. The
scheme was delayed by the political disruptions incident to the early
part of the century, by which the archives became badly scattered. In
1842, under the auspices of the _Academia de la Historia_, was begun
the publication, at Madrid, of a _Coleccion de Documentos Inéditos para
la Historia de España_, with the names of Martin Fernandez Navarrete,
Miguel Salvá, and Pedro Sainz de Baranda on the title-page. Navarrete
lived to see only the fifth volume; Salvá and Baranda continued the
publication to vol. xxiii., after which, Salvá edited alone to vol.
xxxii., when he was joined by the marquises of Pidal and of Miraflores.
After vol. xlvii., Pidal's name was dropped, and with vol. lvii. Salvá
and the Marqués de Fuente del Valle appeared as editors. In connection
with documents relating to the general history of Spain is here printed
a vast amount of matter about America, and the doings of Spaniards in
that quarter.
[Sidenote: TERNAUX-COMPANS, ALAMAN, AND OTHERS.]
During the next score of years floods of light are let in upon the dark
recesses of hidden treasures, the spirit of unearthing which extends
to Mexico. I may mention incidentally Ramirez, who, in his _Proceso de
Residencia contra Alvarado_ and _Nuño de Guzman_, gives some original
Mexican documents not elsewhere published. Alaman, at the close of his
_Disertaciones_, prints about forty original documents on the time of
the Conquest, some of them from the collection of Navarrete, and others
from original sources, such as the Hospital de Jesus in Mexico. The
_Documentos para la Historia de México_, Mexico, 1853-7, in 21 volumes,
was made chiefly from Mexican sources, and is specially valuable
for north-west Mexico. Icazbalceta's collection includes fifty-three
documents, with few exceptions _inéditos_, the existence of several
of which, such as a letter of Cortés, and the relation of Tapia on the
Conquest, was then unknown. Most of them were obtained through Gonzalez
de Vera, of Madrid; only two or three were found in Mexico. Thus far
Icazbalceta's collection refers exclusively to the sixteenth century.
Brasseur de Bourbourg, for his _Histoire des Nations Civilisées du
Mexique_, Paris, 1857-9, one volume of which is devoted to a history
of the Conquest from an Indian stand-point, seems to have relied
on his Nahua manuscripts, the standard histories, and a few Spanish
manuscripts. Although much thus far had been done, it seemed little to
the savans of Spain in comparison with what yet might be accomplished.
And it was with this feeling that the government authorized the printing
of any documents in the _Real Archivo de Indias_ affecting the history
of America down to the end of the seventeenth century. The publication
of this new series of papers was begun at Madrid in 1864 under title of
_Coleccion de Documentos Inéditos relativos al Descubrimiento, Conquista
y Colonizacion de las posesiones Españolas en América y Oceanía,
sacados, en su mayor parte, del Real Archivo de Indias_. Joaquin F.
Pacheco, Francisco de Cárdenas, and Luis Torres de Mendoza were editors
at the first. After vol. iii. the first two names were dropped, and
after vol. xii. the third, the work being thenceforth continued,
_competentemente autorizada_. By this publication alone were placed
within easy reach of all the world hundreds of the richest treasures
of the Archives of the Indies, twenty for every one that the writer of
thirty years ago could reach.
CHAPTER IV.
COLUMBUS ON THE COASTS OF HONDURAS, NICARAGUA, AND COSTA RICA.
1502-1506.
THE SOVEREIGNS DECLINE EITHER TO RESTORE TO THE ADMIRAL HIS
GOVERNMENT, OR TO CAPTURE FOR HIM THE HOLY SEPULCHRE—SO HE
SAILS ON A FOURTH VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY—FERNANDO COLON AND HIS
HISTORY—OVANDO DENIES THE EXPEDITION ENTRANCE TO SANTO DOMINGO
HARBOR—COLUMBUS SAILS WESTWARD—STRIKES THE SHORE OF HONDURAS
NEAR GUANAJA ISLAND—EARLY AMERICAN CARTOGRAPHY—COLUMBUS COASTS
SOUTHWARD TO THE DARIEN ISTHMUS—THEN RETURNS AND ATTEMPTS
SETTLEMENT AT VERAGUA—DRIVEN THENCE, HIS VESSELS ARE WRECKED
AT JAMAICA—THERE MIDST STARVATION AND MUTINY HE REMAINS A
YEAR—THEN HE REACHES ESPAÑOLA AND FINALLY SPAIN, WHERE HE
SHORTLY AFTERWARD DIES—CHARACTER OF COLUMBUS—HIS BIOGRAPHERS.
[Sidenote: FOURTH VOYAGE OF THE ADMIRAL.]
Since his last return to Spain, Columbus had rested at Granada under
the smiles of the sovereigns, who readily promised him all that he
might wish, while resolved to grant nothing which could interfere
with their absolute domination of the new lands that he had found for
them. When tired of begging the restoration of his rights he urged
their Majesties' assistance in seizing the holy sepulchre, that his
vow might be fulfilled, and his mind at rest. After profound study and
elaborate preparation he presented the case to them in a manuscript
volume of prophecies and portents intermingled with poetry. Failing
in winning them to this scheme, he promised, if ships were provided
him, to undertake new discoveries. Partly because they would know
more of their New World possessions, and partly to rid themselves of
uncomfortable importunities, the sovereigns assented to this proposal,
meanwhile intimating that after two years had been allowed in which to
quiet Española, the admiral should have his own again, but as clearly
indicating to others that he should not.
Four vessels, ranging in burden from fifty to seventy tons, were then
made ready, the _Capitana_, the _Santiago de Polos_, the _Gallego_,
and the _Vizcaino_, commanded respectively by Diego Tristan, Francisco
de Porras, Pedro de Terreros, and Bartolomé de Fresco, and embarked
at Cádiz the 9th of May, 1502. With the expedition sailed Diego de
Porras as chief clerk and notary, and Juan Sanchez as chief pilot; one
hundred and forty men and boys constituted the company. The admiral was
accompanied by his brother Bartolomé, the adelantado,[IV-1] and by his
son Fernando,[IV-2] then thirteen years of age. The sail across the
ocean was prosperous, with favorable winds and nothing to augur the
approaching misfortunes until the ships arrived off Santo Domingo on
the 29th of June.
[Sidenote: FATE OF BOBADILLA.]
During the past two years matters had not improved at Española. It
seems that others could govern badly as well as the admiral. Indeed, the
kings of Spain, most of them meaning well by their New World subjects,
were too often unfortunate in their choice of agents. Until recently
Bobadilla had held sway, the sovereigns being apparently in no haste to
displace him; from which course it was evident either that they had not
been properly informed of his conduct, or they approved of it. Perhaps
it was true that a knave was better for the place than an honest man. A
successor, however, had at length arrived in the person of Nicolás de
Ovando, and the superb fleet which had brought him, and was to carry
back the displaced governor to Spain, now rode at anchor in the harbor.
In following that contriving policy which others beside princes
sometimes regard as necessary when straightforwardness were better, it
had been deemed expedient that Columbus should not on this expedition
touch at Española, lest his presence engender fresh broils on the
island. And the admiral appeared to entertain no intention of breaking
the royal commands, until he found, on reaching the Indies, that one
of his vessels was unfit for service; or else he pretended that it was
so in order to look in on his late government. But whether in actual
or feigned distress, when the admiral sent the 29th of June to ask of
Ovando permission to exchange a leaky caravel, or at least to shelter
the vessels from an impending storm, his messenger Terreros returned
with a refusal.
It was certainly an anomalous position in which the great discoverer
found himself, vainly knocking at the door of a possession which he had
so lately given to Spain, and he not convicted, nay, scarcely accused
of any crime. Columbus sent again and warned the governor of approaching
bad weather. Ovando would not heed him. The gubernatorial fleet sailed;
but only to face a hurricane which soon strewed the shores of Española
with its fragments. Current biographies here read like a moral story. On
the wrecked vessels were Bobadilla, Roldan, and other inveterate enemies
of the admiral, who with a huge mass of ill-gotten treasure were buried
beneath the waves. On a little caravel which survived the tempest was
the good Bastidas with his property; and on another, which likewise
reached Spain in safety, were four thousand _pesos de oro_ belonging
to Columbus. Furthermore the admiral sheltered his vessels, and so
received no injury from the storm. From all which, grave deductions were
severally made—by Columbus, that the Almighty had preserved him; by his
enemies, that he had employed witchcraft to save himself and property;
by others, of a luckless order which providence refuses to recognize,
that the admiral and adelantado were good seamen. After certain ship
repairs, made without difficulty in a little port near Santo Domingo,
on the 14th of July Columbus sailed westward on his explorations.
[Sidenote: EARLY CARTOGRAPHY.]
It must be remembered that at this time, and for several years
afterward, the Spaniards did not know where they were. They supposed
the earth smaller than it is, and that they were on the barbarous
outposts of India,[IV-3] whose interior was civilized and wealthy; and
it was the present object of the admiral to find some strait or passage
between this border-land and the detached southern regions about Paria,
on which he might sail to these rich inner realms, still coasting Asia
south-westward.
[Sidenote: GUANAJA ISLAND.]
A storm greeted him, followed by a calm, during which he was carried
first southward by Jamaica, then northward past the western end of Cuba;
after which, the wind freshening, he continued his course, and on the
30th of July came to a small elevated island, called by the natives
Guanaja[IV-4], to which, from the trees that covered it, he gave the
name Isla de Pinos. On going ashore, the adelantado found the island
inhabited by people like those of Española and Cuba, except that they
seemed more intelligent and knew more of the useful arts. Presently a
large canoe appeared coming from the direction of Yucatan. It measured
eight feet in its greatest width, and was rowed by twenty-five men. In
the middle, under a palm-leaf awning, sat a _cacique_,[IV-5] or chief,
who manifested neither surprise nor fear on being brought into the
presence of the admiral. He signified to the Spaniards as best he was
able the extent and power of Mexico, and displayed utensils of copper,
stone, and wood, earthen-ware, and cotton cloth brought thence. Gold was
plentiful there, he also said; but the imagination of the admiral had
mapped his strait somewhere southward; so Mexico was kept for Cortés.
There was on the island an ancient aboriginal of scientific attainments
sufficient to enable him to draw for the Spaniards a chart of the
mainland coast, and tell them much of the country. Him they took on
board, and after dismissing the cacique with presents, crossed to
the continent, and anchored near a point which Columbus called Punta
de Caxinas,[IV-6] from the native name of a certain fruit abounding
thereabout. Here the Spaniards landed on the 14th of August, and
celebrated mass; then proceeding eastward some fifteen leagues to
the mouth of a river,[IV-7] they again landed on the 17th, and took
formal possession for Spain. About a hundred painted savages displayed
themselves, finer specimens than any on the islands, some naked,
and others partially covered with white or colored cotton. They were
friendly, and presented fruit and vegetables, fish, fowl, and maize. So
conspicuously distended were the ears of the natives at one place that
the name Costa de la Oreja was given to that vicinity.[IV-8]
[Sidenote: DISCOVERY OF HONDURAS.]
Proceeding, the discoverers encountered a succession of gales which
continued more than forty days, and having weathered them safely they
were so delighted that in sailing round the point of their deliverance
they thanked God, and called it Cape Gracias á Dios.[IV-9] All this
time Columbus suffered severely. Indeed, he was now but little better
than a wreck in body and mind. On the after part of the deck his bed
was placed, and there he lay overwhelmed with pain and melancholy, lost
in endless mazes of speculation. Now and then he would rouse himself
to translate his visions, or to direct the management of the ship, for
though half his senses should leave him, he was still a sailor from
instinct; but had it not been for the faithful energy of the adelantado,
the voyage might as well never have been undertaken.
The mariners had now entered a smooth sea; with a favorable wind they
passed rapidly down the Mosquito Coast, giving the name Limonares to a
cluster of islands on which grew something like lemons or limes, and on
the 16th of September anchored at the mouth of a large river. Boats were
sent ashore for water, and in returning one was upset and the whole crew
were drowned; from which melancholy occurrence the stream was named Rio
del Desastre.[IV-10] Continuing, the 25th found the Spaniards off the
Rio San Juan de Nicaragua, where, to escape a storm, they ran in behind
an island, the native name of which was Quiriviri,[IV-11] but which from
its verdant beauty Columbus called La Huerta, The Garden. There they
rested several days, and found sweet speculation, easily inducing the
savages to tell them such things as they should most delight to hear.
Indeed, all along the coast had vague information been given, by signs
ill interpreted, of a remarkable country called Ciguare, nine days'
journey westward beyond the mountains. The people there were like the
Spaniards, clothed, and armed with steel weapons, with horses and great
ships. The women wore bands of coral and strings of pearls, and the
commonest utensils were of gold. Ten days' journey from Ciguare must
lie the river Ganges; and best of all, there was a passage thither by
sea; all the Spaniards had to do was to keep right on; they could not
miss the way. The Europeans gave full credit to these assertions. Thus
from the beginning mankind have been directed, and oftentimes to the
grandest discoveries, by mingled accident and ignorance, and wise men
like Columbus have believed these supremely silly stories because it
pleased them to do so. These savages may have had rumors of Mexico or
Peru on which to build their brilliant fictions; their statements were
fictions none the less.
[Sidenote: SORCERIES, SAVAGE AND CIVILIZED.]
And indeed as they came together there for the first time, the white
men and the red, it is often difficult to tell on which side was the
greater simplicity and credulity. The folly of the Spaniard was moulded
into firmer consistence, was less inept and vapory than the folly of
the Americans, and that was about all. For instance, at the village of
Cariay,[IV-12] just opposite on the main-land, Columbus thought to raise
the Spaniards in the estimation of the savages by declining to take
the _guanin_, an inferior kind of gold which they presented; whereupon
for the same reason, and in retaliation, the natives refused European
trinkets. When the adelantado, seated on a knoll with the notary by his
side, sought to transfix some of the wild knowledge of those parts, the
natives fled terrorstruck, supposing some magic spell was being cast
upon them by the pens, ink, and paper so solemnly drawn forth by the
scribe. Presently with great caution they returned, and with exorcising
gesticulations burned and scattered in the air an odorous powder. On
the other hand, with equally enlightened common sense, the Christians,
unable to fathom the incantations of savagism, fancied these heathen
sorcerers bringing from the shades of their wilderness wrathful demons
to hurl upon their adversaries; and ever after on the voyage all the
ills that befell the Spaniards were attributed to the enchantments of
the people of Cariay.[IV-13] At another port called Huiva, Columbus
found the huts of the natives built in trees, which he attributed
to fear of griffins. After a short excursion into the interior the
adelantado returned to the ships. Near Cape Gracias á Dios the old man
of Guanaja had been liberated with presents, as no longer of use; now,
seven natives were seized and made to divulge what they knew of the
country, two of them being retained as guides.
Sailing from Cariay the 5th of October, the second day they came to
the Laguna de Chiriquí, the country thereabout being called by the
natives Cerebaro.[IV-14] If some distance back Columbus had found The
Garden, here was a pluralized paradise. The wonder was how nature
contrived such glories. Round the entrance clustered islands whose
outspread foliage brushed the venturesome sails that threaded the deep
narrow channels. Celestial beauty irradiated the land, and a celestial
brightness overspread the sea. But a small additional rent was necessary
in the ragged imagination of the admiral to fancy himself already
translated. The part of the laguna explored by this expedition was the
north-western, known to-day as the Bahía del Almirante; the southern
part was called by the natives Aburema.
[Sidenote: GATHERING GOLD.]
Hanging from the necks of the natives was pure gold in plates, now
first found since touching these shores, but the owners were content to
keep it. Further on, anywhere but here, they said, was plenty of gold,
notably at a place called Veragua, twenty-five leagues distant, where
these much-admired plates of gold were fabricated. Hastening forward,
the Spaniards arrived, on the 18th, at a river twelve leagues to the
eastward of Cerebaro, called by Fernando Colon, Guaiga, and by Porras,
Guyga, where the savages attempted at first to drive them away by
splashing water, brandishing wooden swords, beating drums, and sounding
conchs; which demonstration being over they quietly traded sixteen of
their gold-plates, valued at one hundred and fifty ducats, for three
hawk-bells. The following day the Spaniards were met in like manner by
other savages whom a shot sent scampering; after which they returned
and traded dutifully.
After this the discoverers touched at the provinces of Catibá and
Cobrabá, where they saw the ruins of a wall built of stone and lime,
which excited in them anticipations of a near approach to civilization;
but as they neared the rich river the wind freshened and carried them
past, without however preventing a glimpse of five towns, one of which
the guides assured them was Veragua.[IV-15] In the next province,
Cubigá, terminated the gold region, so they were told. Some were eager
to go back to Veragua and gather gold, but anxious to find his strait
Columbus put them off, saying he would return anon.
Fancy the old admiral groping in the darkness, the world, the universe
clear enough to him as mapped in his own mind, but unhappily not fitting
the substantial facts. Instinctively he seems to hover about this the
narrowest part of the continent, his ship's prow now pointed directly
toward Spain, with India so far away, and the vast water intervening,
and the small but mighty strip of land that makes his mental map of no
avail. Thus since the world began millions have mapped eternity, and
still do map it, the heavenly powers meanwhile laughing at the miserable
work men make of it.
Thus vainly searching, on the 2d of November Columbus finds his ships at
anchor in a beautiful and commodious harbor entered between two islands.
On every side are fields of maize, and orchards of fruit, and groves of
palm; for the people dwell in houses and cultivate the ground. There
he remains seven days, waiting the cessation of a storm; and he calls
the place Puerto Bello, also written Portobello, which name it has ever
since retained. Venturing forth on the 9th, he makes eastward eight
leagues, but is driven back, and takes refuge behind some islands in
a small harbor, which he calls Puerto de Bastimentos,[IV-16] from the
abundance of provisions brought them there. After repairing the ships,
now badly worm-eaten, he again on the 23d attempts an advance eastward,
but is speedily driven into a cove, which he names El Retrete, some
calling it Puerto de Escribanos, and which is so small as barely to
admit the ships, and so deep that bottom cannot be touched.[IV-17]
[Sidenote: END OF THE ADMIRAL'S DISCOVERIES.]
And now the mariners show signs of discontent; with gold so near they
are not Spaniards else. And the great discoverer, the admiral of the
ocean sea, must he bury in this little crevice of a barbarous shore
his mighty hopes? Bastidas was here,[IV-18] although it is not certain
how well informed the admiral is of the fact, whether he had notice
from Bastidas at Santo Domingo as to the termination of his voyage,
or whether the natives here had told him; in any event, there cannot
be now in the admiral's mind much doubt that the coast is practically
discovered from Trinidad to Guanaja, and that between these two islands
is a shore-line of continent unbroken by any strait. Yes, as well
unbrace here as elsewhere; and gold-hunting is not a bad occupation for
an old man after his life's work is done.
Turning then toward Veragua for solace, the Spaniards sailed from
El Retrete the 5th of December. But with this change the fickle wind
had likewise changed its course; wherever they went were storms and
buffetings, until Columbus pronounced upon that shore the name La Costa
de los Contrastes. Where now was the balmy breath of perfumed isles,
the sparkling sun dancing beneath the wanton waters? Demonized. Gale
followed gale in quick succession; winds contending, veering; now the
mariners were hurried on toward their destination, only to be driven
back to their starting-point. The stubborn waves struck the crazy barks
with such menacing force as to send the terror-stricken sailors to their
knees in confession, and prayer for deliverance. For nine days the sea
was white with angry foam; the sky blazed with electric fires; the men
fell sick; provisions spoiled. Long, lank, muscular sharks, weatherwise
monsters, followed the ships expectantly, until the hunger-smitten crews
eyed them ominously in return, until these creatures that had come to
eat were caught and eaten by these other creatures. All this time down
poured the rain in torrents and nearly submerged the ships. In the
midst of these cataclysmal horrors a water-spout was seen approaching,
"which," Fernando Colon is sure, "if they had not dissolved by reciting
the gospel of St John, would certainly have sunk whatever it had fallen
upon." Twenty-nine days were occupied in making as many leagues to
the westward. Once the ships parted company for three days; twice they
ran into Portobello, and twice they took refuge at other places on the
coast.
At length, with thanksgiving, January 6, 1503, they came to anchor at
the mouth of a river, the native name of which was Yebra; but Columbus,
in honor of the day, Epiphany, called it Santa María de Belen.[IV-19]
One league to the westward was the river Veragua. The admiral ordered
both streams to be sounded. The Veragua was found too shallow for the
ships. At the mouth of the Belen was a bar, which however could be
crossed at high water; above the bar the depth was four fathoms. On the
bank of the Belen stood a village, whose inhabitants at first opposed
the landing of the Spaniards; but being persuaded by the interpreter,
they at length yielded. They were a well-developed, muscular people,
rather above medium stature, intelligent, and exceptionally shrewd;
in fact, in point of native ability they were in no wise inferior to
the Spaniards. When questioned concerning their country, they answered
guardedly; when asked about their gold mines, they replied evasively.
First, it was from some far-off mysterious mountain the metal came;
then the river Veragua was made to yield it all; there was none at all
about Belen, nor within their territory, in fact. Finally they took a
few trinkets, and gave the intruders twenty plates of gold, thinking
to be rid of them. Within a day or two the vessels were taken over the
bar, and on the 9th two of them ascended the river a short distance.
The natives made the best of it, and brought fish and gold.
[Sidenote: THE QUIBIAN.]
With an armed force the adelantado sets out in boats to explore the
Veragua. He has not proceeded far when he is met by a fleet of canoes,
in one of which sits the _quibian_,[IV-20] the king of all that country,
having under him many subordinate chiefs. He is tall, well-modelled,
and compactly built, with restless, searching eyes, but otherwise
expressionless features, taciturn and dignified, and, for a savage,
of exceptionally bland demeanor. We shall find him as politic as he
is powerful; and as for his wealth, unfortunately for him, his domain
includes the richest gold mines of that rich coast. On the whole, the
quibian is as fine a specimen of his race as the adelantado is of his.
And thus they are fairly met, the men of Europe and the men of North
America; and as in the gladiatorial combat, which opens with a smiling
salutation, this four-century life-struggle begins with friendly
greetings. Pity it is, they are outwardly not more evenly matched; pity
it is that the European with his superior civilization, his saltpetre,
and blood-hounds, his steel weapons, and strange diseases, should be
allowed to do his robbery so easily! But ravenous beasts and bloody
bipeds are so made that they do not hesitate to take advantage of the
helpless; it is only civilized man, however, that calls his butcherings
by pleasant names, such as progress, piety, and makes his religion and
his law conform to his heart's unjust desires.
As the champions approach each other, we see about them both an air of
determination and command; and while extremely cordial, we see on either
side that courtesy common to those who fear while they suspect. With
princely grace the red man takes from his naked body some massive golden
ornaments and presents them to the white man; the adelantado, not to
be outdone in generosity by a savage, with equal dignity and solemnity
presents the red man a handful of valueless baubles. The ceremony over,
with mutual assurances of friendship the chieftains retire. Next day
the quibian visits the admiral in his ship. Neither has much to say;
presents are exchanged, and the savage returns to his people.
While the ships of the Spaniards lay by the bank in fancied security, on
the 24th of January the storm-demon, as if enraged at the escape of its
victims from the fury of the sea, rushed to the mountains, and opening
the windows of heaven, let down a deluge on the land. The rushing
torrents swept everything before them. The vessels were torn from their
moorings and carried down the river, only to be met at the mouth by the
incoming breakers from the sea. And thus to their imminent peril they
were tossed for several days by the contending waters.
[Sidenote: BARTOLOMÉ PENETRATES THE INTERIOR.]
The storm abating, and the ships made secure, the adelantado again
started in search of the gold-fields. With sixty-eight men he ascended
the Veragua to the village of the quibian, whose house was situated
on a hill round which were scattered the dwellings of his people. The
chieftain with a large retinue, unarmed in token of peace, welcomed
the visitors at the landing. Guides were readily furnished at the
adelantado's request; so leaving part of his company to guard the boats,
with the remainder he set out on foot for the base of the mountain,
distant six leagues, which he reached the following day. For many miles
he found the soil richly impregnated with gold, and returned elated,
as visions of populous cities and unbounded wealth floated through
his brain. Which seeing, the quibian grimly smiled that they should
deem their work already done, himself subdued, the land their own; and
he smiled to think how he had sent them round and away from his own
rich mines to the poorer and more distant fields of Urirá, his ancient
enemy. Then the adelantado explored westward, and came to the town and
river[IV-21] of this Urirá, and to the towns of Dururi, Cobrabá, and
Catibá, where he obtained gold and provisions.
* * * * *
There were here fifty leagues of coast, from Cerebaro to Veragua,
called by the Spaniards the _tierra de rescate_, or land of trade,
meaning trade in gold, that being the only thing worth trading for
in an expedition of this kind. This seaboard was heavily wooded, and
uninhabited except along the rivers, for three leagues inland. And
all things seeming so favorable, Columbus thought he would plant a
colony here, leave eighty men and one of the vessels in charge of
the adelantado, and with the remainder return to Spain, report the
results of his discovery, and obtain reinforcements. In a word, if
not restrained by some Ferdinand, or Fonseca, or other hateful friend,
he would repeat with fresh enthusiasm his former errors which had so
nearly wrought his ruin. But his usual ill-luck came to the rescue.
The quibian did not view with favor the preparations which he saw
the Spaniards making for a permanent residence on his lands, and he
determined it should not be. But how could he prevent it? For he was
well aware of the advantages these strangers possessed in open warfare.
Yet there were several ways open to him; if he did not wish to attack
them with an overwhelming force he could devastate the country around,
withdraw his people, and leave the Spaniards to die, meanwhile cutting
off such stragglers and foraging parties as he could easily handle. And
this he did, beginning operations by summoning the neighboring tribes,
ostensibly for the purpose of organizing an expedition against Urirá,
and Cobrabá.
The suspicions of the Spaniards were aroused. Diego Mendez, _escudero_,
esquire, or shield-bearer of the ship _Santiago_,[IV-22] a sharp, bold,
and somewhat boastful man, but courageous beyond the comprehension of
fear, asked and obtained permission to investigate the matter. Entering
the Veragua in an armed boat he found encamped below the quibian's
village about a thousand painted warriors. Assuming an air of unconcern
Mendez landed and strolled leisurely among the savages. Remarking on
their proposed expedition he offered to join them; but his services
were rejected, and his presence was manifestly distasteful to them.
He returned and reported that the savages were preparing to attack the
Spaniards. Yet to satisfy some who doubted, Mendez went again, this time
taking with him one companion, Rodrigo de Escobar, intending plainly to
demand of the quibian his purpose. A host of frowning savages greeted
the visitors, who asked to see the quibian. They were informed that he
was lying ill from the effects of a wound received in battle. "For that
very purpose," replied the ready Mendez, "I a surgeon am come to heal
him." But the Spaniards could not gain audience of the chief, and they
returned more than ever convinced of his bloody intention toward them.
[Sidenote: CAPTURE OF THE QUIBIAN.]
What was to be done? The admiral could not depart while hostilities
were pending, nor could the Spaniards delay their operations until it
should please the savages to attack them. The adelantado determined to
force an issue. With seventy-five men, on the morning of the 30th of
March, he ascended the Veragua, and landed unobserved near the quibian's
village. Hiding his men, he advanced, first with four attendants, then
alone, until after some difficulty he gained admission to the quibian's
presence. What Bartolomé was now attempting was the regular game,
afterward played for higher stakes, but now being pretty generally
practised in the New World; namely, to capture the chief and hold him
hostage for the good behavior of his people. It was at the door in
front of the quibian's dwelling that this interview took place. The
savage suspected nothing. The very boldness of the scheme, so foreign
to aboriginal warfare, tended to allay apprehension. Within were fifty
of his household, and at easy call five hundred warriors; what had
the quibian to fear? The two chiefs sat and talked, first on general
subjects; then the adelantado enquired concernedly about his host's
illness, examined the wound tenderly, passed his hands over the disabled
limb while proposing remedies. Suddenly the savage felt the grasp of the
Spaniard tighten upon him, and before his suspicions were fairly aroused
his arms were pinioned behind him. Mendez, who had been watching, fired
his arquebuse, and the concealed Spaniards rushed forward and surrounded
the house. The quibian struggled, but weakened by sickness he was easily
held in the iron grasp of the adelantado, until by the aid of the other
Spaniards he was made powerless. So adroitly was the feat performed,
that before the presence of the Spaniards was generally known among the
natives, their chief and all his family were captive, and on the way to
the boats. The savages lifted up the usual lamentations, and offered
enormous ransom; but it had been determined beforehand that the chief
personages of the nation should be sent to Spain; for in such procedure,
the admiral thought, lay the greater security of his plans.
At this juncture in the narrative historians, even modern writers of
fair intelligence, gravely discuss the probabilities of guilt in the
quibian's supposed treachery, some holding with Diego de Porras that
the natives did not meditate attack; as if they had not the right to
defend their country, their wives and little ones, from the ravages of
the invader by any means within their power.
Passing conventional twaddle—for if the quibian was not guilty he ought
in honor to have been—it is very certain that this action on the part of
the Spaniards was the cause of many woes, and of their final overthrow
in these parts.[IV-23] In any event it was now of the highest importance
to secure the quibian. The whole adventure on this coast depended upon
it; therefore the adelantado hastened to send his captives on board the
ships. Desirous of instituting other proceedings for the pacification
of that section before returning, the adelantado looked about him for
a reliable person to whom he might entrust his weighty charge. Present
was Juan Sanchez, chief pilot, an honest sailor, not wholly indifferent
to military honors, who earnestly offered service and was accepted. The
quibian, tied hand and foot, was firmly bound to his seat in the boat;
and superfluous as might appear any admonition, the adelantado charged
Juan Sanchez to look well to his prisoner. "Pluck out my beard hair by
hair if he escape me," was the vaunting reply of the pilot as he shoved
his boat from the bank and started down the river.
[Sidenote: JUAN SANCHEZ OUTWITTED.]
But alas for the overweening confidence of a Peter or a Juan Sanchez!
Fighting the elements at sea is a different thing from fighting Indians
on land. Quite a different order of tactics is required; and the
sailor's life is not the school in which to study the wiles of Indian
strategy. In the one place the sailor is not more superior than is the
savage in the other. The quibian, outwardly calm, inwardly is fiercely
excited; and like the wild beast when hotly pursued, his instincts
quicken with the occasion. He and his loved ones are prisoners,
treacherously entrapped by a strange species of the human kind in
return for fair words and generous hospitality. Their probable fate
possesses all the horrors of uncertainty. Swiftly with the swift boat
runs the time away; something must be done or all is lost. Narrowly,
but cautiously, the chief surveys his keeper. It is pleasant to look
upon the homely face of honest Juan Sanchez; not a lineament there
but shines with God's best message to man, and in language which
even dumb intelligence may read. Stern duty is largely diluted with
humanity, integrity with charming simplicity; from which the wily
quibian takes his cue, and thenceforth is master of the situation.
With quiet dignity and cheerful resignation he sits among his people,
hushing their lamentations and chiding their complaints. By words and
little acts of consideration he lightens the labors of the boatmen, and
studies for himself and people to give no unnecessary trouble. These
conciliatory measures are not lost on the warm-hearted sailor, whose
regard for his royal captive rises every moment. He is pronounced by all
a well-mannered savage, a most courteous savage. And now the quibian
modestly complains of the cords so tightly drawn by the too zealous
Mendez. They do indeed cut into the flesh, and constrain him to a most
uncomfortable position. And he such a gentleman-savage! Juan Sanchez
is not the man to sit there and see a fellow-creature unnecessarily
suffer; he cannot do it. The thongs which lacerate the prisoner's wrists
are loosened, the cord which binds him to the seat is untied; but for
security—for above all this great chief must be kept secure—one end of
it the ever-watchful pilot twists round his hand. Night comes on. It is
very dark, but the captives are quiet, and the boat glides noiselessly
down the stream. Suddenly the light craft sways; a plunge is heard; the
pilot feels his hand violently wrenched; he must loosen his hold or be
drawn into the water. It is all as the flash of a pistol in point of
time; the quibian's seat is empty; and honest Juan Sanchez is obliged
to present his hanging front before his comrades, a Spaniard outwitted
by a savage!
* * * * *
After scouring the country in several directions, the adelantado
returned to the ships, bringing gold-plates, wristlets, and anklets
to the value of three hundred ducats, which were divided, after
deducting the king's fifth. Among the spoils taken from the quibian
were two golden coronets, one of which was presented to Bartolomé by
the admiral. Notwithstanding the escape of the chief, who, after all,
was probably drowned, Columbus proceeded to execute his plans. There
were the king's household and his chief men safely on board, and these
should be sufficient to guarantee the tranquillity of the nations. So
the arrangements for the comfort and security of the colony during the
contemplated absence of the admiral were hastened to completion. The
three vessels, after discharging part of their cargoes, were carried by
the newly swollen stream over the bar, and reloaded. There they lay at
anchor waiting a favorable wind.
[Sidenote: THE COUNTRY ROUSED.]
All this time, however, the Spaniards were reckoning without their host.
The quibian was not dead. In spite of his bonds, he had made good his
escape. After his bold plunge, finding himself free from the boat, he
had extricated his wrists from the loosened cords, swam beneath the
water to the bank, and had set out for his village, resolving vengeance.
And now, hastily arming a thousand warriors, he attacked the Spaniards
under cover of the dense vegetation, killing one and wounding eight,
but was soon repulsed with heavy loss. Shortly afterward Diego Tristan,
coming ashore from one of the vessels with eleven men, recklessly
ascended the river a league for wood and water. All but one were
killed.[IV-24]
* * * * *
The aspect of affairs was serious. It was now evident that no fear
of what might befall his imprisoned household would deter the quibian
from his bloody purpose. Alive or dead might be his brothers, wives,
and children, he would rid his country of these perfidious strangers.
To this end he secured the coöperation of the neighboring chieftains,
and filled the forest with his warriors. Stealthily they lurked in the
vicinity of the settlement, and watched every pathway, ready to cut off
any who should venture abroad. Nowhere on the Islands had the Spaniards
met such stubborn opposition, and serious misgivings filled their minds.
Their own probable doom they saw foreshadowed in the mutilated bodies
of Tristan and his men, which came floating past them down the stream,
attended by ravenous fishes; and the requiems sung by quarrelling
vultures over the remains when afterward they were thrown back by
the waves upon the beach, tended in no wise to lessen their dismal
forebodings. To heighten their misfortunes, a furious storm arose,
which cut off all communication between the settlement and the ships.
The adelantado endeavored in vain to quiet the fears of his people, who
emboldened by despair would have seized the remaining caravel and put to
sea had the weather permitted. Yet closer pressed upon them the enraged
quibian, until dislodged they retreated to the river bank, before their
caravel, and threw up earthworks, which they capped with the ship's
boat, and behind which they planted their guns, and so kept the savages
at bay.
On shipboard matters were no better. The continued absence of Tristan
and his crew caused the admiral great anxiety. In such a heavy sea
it was unsafe to remain near the shore; the parting of a cable would
doom the clumsy craft to swift destruction. And as if this were not
enough, the spirit of the quibian broke out among his encaged family.
Preferring death to captivity they plotted escape. During the night the
prisoners were confined in the forecastle, and on the covering slept
a guard of soldiers. Collecting one night such articles as were within
reach, stones used as ballast, boxes, and provision casks, they piled
them up under the hatchway cover. Toward morning, when the guards were
sleeping soundly, as many of the captives as were able mounted the heap,
and placing their shoulders to the covering, by quick concerted action
burst it open, throwing the sleeping sentinels in every direction, and
springing out leaped into the sea. Those whose escape was prevented were
found next morning dead, some hanging to the roof and sides of their
prison, some strangled by means of strings round the neck drawn tight
with the foot.
[Sidenote: THE SETTLEMENT ABANDONED.]
It was now of the utmost importance to communicate with the shore,
as the admiral was convinced that the situation of the colonists was
becoming perilous in the extreme. At least, all hope of settlement
in that quarter must for the present be abandoned. The fate of the
captives, when once it was known, would move the very rocks to revenge.
But no boat could live in the surf intervening. Then stepped forward
Pedro Ledesma, a Sevillian pilot, and offered if rowed to the breakers
to attempt to gain the shore by swimming. The thing was done. Scarcely
had Ledesma picked himself up from the spot where the waves threw him
when he was surrounded by his forlorn countrymen, who informed him of
the fate of Tristan, and of their determination to quit that accursed
coast at any hazard. Ledesma returned and told the admiral, upon
whose mind thereupon gloom settled in yet denser shades. Unrighteously
deprived of his command at Santo Domingo, he had nourished the hope that
this last and most important of his discoveries might prove the base of
better fortune than was possible on the Spanish Isle. For had it not
been revealed to him that this Veragua was the source whence Solomon
drew the gold to build the temple? These lamentations continued during
the remainder of the storm, which lasted nine days longer; after which
preparations were made for the embarkation of the colonists, the admiral
consoling himself with the promise of return under more favorable
auspices.
Finally the caravel stationed in the river was dismantled, and out of
the spars and some Indian canoes was made a raft, by means of which the
colonists and their effects were in two days taken on board. The admiral
then bore away eastward for Española. And it may have been the lingering
hope of blind infatuation—so his followers thought it—that made him
cling to the shore until the Darien country was passed, before striking
out across the Caribbean Sea; others say it was to avoid contrary winds,
while he affirms it was to deceive his pilots that they might not be
able to find Veragua again without his charts. One worm-eaten caravel
he was obliged to drop at Portobello. The other two held together until
they reached Jamaica, where they were beached.
A new series of misfortunes here awaited the Great Unlucky One. From
June 1503 to June 1504 he was doomed to remain on his wrecks, which now
lay side by side, partially filled with water. Food became scarce, and
the foraging expeditions met with constantly increasing difficulties
in seeking the necessary supply. By desperate efforts Diego Mendez
succeeded in reaching Española in a canoe; but when he had notified
Ovando of the perilous situation of Columbus, the governor was in no
haste to relieve his rival. Sickness next followed, and then mutiny.
Francisco de Porras with forty-eight men threw off allegiance to the
admiral, and taking ten canoes set out for Española. Twice thrown back
upon Jamaica by adverse winds they abandoned the attempt, and gave
themselves up to licentious roving about the island. A second mutiny
was near its culmination when a small vessel appeared in the distance.
Presently Diego de Escobar approached in a boat, and without leaving
it, thrust in upon the admiral a letter, a side of bacon, and a barrel
of wine, all from Ovando; then he disappeared as mysteriously as he
had come. Following an attempted reconciliation with Porras was a fight
between his gang and the Spaniards under Bartolomé, in which six were
killed, among them our honest friend Juan Sanchez, who had cast his lot
with Porras. The doughty Ledesma, also a rebel, though badly wounded,
lived to be assassinated in Spain. Porras and several others were
taken prisoners and confined on board the wreck. The remainder of the
deserters then returned, penitent. Finally the admiral's agent at Santo
Domingo, Diego de Salcedo, came to his relief with two ships.
[Sidenote: DEATH OF THE ADMIRAL.]
It was infamous in Ovando to leave Columbus so long in such a strait.
The excuses he pleaded were absence at Jaraguá, and lack of suitable
ships; but had he been in earnest to deliver the admiral, means could
have been found before the lapse of a year. Although on arriving at
Santo Domingo Columbus received lodgings in Ovando's house, and the
governor was outwardly exceedingly attentive to his guest, in reality
there was little in common between the two men but jealousy and
distrust. Porras was allowed to roam at large, though finally sent to
Spain for trial. Columbus sailed for Spain September 12, 1504. For
a time he kept his bed at Seville, writing heart-rending letters to
the sovereigns, who paid little attention to them. By the help of the
adelantado, ever his most faithful friend and brother, Columbus managed
the following year to creep up to court and beg redress from the king,
for the queen was now dead. But Ferdinand was deeply disgusted; not so
much however as to prevent his granting the illustrious discoverer a
magnificent burial shortly after. It was the 20th of May, 1506, that
Columbus died at Valladolid, at the age of about seventy years.[IV-25]
* * * * *
Thus terminated the first attempt of Spaniards to plant a colony on the
main-land of North America. Columbus himself, the leader, advanced with
proffers of friendship in one hand and a sword in the other, retaliated
upon a fancied savage treachery by a still more insidious treachery,
and was driven from the country by a brave ruler, whose deeds deserve
to be enrolled beside those of patriots everywhere. One kind act of a
tender-hearted Spanish sailor—would I had more of them to record in this
history—brings the direst misfortune on his countrymen, delays for a
dozen years the occupation of Veragua, and turns the tide of conquest
in other directions.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: CHARACTER OF COLUMBUS.]
Most remarkable in the character of Columbus was the combination of
the theoretical and the practical; and most remarkable in his theories
was the anomaly that though nearly all of them were false, they led
to as grand results as if they had been true. The aperture through
which failure creeps into carefully laid schemes is usually some
glaring defect of character; and such defect often appears where little
suspected, in natures warped by genius, or where one quality is unduly
developed at the expense of another quality. We often see men of rare
ability wrecked by what would be regarded an act of folly unaccountable
in the stupidest person; but we do not often see success resulting from
these same defects. The greatest defect in the faculties of Columbus,
extravagance of belief, was the primary cause of his success. Simple to
us as is the reality of the earth's rotundity, and of the practicability
of a western route to Asia, no one could then have entertained those
doctrines without extraordinary credulity; even though Pythagoras and
others had so long ago expressed such ideas, no one could then have
acted on them short of infatuation bordering on insanity. To say the
world is round was not enough; Thales of Miletus proved it not a plane
two thousand years before. If it were round, the water would run off;
if it were flat, why then one safely might sail on it; if it be flat,
and the water runs not off, then at the other end there must be land
that keeps the water on, and one might sail over the flat sea to that
land—all such logic was less puerile than the feelings by which the
Genoese ordinarily reached conclusions. His efforts were the embodiment
of the ideas of many thoughtful men, timorous persons, perhaps, or
merely meditative and passive, but in none of whom united his ability,
courage, and enthusiasm; above all, none so scientific were at the
same time so determined. Often the knowledge of a prophecy is the
cause of its fulfilment. Some say Alonso Sanchez told him of Española,
and he himself affirms that once he visited Iceland. It may have been
that on this voyage he learned from the Norsemen of their Vinland and
Helluland. What then? Were this true, such stories would have had with
him scarcely greater weight than the sayings of the ancients, or than
current interpretations of holy writ.
Nothing more plainly proves the power that sent him forth than the fact
that in scarcely one of his original conceptions was he correct. He
thought to reach Asia over an unobstructed ocean sea by sailing west; he
did not. To the day of his death he thought America was Asia, and that
Cuba was mainland; that the earth was much smaller than it is, and that
six sevenths of it was land. He dwelt much on a society of Amazons who
never had existence, and at every step among the Islands he ingenuously
allowed his inflamed imagination to deceive him. He claimed to have
been divinely appointed for this mission; he affirmed his voyage a
miracle, and himself inspired with the conception of it by the most holy
Trinity; he vowed to rescue the holy sepulchre, which he never did; he
proclaimed visions which he never saw, such as St Elmo at the top-mast
with seven lighted tapers, and told of voices which he never heard; he
pictured himself a missionary to benighted heathen, when in truth he was
scattering among them legions of fiery devils. But what he knew and did,
assuredly, was enough, opening the ocean to highways, and finding new
continents; enough to fully entitle him to all the glory man can give to
man; and as for his errors of judgment, had he been able to map America
as accurately as can we to-day, had he been divine instead of, as he
claimed, only divinely appointed, with myriads of attendant ministers,
his achievement would have been none the greater. From the infirmities
of his nature sprang the nobility of Brutus; from the weaknesses of
Columbus was compounded his strength.
Assuredly it was no part of the experience and ingenuity which
springs from life-long application that made Columbus so essentially
a visionary; nor was it his scientific attainments, nor the splendid
successes which despite the so frequent frowns of fortune we must
accredit him. In his avocation of mariner he was a plain, thoughtful
man of sound judgment and wise discretion; but fired by enthusiasm he
became more than an ordinary navigator; he became more as he fancied
himself, superhuman, the very arm of omnipotence. Once born in him
the infatuation that he was the divinely appointed instrument for the
accomplishment of this work, and frowning monarchs or perilous seas were
as straws in his way. We see clearly enough what moved him, these four
hundred years after the event, though he who was moved in reality knew
little about it. By the pressure of rapidly accumulating ideas we see
brought to the front in discovery Christopher Columbus, just as in the
reformation of the church Martin Luther is crowded to the front. The
German monk was not the Reformation; like the Genoese sailor, he was
but an instrument in the hands of a power palpable to all, but called
by different persons different names.
While yet mingling in the excitements of progressive manhood, he
became lost in a maze of mysticism, and to the end of his life he
never recovered possession of himself. Not that self-mastery, the first
necessity of correct conduct, was wholly gone; there was method in his
madness; and he could deny the demons within him, but it was only to
leave open the door and give himself up to yet other demons.
In the centuries of battle now lately renewed between science and
religion, Columbus fought on both sides. Never was a man more filled
at once with the material and the spiritual, with the emotional and the
intellectual. Mingling with beatified spirits in the garden of his moral
paradise were naked wild men equally as glorious in their immoralities.
His creed, which was his very life, was not in his eyes a bundle of
supernatural abstractions, but concrete reality as much as were any
of his temporal affairs. Himself an honest devotee of science, and
believing science the offspring of religion, science and himself must
therefore finally be forever laid upon the same altar. He had no thought
of work apart from religion, or of religion apart from work. He had
ready a doctrine for every heavenly display, a theory for every earthly
phenomenon. When pictures of other lands rose in his imagination, he
knew them to be real, just as Juan Diego of Mexico knew to be real the
apparition of our Lady of Guadalupe at Tepeyacac. By the gnawing hunger
of temporal and spiritual ambition he was enabled to see the new lands
suggested by science, just as the imprisoned monk, starved and scourged
into the beholdings of insanity, sees angels of every incarnation.
While thus obliged to view all his achievements through the atmosphere
of creative mysticism, in weighing his manifold qualities, it is well
always to remember that there were achievements, and those of the very
highest order. His mysticism was the mysticism of practical life rather
than of inactive ideality. His faith was of value to him in giving
definiteness to energy otherwise vague and fitful. His all-potential
enthusiasm subordinated to one idea every erratic and incoherent
aspiration. It gave his life a fixedness of purpose which lust, avarice,
and every appetite combined could not have given without it; so that
while he brooded with misanthropic wistfulness he did not shirk any
fancied duty, even when attended by pain and misfortune. His was not
a cloistered inspiration, but an overwhelmingly active enthusiasm.
There was in him no longing after a perfect life; in his own eyes his
life was perfect. No restless questionings over the unknowable; there
was no unknowable. His oblique imagination encompassed all worlds and
penetrated all space. His positivism bound the metaphysical no less
firmly than the material. Abstract conceptions were more tangible
than concrete facts. Realities were but accidents; ideas were the
only true realities. The highway of the heavens which to profoundest
investigation is dusty with the débris of an evolving universe, to this
self-sufficient sailor was as plain as the king's road from Seville to
Cádiz.
[Sidenote: ANOMALIES AND ABERRATIONS.]
And as genius grows with experience, so grew his determination with the
errors he so frequently fell into. He was not a happy man, nor was he
always a pleasant companion. In his delusions he was self-satisfied;
in the loss of himself self-possessed. He endeavored to be prudent and
thought himself worldly wise; but, like many self-flatterers wrapped in
their own fancies he was easily imposed upon, even by the sovereigns,
with whom he aimed to be exceedingly shrewd. His contact with man did
not deepen his humanity, but seemed rather to harden his heart, and
drive his affections all the more from earth to heaven. His mind was of
that gloomy cast which made even his successes sorrowful. We have seen
among his practical virtues integrity of a high conventional order,
single-mindedness, courage, and indomitable perseverance; and in other
characteristics which were not so pleasing—pride displaying itself, as
it often does, in religious humility; a melancholy temper; a selfish
ambition, which with one grasp would secure to himself and his family
the uttermost that man and God could give; with all his devout piety
and heavenly zeal a painful and often ludicrous tenacity in clutching
at high-sounding titles and hollow honors—there were even in the most
unlovable parts of him something to respect, and in his selfishness a
self-sacrificing nobleness, a lofty abandonment of self to the idea,
which we can but admire. It was not for himself, although it was always
most zealously and jealously for himself; the ships, the new lands, the
new peoples, his fortunes and his life, all were consecrate; should the
adventure prove successful, the gain would be heaven's; if a failure,
the loss would fall on him. Surely the Almighty must smile on terms so
favorable to himself. And that he did not finally make good his promises
with regard to rescuing the holy sepulchre, and building temples, and
converting nations, was for the same reason that he did not finally
satisfy his worldly pretensions, and secure himself in his rulership. He
had not the time. In all his worldly and heavenly ambitions, the glory
of God and the glory of himself were blended with the happy consummation
of his grand idea. And never did morbid broodings over the unsubstantial
and shadowless produce grander results than these incubations of
alternate exaltation and despondency that hatched a continent. And in
all that was then transpiring, there are few intelligent readers of
history who cannot see an overshadowing, all-controlling destiny shaping
events throughout the world, so that this then unknown continent should
be prepared to fill the grand purpose which even then appeared to be
marked out for it.
While, therefore, in the study of this remarkable character, whose
description is but a succession of paradoxes, we see everywhere
falsehood leading up to truth and truth to falsehood; while we see
spring out of the ideal the real, results the most substantial and
success the most signal come from conceptions the most fantastical,
we can but observe, not only that penetrative vision which in the
mind of genius sees through the symbol the divine significance, but
that they have not been always or altogether fruitless of good, those
spectral fancies which riot in absurdities, building celestial cities,
and peopling pandemoniums, even in the absence of genius, symbol, or
significance.[IV-26]
[Sidenote: BIBLIOGRAPHY.]
Probably not one of the many accounts of Columbus which have been
published is presented with such fulness of detail, commanding vivid
interest from first to last, as that of Mr Washington Irving, _The Life
and Voyages of Christopher Columbus; to which are added those of His
Companions_, 3 vols., New York, 1869. The first editions, one in London,
in 4 vols., and one in New York, appeared in 1828; since which time
there have been many issues, in English and other languages. The author
was born in New York, in 1783, and died at Sunnyside, near Tarrytown, on
the Hudson River, in 1859. A strong literary taste was early displayed,
specially manifested in 1802 in a series of articles contributed to the
_Morning Chronicle_. In 1804 he visited Europe for his health, returning
in 1807. Then appeared the serial _Salmagundi_, and in 1809 _A History
of New York_. Again in 1815 he went to Europe, and after engaging for
a time in mercantile pursuits, abandoned them and gave himself up to
letters. The publication of the _Sketch Book_ was begun in numbers in
1818, and was followed by _Bracebridge Hall_ in 1822, and _Tales of
a Traveller_ in 1824. Then came _Columbus_, the material for which he
obtained from Navarrete in Spain. See chapter iii. note 9, this volume.
After serving as secretary of the American Legation in London from 1829
to 1832, he returned to New York and published _The Alhambra_; then
_Crayon Miscellany_ in 1835; _Astoria_ in 1836; _Captain Bonneville_ in
1837; and _Wolfert's Roost_ in 1855. From 1842 to 1846 he was American
Minister to Spain. His later works were _Goldsmith_, 1849; _Mahomet_,
1850; and _Washington_, 1855-9. Mr Irving has been most praised for
his genial manner, his gentleness of thought, and his charming style,
which carries the reader almost unconsciously along over details in
other hands dry and profitless. Among these is found his highest merit;
and yet one would sometimes wish the author not quite so meritorious.
Elegance and grace eternal tire by their very faultlessness. In handling
the rough realities of life one relishes now and then a rough thought
roughly expressed. Neither is Irving remarkable for historical accuracy,
or exact thinking. An early criticism on _Columbus_ complains of that
without which the works of Irving never would have attained great
popularity. He was pronounced too wordy, his details too long drawn. If
this was the case fifty years ago, it is much more so now. And yet how
fascinating is every page! And who but Irving could make thrilling such
trivial events? Permit him the use of words, and howsoever isolated the
ideas, or commonplace the events, the result was brilliant; but force
him within narrow compass, not only would the charm be lost, but the
work would be almost worthless.
The highest delight of a healthy mind, of a mind not diseased either by
education or affection, is in receiving the truth. The greatest charm
in expression, to a writer who may properly be placed in the category
of healthful, is in telling the truth. It is only when truth is dearer
to us than tradition, or pride of opinion, that we are ready to learn;
it is only when truth is dearer to us than praise or profit that we are
fit to teach. If the mind be intelligent as well as healthy, it knows
itself to be composed of truth and prejudice, the latter engendered of
ignorance and environment, holding it in iron fetters, and with which
it knows it must forever struggle in vain wholly to be free. Thus keenly
alive as well to the difficulties as to the importance of right thinking
and exact forms of expression, it nevertheless has its keenest pleasure
in striving toward concrete truth. It is truthfulness to nature in all
her beauties and deformities, rather than the construction of some more
beautiful than natural ideal, that alone satisfies art, whether in the
domain of painting, oratory, or literature. We of to-day, while holding
in high esteem works of the imagination, are becoming somewhat captious
in regard to our facts. The age is essentially informal and real; even
our ideal literature must be rigidly true to nature, while whatever
pretends to be real must be presented in all simplicity, without
circumlocution or disguisement.
Half a century ago it was deemed necessary, particularly by writers
of selected epochs of history, in order to clothe their narrative with
dramatic effect equal to fiction, to intensify characters and events.
The good qualities of good men were made to stand out in bold relief,
not against their own bad qualities, but against the bad qualities
of bad men, whose wickedness was portrayed in such black colors as to
overshadow whatever of good they might possess. Thus historical episodes
were endowed, so far as possible without too great discoloration of
truth, like a theatrical performance, each with a perfected hero and a
finished villain. Of this class of writers were Macaulay and Motley,
Froude, Freeman, Prescott, and Irving, whose works are wonderful in
their way, not only as art-creations, but as the truest as well as
most vivid pictures of their several periods yet presented, and which
for generations will be read with that deep and wholesome interest
with which they deserve to be regarded. For, although their facts are
sometimes highly varnished, their most brilliant creations are always
built upon a substantial skeleton of truth. I say that these, the
foremost writers of their day, are none of them free from the habit
of exaggeration, deception. Indeed, with a wasteful extravagance in
the use of superlatives it is almost impossible to draw character
strongly without in some parts of it exaggerating. But in these days of
rational reflection wherein romance and reality are fairly separated,
celestial fiction and mundane fact being made to pass under the same
_experimentum crucis_; mind becoming so mechanical that it introverts
and analyzes not only its own mechanism but the mechanism of its maker;
iconoclasm becoming spiritualized, and the doctrine revived of the old
Adamic serpent, that the knowledge of good and evil is not death but
life and immortality, this knowledge being king of kings, vying with
nature's forces and oftentimes defying them—I say, in days like these
mature manhood becomes impatient of the Santa Claus, or other fictitious
imagery, from which the infant mind derives much comfort, and prefers,
if necessary, the torments of truth to the elysium of fable. It is no
longer valid logic that if the hero stoops to trickery, his biographer
should stoop to trickery to cover it. For once undertake to shape the
stiff clay of material facts into the artistic forms of fiction, and
the result is neither history nor romance.
[Sidenote: WASHINGTON IRVING.]
Proud as I am of the names of Prescott and Irving, at whose shrines none
worship with profounder admiration than myself; thankless as may be the
task of criticising their classic pages, whose very defects shine with a
steadier lustre than I dare hope for my brightest consummations; still,
forced by my subject, in some instances, into fields partially traversed
by them, I can neither pass them by nor wholly praise them. In justice
to my theme, in justice to myself, in justice to the age in which I
live, I must speak, and that according to the light and the perceptions
given me.
Mr Irving's estimate of the value of honesty and integrity in a
historian may be gathered from his own pages. "There is a certain
meddlesome spirit," he writes, "which, in the garb of learned research,
goes prying about the traces of history, casting down its monuments,
and marring and mutilating its fairest trophies. Care should be taken
to vindicate great names from such pernicious erudition. It defeats one
of the most salutary purposes of history, that of furnishing examples
of what human genius and laudable enterprise may accomplish." Now, if
conscientious inquiry into facts signifies a meddlesome spirit; if the
plain presentment of facts may rightly be called pernicious erudition;
if the overthrow of fascinating falsehood is mutilating the trophies
of history; if fashioning golden calves for the worship of the simple
be the most salutary purpose of history; then I, for one, prefer
the meddlesome spirit and the pernicious erudition which mutilates
such monuments to the fairest trophies of historical deception.
Again—"Herrera has been accused also of flattering his nation;
exalting the deeds of his countrymen, and softening and concealing
their excesses. There is nothing very serious in this accusation. To
illustrate the glory of his nation is one of the noblest offices of the
historian; and it is difficult to speak too highly of the extraordinary
enterprises and splendid actions of the Spaniards in those days. In
softening their excesses he fell into an amiable and pardonable error,
if it were indeed an error for a Spanish writer to endeavor to sink them
in oblivion." When a writer openly avows his allegiance to falsehood,
to amiable falsehood, to falsehood perpetrated to deceive in regard
to one's own country, about which one professes to know more than a
stranger, nothing remains to be said. Nothing remains to be said as to
the veracity of that author, but much remains to be said concerning the
erroneous impressions left by him of the persons and events coming in
the way of this work.
With what exquisite grace, with what tender solicitude and motherly
blindness to faults Mr Irving defends the reputation of Columbus!
Is the Genoese a pirate, then is piracy "almost legalized;" is he a
slave-maker, "the customs of the times" are pleaded; without censure
he lives at Córdova in open adultery with Beatriz Enriquez, and there
becomes the father of the illegitimate Fernando; a bungling attempt
is made to excuse the hero for depriving the poor sailor of the prize
offered him who should first see land; Oviedo is charged with falsehood
because he sometimes decides against the discoverer in issues of
policy and character; Father Buil was "as turbulent as he was crafty"
because he disagreed with the admiral in some of his measures; the most
extravagant vituperation is hurled at Aguado because he is chosen to
examine and report on the affairs of the Indies; Fonseca is denounced
as inexpressibly vile because he thwarts some of the discoverer's
hare-brained projects; and so with regard to those who in any wise
opposed him, while all who smiled on him were angels of light. All
through his later life when extravagant requests were met by more
than the usual liberality of royalty, Irving is petulantly complaining
because more is not done for his hero, and because his petulant hero
complains. And this puerile pride from which springs such petulance the
eloquent biographer coins into the noble ambition of conscious merit.
Though according to his own statement the madness of the man increased
until toward the latter end he was little better than imbecile, yet we
are at the same time gravely assured that "his temper was naturally
irritable, but he subdued it by the magnanimity of his spirit." The
son Fernando denies that his father once carded wool; Irving does not
attempt to excuse this blemish because his readers do not regard work
ignoble.
Now it is not the toning-down of defects in a good man's character
that I object to so much as the predetermined exaltation of one
historical personage at the expense of others utterly debased under like
premeditation. Did Mr Irving, and the several scores of biographers
preceding and following him, parade the good qualities of Bobadilla,
Roldan, and Ovando as heartily as those of their hero, the world would
be puzzled what to make of it. We are not accustomed to such statements.
Unseasoned biography is tasteless, and we are taught not to expect
truth, but a model. We should not know what these writers were trying
to do if they catalogued the misdemeanors of Columbus and his brothers
with the same embellishments applied to Aguado, Buil, and Fonseca;
telling with pathetic exaggeration how the benign admiral of the ocean
sea was the first to employ bloodhounds against the naked natives; how
he practised varied cruelties in Española beyond expression barbarous;
and how he stooped upon occasion not only to vulgar trickery, but to
base treachery.
On the other hand, with those who seek notoriety by attempting to
degrade the fair fame of noble and successful genius because more credit
may have been given by some than is justly due, or by affecting to
disbelieve whole narratives and whole histories because portions of them
are untrue or too highly colored, I have no sympathy. Books have been
written to prove, what no one denies, that centuries before Columbus
other Europeans had found this continent, and that thereby the honor
of his achievement is lessened—of which sentiment I fail to see the
force. So far as the Genoese, his works, and merits are concerned, it
makes no whit difference were America twenty times before discovered,
as elsewhere in this volume has been fully shown.
[Sidenote: IRVING AND PRESCOTT COMPARED.]
Prescott was a more exact writer than Irving, though Prescott was not
wholly above the amiable weakness of his time. In the main he stated
the truth, and stated it fairly, though he did not always tell the whole
truth. The faults of his heroes he would speak, though never so softly;
he seldom attempted entirely to conceal them. He might exaggerate, but
he neither habitually practised nor openly defended mendacity. Prescott
would fain please the Catholics, if it did not cost too much. Irving
would please everybody, particularly Americans; but most of all he would
make a pleasing tale; if truthful, well; if not, it must on no account
run counter to popular prejudice. The inimitable charm about them both
amply atones in the minds of many for any imperfections. Since their
day much new light has been thrown upon the subjects treated by them,
but not enough seriously to impair the value of their works. In their
estimates of the characters of Ferdinand and Isabella, relatively and
respectively, these brilliant writers are not alone. They copied those
who wrote before them; and those who came after copied them. It has been
the fashion these many years, both by native and foreign historians,
to curse Ferdinand and to bless Isabella, to heap all the odium of the
nation and the times upon the man and exalt the woman among the stars.
This, surely, is the more pleasant and chivalrous method of disposing
of the matter; but in that case I must confess myself at a loss what to
do with the facts.
[Sidenote: FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.]
None but the simple are deceived by the gentle Irving when he insinuates
"she is even somewhat bigoted;" by which expression he would have us
understand that the fascinating queen of Castile was but little of a
bigot. Again: "Ferdinand was a religious bigot; and the devotion of
Isabella went as near to bigotry as her liberal mind and magnanimous
spirit would permit"—that is to say, as the plan of Mr Irving's story
would permit. Quite as well as any of us Irving knew that Isabella was
one of the most bigoted women of her bigoted age, far more bigoted than
Ferdinand, who dared even dispute the pope when his Holiness interfered
too far in attempting to thwart his ambitious plans. She was, indeed,
so deeply dyed a bigot as to allow her ghostly confessor to overawe her
finest womanly instincts, her commonly strict sense of honor, justice,
and humanity, and cause her to permit in Spain the horrible Inquisition,
the most monstrous mechanism of torture ever invented in aid of the most
monstrous crime ever perpetrated by man upon his fellows, the coercion
and suppression of opinion. Fair as she was in all her ways, and
charming—fair of heart and mind and complexion, with regular features,
light chestnut hair, mild blue eyes, a modest and gracious demeanor—she
did not scruple, for the extermination of heresy, to apply to such
of her loving subjects as dared think for themselves the thumb-screw,
the ring-bolt and pulley, the rack, the rolling-bench, the punch, the
skewer, the pincers, the knotted whip, the sharp-toothed iron collar,
chains, balls, and manacles, confiscation of property and burning at
the stake; and all under false accusations and distorted evidence. She
did not hesitate to seize and put to death hundreds of wealthy men like
Pecho, and appropriate to her own use their money, though her exquisite
womanly sensibilities might sometimes prompt her to fling to the widows
and children whom she had turned beggars into the street a few crumbs
of their former riches. This mother, who nursed children of her own
and who should not have been wholly ignorant of a mother's love, turned
a deaf ear to the cries of Moorish mothers as they and their children
were torn asunder and sold at the slave mart in Seville. Thousands of
innocent men, women, and children she cruelly imprisoned, thousands she
cast into the fiery furnace, tens of thousands she robbed and then drove
into exile; but it was chastely done, and by a most sweet and beautiful
lady. We can hardly believe it true, we do not like to believe it true,
that when old Rabbi Abarbanel pleaded before the king for his people,
"I will pay for their ransom six hundred thousand crowns of gold,"
Isabella's soft, musical voice was heard to say, "Do not take it," her
confessor meanwhile exclaiming "What! Judas-like, sell Jesus!" Besides,
thrice six hundred thousand crowns might be secured by not accepting
the ransom. And yet this was the bright being, and such her acts by
Prescott's own statements, cover them as he will never so artfully,
whose practical wisdom, he assures us, was "founded on the purest and
most exalted principle," and whose "honest soul abhorred anything like
artifice." Isabella was unquestionably a woman of good intentions; but
with such substance the soul-burner's pit is paved.
Prescott throws all the odium of the Inquisition on Torquemada, and
I concur. The monk's mind was the ashy, unmelting mould in which
the woman's more plastic affections were cast. But then he should be
accredited with some portion of the virtues that adorned the character
of Isabella, for he was the author of many of them. To be just, if
Isabella is accredited with her virtues, she must be charged with her
crimes. And if the queen may throw from her shoulders upon those of her
advisers the responsibility of iniquity permitted under her rule, why
not King Ferdinand, who likewise had men about him urging him to this
policy and to that? True, we excuse much in woman as the weaker, and
very justly so, which we condemn in the man of powerful cunning. But
Isabella was not exactly clay in the hands of those about her; or if
so, then praise her for her imbecility, and not for any virtue. But she
could muster will and spirit enough of her own upon occasion—witness
her threat to kill Pedro Giron with her own hand rather than marry
him, and the policy which speaks plainly her sagacity and state-craft
in the selection of Ferdinand, and in the strict terms of her marriage
contract which excluded her husband from any sovereign rights in Castile
or Leon. Most inconsistently, indeed, in reviewing the administration
of Isabella, at the end of three volumes of unadulterated adulation
Prescott gives his heroine firmness enough in all her ways; independence
of thought and action sufficient to circumscribe the pretensions of
her nobles; and she "was equally vigilant in resisting ecclesiastical
encroachment;" "she enforced the execution of her own plans, oftentimes
even at great personal hazard, with a resolution surpassing that of her
husband." When, however, she signed the edict for the expulsion of the
Jews, the excuse was that "she had been early schooled to distrust her
own reason." But why multiply quotations? The _Ferdinand and Isabella_
of Prescott is full of these flat contradictions.
We all know that when carried away by feeling women are more cruel
than men; so Isabella under the frenzy of her fanaticism was, if
possible, more cruel than Ferdinand, whose passions were ballasted by
his ambitions. Her feelings were with her faith; and her faith was with
such foul iniquity, such inhuman wrong as should cause her euphemistic
apologists to blush for resorting to the same species of subterfuge
that makes heroes of Jack Sheppard and Dick Turpin. Again, murder and
robbery for Christ's sake suits the devil quite as well as when done for
one's own sake. And here on earth, to plead in a court of justice good
intentions in mitigation of evil acts nothing extenuates in the eyes of
any righteous judge. Therefore there is little to choose between those
of whom it may be said—Here is a man who perfidiously robs, tortures,
and murders his fellow-beings by the hundred thousand in order to
glorify himself, and extend and establish his dominions; and, Here is
a woman who perfidiously robs, tortures, and murders her fellow-beings
by the hundred thousand in order to glorify herself, her priest, her
religion, and extend and establish the dominions of her deity. At the
farthest, and in the minds of the eloquent biographers themselves, the
relative refinement and nobility of the two characters must turn wholly
upon one's conception of the relative refinement and nobility of earthly
selfishness and heavenly selfishness.
What can we say then, if we make any pretensions to fairness in
portraying historical personages, in excuse for Isabella that cannot
as rightfully be said in excuse for Ferdinand? For even he, whom
sensational biographers array in such sooty blackness in order that the
satin robes of Isabella may shine with whiter lustre, has been called
in Spain the wise and prudent, and in Italy the pious. Of course there
were differences in their dispositions and their ambitions, but not such
wide ones as we have been told. He was a man, with a man's nature, cold,
coarse, stern, and artful; she a woman, with a woman's nature, warm,
refined, gentle, and artful. He was foxlike, she feline. Opposing craft
with craft, she jealously guarded what she deemed the interests of her
subjects, and earnestly sought by encouraging literature and art, and
reforming the laws, to refine and elevate her realm. He did precisely
the same. In all the iniquities of his lovely consort Ferdinand lent a
helping hand; man could do nothing worse; and all the world agree that
Ferdinand was bad. And yet, in what was he worse than she? Both were
tools of the times, incisive and remorseless. To the ecclesiastical
tyranny of which they were victims they added civil tyranny which they
imposed upon their subjects. Ferdinand was the greatest of Spain's
sovereigns, far greater than Charles, whose fortune it was to reap
where his grandfather had planted. It was Ferdinand who consolidated
all the several sovereignties of the Peninsula, save Portugal, into one
political body, weighty in the affairs of Europe. He was ambitious; and
to accomplish his ends scrupled at nothing. There was no sin he dared
not commit, no wrong he dared not inflict, provided the proximate result
should accord with his desires. He was less bound by superstition than
the average of the age; he was thoughtful, powerful, princely. Both were
personages magnificent, glorious, who achieved much good and much evil,
the evil being as fully chargeable to the times, which placed princes
above promises and religion, above integrity and humanity, as to any
special depravity innate in either of them. And what was the immediate
result of it; and what the more distant conclusion; and how much after
all were Spaniards indebted to these rulers? First Spain enwrapped in
surpassing glories! Spain the mistress of the world, on whose dominions
the sun refuses to go down. Fortunate Ferdinand! Thrice amiable
and virtuous Isabella! And next? Do we not see that these brilliant
successes, these gratified covetings are themselves the seeds of Spain's
abasement? Infinitely better off were Spain to-day, I will not say had
she not driven out her Moors and Jews, but had she never known the New
World. How much soever of honor Isabella may have brought upon herself
by her speculations in partnership with the Genoese, for the self-same
reason, resulting in the great blight of gold and general effeminacy
that followed, Spain's posterity might reasonably anathematize her
memory could they derive any comfort therefrom.
In regard to that much-lauded act of Isabella's in lending her
assistance to Columbus when Ferdinand would not, there is this to be
said. First, no special praise is due her for assisting the Genoese;
and secondly, she never assisted him in the manner or to the extent
represented. Santángel and the Pinzons were the real supporters of that
first voyage. Isabella did not pawn her jewels; she did not sell her
wardrobe, or empty her purse. But if she had, for what would it have
been? It makes a pleasing story for children to call her patronage by
pretty names, to say that it was out of pity for the poor sailor, that
it was an act of personal sacrifice for the public good, that it was
for charity's sake, or from benevolence, for the extension of knowledge
or the vindication of some great principle—only it is a very stupid
child that does not know better. Clearly enough the object was great
returns from a small expenditure; great returns in gold, lands, honors,
and proselytings—a species of commercial and political gambling more
in accordance with the character as commonly sketched of the "cold
and crafty Ferdinand," whose measureless avarice and insatiable greed
not less than his subtle state-craft and kingly cunning would have
prompted him to secure so great a prize at so small a cost, than with
the character of an unselfish, heavenly-minded woman. And were it not
for the danger of being regarded by the tender-minded as ungallant, I
might allude to the haggling which attended the bargain, and tell how
the queen at first refused to pay the sailor his price, and let him go,
then called him back and gave him what he first had asked, more like a
Jew than like even the grasping Ferdinand.
In conclusion, I feel it almost unnecessary to say that Columbus,
Isabella, and all those bright examples of history whose conduct and
influence in the main were on the side of humanity, justice, the useful,
and the good, have my most profound admiration, my most intelligent
respect. All their faults I freely forgive, and praise them for what
they were, as among the noblest, the best, the most beneficial to their
race—though not always so, nor always intending it—of any who have come
and gone before us. And I can hate Bobadilla, Roldan, and others of
their sort, all historical embodiments of injustice, egotism, treachery,
and beastly cruelty, with a godly hatred; but I hope never to be so
blinded by the brightness of my subject as to be unable to see the
truth, and seeing it, fairly to report it.
CHAPTER V.
ADMINISTRATION OF THE INDIES.
1492-1526.
COLUMBUS THE RIGHTFUL RULER—JUAN AGUADO—FRANCISCO DE
BOBADILLA—NICOLÁS DE OVANDO—SANTO DOMINGO THE CAPITAL OF THE
INDIES—EXTENSION OF ORGANIZED GOVERNMENT TO ADJACENT ISLANDS
AND MAIN-LAND—RESIDENCIAS—GOLD MINING AT ESPAÑOLA—RACE AND
CASTE IN GOVERNMENT—INDIAN AND NEGRO SLAVERY—CRUELTY TO THE
NATIVES—SPANISH SENTIMENTALISM—PACIFICATION, NOT CONQUEST—THE
SPANISH MONARCHS ALWAYS THE INDIAN'S FRIENDS—BAD TREATMENT
DUE TO DISTANCE AND EVIL-MINDED AGENTS—INFAMOUS DOINGS OF
OVANDO—REPARTIMIENTOS AND ENCOMIENDAS—THE SOVEREIGNS INTEND
THEM AS PROTECTION TO THE NATIVES—SETTLERS MAKE THEM THE
MEANS OF INDIAN ENSLAVEMENT—LAS CASAS APPEARS AND PROTESTS
AGAINST INHUMANITIES—THE DEFAULTING TREASURES—DIEGO COLON
SUPERSEDES OVANDO AS GOVERNOR—AND MAKES MATTERS WORSE—THE
JERONIMITE FATHERS SENT OUT—AUDIENCIAS—A SOVEREIGN TRIBUNAL
IS ESTABLISHED AT SANTO DOMINGO WHICH GRADUALLY ASSUMES ALL
THE FUNCTIONS OF AN AUDIENCIA, AND AS SUCH FINALLY GOVERNS THE
INDIES—LAS CASAS IN SPAIN—THE CONSEJO DE INDIAS, AND CASA DE
CONTRATACION—LEGISLATION FOR THE INDIES.
We have seen how it had been first of all agreed that Columbus should be
sole ruler, under the crown, of such lands and seas as he might discover
for Spain. We have seen how, under that rule, disruption and rebellion
followed at the heels of mismanagement, until the restless colonists
made Española an _angustiarum insula_ to the worthy admiral, and until
their majesties thought they saw in it decent excuse for taking the
reins from the Genoese, and supplanting him by agents of their own
choosing. The first of these agents was Juan Aguado, who was merely
a commissioner of inquiry. With him, it will be remembered, Columbus
returned to Spain after his second voyage, leaving his brother Bartolomé
in command. The admiral was permitted to try again; but on reaching the
seat of his government he was unable to quiet the disturbances which had
increased during his absence. Rebellion had almost reached the dignity
of revolution, and stronger than the government were factions whose
leaders openly defied the governor-general, viceroy, and admiral of the
ocean sea. That their Majesties were greatly grieved at this, I do not
say; or that they were displeased that the rebels, or revolutionists,
of Española should refer their troubles to them. But this is certain,
that after another fair trial Columbus was obliged to give it up, and
to see himself displaced by a person far worse than himself. Perhaps it
is true that a knave was better for the office than an honest man.
Not that Francisco de Bobadilla may be lawfully accused of dishonesty;
the sovereigns seemed competent to take care of themselves where their
revenue was concerned. And yet he was certainly influenced in his
conduct by no sense of right or of humanity. He was a man of narrow
mind, of ignoble instincts and mean prejudices. He was popular for a
time with the colonists because he was like them, and because he reduced
the royal share of the product of the mines from a third to an eleventh,
and permitted the dissolute to idle their time and illtreat the natives;
and because he released those whom the admiral had imprisoned, and
enabled Columbus to pay his debts—for which last mentioned measure I
have no fault to find with him.
It was the 21st of March, 1499, that Bobadilla was authorized to proceed
against offenders at Española, but he did not leave Spain until July,
1500, reaching Santo Domingo the 23d of August. The enchaining of the
illustrious discoverer by an infamous agent, and for no crime, excited
universal disgust throughout Christendom; and yet their Majesties seemed
in no haste to depose him; for it was not until the 3d of September,
1501, in answer to the persistent remonstrances of Columbus, that a
change was made, and the government given to Nicolas de Ovando, who
sailed from Spain the 13th of February following, and arrived at Santo
Domingo the 15th of April, 1502; so that Bobadilla was in office on
the island over a year and a half, long enough to sow the seeds of much
iniquity.
[Sidenote: NICOLAS DE OVANDO.]
Ovando was a knight of the order of Alcántara, of neither massive mind
nor commanding mien. But his firm and fluent speech lent strength to
his slight figure and fair complexion, and a courteous manner made
amends for a vanity which in him assumed the form of deep humility. He
was well known to their Majesties, having been one of the companions
of Prince Juan, and it was thought would make a model governor. Ample
instructions, both written and verbal, were given him before sailing.
The natives should be converted, but their bodies should not be enslaved
or inhumanly treated. They must pay tribute, and gather gold, but for
the latter they should be paid wages. There was to be a complete change
of soldiers and officials at Española, that the new government might
begin untainted by the late disorders. Neither Jews nor Moors might go
to the Indies, but negro slaves, born into the possession of Christians,
were to be permitted passage. For any loss resulting from Bobadilla's
acts, full restitution must be made the admiral, and henceforth his
rights of property must be respected. Columbus might always keep
there an agent to collect his dues, and he was to be treated with
consideration. The idle and profligate were to be returned to Spain.
Except the provinces given to Ojeda and Pinzon, Ovando's jurisdiction
was made to extend over all the Indies, that is to say, over all the
New World dominions of Spain, islands and firm land, with the capital
at Santo Domingo, and subordinate or municipal governments in the more
important localities. All mining licenses issued by Bobadilla were to
be revoked; of the gold thus far collected one third should be taken for
the crown, and of all thereafter gathered one half. Supplementing these
instructions with much paternal advice consisting of minor moralities
and Machiavelisms, their Majesties bade their viceroy God speed and sent
him forth in a truly royal fashion.
There were no less than thirty ships and twenty-five hundred persons
comprising the expedition. Of the company were Alonso Maldonado,
newly appointed _alcalde mayor_,[V-1] and twelve Franciscans, with
a prelate, Antonio de Espinal. Las Casas was present; and Hernan
Cortés would have been there but for an illness which prevented him.
There were seventy-three respectable married women, who had come with
their husbands and children, and who were to salt society at their
several points of distribution. It was evident as the new governor
entered his capital, elegantly attired, with a body-guard of sixty-two
foot-soldiers and ten horsemen, and a large and brilliant retinue,
that the colonization of the New World had now been assumed in earnest
by the sovereigns of Spain. Nor was Ovando disposed to be dilatory in
his duty. He at once announced the _residencia_[V-2] of Bobadilla, and
put Roldan, _ci-devant_ rebel, and later chief judge, under arrest. He
built in Española several towns to which arms and other privileges were
given, founded a hospital, removed Santo Domingo to a more healthful
site on the other side of the river, and established a colony at Puerto
de Plata, on the north side of Española, near Isabela.
Distant eight leagues from Santo Domingo were the mines where the
twenty-five hundred thought immediately to enrich themselves. For
several days after landing the road was alive with eager gold hunters
drawn from all classes of the community; cavalier, _hidalgo_,[V-3] and
laborer, priest and artisan, honest men and villains, whose cupidity
had been fired by the display of precious metal lately gathered, and
who were now hurrying forward with hard breath and anxious eyes under
their bundle of necessities. But there was no happy fortune in store
for these new-comers. The story then new has been oft repeated since:
expecting to fill their sacks quickly and with ease, and finding that
a very little gold was to be obtained only by very great labor, they
were soon on their way back to the city, where many of them fell into
poverty, half of them dying of fever.
Poor fools! they did not know; their countrymen, those that were
left from former attempts, did not tell them, though Roldan's men,
Bobadilla's men knew well enough, and in truth the remnant of Ovando's
men were not slow to learn, that the wise man, the wise and villainous
man from Spain, did not work or die for gold, or for anything else, when
there were savages that might be pricked to it by the sword.
[Sidenote: GOVERNMENT OF THE NATIVES.]
During this earliest period of Spanish domination in America, under
successive viceroys and subordinate rulers, by far the most important
matter which arose for consideration or action was the treatment of the
aborigines. Most momentous to them it was, certainly, and of no small
consequence to Spain. Unfortunately, much damage was done before the
subject was fairly understood; and afterward, evils continued because
bad men were always at hand ready to risk future punishment for present
benefits. Spain was so far away, and justice moved so slowly, if it
moved at all, that this risk was seldom of the greatest.
The sovereigns of Spain now found themselves called upon to rule two
races in the New World, the white and the red. And it was not always
easy to determine what should be done, what should be the relative
attitude of one toward the other. As to the superiority of the white
race there was no question. And among white men, Spaniards were the
natural masters; and among Spaniards, Castilians possessed the first
rights in the new lands the Genoese had found for them.
All was plain enough so far. It was natural and right that Spaniards
should be masters in America. Their claim was twofold; as discoverers,
and as propagandists. But in just what category to place the red man
was a question almost as puzzling as to tell who he was, and whence he
came. Several times the question arose as to whether he had a soul, or
a semi-soul, and whether the liquid so freely let by the conquerors
was brute blood, or of as high proof as that which ran in Castilian
veins. The savages were to be governed, of course; but how, as subjects
or as slaves? Columbus was strongly in favor of Indian slavery. He had
participated in the Portuguese slave-trade, and had found it profitable.
Spaniards enslaved infidels, and why not heathens? Mahometans enslaved
Christians, and Christians Mahometans. Likewise Christians enslaved
Christians, white as well as black, though it began to be questioned in
Spain whether it was quite proper to enslave white Christians.
[Sidenote: SLAVERY.]
The negro slave-trade was at this time comparatively a new thing. It was
one of the proximate results of fifteenth-century maritime discovery.
The Portuguese were foremost in it, organizing for the purpose a company
at Lagos, and a factory at Arguin, about the middle of the century,
Prince Henry receiving his fifth. Europe, however, offered no profitable
field for African slave labor, and but for the discovery of America the
traffic probably never would have assumed large proportions. Public
sentiment was not in those days averse to slavery, particularly to
the enslavement of the children of Ham. And yet neither Isabella nor
Ferdinand was at all disposed, in regard to their New World possessions,
to follow the example of Portugal on the coast of Africa. Though they
had scarcely made personal the application that the practice was one of
the chief causes of Rome's ruin, yet they seemed instinctively opposed
to it in this instance. They did not want these creatures in Spain,
they had no use for them. In regard to the ancient custom of enslaving
prisoners of war, particularly the detested and chronically hostile
Moors, it was different. This New World had been given them for a higher
purpose. Its natives were not the enemies of Spain; they were innocent
of any offence against Spain. It was better, it was more glorious, there
was higher and surer reward in it, to Christianize than to enslave.
This the clergy constantly urged; so that in Spain the passion for
propagandism was greater than the passion for enslaving.
Columbus must have been aware of this when in 1495 he sent by Torres,
with the four ship-loads of Indian slaves, the apology to their
Majesties that these were man-eating Caribs, monsters, the legitimate
prey of slave-makers wherever found. Peradventure some of them might be
made Christians, who when they had learned Castilian could be sent back
to serve as missionaries and interpreters to aid in delivering their
countrymen from the powers of darkness. This was plausible, and their
Majesties seemed content; but when Columbus pressed the matter further,
and requested that arrangements should be made for entering extensively
into the traffic, they hesitated. Meanwhile the Genoese launched
boldly forth in the old way, not only making slaves of cannibals but
of prisoners of war; and whenever slaves were needed, a pretence for
war was not long wanting. Thereupon, with another shipment, the admiral
grows jubilant, and swears by the holy Trinity that he can send to Spain
as many slaves as can be sold, four thousand if necessary, and enters
upon the details of capture, carriage, sale, and return cargoes of
goods, with all the enthusiasm of a sometime profitable experience in
the business. Further than this he permits enforced labor where there
had been failure to pay tribute, and finally gives to every one who
comes an Indian for a slave.
Then the monarchs were angry. "What authority from me has the admiral
to give to any one my vassals!" exclaimed the queen. All who had thus
been stolen from home and country, among whom were pregnant women
and babes newly born, were ordered returned. And from that moment the
sovereigns of Spain were the friends of the Indians. Not Isabella alone
but Ferdinand, Charles, and Philip, and their successors for two hundred
years with scarcely an exceptional instance, stood manfully for the
rights of the savages—always subordinate however to their own fancied
rights—constantly and determinately interposing their royal authority
between the persistent wrong-doing of their Spanish subjects, and their
defenceless subjects of the New World. Likewise the Catholic Church is
entitled to the highest praise for her influence in the direction of
humanity, and for the unwearied efforts of her ministers in guarding
from cruelty and injustice these poor creatures. Here and there in the
course of this narrative we find a priest carried away by the spirit of
proselytism commit acts of folly and unrighteousness; and men announcing
as church measures proceedings which when known in the mother country
received the prompt condemnation of the church. These men and measures
I shall not be backward to condemn. But it is with no small degree of
pleasure that I record thus early in this history the noble attributes
of the self-sacrificing Christian heroes who while preaching their faith
to the savage endeavored to bridle as best they could the cupidity and
cruelty of the Spanish adventurers who accompanied them.
[Sidenote: LAWS RESPECTING THE ABORIGINES.]
After the first invasions, in various quarters, aggressive warfare
on the natives, even on obdurate heathen nations, was prohibited. In
the extension of dominion that followed, the very word 'conquest' was
forbidden to be employed, even though it were a conquest gained by
fighting, and the milder term 'pacification' was substituted.[V-4]
Likewise, after the first great land robberies had been committed, side
by side with the minor seizures was in practice the regulation that
enough of the ancient territory should be left each native community
to support it comfortably in a fixed residence. The most that was
required of the Indians was to abolish their ancient inhuman practices,
put on the outward apparel of civilization, and as fast as possible
adapt themselves to Christian customs, paying a light tax, in kind,
nominally for protection and instruction. This doing, they were to be
left free and happy. Such were the wishes of crown and clergy; for which
both strove steadily though unsuccessfully until the object of their
solicitude crumbled into earth.[V-5]
For the soldier, the sailor, the cavalier, the vagabond, the governor,
and all their subordinates and associates, all the New World rabble from
viceroy to menial willed it otherwise, the New World clergy too often
winking assent. However omnipotent in Spain, there were some things in
America that the sovereigns and their confessors could not do. They
could not control the bad passions of their subjects when beyond the
reach of rope and dungeon. That these evil proclivities were of home
engendering, having for their sanction innumerable examples from church
and state, statesmen and prelates would hardly admit, but it is in truth
a plausible excuse for the excesses committed. The fact is that for
every outrage by a subject in the far away Indies, there were ten, each
of magnitude tenfold for evil, committed by the sovereigns in Spain; so
that it is by no means wonderful that the Spaniards determined here to
practise a little sinfulness for their own gratification, even though
their preceptors did oppose wickedness which by reason of their absence
they themselves could not enjoy.
Though the monarchs protested earnestly, honestly, and at the length of
centuries, their subjects went their way and executed their will with
the natives. Were I to tell a tenth of the atrocities perpetrated by
Christian civilization on the natives of America, I could tell nothing
else. The catalogue of European crime, Spanish, English, French, is as
long as it is revolting. Therefore, whenever I am forced to touch upon
this most distasteful subject, I shall be as brief as possible.
[Sidenote: DASTARDLY DOINGS OF OVANDO.]
Passing the crimes of Columbus and Bobadilla, the sins of the two being,
for biographical effect, usually placed upon the latter, let us look
at the conduct of Ovando, who, as Spanish provincial rulers went in
those days, was an average man. He ruled with vigor; and as if to offset
his strict dealings with offending Spaniards, unoffending Indians were
treated with treachery and merciless brutality.
Rumor reaching him that Anacaona, queen of Jaraguá, meditated revolt,
he marched thither at the head of two hundred foot-soldiers and seventy
horsemen. The queen came out to meet him, and escorted him with music
and dancing to the great banqueting-hall, and entertained him there for
several days. Still assured by evil tongues that his hostess intended
treachery, he determined to forestall her. On a Sunday afternoon, while
a tilting-match was in progress, Ovando gave the signal. He raised his
hand and touched his Alcántara cross—a badge of honor it was called,
which, had it been real, should have shrivelled the hand that for such
a purpose touched it. On the instant Anacaona and her caciques were
seized and a mock trial given them; after which the queen was hanged,
the caciques tortured and burned, and the people of the province, men,
women, and children, ruthlessly and indiscriminately butchered. Those
who escaped the massacre were afterward enslaved. For intelligence,
grace, and beauty Anacaona was the Isabella of the Indies, and there was
no valid proof that she meditated the slightest injury to the Spaniards.
The natives of Saona and Higuey, in revenge for the death of a chief
torn in pieces by a Spanish bloodhound, rose to arms, and slew a boat's
crew of eight Spaniards. Juan de Esquivel with four hundred men was
sent against them, and the usual indiscriminate hanging and burning
followed. It is stated that over six hundred were slaughtered at one
time in one house. A peace was conquered, a fort built; fresh outrages
provoked a fresh outbreak; and the horrors of the extermination that
followed Las Casas confessed himself unable to describe. A passion arose
for mutilation, and for prolonging agony by new inventions for refining
cruelty. And the irony of Christianity was reached when thirteen men
were hanged side by side in honor of Christ and his apostles. Cotubano,
the last of the five native kings of Española, was taken to Santo
Domingo, and hanged by order of Ovando. In Higuey were then formed two
settlements, Salvaleon and Santa Cruz. To take the places in the Spanish
service of the Indians thus slain in Española, forty thousand natives
of the Lucayas Islands were enticed thither upon the pretext of the
captors that they were the Indians' dead ancestors come from heaven to
take their loved ones back with them. Española was indeed their shortest
way to heaven, though not the way they had been led to suppose. When
tidings of Ovando's doings reached Spain, notably of his treatment of
Anacaona, Queen Isabella was on her death-bed; but raising herself as
best she was able, she exclaimed to the president of the council, "I
will have you take of him such a residencia as was never taken."
* * * * *
[Sidenote: THE LABOR QUESTION.]
Both the Spaniards and the Indians, as we have seen, were averse to
labor. To both it was degrading; to the latter, killing. And yet it
was necessary that mines should be worked, lands cultivated, and cattle
raised. Else of what avail was the New World?
The colonists clamored, and the crown was at a loss what to do. In her
dilemma there is no wonder the queen appeared to equivocate; but when
in December, 1503, she permitted Ovando to use force in bringing the
natives to a sense of their duty, though they must be paid fair wages
and made to work "as free persons, for so they are," she committed a
fatal error. The least latitude was sure to be abused. Under royal
permission of 1501 a few negro slaves from time to time were taken
to the Indies. Las Casas urged the extension of this traffic in
order to save the Indians. Ovando complained that the negroes fled
and hid themselves among the natives, over whom they exercised an
unwholesome influence; nevertheless in September, 1505, we find the
king sending over more African slaves to work in the mines, this time
about one hundred. From 1517, when importations from the Portuguese
establishments on the Guinea coast were authorized by Charles V., the
traffic increased, and under the English, particularly, assumed enormous
proportions. This unhappy confusion of races led to a negro insurrection
at Española in 1522.
We come now to some of the results of the temporizing policy of
Spain—always a bad one when the subject is beyond the reach of the
ruling arm—in regard to the Indians. For out of a desire to avoid the
odium of Indian slavery, and yet secure the benefits thereof, grew
a system of servitude embodying all the worst features of absolute
bondage, with none of its mitigations.
[Sidenote: REPARTIMIENTOS AND ENCOMIENDAS.]
It will be remembered that during his second voyage Columbus made war
on the natives of Española, and after sending some as slaves to Spain,
imposed a tribute on the rest; on some a bell-measure of gold, and
on others an _arroba_[V-6] of cotton, every three months. So severe
was this tax that many could not meet it, and in 1496 service was
accepted in place of tribute. This was the beginning in the New World
of the _repartimiento_,[V-7] or as it shortly afterward became the
_encomienda_, system, under which the natives of a conquered country
were divided among the conquerors, recommended to their care, and made
tributary to them.
[Sidenote: ADMINISTRATION OF THE INDIES.]
The theory was that the Indians were the vassals of Spain, no more to
be imposed upon than other Spanish subjects. The sovereigns wishing
to stimulate discovery, pacification, and settlement, were willing to
waive their right to the tribute due the crown in favor of enterprising
and meritorious persons, who had taken upon themselves the hardships
incident to life in a new country. At first in certain instances, but
later to an extent which became general, they settled this tribute
upon worthy individuals among the conquerors and colonists and their
descendants, on condition that those who thus directly received a
portion of the royal revenue should act the part of royalty to the
people placed temporarily in their care. They were to be as a sovereign
lord and father, and not as a merciless or unjust taskmaster. They
were to teach their wards the arts of civilization, instruct them in
the Christian doctrine, watch over and guide and guard them, and never
to restrict them in the use of their liberties, nor impose burdens on
them, nor in any way to injure or permit injury to befall them. And
for this protection they were neither to demand nor receive more than
the legal tribute fixed by the royal officers, and always such as the
natives could without distress or discomfort pay. What the system was
in practice we shall have ample opportunity of judging as we proceed
in this history. Suffice it to say here that to the fatherly-protection
part of their compact the colonists paid little heed, but evaded the law
in many ways, and ground the poor savages under their iron heel, while
the crown by ordering, and threatening, earnestly but vainly sought to
carry out in good faith and humanity what they deemed a sacred trust.
[Sidenote: THE PARTITION SYSTEM.]
First, repartimientos of lands were authorized by the sovereigns. This
was in 1497, and nothing was then said about the natives. But after
dividing the land it was but a step to the dividing of the inhabitants.
With the shipment of six hundred slaves in 1498, and an offer to
their Majesties of as many more as they could find sale for, Columbus
wrote asking permission to enforce the services of the natives until
settlement should be fairly begun, say for a year or two; but without
waiting for a reply he at once began the practice, which introduced a
new feature into repartimientos. Then to all who chose to take them,
to Roldan and his followers, to the worst characters on the island,
among whom were the late occupants of Spanish prisons, the vilest of
humankind, was given absolute dominion over these helpless and innocent
creatures. Having paid nothing for them, having no pecuniary interest
in them, they had no object in caring whether they were fed or starved,
whether they lived or died, for if they died there were more at hand
upon the original terms.
Under Bobadilla the infamy assumed bolder proportions. Columbus had
apportioned to certain lands certain natives to labor for the benefit
of Spaniards, but they worked under their cacique. Natives were forced
by Spaniards to work mines, but only under special monthly license.
Bobadilla not only permitted the exaction from the natives of mining and
farming labor, but all restrictions were laid aside, and from working
their own soil they became mere labor-gangs to be driven anywhere.
Before sailing for the New World Ovando had been charged by the
sovereigns with the exercise of extreme moderation in levying tributes
and making repartimientos. Those who came with him not only failed in
mining, but neglected to plant, as did likewise the natives, thinking
thereby the quicker to rid themselves of the invaders. Hence famine,
engendering new diseases, was at hand for both white men and red. Then
the Indians were systematically parcelled among the Spaniards, to one
fifty, to another one hundred, and the repartimiento unfolded into the
encomienda. Columbus and Bobadilla had each endeavored to fasten Indian
slavery upon the New World, but this legalizing by Ovando what had been
illegally done by them, was the heaviest blow in that direction. "To you
is given an encomienda of Indians with their chief; and you are to teach
them the things of our holy Catholic faith," was the thin subterfuge by
which this foul act was accomplished.
[Sidenote: THE KING'S STRONG BOX.]
In 1508 was sent to Santo Domingo as treasurer-general Miguel de
Pasamonte to supersede Bernardino de Santa Clara, who had received the
office of treasurer from Ovando. Santa Clara loved display and lacked
honesty. Using freely the king's money he bought estates, and gave
feasts, in one of which the salt-cellars were filled with gold-dust.
This folly reaching the king's ears, Gil Gonzalez Dávila, of whom we
shall know more presently, was sent to investigate the matter, and
found Santa Clara a defaulter to the extent of eighty thousand pesos
de oro. His property was seized and offered at auction. Ovando, with
whom Santa Clara was a favorite, stood by at the sale, and holding up
a pineapple offered it to the most liberal bidder, which pleasantry
was so stimulating that the estate brought ninety-six thousand pesos
de oro, more than twice its value. Afterward the plan was adopted of
having three locks upon the government's strong-box, the keys to which
were carried by the three chief treasury officials.[V-8] Pasamonte
was an Aragonese, in the immediate service of Ferdinand, with whom
he corresponded in cipher during his residence in the Indies. A very
good repartimiento of Indians was ordered by the king to be given the
faithful Pasamonte. In 1511 Gil Gonzalez Dávila was made contador of
Española, and Juan de Ampues factor; to each were given two hundred
Indians, and they were ordered to examine the accounts of the treasurer,
Pasamonte. For the faithful must be kept faithful by the strictest
watching; such was Spanish discretion, whether in the management of men
or women.
* * * * *
The removal of Ovando was delayed by the death of Isabella in 1504, and
of Columbus in 1506. After persistent importunities Diego Colon, son
of the admiral, was permitted in 1508 to plead in the courts of Spain
his claim, as his father's successor, to the viceroyalty of the Indies.
His marriage, meanwhile, with María de Toledo, a lady of high birth and
connection, assisted in opening the eyes of the law to the justness of
his demands, fully as much as did any argument of counsel. Ovando was
recalled and Diego authorized to take his place.
The new governor, accompanied by his wife, his brother Fernando, his
uncles Bartolomé and Diego, and a retinue brilliant with rank and
beauty, landed at Santo Domingo in July, 1509. Although Ferdinand had
withheld the title of viceroy, Diego evidently regarded his appointment
nothing less than a viceroyalty, although the two mainland governors,
Alonso de Ojeda and Diego de Nicuesa, for the provinces east and west
of Urabá, remained independent of him.
[Sidenote: THE SOVEREIGN TRIBUNAL.]
Diego's administration was but little if any improvement on those of
his predecessors. He possessed neither the ability nor the prudence
of Ovando. He had intended equity and honesty in his rulings, and
exceptional kindness to the natives; notwithstanding which he began by
granting repartimientos to himself, his wife, and kindred, and giving
the best of the remainder to his favorites. So that the now standard
evils of favoritism and cruelty were in no wise mitigated. Not only were
the Indians no better used than formerly, but falling into the errors
of his father in the management of men Diego's weak government soon
found opposed to it a faction at whose head was the powerful Pasamonte.
Charges of a serious nature against the son of the Genoese so frequently
reached Spain that in 1511 the king found it necessary to establish at
Santo Domingo a sovereign tribunal to which appeals might be made from
the decisions of the governor. This tribunal which at first was only a
royal court of law, superior to any other colonial power, was the germ
of the Real Audiencia of Santo Domingo by which the greater part of the
Indies, islands and firm land, were governed for a period subsequent
to 1521. It was at first composed of three _jueces de apelacion_, or
judges of appeal, Marcelo de Villalobos, Juan Ortiz de Matienzo, and
Lúcas Vazquez de Aillon. These _licenciados_, having brought with them
instructions from Spain, and also orders on Diego Colon for partitions
of land and two hundred Indians each, in 1511 were ready to rule. They
were empowered to hear and determine appeals from the governor, his
_tenientes_ and _alcaldes mayores_, and from any other judges that
had been or should be appointed either by the colonial governor or by
the crown, appeal from their decision being only to the Council of the
Indies in Spain. Although from its creation clothed with many of the
powers of an audiencia, it did not all at once possess that title, but
gradually assumed it.[V-9] By decree of September 14, 1526, we find
the emperor ordering that in the city of Santo Domingo there should
reside the _Audiencia y Chancillería Real_, "como está fundada," as at
present constituted. It was to consist of a president; four _oidores_,
who were also _alcaldes del crímen_, or criminal judges; a _fiscal_, a
prosecuting officer in this case; an _alguacil mayor_, or high sheriff;
a _teniente de gran canciller_, or deputy grand chancellor, and other
necessary officers. Indeed, beside some of the other officers, a
president had already been provided in 1521, in the person of Luis de
Figueroa, bishop of Concepcion. Francisco de Prado was appointed fiscal
in 1523, at which time the salaries of the oidores were raised, as they
had been deprived of the right of holding Indians. All appeals from
the _jueces de residencia_, where the amount involved was less than six
hundred pesos de oro, were thereafter referred to this tribunal. Alonso
de Zuazo took his seat among the oidores in 1526. To the audiencia of
Santo Domingo was given for its district the West India Islands; and
on the mainland the governments of Venezuela, Nueva Andalucía, Rio
de Hacha, and Guayana, or el Dorado, this district being bounded by
those of the audiencias of the Nuevo Reino de Granada, Tierra Firme,
Guatemala, Nueva España, and the provinces of Florida. The president
was empowered to make such ordinances as he should deem essential
to the good government and defence of the island, just as was done,
within their jurisdiction, by other governors of Indian provinces.
He might fill vacancies in the various subordinate offices until the
pleasure of the king should be known, and he might do generally all
things pertaining to the executive power. In these matters the oidores
were forbidden to interfere; nor could the president exercise judicial
functions, but must nevertheless sign with the judges all sentences. In
other respects this tribunal was on an equal footing with others of its
class.[V-10]
[Sidenote: AUDIENCIAS.]
Meanwhile the most disturbing question in the colony was that of labor.
To govern the few Spaniards at Española, under the arbitrary system of
Spain, was a small matter; but to divide among them lands, agricultural
and mineral, and laborers in such a way as to satisfy at once the
colonists and the many tender and enlightened consciences in Spain, in
such a way as to prevent the utter ruin either of colonial enterprise
or of the natives themselves, was indeed a difficult task.
[Sidenote: END OF DIEGO COLON.]
In 1509 possession had been taken of Jamaica by Juan de Esquivel, and
toward the end of 1511[V-11] the governor of Española had sent Diego
Velazquez to occupy Cuba, which was done without the loss of a Spaniard.
Ojeda and Nicuesa having failed in colonizing Darien, the mainland
in that vicinity was offered by the king in 1514 to the adelantado,
Bartolomé Colon, but he was then too ill to accept the charge, and died
not long after. In April, 1515, Diego Colon embarked for Spain; and we
find him attempting his vindication at court, when Ferdinand died, the
23d of January, 1516. Cardinal Jimenez, who held the reins of Spanish
government for a time, refused to decide between the governor and
treasurer; but in 1520 the emperor directed Pasamonte to molest Diego no
more. Then affairs at Española became more intolerable than ever, and in
1523 Diego was divested of authority by the Council of the Indies, the
sovereign tribunal at Santo Domingo furnishing ample information of a
condemnatory character. Diego succeeded, however, in having a commission
appointed to examine the matter more carefully, but this tended only
to further complications; and the last days of the son, which ended in
1526, were not more happy than those of the father had been.[V-12]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS.]
A steadily growing character, impressing itself more and more upon the
affairs of the Indies as time went by, was that of Bartolomé de las
Casas. Born at Seville in 1474, he conned his humanities at Salamanca,
making little stir among the Gamaliels there, but taking the bachelor's
degree in his eighteenth year. After a residence of about eight years in
the Indies, having come with Ovando in 1502, he was admitted to priestly
orders, from which time he takes his place in history. He was a man
of very pronounced temperament and faculties, as much man of business
as ecclesiastic, but more philanthropist than either; possessed of a
burning enthusiasm, when once the fire of his conviction was fairly
kindled, he gave rest neither to himself nor to his enemies. For every
evil-minded man who came hither was his enemy, between whom and himself
was a death-struggle. The Apostle of the Indies he was sometimes called,
and the mission he took upon himself was to stand between the naked
natives and their steel-clad tormentors. In this work he was ardent,
ofttimes imprudent, always eloquent and truthful, and as impudently
bold and brazen as any cavalier among them all. Nor was he by any means
a discontented man. He sought nothing for himself; he had nothing that
man could take from him except life, upon which he set no value, or
except some of its comforts, which were too poor at best to trouble
himself about. His cause, which was the right, gave breadth and volume
to his boldness, beside which the courage of the hare-brained babbler
was sounding brass.
When the attention of the church was first seriously drawn toward the
amelioration of the condition of the Indians, which was in 1511, there
were at Española some thirteen Dominicans, living with their vicar,
Pedro de Córdoba, according to the strictest rules of the order, and
likewise several Franciscans, among whom was Antonio de Espinal. The
Dominicans began their protest by a sermon denouncing the course of the
colonists, and when ordered to retract, they repeated their charges
with still greater emphasis. The colonists sent agents to Spain to
have the contumacious monks displaced, and among them Espinal; for the
Franciscans, as much in a spirit of opposition to the Dominicans as to
find favor with the laity, showed a leaning toward the repartimiento
system, though they could not decently defend it. The Dominicans sent
Antonio Montesino, he who had preached the distasteful sermon, all
the Dominicans present having signed approval of it. To consider the
matter, a junta was summoned in Spain, which pronounced the Indians a
free people, a people to be Christianized, and not enslaved; they were
innocent heathen, not infidel enemies like the Moors, or natural-born
slaves like the negroes. Ferdinand and Fonseca were both earnest in
obtaining this verdict, for so had said the king's preachers. Meanwhile
Montesino encountering Espinal in Spain, won him over to the side of
humanity. But all the same the repartimientos were continued, for they
were fatherly protection only in theory, and the colonists went on
scourging the poor red men.
In the occupation of Cuba, Pánfilo de Narvaez was named by Velazquez
his lieutenant, and sent forth to subjugate other parts of the island.
With Narvaez went Las Casas, who put forth almost superhuman exertions
in vain to stay the merciless slaughter of the helpless and innocent.
A warm friend of Las Casas was Velazquez' alcalde, Pedro de Rentería,
who in the division of the spoils joined Las Casas in accepting a large
tract of land, and a proportionate repartimiento of Indians. This was
before Las Casas had seriously considered the matter, and he was at
first quite delighted with his acquisition. But the enormity of the
wrong coming upon him, his conversion was as decisive as that of St
Paul. Like the Dominicans of Española, Las Casas began by preaching
against repartimientos. In 1515 he sailed for Spain in company with
Montesino, leaving his charge with certain monks sent over from Española
by the prelate Córdoba. These Dominican brothers did what they could,
but to such straits were the savages driven after the departure of Las
Casas that to escape the bloodhounds and other evils set upon them by
the Spaniards thousands of them took refuge in suicide. When Diego Colon
arrived in 1509 there were left in Española forty thousand natives.
A _repartidor_ was appointed in the person of Rodrigo de Alburquerque
to repartition the Indians, but when he arrived in 1514 there were but
thirteen thousand left to divide. After proclaiming himself with great
pomp, Alburquerque plainly intimated that bribery was in order, that he
who paid the most money should have the best repartimiento. Afterward
the Licentiate Ibarra, sent to Española to take the residencia of the
alcalde Aguilar, was authorized to make a new partition. Large numbers
of natives were given to the king's favorites in Spain, and the evil
grew apace. Nor were affairs at Española mended by sending out so
frequently new officials with new and conflicting powers.
[Sidenote: THE JERONIMITE FATHERS.]
Whatever hopes the monks may have derived from Ferdinand's benign
reception, death cut short the proposed relief. Fonseca, now bishop of
Búrgos, with coarse ribaldry dismissed the subject; but when Las Casas
applied to the regent, Cardinal Jimenez, an earnest and active interest
was manifest. Las Casas, Montesino, and Palacios Rubios were directed
to present a plan for the government of the Indies, which resulted
in sending thither three Jeronimite Fathers, Luis de Figueroa, Alonso
de Santo Domingo, and Bernardino Manzanedo, monks of the order of St
Jerome, being selected because they were free from the complications
in which those of St Francis and St Dominic already found themselves
involved in the New World. The Jeronimites were ordered to visit the
several islands and inform themselves regarding the condition of the
Indians, and adopt measures for the formation of native settlements.
These settlements or communities were to be governed each by a cacique,
together with an ecclesiastic; and for every two or three settlements
a civil officer, called an administrator, having supreme power in the
settlements, was to be appointed. The cacique, after obtaining the
consent of the ecclesiastic, should inflict no higher punishment on
his subjects than stripes; none should be capitally punished except
under regular process of law. The matters of education, labor, tribute,
mining, and farming were then treated, in all which the welfare of the
natives was carefully considered, although the repartimiento system
remained. Las Casas was named Protector of the Indians with a salary
of one hundred pesos de oro. Zuazo, a lawyer of repute, was sent with
the most ample powers to take a residencia of all the judges in the New
World, and against his decisions there was to be no appeal.
The Jeronimites set out wrapped in mighty determinations. They would
not even sail in the same ship with Las Casas, wishing to be wholly
free. In this they were right; but unfortunately, on arriving among
the wrangling colonists, and having the actual issues thrust upon them,
they found themselves by no means infallible. Their measures were tame,
and they soon found the Protector arrayed against them. The result was
their open defence of the repartimiento system, as the only one by which
Spain could colonize the Indies. The burden should be laid as lightly
as possible on the shoulders of the natives, but they must be made
to work. Las Casas set out in 1517 to enter his complaints at court,
closely followed by an emissary of the Jeronimites to represent their
side of the question; but they arrived in Spain only to find the regent
dying. Had Charles V. remained in Flanders, and had the life of Cardinal
Jimenez been spared to Spain and the New World a few years longer, it
is certain that the cruelties to the Indians would many of them have
been prevented, and it is doubtful if negro slavery would ever have been
introduced into America.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: DIVERS RULES AND RULERS.]
Though the change of rulers which now occurred seriously clogged the
wheels of government in Spain, the affairs of the Indies seemed directly
to suffer little inconvenience therefrom. It was indeed a great change,
Isabella and Ferdinand gone, Columbus and Jimenez also; and the presence
of this young Charles, undemonstrative, thoughtful, cautious, even when
a boy, and enveloped in a Flemish atmosphere that shut out all that was
most beautiful in Spain, even Castile's liquid language, made it seem
strange there even to Spaniards, made it seem a long, long time since
the Moors were beaten and America discovered. The Indies, however, were
far away, and so little understood by the Flemings that they did not
trouble themselves much about them.
Las Casas was fortunate in winning the favor of the Flemish chancellor,
Selvagius, but as in the two previous cases, scarcely was the friendly
footing established when the great man died, and the bishop of Búrgos,
whose influence in the government of the Indies had fallen low of late,
was again elevated. All the measures that Las Casas had proposed to
Selvagius fell to the ground—all save one, the only bad one, and one
concerning which Las Casas afterward asserted that he would give all he
possessed on earth to recall it; it was the introduction of negro slaves
to relieve the Indians.
If the Jeronimite Fathers accomplished no great things in the Indies,
they at least did little harm. Small-pox attended the herding of
the natives in settlements, but it never prevailed to the extent
represented. The fact that Fonseca held an encomienda of eight hundred
Indians, the Comendador Conchillos one of eleven hundred, Vega one of
two hundred, and other influential men at court other numbers, may have
had something to do with the hostility manifested in that quarter toward
Las Casas, who was unflinching to the end in denouncing the system as
unjust, unchristian, and inhuman.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: CASA DE CONTRATACION.]
The office of Indian distributor was most important, and one in
which the vital interests of the colonists were involved. It should
have been filled by one of high integrity who would hold aloof from
contaminating influences. Such was not Ibarra, who became offensively
meddlesome in the affairs of the common council, and died under
suspicious circumstances not long after, Lebron being sent out to take
his place. When the Jeronimites countenanced negro slavery to relieve
the Indians, the colonists were benignant; when they undertook civil
service reform, some of them became furious, especially Pasamonte, who
had been enriching himself as fast as possible while his patron lived,
but who had now sunk into insignificance. The favorites of the Flemish
ministers, such as Rodrigo de Figueroa, to whom was given charge of
the Indian settlements, were now the recipients of the fat offices; and
the fact of their being Flemish favorites was sufficient to array the
colonists against them. It was not long before they succeeded in having
the residencia of Figueroa ordered, and Lebron installed as overseer
of Indians in his place. In 1518, Jimenez who sent the Jeronimites
being dead and Fonseca once more manager, the monks were recalled to
Spain, and the affairs of Española and of the Indies were left with the
audiencia of Santo Domingo, acting in conjunction with the _Consejo de
Indias_[V-13] in Spain, the _Casa de Contratacion_ having more especial
charge of commercial matters.
Many schemes for the benefit of the Indians filled the mind of Las
Casas, who continued to labor for them indefatigably. One, originating
with Pedro de Córdoba, was to set apart on the mainland one hundred
leagues as a place of refuge for the savages, into which no Spaniards
but priests might enter. This measure was opposed by Fonseca, who said:
"The king would do well, indeed, to give away a hundred leagues without
any profit to himself." After this Las Casas spent some time travelling
through Spain and inducing Spaniards to emigrate to the Indies, but
little that was beneficial came of it. Succeeding finally in enlisting
the sympathies of the king's preachers in behalf of the Indians,
a plan for founding a colony on the Pearl Coast was carried, and
notwithstanding Oviedo appeared in opposition to his brother chronicler
by offering a larger royalty, a grant of two hundred and sixty leagues
was signed in May, 1520. Failing as a colonist, Las Casas retired for a
time to the Dominican convent at Santo Domingo. After many years spent
as missionary and preacher in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru, he
was appointed bishop of Chiapas, where in the progress of this history
we shall again meet him.
[Sidenote: SUNDRY PROVISIONS.]
Certain attention which the Indies were now receiving may be mentioned
here. Some little attention was paid by the ever-watchful government
to the welfare of society in these distant parts. The wearing of rich
apparel in Española was forbidden by the king in 1523. The appellations
of certain of the islands were undergoing change, so that in due
time their aboriginal names were restored to Cuba and Jamaica, the
authorities thereby evincing a good taste which rulers and explorers
of other nations might well have profited by at a later period. In 1515
six loaves of sugar and twenty _cassia fistula_ were taken by Oviedo to
Spain. In 1517 the pope made bishops in the Indies inquisitors; and when
in 1521-2 the bulls of Leo X. and Adrian VI. ordered the Franciscans
to prepare for mission work in the New World, liberal concessions were
made to friars going thence. After the death of Pedro de Córdoba, who
had been appointed inquisitor of the Indies, authority became vested in
the audiencia of Santo Domingo. Desirous of stimulating emigration, the
emperor in 1522 granted further privileges to settlers in the Indies.
Colonists were ordered to take their families to the New World under
severe penalties for neglect. Licenses were revised, and regulations
concerning the going to the New World of the religious orders as well as
of all others were made to the utmost extent favorable, but friars found
in the New World without a license must be sent forthwith to Spain.
Then laws were made attempting to regulate the method of making war on
Indians; and in 1523 it was decreed that idols should be destroyed and
cannibalism prevented. Provision was made for the annual payment of
thirty thousand maravedís for the support of a preceptor of grammar.
And because of the heavy expenses of living, the emperor permitted the
salaries of New World officials to be increased. The tribunals were
likewise reorganized to fit the emergency and facilitate business.
Directions were issued how gold chains should be made and dye-woods cut.
It seemed to the emperor necessary in 1526 to issue orders facilitating
the arrest of dishonest mercantile agents in the Indies, and to send
Padre de Bobadilla, a provincial of the order of La Merced, to look
after the baptism of the Indians. And as to the question of negroes,
vexatious from the beginning, the emperor in 1523 revoked for a time the
permission given in 1511 to send negroes as slaves to the Indies; and
it was again ordered in 1526 that Indian slaves then in Spain should be
returned to their country and treated as vassals.[V-14]
CHAPTER VI.
THE GOVERNMENTS OF NUEVA ANDALUCÍA AND CASTILLA DEL ORO.
1506-1510.
TIERRA FIRME THROWN OPEN TO COLONIZATION—RIVAL
APPLICATIONS—ALONSO DE OJEDA APPOINTED GOVERNOR OF NUEVA
ANDALUCÍA, AND DIEGO DE NICUESA OF CASTILLA DEL ORO—HOSTILE
ATTITUDES OF THE RIVALS AT SANTO DOMINGO—OJEDA EMBARKS
FOR CARTAGENA—BUILDS THE FORTRESS OF SAN SEBASTIAN—FAILURE
AND DEATH—NICUESA SAILS FOR VERAGUA—PARTS COMPANY WITH HIS
FLEET—HIS VESSEL IS WRECKED—PASSES VERAGUA—CONFINED WITH HIS
STARVING CREW ON AN ISLAND—SUCCOR—FAILURE AT VERAGUA—ATTEMPTS
SETTLEMENT AT NOMBRE DE DIOS—LOSS OF SHIP SENT TO ESPAÑOLA
FOR RELIEF—HORRIBLE SUFFERINGS—BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF LAS
CASAS, OVIEDO, PETER MARTYR, GOMARA, AND HERRERA—CHARACTER OF
THE EARLY CHRONICLERS FOR VERACITY.
The voyages of Bastidas and Columbus completed the discovery of a
continuous coast line from the gulf of Paria to Cape Honduras. In 1506
Juan Diaz de Solis, a native of Lebrija, and Vicente Yañez Pinzon took
up the line of discovery at the island of Guanaja, where the admiral had
first touched, and proceeding in the opposite direction sailed along
the coast of Honduras to the westward, surveyed the gulf of Honduras
and discovered Amatique Bay, but passed by without perceiving the Golfo
Dulce which lies hidden from the sea. The object still was to find the
much-desired passage by water to the westward. Continuing northerly
along Yucatan, and finding the coast trending east rather than west,
they abandoned the undertaking and returned to Spain. Meanwhile Juan
Ponce de Leon was enriching himself by the pacification of Puerto Rico,
preparatory to invading the mainland to the northward in search of the
fountain of youth; in which sapient attempt he lost his money, and
not long afterward his life, unfortunately never finding the liquid
immortality that bubbled somewhere in the jungles of Florida.
And now ten years had elapsed since Cabot and Columbus first saw the
western continent, the former in 1497, the latter in 1498, and although
several attempts had been made, as yet there was no European settlement
on any part of it. It was not that the thirst for western spoils was
by any means assuaged; but Ferdinand was busy, and the experiences
of Ojeda and Columbus on the mainland were not encouraging to the
most chivalrous cupidity. Returned, however, from his Neapolitan wars
in 1507, his disaffected nobles somewhat quieted, and the disputes
attending Isabella's succession allayed, the king began to look about
him. By the queen's testament he inherited one half the revenues of the
Castilian colonies. And the king wanted money. It is a royal weakness.
Then he remembered what Columbus had reported of the rich coast of
Veragua; and although the licenses hitherto granted for private voyages
had not proved very lucrative, and expenditures at Santo Domingo were
too near receipts to be satisfactory, no better way seemed feasible
than to throw open to colonization the mainland, or _tierra firme_, as
the discovered portion of the continent now began to be called.[VI-1]
Further than this, Ferdinand was well aware that if he would retain his
western possessions he must occupy them; for stimulated by the success
of Portugal and Spain, France, England, Holland, and Sweden had all
awakened to oceanic enterprise. He had before this commissioned Ojeda
to watch the inroads of the English at the north, and directed Pinzon
to have an eye on the Portuguese and the pope's partition line at the
south; now he was resolved to break the territory into kingdoms and
provinces, and apportion them for government to such of his subjects as
were able and willing to colonize at their own cost.
[Sidenote: OJEDA AND NICUESA.]
When the intention of the king was known, two dashing cavaliers appeared
and asked for the government of the rich coast of the Tierra Firme. One
was Diego de Nicuesa, a native of Baeza, well-born and an accomplished
courtier, having been reared by Enrique Enriquez, chief steward and
uncle of the king. He came to the Indies first with Ovando. The other
was Alonso de Ojeda, then in Santo Domingo, and already famous in
New World annals, making his first appearance there with Columbus in
his second voyage, and having already achieved two notable voyages to
Paria, or the Pearl Coast, one in 1499 with Juan de la Cosa and Amerigo
Vespucci, and one in 1502, with García de Ocampo and Juan de Vergara.
The last had been made in four ships, and for the purpose of colonizing;
instead of which disputes arose, and the fiery commander was seized and
carried in shackles to Española. There he was tried, and a decision
rendered against him, which however was overruled on appeal to the
Council of the Indies; but he came out of his difficulties stripped of
all his possessions.
The candidates were much alike, each being a fair type of the Spanish
cavalier. Both were small in stature, though none the less men of
prowess. Symmetrical in form, muscular, active, and skilful in the use
of weapons, they delighted in tilting matches, feats of horsemanship,
and in all those pastimes which characterized Spanish chivalry at the
close of the Mahometan wars. The school in which Ojeda had studied
experience, as page to the duke of Medina Celi, who appeared in the
Moorish wars at the head of a brilliant retinue, was in no wise inferior
to that of his rival. Their accomplishments were varied, though not
specially in the direction of colonizing new countries. Not only was
Nicuesa a fine musician, playing well the guitar, and having some
knowledge of ballad literature, but he could make his horse prance in
perfect time to a musical instrument. As for Ojeda, there was little,
in his own opinion, he could not do. The more of recklessness and folly
in the exploit the better he could perform it. Once at Seville, while
Isabella was in the cathedral tower, out from which ran a beam, at a
height so great that from it men on the ground looked like pygmies,
to show the queen of what metal he was made, he mounted this beam,
balanced himself, then tripped lightly as a rope-dancer to the end
of it, wheeled, and lifting one foot poised himself on the other at
this fearfully dizzy height, where almost a breath would dash him to
destruction; then, returning, he stopped at the wall and placing one
foot against it threw an orange to the top of the tower.
With such distinguished ability on either side, it was difficult to
determine between them. Who so suitable to baffle miasma, poisonous
reptiles, and wild beasts while dressing the institutions of Spain
for the wilderness of America, as the graceful and witty Nicuesa!
What a glorious missionary Ojeda would make! So moderate, so wise, so
gentle, so just, both! Nicuesa had money, a necessary commodity to him
who would colonize at his own cost. But then Ojeda had influence; for
Fonseca was his friend, and an inquisitor his cousin. Yet Nicuesa was
not without advocates at court; money alone was a powerful argument.
When, finally, the veteran pilot, Juan de la Cosa, threw his experience
and earnings upon the side of Ojeda, to whom he was devotedly attached,
and offered himself to embark in the adventure, the king concluded to
let them both go; and then it was that he divided Tierra Firme between
them, making the gulf of Urabá[VI-2] the dividing point. The eastern or
South American portion was called Nueva Andalucía, and of this Alonso
de Ojeda was appointed governor; the western division, extending from
the gulf of Urabá, or Darien, to Cape Gracias á Dios, was named by the
king Castilla del Oro,[VI-3] or Golden Castile, and the command given to
Diego de Nicuesa. The island of Jamaica, whence they expected to draw
their supplies, was to be held in common by the two governors. Were it
not so much more delightful to bargain with new suitors who have money,
than to reward old servants who have none, a fine sense of decency might
have prompted the monarch to give Castilla del Oro to the adelantado,
Bartolomé Colon, who had assisted in discovering, and in an attempt
to colonize the country, and who had little to show for his many and
valuable services to Spain. But Diego Colon was determined they should
not have Jamaica, and so sent thither Juan de Esquivel, as we have seen,
to hold it for the governor of Santo Domingo.
[Sidenote: MAINLAND DIVISIONS.]
The mainland governors were each appointed for four years, during which
time supplies were free from duties. Their outfit, with four hundred
settlers and two hundred miners each, might be obtained from Santo
Domingo. They were given the exclusive right to work for ten years
all mines discovered by them on paying into the royal treasury for the
first year one tenth of the proceeds, the second year one ninth, the
third one eighth, the fourth one seventh, the fifth one sixth, and for
the remaining five years one fifth. The king conditioned, moreover,
that each governor should build two forts for the protection of the
colonists, to whom the lands in the vicinity of which were to belong.
It so happened that the doughty little governors met at Santo Domingo,
while making their final preparations. Swelling with new dignities,
active and mettlesome, each desirous of obtaining as many recruits as
possible, it was not long before they came into collision. First they
quarrelled about Jamaica; as a supplement to which Ojeda stoutly swore
that should he there encounter Juan de Esquivel, his head should pay
the penalty. Then their partition line became a bone of contention,
both claiming the Indian province of Darien.[VI-4] The geography of
the coast was at that time but little known; their dominions toward
the south were limitless, and for aught they knew larger than Spain.
Although both the commanders were small corporally, in feeling they were
large, and required much room. The breach thus opened was in no wise
lessened by the superior success of Nicuesa, who with a deeper purse,
and a government famous for its wealth, drew off recruits from his less
fortunate rival. Five large caravels and two brigantines, flying the
flag of Castilla del Oro, rode in the harbor. All were well equipped
and liberally provisioned; and already Nicuesa mustered nearly eight
hundred men and six horses, while Ojeda at his best could muster but
three hundred men in two small ships and two brigantines.[VI-5]
[Sidenote: THE RIVAL GOVERNORS.]
Nettled at every turn he made about the little town, Ojeda, who was a
better swordsman than logician, at length proposed to settle all scores
by single combat. "Agreed," replied Nicuesa, who was equally brave
yet less passionate, "but for what shall we fight? Match me with five
thousand castellanos, and I am your man." Finally old Juan de la Cosa
interfered to prevent bloodshed; the river Darien, or Atrato, was made
the dividing line, and measures were taken to hasten departure before
the fire of hot Ojeda should blaze out again.
But Ojeda was not without his little triumphs. There dwelt at this time
at the capital of the Indies a lawyer, known as the Bachiller[VI-6]
Martin Fernandez de Enciso, who during a successful practice of many
years had accumulated some two thousand castellanos. Tempted by the
offer of being made alcalde mayor[VI-7] of the new government, he was
induced by the impetuous Ojeda to embark his entire fortune in the
adventure. It was arranged that the bachiller should remain at Santo
Domingo for some time after the departure of Ojeda, in order to obtain
further recruits and fit out another ship, and then follow the governor
to Nueva Andalucía.
Of Ojeda's party was Francisco Pizarro; and flitting restlessly from
one heterogeneous group to another, enviously watching preparations in
which circumstances prevented their participating, were other dominant
spirits waiting opportunity, notably Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, tied by debt
to distasteful agriculture, and Hernan Cortés, fortunately forbidden to
embark by illness.
Ojeda was the first to sail, embarking November 10, 1509. Nicuesa
would have weighed anchor at the same time, but was prevented by his
creditors; for his success in securing followers was attended by so
copious a drain of purse that not only his money but his credit was
gone.
Favorable winds wafted Ojeda quickly to Cartagena, where he landed and
proclaimed in loud and vaunting tones his manifesto.[VI-8] A shower of
poisoned darts was the reply; a mark of disrespect from his new subjects
which set the governor's blood boiling. Breathing a short prayer to the
virgin, Ojeda seized a lance, and charging the natives at the head of
his followers scattered them in the forest, and rashly pursued them.
These were no effeminate islanders; the women fought side by side
with the men, who were equal to those of Veragua, with the additional
advantage of envenomed arrow-points, which, with the occasional
shelter their forests afforded, made them more than a match for the
Spaniards.[VI-9] This Ojeda had all to learn, and to pay dearly for
the knowledge. Of seventy of his best and bravest who followed him four
leagues inland but one returned. Even his staunch and veteran friend,
Juan de la Cosa, after vainly attempting to dissuade his self-willed
colleague from his purpose, placed himself by his side and died there.
Ojeda fought like a tiger until his men were scattered and killed, and
he was left wounded and alone in a marshy thicket, where several days
after a fresh party from the ships found him half-dead. When warmed into
life and returned to the harbor he saw entering it Nicuesa's fleet he
hid himself, afraid to meet his rival in that plight. Told of this by
Ojeda's men, as supplemental to their dismal tale, Nicuesa's anger was
aroused at the unjust suspicion. "Tell your commander," he exclaimed,
"that Diego de Nicuesa is a Christian cavalier who makes no war on a
prostrate foe; that not only shall past feuds be buried, but he promises
never to leave this spot until the deaths of Juan de la Cosa and his
comrades are avenged." He was as good as his word. Landing four hundred
men, he surprised an Indian village, put men, women, and children to
the sword, and secured large booty.
[Sidenote: NUEVA ANDALUCÍA.]
After Nicuesa had departed on his way, Ojeda cast off from that
ill-fated shore his ships, and brought them to the gulf of Urabá,
where on its eastern side, near the entrance, he built a fortress, the
beginning of his capital city, and called it San Sebastian[VI-10] in
honor of the arrow-martyred saint, whose protection he craved from the
venomous darts of his subjects. From San Sebastian, Ojeda despatched
to Santo Domingo one of his vessels with the gold and captives he had
taken, at the same time urging Enciso to hasten his departure, and
send supplies. Meanwhile Ojeda's temper, which was as sharp and fiery
as Damascus steel, made little head-way against tangled marshes and
poisoned arrows. Persisting in his high-handed policy, he could do
nothing with the natives, food being as difficult to obtain as gold,
and his ranks rapidly thinned.
While harassed by hunger and watching anxiously the coming of Enciso
and the return of their ships, the colonists descried one day a strange
sail. On reaching San Sebastian it proved to be a Genoese vessel which,
while loading with bacon and cassava bread at Cape Tiburon, had been
piratically seized by one Bernardo de Talavera and a gang of vagabonds
from Santo Domingo, who escaped with their prize and had come to Nueva
Andalucía to seek fortune under the wise and happy rule of Governor
Ojeda. To buy the cargo was the work of a moment, for the pirates were
very ready to sell; and, indeed, had they not been, the governor would
have compelled them. The poison was in his blood, which was now hot
with fever, and he was in no mood for ceremony. But the relief thus
obtained was only temporary. Day by day the food supply diminished. The
colonists were reduced in number from three hundred to three score. And
with bodily ailment came as usual mind-distempers, wranglings, ruin,
and despair. Where now was the valiant Ojeda? Humiliated to the dust,
as well before the savages as before the Spaniards.
[Sidenote: DEATH OF OJEDA.]
Yet he would not yield to fate without another effort, wasted and weak
as he was. Giving Pijano command of the fortress, Ojeda took passage in
the freebooter's ship and sailed for Santo Domingo. But his patroness,
the virgin, had indeed deserted him. Shipwreck met him at Cuba,
whence he crossed to Jamaica. Talavera and his gang, after the most
extraordinary exertions, likewise reached Jamaica, but only to be seized
by order of Diego Colon and hanged. Ojeda said nothing to Esquivel
about striking off his head, but humbly took the kindly extended aid.
Proceeding to Española in a caravel he found Enciso gone, and himself a
bankrupt invalid. Pride, which seldom deserts a Spanish cavalier, gave
way. Reduced to penury, broken-hearted, he died, begging as proof of his
humility to be buried under the monastery portal, that all who entered
should tread upon his grave. Farewell, daring, dashing, irrational
Ojeda!
Let us now look after Nicuesa. When from the discomfited Ojeda the
gallant governor of Castilla del Oro last parted, he coasted westward
toward Veragua, where he purposed to plant his colony. The better
to survey the seaboard, he took a small caravel, and ordered Lope de
Olano, his lieutenant, to attend him with two brigantines, while the
larger vessels kept farther from the shore. Thus they proceeded until
reaching the Indian province of Cueba, where a port was discovered into
which flowed a small stream called Pito. There they landed and said
mass,[VI-11] and therefore named the place Misas.
Leaving there the largest ships in charge of a relative named Cueto,
who was to receive word when to follow, Nicuesa pressed forward toward
Veragua with a caravel carrying sixty men, Lope de Olano still attending
in a brigantine with thirty men. A storm arising not long after, the
latter took advantage of this and the darkness of the night to separate
from him, impelled partly by a conviction that they were on the wrong
course, partly by ambitious projects. After waiting two days in vain for
his companion Nicuesa continued westward. In the search for Veragua he
attempted to follow a chart drawn by Bartolomé Colon, though his pilots
Diego de Ribero and Diego Martin, both of whom had been with Columbus,
assured him that he had passed the place. The storm increasing, Nicuesa
ran his vessel into the mouth of a large river; but when attempting
to proceed after the storm he found himself caught in a trap, and his
vessel on the bar amidst the breakers, the water having subsided. Unable
to move the ship in either direction, its destruction was inevitable,
and the men set about saving themselves. A rope was stretched to the
shore at the cost of a life; and scarcely had the last person reached
land when the vessel went to pieces.
[Sidenote: CASTILLA DEL ORO.]
Behold, then, the courtly Nicuesa, so lately the proud commander of a
fleet, by this sudden freak of fortune cast upon an inhospitable shore,
his whereabouts unknown to himself or to those in the ships, and his
almost naked followers destitute of food, save one barrel of flour and
a cask of oil flung them by the surly breakers! His mind was moreover
ill at ease concerning Olano, whose reputation was none of the best,
and who Nicuesa thought might have joined him had he been disposed. The
ship's boat fortunately drifted ashore, and in it Nicuesa placed Diego
de Ribero and three seamen, ordering them to keep him company along the
shore, and render assistance in crossing streams and inlets. Already
faint with hunger, they began their march. But whither? Still westward,
but not toward Veragua. Each weary footstep carried them farther and
farther from their destination. It was not a pleasant journey feeling
their way through tropical forests, with such impediments as tangled
jungles, hot malarious mudbeds, craggy hills and treacherous streams
to block their way. Some of the party had no shoes, some no hat; sharp
stones cut their feet, thorny brambles tore their flesh, and their
half-clad bodies were exposed alternately to burning sun and drenching
rain. They were soon glad to get shell-fish and roots to eat with
their leaves. One day an arrow from an overhanging height struck dead
Nicuesa's page, but fortunately the savages retired without pressing
their advantage. Nicuesa's dog, seeing murder in his hungry master's
eye, took to his heels and was never afterward seen. Yet greater
misfortunes awaited the Spaniards. After crossing an inlet in the boat
one evening, they rested for the night, and in attempting to resume
their march next morning found themselves upon an island. Calling for
Ribero, he was missing. Nor was the boat anywhere to be seen. It could
not be possible that he had left them to die on that circumscribed and
barren spot. Loudly they called, searching every inlet, and sweeping
the horizon with terror-lighted eyes. It was true; they were abandoned!
It is curious to witness the effect of despair on different minds,
of the near approach of that hateful means for our final suppression.
Some will fight the monster; others succumb, sinking into drivelling
imbecility; others calmly abandon themselves to the inevitable, even
the ludicrous aspect of the case coming home to some of them, looking
grimly cheerful. As elsewhere, both fools and philosophers were found
among Nicuesa's crew. Some prayed and confessed, with divers degrees
of accompaniment, from low lamentation to frantic raving; some cursed;
some nursed their horror in sullen silence.
I shall not attempt to describe Nicuesa's sufferings while on this
island. Suffice it to say that on a scanty diet of roots and shell-fish
with brackish water many died, while others wished themselves dead; for
the former might rot in peace, but the latter yet living swarmed with
impatient vermin. And there was little satisfaction in effort, when
drinking only increased thirst, and eating but kept alive despondency.
Truly it was a good thing, a grand thing to adventure life to capture
wild lands and rule one's fellows!
Thus weeks passed. Then like a ray shot from the Redeemer's throne a
sail was seen. Men wasted to the last extremity shook off death's grip
and roused themselves, stretching their long lank necks, their bony
chins and glazed eyes toward the approaching vessel, which soon came to
anchor before the island. Ribero was not a villain after all. Satisfied
that Veragua was behind them, but unable to convince Nicuesa, Ribero
won over to his views the three boatmen, left the island during the
night, retraced their course and reached Veragua. There they found the
colonists, with Olano bearing rule, who on the information of Ribero
could scarcely do less than send his governor succor.[VI-12]
* * * * *
Leaving here Nicuesa, let us inquire concerning the other portions of
his scattered colony. Two months having elapsed since the departure of
the governor from the port of Misas, and hearing nothing from any one,
Cueto, in whose charge the fleet was left, became uneasy, and taking
a small vessel, set out in search of his commander. The only tidings
he could gain were from a letter found on an island, wrapped in a leaf
and fastened to a stick, which informed him that Nicuesa was well and
still journeying westward. Returning to Misas, Cueto with the entire
fleet sailed for Veragua; but so badly worm-eaten were the ships that he
was obliged to come to anchor at the mouth of the River Chagre,[VI-13]
which from the ravenous alligators that swarmed there was called by
the Spaniards Lagartos. There portions of the cargoes were landed; and
while attempts were made to repair the ships, one of the pilots, Pedro
de Umbría, was sent in quest of the lost governor. Meanwhile Lope de
Olano arrived.
[Sidenote: WOES OF NICUESA.]
Evidently the lieutenant did not in his heart desire his captain's
return. For although in reciting to his comrades the circumstances of
the storm, and the disappearance of the governor, with such variations
as suited his purpose, with tears which would have done honor to the
crocodiles thereabout, he made no effort to find Nicuesa. He affected
to believe him dead. "And now, gentlemen," he said, "let no more mention
be made of him if you would not kill me."
The fleet now proceeded to Belen, where the usual catalogue of disasters
attends the disembarkation. Four men are drowned. The worm-eaten ships
are dismantled, broken in pieces, and of the fragments huts are made
on the site formerly occupied by Bartolomé Colon. Olano, after some
opposition, is formally proclaimed lieutenant-governor. Raids follow;
but the quibian, grown wise by experience, retires with his people, and
leaves the Spaniards to shift for themselves. There being nothing to
steal, they starve. Disease and disaffection follow; Olano is not happy.
Wrathful, indeed, was Nicuesa on reaching Belen. Against Olano his
indignation was extreme. He charged him with wilful desertion, with
felonious destruction of the ships, and with gross mismanagement. He
had ruined all. Branding him as a traitor he ordered his arrest; and
when some feeble attempts were made by the others to mitigate the
governor's displeasure, he broke forth on them. "It well becomes you,"
he exclaimed, "to ask pardon for him, when you should be begging mercy
for yourselves!"
But of what use were oaths and bickerings? Of his gallant company half
were dead, and the less fortunate remainder lived only to suffer yet
awhile before following. Of all the men who came from Spain, proud
Nicuesa lost the most, having most to lose. Of all New World woes,
Nicuesa's woes were greatest; the half of what thus far has been words
cannot tell, and the worst part is yet to come.
[Sidenote: NOMBRE DE DIOS.]
Now that the rich Veragua was reached, the Golden Castile of greedy
anticipations, what then? The gold with which to load the ships was
wanting; the ships with which to bear away that gold were almost all
destroyed. The fertile soil was marshy, the spicy air malarious, the
redundant vegetation yielded little food for man. Sallow-faced skeletons
of men clamored their distress. Death was busy enough, so Olano's life
was spared, though his badge of office was exchanged for fetters. Even
foragers perished for want of food; every member of one band died from
eating of a putrescent Indian. The governor grew peevish; his generous
temper was soured by misfortune. The colonists complained of his
harsh treatment and indifference to their sufferings. And they said to
him: "The fates are against us here; let us abandon this place." "Oh,
very well!" snarled Nicuesa. Leaving Alonso Nuñez, with the dignified
title of alcalde mayor, and a few men to harvest some grain planted by
Olano, the colonists embarked in two brigantines and a caravel, built
of fragments of the broken ships, to seek some healthier spot. After
sailing eastward some twenty leagues, a Genoese sailor named Gregorio
addressed the governor: "I well remember, when with the admiral in this
vicinity we entered a fine port where we found food and water." After
some search the place was found, the Portobello of Columbus, and an
anchor dropped there by the admiral was seen protruding from the sand.
Landing for food, the Spaniards were attacked and twenty killed; indeed,
they could scarcely wield their weapons so weak were they. Faint and
disheartened they continued their way about seven leagues farther, when
approaching the shore Nicuesa cried out: "Paremos aquí en el nombre de
Dios!" Here let us stop in God's name! They found anchorage, the place
being the Puerto de Bastimentos of Columbus. The companions of Nicuesa,
however, ready in their distress to seize on any auspice, took up the
cry of their commander and applied the words Nombre de Dios[VI-14] to
the harbor which they then entered, and which name to this day it bears.
Here another attempt was made to locate the government of Castilla del
Oro. Disembarking, Nicuesa took formal possession, erected a fortress,
and began again his necessary though suicidal policy of foraging. The
natives retired. The malarious atmosphere wrapped the strangers in
disease and death. The caravel was sent back to Veragua, and Alonso
Nuñez and the remnant of the colony brought away. The vessel was
then sent to Española for supplies, but neither ship nor crew were
ever afterward heard from. Meanwhile Nicuesa and the remnant of his
luckless company made a brave stand, but all of no avail. Long since
fate had decreed their destruction. It was not possible in their
present condition to live. Reptiles as food became a luxury to them;
the infected sunlight dried up their blood; despair paralyzed heart and
brain; and to so dire extremity were they finally reduced that they were
scarcely able to mount guard or bury their dead.[VI-15]
In my bibliographical notices thus far I have had occasion to make
mention more particularly of original documents referring to individual
episodes. I will now say a few words concerning the early chroniclers,
Las Casas, Oviedo, Peter Martyr, and Gomara, and of the later and more
general writer, Herrera. On these, the corner-stones of early Spanish
American annals, the fabrics of all who follow them must forever rest.
[Sidenote: THE WRITINGS OF LAS CASAS.]
The lives of Las Casas and Oviedo constitute in themselves no small
portions of their respective histories. Both came to the New World,
and each took an active and prominent part in many of the matters of
which he wrote. They were nearly of an age; the former being born at
Seville in 1474, and the latter at Madrid in 1478; but Oviedo did not
come to America until 1514, being with Pedrarias Dávila when he went
to govern Darien, while Las Casas took up his residence under Ovando at
Española in 1502. Las Casas was an ecclesiastic whose life was devoted
to befriending the Indians, and he did not leave America for the last
time until 1547, after half a century of most humane service; Oviedo was
a cavalier who sought to better his broken fortunes by obtaining through
his influence at court the office of _veedor de las fundiciones del
oro de la Tierra Firme_, supervisor of gold-melting for Tierra Firme,
which office he held throughout his connection with the affairs of the
continental Indies, until 1532. Both were influential men at court,
Las Casas being quite intimate with young Charles, while Oviedo had
been _mozo de cámara_, or page to Prince Juan. Both made frequent trips
between Spain and America; Oviedo crossed the Atlantic twelve times,
Las Casas even more.
Las Casas was as able an annalist as he was reformer. His greatest
work, _Historia de las Indias_, was begun in his fifty-third year, and
completed in 1561, five years before his death. It was extensively
copied and used in manuscript, but was not printed until 1875-76.
Though consisting of five volumes, it comprises but three decades, or
books, and brings the history of the New World down only to 1520. It
was the author's original intention to have continued his work through
six decades, which would have brought it down to 1550, and hence have
included his important experiences in Guatemala, Chiapas, and Mexico.
Next to the general history of the Indies stands the _Apologética
Historia_, comprising a description of the country and the customs of
the people, and written to defend the natives against the accusation
that they lacked system in their societies, not having reason to govern
themselves. His first printed work was issued in Mexico in 1546;
it was entitled _Cancionero Spiritual_, and was dedicated to Bishop
Zumárraga. At Seville, in 1552, was published, in one volume 4to, _Breve
relacion de la destruccion de las Indias Occidentales_, and other
tracts of a similar nature; such as his Controversy with Sepúlveda;
his Thirty Propositions; Remedies for the Reformation of Indies; Rules
for Confessors; a treatise proving the sovereign empire and universal
authority which the kings of Castile and Leon have over the Indies, etc.
This collection was put in print in Latin, French, Italian, German,
and Dutch, some of the translations appearing in several editions.
The Controversy with Sepúlveda was issued separately. Juan Antonio
Llorente printed at Paris in 1822 a _Coleccion de las Obras del Obispo
de Chiapa_, 2 vols. 8vo, which was published the same year in French,
under title of _Œuvres de Don Barthélemi de las Casas_. The collection
comprises several of his less important works; the French translation
is remarkably free, the author being at times quite lost sight of,
and several new pieces of doubtful origin are added. As a writer, Las
Casas is honest, earnest, and reliable, except where his enthusiasm
gets the better of him. His learned opponent and arch-enemy, Sepúlveda,
pronounces him most subtle, most vigilant, and most fluent, compared
with whom the Ulysses of Homer was inert and stuttering. He was not only
a thorn in the flesh of evil-doers, but by his persistent and stinging
effrontery he often exasperated mild and benevolent men. But whatever
his enemies may say of him, and they are neither few nor silent, true
it is that of all the men who came to the Indies he almost alone leaves
the furnace with no smell of fire upon him.
[Sidenote: GONZALO FERNANDEZ DE OVIEDO Y VALDÉS.]
Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdés was of the noble family of Oviedo
in Asturias. In early childhood, before entering the service of Prince
Juan, he was with the duke of Villa Hermosa. While watching the fall
of Granada he met Columbus, and afterward witnessed his triumph at
Barcelona. After the death of his young master in 1497, who in fact
was of his own age, Oviedo went to Italy, where art and science were
enlivened by war, serving under Frederico of Naples, and sometimes
jewel-keeper to Queen Juana. Married at Madrid, in 1502, to the
beautiful Margarita de Vergara, whom he lost in childbirth ten months
after, he plunged into the excitement of war, serving as secretary
to Córdoba in the French campaign. Marrying again, he hovered about
the court until, in his thirty-sixth year, his dwindling fortunes
sent him with Pedrarias to Darien, in the capacity before mentioned.
His doings there will be told in the text of this history; suffice
it to say here that most of his time there was spent in broils with
the governor, beside which he had to endure the loss of his wife and
child, imprisonment, and the dangerous wound of an assassin's knife.
But, obtaining at last the appointment of Pedro de los Rios in place of
Pedrarias, and for himself the governorship of Cartagena, which office,
however, he never exercised, after three years' further residence in
Tierra Firme, this time in Nicaragua, he returned to Spain in 1530,
spent two years in arranging his notes, resigned his _veeduría_, and
received the appointment of _Cronista general de Indias_. In the autumn
of 1532 he went to Santo Domingo, and although appointed the following
year alcalde of the fortress of Santo Domingo, the remainder of his
life was passed chiefly in literary work. After an eventful life of
seventy-nine years he died at Valladolid in 1557, while engaged in the
preparation for the press of the unpublished portion of his history.
Throughout the whole of his career Oviedo seems to have devoted every
spare moment to writing. Even before he was appointed royal chronicler
he was an indefatigable collector of material. He was well acquainted
with the prominent persons of his time, and few expeditions were made
without adding to his store. Want of discrimination in the use of
authorities is more prominent in his writings than want of authorities.
Of twelve literary efforts but one, beside those relating to America,
found its way into print. He formed the plan of writing about the New
World long before he first crossed the ocean, and actually began his
history, according to José Amador de los Rios, before 1519, keeping open
the general divisions for additions to the day of his death. After his
return from the second voyage to Darien he wrote at the request of the
king, and chiefly from memory, as his notes were at Santo Domingo, _De
la Natural Hystoria de las Indias_, printed at Toledo in 1526. This work
was republished by Barcia, _Historiadores Primitivos_, i., translated
into Italian by Ramusio, _Viaggi_, iii., and garbled by Purchas in _His
Pilgrimes_, iv. 5. This, it must be borne in mind, is totally distinct
from the _Historia General y Natural de las Indias, Islas y Tierra-Firme
del Mar Océano, por el Capitan Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdés,
primer cronista del Nuevo Mundo_, and which alone admits the author
to the first rank as a historian. The General History was originally
divided into three parts, containing in all fifty books. The first
part, comprising nineteen books, with the preface and ten chapters of
the fiftieth book—not 20, 21, or 22 books as different bibliographers
state—was published during the author's life at Seville in 1535, under
the title _Historia General_, etc., and republished at Salamanca in
1547 as _Hystoria General_. This rare issue contains in several places
a few columns of additional matter which have not escaped my attention.
An Italian version of the same parts was published by Ramusio in his
_Viaggi_, iii.; the first ten books were translated into French and
published as _Histoire Naturelle_, etc., Paris, 1556; the twentieth
book, or the first of the second part, was published separately at
Valladolid in 1557 as _Libro XX._, etc. Thirteen chapters of Book XLII.,
relating to Nicaragua, were published in French by Ternaux-Compans,
_Histoire du Nicaragua_, in his second series of Voyages, iii.,
Paris, 1840. Finally, the fifty books complete were beautifully and
accurately printed at Madrid in four folio volumes, with plates, by
the Real Academia de la Historia in 1851-55. The editor, José Amador
de los Rios, gives in an introduction the best notice of the life and
writings of the author extant. Oviedo was not a learned man like Peter
Martyr, and it is doubtful if a further insight into the books of the
day would have made him any wiser; yet a man who could dictate the
natural history of a new country without his notes cannot be called
illiterate. He knew Latin and the modern languages; but his familiarity
with Latin was not sufficient to prevent an unpleasant parade of it.
Nor did he possess the genius or practical sagacity of Las Casas; yet
his extraordinary opportunities were not wholly wasted, nor did life
at court, political quarrels, or gold-gathering at any time wholly
stifle his ambition to achieve the useful in letters. Oviedo was a fair
example of the higher type of Spaniard of that day; he was intelligent,
energetic, brave; but cold, unscrupulous, and cruel. And this is true,
without going full length with Las Casas in his fiery fanaticism when
he says:—"Oviedo should regret what he has written of the Indians;
he has borne false witness against them; and has calumniated them in
every way.... He should have inscribed on his title-page, 'This book
was written by a conqueror, robber, and murderer of the Indians, whole
populations of whom he consigned to the mines, where they perished'....
His work is as full of lies as of pages." To which sentiment I by
no means subscribe. Probably no kind of work, however thoroughly and
conscientiously done, is more open to criticism, is more certain to
be criticised on every side, than contemporaneous history from facts
for the first time gathered, and from many and conflicting witnesses.
Ternaux-Compans says well:—"Oviedo n'est pas exempt des préjugés de son
temps contre les Indiens, mais après tout, ce qu'il dit se rapproche
plus de la vérité que les peintures fantastiques de l'évêque de Chiapa,
qui veut retrouver l'âge d'or même chez les nations les plus féroces."
Both of these authors, Las Casas and Oviedo, wrote in the heat of the
engagement of the abnormal and ill-understood scenes passing under
their immediate notice. What they wrote was certainly true to them;
it is our business to analyze and sift, and make their records true
to us. In the showy criticisms of these and a kindred class of authors
we see generally something brought in about style and arrangement. The
latter is always bad, and the index worse than none; but critics should
find something better to do than find fault with the words and their
arrangement of these old fighting chroniclers. Of course their style
is bad, abominable; but who cares for style in them? One wants only the
facts. Their books are not made to be read, but to be used. Rios seems
to entertain a proper appreciation of the matter when he writes:—"Mas
ya fuera porque procurase dar á su lectura aquella diversidad, tantas
veces por él apetecida, ya porque la misma fatiga é irregularidad
con que recibia los datos, le impidiese someterlos á un plan maduro
é inalterable; es lo cierto que la crítica de nuestros dias, al par
que aprecia y agradece tan interesantes inquisiciones, echa de menos
cierta cohesion y armonia en la exposicion de las costumbres de los
indios, no hallando mayor enlace en la narracion de los descubrimientos
y conquistas, que ni se refieren siempre en órden cronológico, ni
guardan entre sí la conveniente relacion para que pueda comprenderse
sin dificultad su influencia recíproca."
[Sidenote: PETER MARTYR'S WORKS.]
While the Protector of the Indians and the First Chronicler of the New
World were thus gathering and recording historical data in the several
parts of America, one of the most learned men of Europe, Pietro Martire
d'Anghiera, or latinized Anglerius, commonly called Peter Martyr,
was collecting similar facts in Spain, and recording them, copiously
diluted with the philosophy of the day, in the form of ten-year epochs,
constituting in the end a series of decades. The duchy of Milan was
the early home of this chronicler, and 1457 the year of his birth. His
family was of noble descent, and originally of Anghiera. Going to Rome
in 1477 to finish his education, he became so conspicuous for learning
and eloquence that ten years later the Spanish ambassador invited him to
try his fortune at the court of the Spanish sovereigns. By them he was
graciously received, especially by Isabella, who wished to occupy him
in the instruction of the young nobles of Castile. The ardent Italian
must have a taste of war, however, before settling into permanent
sagedom; so he fought before Baza, and laid not down the sword till
the city of the Alhambra fell. Then he became a priest, and turned
toward pursuits more in keeping with his natural bent and erudition.
He opened various schools of learning, which youth of quality made it
the fashion to attend. Having risen into high consideration at court,
in 1501 he was sent by the crown on missions to Venice and Cairo, in
which he acquitted himself creditably, and wrote on his return the _De
Legatione Babylonicâ_, an account of Lower Egypt in three books. On
Ferdinand's death he was appointed by Jimenez ambassador to the Sultan
Selim, but refused the honor on account of his age; and afterward he
did not find Charles less inclined to acknowledge his merits. During
the three years following his return from Egypt he was appointed prior
of the cathedral of Granada, and by the pope apostolic prothonotary,
and in 1518 he took his seat in the Council of the Indies. His life
was one of rare industry, in which he gathered and disseminated much
knowledge, and which gained him the respect of princes; his death
occurred in 1526, in the 69th year of his age, and he was buried in his
cathedral at Granada. Peter Martyr is the author of at least two great
works, viewed historically. They are written in Latin, of anything but
Ciceronian ring, for patristic is to the patrician Latin as the 'Frenche
of Stratford atte Bowe' is to the French of Paris. Of these his two
notable works the chief is _De Orbe Novo_, an account of the New World
and its wonders, in eight decades, or books. The first, and the first
three, of these decades were published at different times during the
author's life, but the eight decades complete did not appear before
1530, when they were printed at Alcalá under the title _De Orbe Novo
Petri Martyris ab Angleria Mediolanensis Protonotarii Cæsaris senatoris
decades_. Three of the decades translated into English by R. Eden were
printed in 1555, and reprinted in 1577, with another decade added by
R. Willes. The best complete edition of the eight decades, in their
original Latin, next appeared in Paris, published by R. Hakluyt, 1587.
Indeed, beside the edition of 1530, this is the only complete original
edition of the _De Orbe Novo_. In 1612 appeared the work entire in
English, the result of the 'Industrie and painefull Trauaile of M. Lok
Gent.' This has been included in a supplement to _Hakluyt's Voyages_,
London, 1812. Beside these important editions, partial translations,
extracts, and compilations have appeared at various times and in various
languages. In 1534, at Venice, in Italian, were published, in three
several parts, summaries of the history of the Indies taken from Peter
Martyr, Oviedo, and others. The other of the two works alluded to is a
collection of Peter Martyr's letters, in Latin, which brim with notices
of contemporary events, and run from 1488 to his death. Two editions of
these collected letters were published, the first at Alcalá in 1530,
the second at Amsterdam, by the Elzevirs, in 1670. The title runs
thus—_Opus Epistolarum Petri Martyris Anglerii Mediolanensis_, etc.;
a translation of the letters has never been published. So confused,
misdated, and interposed are the epistles that Hallam expressed his
disbelief in any connection whatever between actual and ostensible dates
and service. But the _De Orbe Novo_ may be regarded equal in authority
to the relations of the eye-witnesses Las Casas and Oviedo. Peter Martyr
was the first of the chroniclers to write and to publish on the New
World, his decades beginning to appear about the time Oviedo first went
to the Indies. Immediately Columbus set foot on shore, on his return
from the first voyage, the eloquent and philosophic scholar began to
question him and those who came with him, and to write, and he never
ceased writing until death stopped him. There was so much for a man
of his mind to think and talk about. For a time after this marvellous
discovery the learned and intelligently curious lived in a ferment
concerning it. It was to some extent the revolutionizing of science and
philosophy. The lines of tradition were snapped; the cosmos had lost its
continuity. Peter Martyr, a grave man of broad and deep capabilities;
well situated for procuring information, meeting daily, many of them
at his own table, those who had returned from the Indies—discoverers,
conquerors, explorers, sailors, priests, and cavaliers—having access to
the official letters, diaries, charts, and relations of these men, his
account, I say, should be as reliable and as valuable as that of one who
had actually mingled in the scenes described. In some respects it should
be more so, able as he was to see with a hundred eyes instead of two,
and to determine disputes more coolly and equitably. It is true his,
records are marred by the haste with which they were written, and by the
admitted lack of correction or revision by the author; order and method
are nowhere present; mistakes and contradictions are frequent. But we
have the raw material, which is far better than any elaboration. Las
Casas was the first of the chroniclers to visit the Indies, and the last
of the three thus far named to begin to write and publish history, which
was in 1552. Oviedo began to write at about the date the history of Las
Casas terminates. It was four years after the death of Peter Martyr that
Oviedo was appointed official chronicler of the New World. The general
relations of the three historians were antagonistic; from which their
writings may all the better be brought to harmonize with truth. Of the
hundreds who have made their criticisms on the writings of Peter Martyr
I will mention but two. Says Las Casas, _Hist. Ind._, i. 32: "De los
cuales cerca destas primeras cosas á ninguno se debe dar más fe que á
Pedro Martir;" and Muñoz remarks, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, xiii.: "Merece
indulgencia por el candor con que lo confiesa todo, por su ningun afan
en publicar sus borrones, y principalmente porque tal qual es la obra
de las décadas contiene muchísimas especies que no se hallan en otra
parte alguna, y estas escritas con la conveniente libertad por un autor
coetáneo, grave, culto, bien instruido de los hechos, y de probidad
conocida."
[Sidenote: GOMARA AND HERRERA.]
Of much less importance than the preceding are the writings of Francisco
Lopez Gomara, particularly his history of the Indies, which is an
imitation rather than a genuine original, and of which too much has
been made, notwithstanding Muñoz pronounces it the first history worthy
the name. Although Icazbalceta, a high authority on the subject, gives
the name Gómara, or Gómora, with the accent on the first syllable as
the Peninsular pronunciation, with the remark that it is commonly
called Gomára in Mexico, I have not thought best to depart from an
almost universal usage. Bustamante goes out of his way to signify an
accent where it would naturally fall, writing Gomára. Born in Seville
in 1510, of an illustrious family—it seems exceptional to find any man
of note in Spain whose family was not illustrious—and educated at the
university of Alcalá, he became a doctor of both civil and canonical
law, and filled for a time the chair of rhetoric. From the military
life designed for him by his parents he was driven by literary tastes
into the priesthood; and in 1540, upon the return of Cortés from his
last visit to Mexico, he became chaplain and secretary to the marquis.
From this some have inferred and erroneously stated that he spent four
years in America prior to publishing his history. At Saragossa in 1552-3
appeared his _La Historia General de las Indias_, in two folio parts,
the first general, and dealing chiefly with Peru, the other devoted to
Mexico. The book was popular; and in 1553 from Medina del Campo issued
another folio edition; and another from Saragossa the year following,
with this difference as to the last, however, that its second part was
treated as a separate work and entitled _Cronica de la nueua España con
la conquista de Mexico, y otras cosas notables: hechas por el Valoroso
Hernando Cortes_, while the first part appropriated the original title
of _Historia General_, etc. Then appeared an edition at Antwerp, 1554,
and one in which the date, 1552, is evidently spurious. The author
seems to have handled government affairs too roughly; for in 1553 we
find the book suppressed by royal decree, which, however, was not fully
enforced, and was revoked in 1729. Barcia printed a mutilation of the
two works in his _Hist. Prim._, ii., in 1749, and the two were again
published, in a correct form, in _Biblioteca de Autores Españoles_,
xxii., Madrid, 1852. A somewhat singular case occurred in Mexico in
1826, when was issued, in 2 volumes 8vo, _Historia de las Conquistas
de Hernando Cortés, escrita en Español por Francisco Lopez de Gomára,
traducida al Mexicano y aprobada por verdadera por D. Juan Bautista
de San Anton Muñon Chimalpain Quauhtlehuanitzin, Indio Mexicano.
Publílcala para instruccion de la juventud nacional, con varias notas y
adiciones, Carlos María de Bustamante_, which being interpreted, at best
is confused. It says that the work, written in Spanish by Gomara, was
translated into the Mexican language, and there leaves it. On turning
over the leaves we find the book printed in Spanish, and not in Nahuatl,
as we were led to suppose. Nor does a lengthy preface by Bustamante
make the matter clear in every respect. Turning to other sources, and by
comparing all information, we finally learn that Bustamante and others
once believed in the existence, somewhere, of a history of Mexico,
by the learned and noble native Chimalpain. Probably it lay hidden in
some one of the libraries or government offices about Mexico. Boturini
spoke of various historical manuscripts written by Domingo de San
Anton Muñon Chimalpain, some in Castilian, and some in Nahuatl. Note,
in passing, the difference in the name, here Domingo, and in the title
Juan Bautista. Clavigero, Leon Pinelo, Beristain, and Antonio de Leon y
Gama also vaguely mentioned some work or works by Chimalpain. Bustamante
claimed, at first, to have found the Mexican history of Chimalpain in
manuscript, and obtained contributions of money from various sources
to enable him to print a translation of it, with notes. But before the
translation was fairly issued in Spanish, the editor was obliged to
confess himself mistaken as to its being an original work; it was only
Gomara rendered into Mexican by the learned Indian, and now translated
back again into Spanish by Bustamante, the text much marred by the
double transformation, but enriched by notes from both editors. There
are men so uncharitable as to say that Don Carlos María Bustamante never
found Chimalpain's translation, because Chimalpain never made one. I
do not know. Any one of three or four ways was possible. Bustamante may
have found the alleged translation of Chimalpain, and while translating
into Spanish what he believed an original work, may have discovered
it to be Gomara; it may have been then in type or printed, or too far
advanced to stop; or it may be Bustamante, having received the money,
felt bound to go on with the work, and concluded to trust to his own
and Chimalpain's notes to satisfy those concerned and the public; or
Bustamante may have perpetrated a deliberate fraud. This last, although
he is openly accused of it by his countrymen high in authority, I can
scarcely believe to be the true solution of the mystery, and rather lean
to the first possibility; but I must say that Bustamante committed a
serious mistake in not admitting this frankly, if true. Gomara's history
was translated into Italian, and published at Rome, one edition, 4to,
in 1555, and one in 1556; and at Venice, one in 8vo, 1565, one in 4to,
1566, and in 8vo again, in 1576. In French, at Paris, six editions in
8vo, 1569, 1578, 1580, 1584, 1587, and 1597, the last five reprints
of the first, except slight augmentations in the last three. London
furnished an English translation by Henry Bynneman, in 4to, in 1578. The
prologue warns all persons against translating the book into Latin, as
he was engaged thereat himself; but his Latin version never appeared.
Gomara wrote well. His style is better than that of any predecessor;
but while his opportunities were great, for he had culture, leisure, and
access to the knowledge and material of Cortés, it is painfully apparent
that his desire was greater to please the master than to present a plain
unvarnished tale.
And now, after a century of writing and discussions, comes Antonio de
Herrera y Tordesillas as royal historiographer to gather, arrange, and
embody in one general history all knowledge available at that time. It
was a work needing attention; for if it were further postponed much
information then obtainable would be lost. He was born in Cuéllar in
1549, and although the father bore the name of Tordesillas and the
mother of Herrera, for the sake of euphony, distinction, or other
unknown vagary, the son took the name of his mother, a thing not unusual
then or now in Spain. At an early age we find him in Italy holding the
position of secretary to Vespasiano Gonzaga, viceroy of Naples, upon
whose death Herrera was so well recommended to Philip II. that, in
1596, he was made chief historiographer for the Indies. Honored also
with the title of historiographer of Castile and Leon, he fulfilled
the duties of both offices through portions of the reigns of the three
Philips, II., III., and IV. He was likewise nominated for the first
vacant place among the secretaries of state, but died before that
vacancy occurred, in the 76th year of his age. As an historian Herrera
has made a respectable place for himself, but his reputation rests
principally, though not wholly, for he wrote much, on his _Historia
General de los Hechos de los Castellanos en las Islas i Tierra Firme
del Mar oceano ecrita por Antonio de Herrera coronista mayor de sv
M:d d las Indias y sv coronista de Castilla_, 4 vols. folio, Madrid,
1601-15. On the elaborately engraved title-page of the first volume
is added, _En quatro Decadas desde el Año de 1492 hasta el de 1531_,
which refers only to the first two volumes, as the whole four volumes
consist of 8 decades, comprising general events to 1554. The first two
volumes were printed in 1601, and reprinted at Valladolid in 1606; the
second two volumes appeared in 1615. The work was freely translated;
the first decade appearing in French, at Paris, in 1659, and with the
second decade the year following, the remaining decades in 1671. A most
vile translation into English was made by John Stevens and published
in London, in 6 volumes, the first two in 1725 and the last four in
1726, new editions of which appeared in 1740 and 1743. There were two
reprints in Spanish; one in Antwerp, in 1728, by Verdussen, without
maps and otherwise faulty; and one in Madrid, 1728-30, with notes,
corrections, and index by Barcia, and therefore better than the first
edition, in fact the best extant. At the end of the second volume of
the first edition, and as a prefix to the first volume of the Barcia
edition, should appear the _Description de las Indias Occidentales_,
with maps, translations of which were made in Latin, Dutch, and French.
An attempt was made to carry on Herrera's history, and it was continued
for three decades, from 1555 to 1584, by Pedro Fernandez del Pulgar,
the chronicler who succeeded Solis, but it was not deemed of sufficient
importance to print. The original manuscript is in the Royal Library at
Madrid. Herrera was quite a voluminous writer, being author of a general
history during the reign of Philip II.; of a history of Scotland and
England during the life of Mary Stuart; of Portugal, and the conquest
of the Azores; of France from 1585 to 1594, and of moral and political
tracts, and historical, political, and ecclesiastical translations.
But though all his works were highly prized for their erudition, none
attained the celebrity of his History of the Indies. Even to-day he may
be called chief among historians of Spanish-American affairs; not for
his style, bald, and accurately prolix; nor for his method, slavishly
chronological, and miserably failing in the attempt to do several things
at once; but because of his massed material. His position as state
historiographer gave him, of course, access to everything, and he made
use of his opportunity to an extent then exceptional. At a later period
in the art of history-writing his work must have been regarded as crude
even for early times. But from one who lived when piety and patriotism
were ranked as the highest virtues, higher than truth, integrity, or
humanity, the more searching philosophy cannot be expected. Beside
the faults of style and arrangement there are evidences everywhere of
inexperience and incompetent assistance. Now that we have before us
many of the sources of Herrera's material we can see that his notes were
badly extracted, and compiled in a bungling manner; so much so that in
addition to the ordinary errors, from which to some extent the most
carefully executed work cannot be expected to be wholly free, there
are many and serious discrepancies and contradictions for which there
is no excuse, the cause being simply carelessness. Yet, for all that,
Herrera's is not only the most complete, but one of the most reliable of
the New World chronicles, and for this the writer merits the gratitude
not alone of his countrymen but of the world.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: COMMENTARY ON THE EARLY CHRONICLERS.]
Before closing this note, I will give clearly my opinion regarding the
credibility of the early chroniclers, including in that category for the
present purpose all the early writers, conquerors as well as historians,
such as Columbus and Cortés, Bernal Diaz, Solis, Torquemada, Boturini,
and the Anonymous Conqueror; for I have been assailed by those who, to
gain cheap notoriety in refuting them, have attributed to me doctrines
which I have nowhere expressed or held. They who cannot build for
themselves seem to think it gravely incumbent on them to demolish any
structure another may rear, and with one scurrile sweep they would wipe
out the work of twenty years. They are correct enough to this extent,
that, if ever a building is found so frail as to fall under their
attacks, it does not deserve to stand. Hence we find it the fashion
in certain quarters, under cover of criticism, to repudiate the early
writings, in so far at least as they interfere with cherished theory or
dogmatic opinion. Spain had lately emerged from the Moorish wars with
great glory, they say, and Spaniards in the New World, so long as it
remained with them to tell the story, would not be in the least behind
their brethren at home in this new field of fiery exploits. Hence,
for their accounts, naked barbarians were gorgeously apparelled, and
surrounded by stately pageantry; art, science, and literature wholly
mythical were given them, and cities equal, at least, to the average
of civilization were built. Instance the Tenochtitlan, the Tezcuco,
the Tlacopan of Cortés and his contemporaries, which must have been
pure fictions. Else where are the vestiges of the walls and gardens
and palaces? There are no ruins of splendid cities, they continue with
the effrontery of ignorance, no remains of aqueducts, stone carvings,
and tumuli. There are some fine ruins in Central America and Yucatan,
they admit, displaying no mean advancement in architectural art; but
they must have been the work of Egyptians, or Phœnicians, or some
other foreigners, because they resemble the ruins standing among those
nations, and because no aboriginal people capable of such performance
exist in America to-day. There was no human sacrifice in Mexico, because
bigoted ecclesiastics in those days were apt to invest with religious
significance every hieroglyph, statue, and consecrated stone. One, more
virulent than the rest, himself of Indian origin and apparently jealous
lest other aboriginals should outshine his Cherokee ancestry, and
knowing little either of the Mexicans or their conquerors, denies the
existence of a Nahua or Maya civilization and denounces every one who
differs in opinion with him, on the ground that all American societies
of which he knew aught were formed on one skeleton, a most earthy,
red, and ignoble one, and that the conquerors, not understanding this
social structure, could not correctly describe it, and therefore their
statements are not to be relied on.
I can only say that I have studied these chronicles some score of
years, that I have studied the monumental and literary remains of the
nations conquered, that, apart from the modern writings of both those
who believe and those who disbelieve, I have instituted comparisons
and weighed evidence with no more desire to reach one conclusion than
another, except always to arrive at the right one; and that in my own
mind I am well enough satisfied as to about the measure of truth that
should be accorded the respective writers of early New World annals.
Others, my assistants and friends, equally earnest and unbiassed,
equally desirous of reaching only the truth, and for whose convictions
I entertain the highest respect, have devoted many years to the same
research and with similar results. It is not my purpose, nor has it ever
been, to appear as the champion of the sixteenth-century chroniclers.
It is not my province to champion anything. It is a matter of profound
indifference to me what these or those are proven to be, whether angels
of light or devils of darkness; it is a matter of lively apprehension
with me that I should estimate men and nations at their value, and
deduce only truth from statements fair or false. While I entertain a
distinct conception of the status of the Aztecs and Quichés relatively
to other nations of the globe, I have no theory concerning the origin of
the Americans, or the origin of their civilization—except that it seems
to me indigenous rather than exotic; nor should I deem it wise in me to
husband a doctrine on this or any other palpably unprovable proposition.
I am not prepared by any means to accept as truth all that has been
said by priest and soldier. No one is readier than I to admit their
frequent attempted deceptions. Navigators the world over have been
notoriously untrue in regard to their discoveries, giving strange lands
strange sights, stocking barren shores with boundless wealth in pearls,
and gems, and precious metals, peopling the ocean with monsters, and
placing islands, straits, continents, and seas wherever the gaping
savans at home would have them. Many of these stories are false on
their very face, being contrary to nature and to reason. Some of them
are unintentional falsehoods, the off-float from imaginations warped
by education, and now morbidly excited under new conditions. By bodily
suffering and perils the mind was now and then reduced to the border of
insanity; at which times the miracles, the visions, and the supernatural
interpositions they record were real to them. But the best of the early
writers wilfully lied in some things, and held it serving God to do so.
[Sidenote: WEIGHT OF EVIDENCE.]
Although the temptation and tendency was to exaggerate, to make the
New World conquest equal or superior to any Old World achievement;
although assertions were at the first not open to contradiction, and
the sailors and soldiers of those times, returned from foreign parts,
were no more celebrated for telling the truth than those of our own day,
yet in the main and as a whole the writings of the Spaniards earliest
in America are unquestionably true. Most of the several phases of error
and misstatement are easily enough detected, the events described being
either impossible or opposed to preponderant and superior evidence.
For example, when Las Casas, who was conscientious and in the main
correct, asserts that Manicaotex opposed Columbus at the head of
100,000 warriors in Española, we may safely put it down as exaggeration
simply from our general knowledge, gained from other sources, of the
aboriginal population of these islands and the adjoining continent.
Here was a multitude of witnesses, European and American, whose verbal
or written statements were usually subordinate to substantial facts,
unknown to each other, and giving their evidence at widely different
times and places. Often the conquerors fell out and fought each other
to the death, writing to Spain lengthy epistles of vindication and
vilification, many of which have been preserved; so that where one
extolled himself and his achievements, there were a dozen to pull him
down. Thus from a mass of contradictory statements, on either side
of which the less penetrating are apt to linger, to the patient and
laborious investigator unfold the clearest truths. He who habitually
practises deceit is sure somewhere to expose himself; and the taking of
evidence does not proceed far before the examiner can tell the witness
more than he himself knows or remembers of the scenes through which he
has passed. The native witnesses, living at the time of the Conquest
and subsequently, were likewise naturally inclined unduly to magnify
the glories of their ancestors and of their nation; yet to verify their
statements they point to the monuments and material remains then and now
existing, to manuscripts, huge piles of which it was the infamous boast
of the fanatical conquerors to have burned, but of which enough have
been preserved to authenticate all the more important parts of their
stories; they also refer to tradition, which is worth as much, and no
more, than that of other nations.
Blank assertions similar to those advanced against the New World
chroniclers might with equal reason and effect be brought forward to
overthrow the early records of any nation. Christ and Confucius may
be denied, Homer and Shakespeare, but that does not prove they never
lived. That Columbus made his seamen swear that no doubt Cuba was
Zipangu, does not prove that there was in those days no Japan. Because
Drake's chaplain chose to tell the most monstrous and wilful falsehoods
respecting the climate, metals, and inhabitants of California; because
Cook, Meares, and Vancouver sailed by the mouth of the Columbia,
superciliously scourging those who had spoken of it, this does not prove
the non-existence of Marin County, or of the River of the West. In such
ways as these neither the truth of the one statement nor the falsity of
the other is established. But, as I have observed, before us is abundant
evidence, palpable and incontestable, that the early writings on America
are for the most part true; and if, in the following pages, it does
not clearly appear which are true and which false, then has the author
signally failed in his effort. I do not in the least fear the overthrow
of the general veracity of these writers until there come against them
enemies more powerful with more powerful weapons than any that have
yet appeared. How senselessly speculative their reasonings! Because the
natives of the present day cannot tell who or whence were the authors
of the carvings, or the builders of the structures upon whose ruins
they have gazed since childhood, these works must forsooth have been
done by foreign visitors. Europeans now and then may have found their
way to America, but I find no evidence of such visits before the time
of Columbus except by the Northmen; no one knows of such, nor can know
until more light appears. The material relics, I fancy, will always
prove a stumbling-block to those who would reject American aboriginal
civilization.
That different conquerors, teachers, and travellers of various creeds
and nationalities, in various pursuits, in different lands and at
various times, together with native testimony, hieroglyphic writings,
and traditions, to say nothing of carvings in stone and other monumental
remains, should all combine, with satanic inspiration, to perpetrate
upon the world one grand and overwhelming fraud is so preposterously
ridiculous that the marvel is how there could be found, outside the
walls of a lunatic asylum, a single individual with cool impudence
enough to ask men to believe it. And yet there are several such,
and they find believers. So charmed by the sound of their own voice
are these captious cavillers, that they apparently do not deem it
possible for such things to exist in this enlightened age as pedantic
ignorance and literary fanaticism, of which they are bright examples.
They do not seem to know that the petty and puerile theories which
they would pass upon the simple as startling conceptions, original
with themselves, are as old as the knowledge of the continent. They
do not consider that before taking the first step toward proving
origin, migration, or kinship by analogy, they must first dispose of
the universal relationship of man, the oneness of human nature, human
needs, and human aspirations, and then show how men first came upon this
earth, and which was land and which water then and since. But those
who thus array themselves against American aboriginal civilization
and the early Spanish writers on the New World do not pretend to
offer counter evidence, or to refute with reason; they rely chiefly
on flat contradiction. I have yet to find among them all any approach
to reasonable propositions or logical argument. They have nothing
on which to base argument, neither fact nor plausible supposition.
Their hypotheses are as chimerical as their deductions are false.
They would have the world exercise a far more irrational credulity in
accepting their hollow negations, than in believing every word of the
most mendacious chronicler. And when they come to deny the presence
of a native civilization upon the Mexican table-land, they betray
lamentable ignorance both of the facts of history and of the nature of
civilization.
CHAPTER VII.
SETTLEMENT OF SANTA MARÍA DE LA ANTIGUA DEL DARIEN.
1510-1511.
FRANCISCO PIZARRO ABANDONS SAN SEBASTIAN—MEETS ENCISO AT
CARTAGENA—HE AND HIS CREW LOOK LIKE PIRATES—THEY ARE TAKEN
BACK TO SAN SEBASTIAN—VASCO NUÑEZ DE BALBOA—BOARDS ENCISO'S
SHIP IN A CASK—ARRIVES AT SAN SEBASTIAN—THE SPANIARDS CROSS
TO DARIEN—THE RIVER AND THE NAME—CEMACO, CACIQUE OF DARIEN,
DEFEATED—FOUNDING OF THE METROPOLITAN CITY—PRESTO, CHANGE!
THE HOMBRE DEL CASCO UP, THE BACHILLER DOWN—VASCO NUÑEZ,
ALCALDE—NATURE OF THE OFFICE—REGIDOR—COLMENARES, IN SEARCH
OF NICUESA, ARRIVES AT ANTIGUA—HE FINDS HIM IN A PITIABLE
PLIGHT—ANTIGUA MAKES OVERTURES TO NICUESA—THEN REJECTS HIM—AND
FINALLY DRIVES HIM FORTH TO DIE—SAD END OF NICUESA.
When Alonso de Ojeda left San Sebastian for Española, he stipulated
with Francisco Pizarro, who for the time was commissioned governor,
that should neither he himself return, nor the bachiller Enciso arrive
within fifty days, the colonists might abandon the post and seek safety
or adventure in other parts.
And now the fifty days had passed; wearily and hungrily they had come
and gone, with misery an ever present guest; and no one having come,
they dismantled the fortress, placed on board the two small brigantines
left them the gold they had secured—trust Francisco Pizarro for scenting
gold, and getting it—and made ready to embark for Santo Domingo. But
though only seventy remained, the vessels could not carry them all; and
it was agreed that they should wait awhile, until death reduced their
number to the capacity of the boats.
Nor had they long to wait; nor would their grim attendant let them put
to sea without him. He had been so long domiciled with them, and had
become so useful in settling disputes, adjusting accounts, and the like,
that he was one of them, and one, indeed, with all the companies which
attempted colonization on these pestilential shores. As they coasted
eastward in search of food before steering across for Española, a squall
struck the vessels, overturning one of them and sending all on board
to swift destruction. Entering with the other the harbor of Cartagena,
Pizarro found there the tardy Enciso hunting his colony.
Now the bachiller, beside possessing great learning, was a man of
experience, all the way from Spain; a man of keen intelligence and
practical sagacity, his wits sharpened by the narrow-minded legal
bigotry of a sixteenth-century Spanish lawyer. He must be of exceedingly
ready wit who could deceive the bachiller. It was scarcely to be
expected a man of his kidney should credit the stories of Ojeda's
visit to Santo Domingo, of the deputy governorship, and of the late
disaster; though honest Pizarro on this occasion told only the truth,
and his companions vouched for it with all the feeble force of their
high-keyed husky voices. If Ojeda had gone to Santo Domingo more than
fifty or seventy days before, would not the bachiller have seen him
there? Indeed, to a less erudite judge than Enciso, a band of robbers
on the high seas, with an abundance of gold and no bread, would call up
suspicions rather of foul play than honest adventure. And back they must
go. The functions of high judge should begin here and now. Was not this
Nueva Andalucía? With the horrors of San Sebastian still fresh in their
minds, the thought of returning there was repugnant in the extreme,
and the poor wretches begged the lawyer to let them go to Española,
or join Nicuesa. No. Enciso had staked his whole earthly possessions
on the delightful prospect of domination, and these should not escape
him. They were just the clay for his fashioning; men for whom the law
was made. Whipping out his commission, which at once deposed Pizarro,
the bachiller drove them back into their boat, and all embarked for San
Sebastian. But scarcely had they turned the Punta de Caribana,[VII-1]
when the bachiller's well-stored ship struck upon rocks and broke in
pieces, those on board barely escaping with their lives. Thus the worthy
bachiller was beggared; the savings from life-long pettifoggings were
swept away within the hour. Still his original stock in trade, egotism
and arrogance, was left unimpaired.
[Illustration: NUEVA ANDALUCÍA]
[Sidenote: ADMINISTRATION OF ENCISO.]
Making their way along the shore to San Sebastian, the Spaniards found
their fort demolished and their houses, some thirty in number, burned.
In a feeble way they began to forage again, but even Enciso saw that
it was useless. The absence of food, the poisoned arrows, and the
poisoned air were too much for the bravest long to contend with. "Let
us leave this accursed spot," they all cried. "Whither would you go?"
demanded the lawyer. One of them said:—"Once when I coasted this gulf
with Rodrigo de Bastidas, along the western shore we found the country
fertile and rich in gold. Provisions were abundant; and the natives,
though warlike, used no poisoned arrows. Through this land of which I
speak flows a river called by the natives Darien."
[Sidenote: VASCO NUÑEZ DE BALBOA.]
All eyes were turned upon the speaker. It was the _hombre del casco_,
Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, a fine specimen of the Spanish cavalier, at that
time about thirty-five years of age. He was taller than Ojeda, though
perhaps not stronger; there was not about him the assurance of breeding
and position that Nicuesa bore; nor were there present in his features
those marks of greed and brutality plainly discernible in the face
of Francisco Pizarro, who stood not far from him. Strong and comely
in every part, apparently, of body and mind, one to be observed with
intuitive respect in a society of this kind, one to be approached with
ease, but with due care; frank and manly, with a firm and winning eye
and manner, yet there was about him noticeable something between shyness
and reticence. Indeed, the standing of this person, since his sudden
and altogether informal appearing as one of the present company had been
somewhat dubious, and he seemed to regard it good taste to hold himself
rather in the background. For all this there was that innate superiority
about him over every one present, not excepting the erudite judge or
the subsequently cunning conqueror of Peru, that could not always remain
concealed, particularly amid constantly recurring vital issues.
Of the invariable poor but noble family, a native of Jerez de
los Caballeros, Vasco Nuñez was reared in the service of Pedro
Puertocarrero, the deaf lord of Moguer. Drawn with the crowd to the
New World, upon the abrupt termination of the voyage of Bastidas, he
obtained a repartimiento of Indians, and applied himself to agriculture
at Salvatierra, a town of Española. Becoming embarrassed by debts,
and disgusted with the plodding life of a farmer, he determined to
try fortune in the new colony of Alonso de Ojeda. But how to escape
his creditors was the question. Debtors were prohibited by edict from
leaving the island. The town of Santo Domingo at this time swarmed
with insolvent adventurers anxious to engage in new adventure, and the
strictest watch was kept on them by the authorities. An armed escort
accompanied every departure until well out at sea, to bring back
discovered stowaways. For all this Vasco Nuñez determined to sail with
Enciso. Now mark the budding of genius! Taking a large cask, such as
was used in shipping stores, he ensconced himself therein, and caused
it to be headed up, placed upon a wagon, and driven from his farm to the
landing, where it was placed with the other stores, and finally carried
on board the ship. The vessel put to sea; the tender returned to port;
to the creditors was left the farm of Vasco Nuñez, while the late owner
was forever safe beyond their reach.[VII-2]
When, like Aphrodite from her circling shell, the serio-comic face
of the bankrupt farmer appeared emerging from the provision cask, the
bachiller was disposed to treat the matter magisterially, and threatened
to land the refugee from justice on the first deserted island. But as
the learned judge could not be held accountable as a party to the fraud,
and as he thereby gained a valuable recruit, his judicial sensitiveness
was finally mollified, and he assigned to the stowaway the ordinary
duties of a soldier. Nevertheless the mildly murderous threat of the
lawyer was not lost upon the farmer.
Into the hearts of the desponding colonists at San Sebastian the words
of Vasco Nuñez infused new life. No time was lost in making ready; and
crossing the gulf, they found the country and river as he had said. Near
this river of Darien,[VII-3] for so the Atrato and country thereabout
was then called, stood the village of the cacique, Cemaco, a brave and
upright ruler.
[Sidenote: BATTLE OF ANTIGUA.]
Enciso, who is no less valiant than wise and conscientious, determines
to make this place judicially his own. Cemaco, who believes himself the
legal owner, objects. Whereupon is invoked that admirable provision,
the ultimate appeal; and the man of the long robe and the man of no
robe at all, each after his fashion, prepare for war. Sending his women
and children up the river, Cemaco posts himself with five hundred
warriors before the village. Enciso, in whose person are united the
combined essences of Christendom, civil, ecclesiastical, and military,
concentrates all his forces, human and divine, to hurl upon the
presumptuous savage. First, as is his wont in legal battles, to every
soldier he administers the oath that he will not flinch before the
enemy; then he invokes the powers above to aid him in the approaching
contest, vowing that if victory shall be his and the town shall fall
into his hands he will name it in honor of the virgin and build and
dedicate a church within the town in honor of her sacred image, Antigua
of Seville. Moreover, he promises that he will make a pilgrimage to
her holy shrine if she will give him the victory over Cemaco; and with
these preparations the battle begins. The half-starved Spaniards fight
like fiends. Cemaco for a time maintains his position with firmness;
but the awe-inspiring appearance of the strangers, their ship, their
shining armor, their beards, the whiteness of their skin, the wonderful
sharpness of their weapons, and the solemn thunder and smoke of their
fire-arms soon scatter to the forest his terror-smitten people. To
the unbounded joy of the conquerors the town is found rich in gold and
cotton, and the adjacent fields afford abundance of provisions.
This is something like reward for toilsome missionary labors. Along the
river banks, secreted in caves, are found golden ornaments to the value
of ten thousand castellanos.[VII-4] The virgin's share and the king's
share are set aside, and the remainder of the spoils divided among the
band. Thus Cemaco's village becomes the seat of government in Tierra
Firme; and to it, as the lawyer promised the virgin, is given the name
of Santa María de la Antigua del Darien.[VII-5]
In good truth fortune had at length smiled upon the colonists. Captives
taken in the skirmishes which followed the pitched battle were made
to gather gold and work in the fields. The bachiller began a rigorous
rule with a full sense of the responsibilities resting upon him as
representative of the crown of Spain and of his own importance before
his soldiers, and as a hero in the great work of pacification. This
view of his own merits appeared to him by no means diminished after his
recent success. Though small in number, this colony should be mighty
in law. Poor Ojeda! How happy he might have been in the position now
occupied by this mummified bundle of quiddities.
Settling themselves in Cemaco's houses, the Spaniards began to look
about. First in order after his lawless raid, in the eyes of Enciso,
was law. The bachiller, as we have ere this surmised, was one of
those super-wise and self-opinioned men who to achieve a fall have
only to attain a height. Very little law was here needed, very little
government; but Enciso was a lawyer and a ruler, and little of it would
not suffice him. His first edict was the prohibition of private traffic
with the natives. This measure, though strictly legal, could scarcely be
called politic. The hundred or so ragged piratical wretches cast on this
rich and feebly defended shore wanted few decrees; and the fewer laws
their ruler made for them the fewer would be broken. But, necessary or
not, the alcalde mayor must issue orders, else he is no alcalde mayor.
Hence other regulations followed, equally unpopular, until the colonists
began to consider how best they might make a plug which should stop this
great running to waste of law. Though convinced that Enciso was planning
to get the gold as well as the government all into his own hands, and
employ the colonists as tools wherewith to mine, and hold the savages
in check, so inbred is Spanish loyalty, that even the reckless members
of this crude commonwealth hesitated before committing any overt act
which might forever outlaw them from their country. Better employ his
own weapon against the bachiller, for law is safer than hemp for hanging
even lawyers.
[Sidenote: VASCO NUÑEZ ASSUMES COMMAND.]
There was about Vasco Nuñez a plain directness of thought and purpose
the very opposite of those engendered of the law's entanglements. Ever
since his fortunate suggestion to cross from San Sebastian to Darien
he had been regarded as the savior of the colony; and now he thought
he saw open a way of deliverance from their present trouble, and so he
told them. "The gulf of Urabá," said he, "separates Nueva Andalucía
from Castilla del Oro. While on the eastern side we belonged to the
government of Alonso de Ojeda; now that we are on the western, we
are subject only to Diego de Nicuesa." Before this simple logic the
bachiller was dumfoundered. Of what value was legal lore that could
be so easily overturned by an illiterate adventurer? In vain he feebly
argued that wherever was Ojeda's colony, Ojeda's deputy was master. The
people were against him; and the opinion of the people concerning him
was expressed by Vasco Nuñez when some time afterward he wrote the king
regarding persons of that cloth in infant settlements: "Most powerful
sire," he said, "there is one great favor that I pray your royal
highness to do me, since it is of great importance to your service. It
is for your royal highness to issue an order that no bachiller of laws,
or of anything unless it be of medicine, shall come to these parts
of Tierra Firme, under a heavy penalty that your highness shall fix;
because no bachiller ever comes hither who is not a devil, and they all
live like devils, and not only are they themselves bad, but they make
others bad, having always contrivances to bring about litigations and
villainies. This is very important to your highness' service in this a
new country."[VII-6]
So the lawyer was deposed, and the cavalier elevated. Enciso gracelessly
yielded his clear authority; and after much wrangling among the
ill-assorted fraternity, a municipality was decided upon, and two
alcaldes[VII-7] were chosen, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa and Martin Zamudio.
The office of regidor[VII-8] fell among others to one Valdivia.
Subsequently additional officials were chosen.
Government without law, however, proved no less ineffectual than law
without government. Disaffections and altercations continued. In the
administration of justice, Balboa was accused of favoring his friends
and frowning upon his enemies. Some repented having crossed the gulf;
some desired the restoration of Enciso; some suggested that as they were
now within the jurisdiction of Nicuesa, it was his right to rule, or to
name their ruler.
[Sidenote: COLMENARES COMES.]
While these strifes were raging, the inhabitants of Antigua were
startled one day by the report of a gun coming from the direction of
San Sebastian. Thinking perhaps Ojeda had returned, or sent supplies,
they built fires on the adjacent heights in order to attract attention.
Presently two ships approached, and anchored before the town. They
proved to be vessels belonging to Nicuesa, freighted at Española with
supplies for the colony of Castilla del Oro, and commanded by Rodrigo
Enriquez de Colmenares. Thrown by stress of weather upon the coast of
Santa Marta,[VII-9] he had there lost a number of his men; after which
he entered the gulf of Urabá, hoping to find information of Nicuesa.
A quick observer and a faithful officer, Colmenares soon understood
the position of affairs, and took prompt measures to secure to his
governor such advantages as might accrue from profitless contentions. By
a judicious distribution of articles greatly needed by the colonists,
attended by wise counsels, he gained their confidence, and partly
healed their feuds; so that before sailing he prevailed on them to send
two ambassadors to treat with Nicuesa concerning the affairs of their
settlement. The two envoys chosen were Diego de Albites, and an aspiring
lawyer, hitherto overshadowed by the august presence of Enciso, called
the bachiller Diego del Corral, and they were directed to accompany the
ships of Colmenares in the brigantine belonging to the settlement of
Antigua.
It was about the middle of November, 1510, when Colmenares entered the
gulf of Urabá. Unable to gather any tidings of Nicuesa, he continued
his voyage westward, searching the inlets along the coast. He would
nevertheless have passed Nombre de Dios had he not seen some of
Nicuesa's men in their boat, at one of the islands, seeking food. The
wildest joy greeted the new arrival. It was to the colony of Castilla
del Oro as a reprieve from death. Gazing sadly on the sallow faces
and emaciated forms before them, the miserable wreck of Nicuesa's
gallant company now reduced to sixty souls, listening to their tales
of wretchedness, tears of honest sympathy fell from the eyes of the
hardy sailors. With difficulty could be recognized in the leader of
the hapless troop the once gay and courtly Nicuesa. Colmenares gave
the sufferers food and comforted them. He told Nicuesa of Ojeda's
failure, of the settlement at Antigua, and how Enciso and his company,
having found a spot rich in gold and well provisioned, had fallen to
quarrelling among themselves about the government, and had finally
sent messengers to him, the rightful ruler, for the healing of their
disputes.
To Nicuesa these words were as fresh oil in an expiring lamp. But in
his enfeebled state, the sudden change from blank despair to brilliant
hope played havoc with his discretion. After brief thanksgiving for
deliverance, his mind became excited by dreams of boundless wealth and
empire. He ordered a feast, at which he presided with insensate levity.
Toward the ambassadors from the gulf he assumed a haughty arrogance,
claiming supreme authority relative to all matters at Antigua, and
stoutly swearing that the gold taken from his subjects of Darien should
be disgorged.
Colmenares had marked the effect of Nicuesa's altered temper on his
followers. He saw that disaffection was rife, and that the governor held
control by a feeble thread. Showing Nicuesa the madness of his course,
he explained the importance of attaching the remnant of Ojeda's colony
to his own, and pointed out their strength and his weakness; he received
in reply only insolent rebukes.
Meanwhile the ambassadors Albites and Corral, men whose wits were about
them, were not pleased with this foretaste of Nicuesa's rule; nor did
intercourse with Nicuesa's men tend in any wise to diminish their
unfavorable impressions. One night they visited Lope de Olano, who
for his sins was chained to a rock and made to grind corn. "Behold my
condition," he exclaimed. "I have ever served my governor faithfully. I
saved him from perishing, when I had but to delay his rescue to become
myself the governor. This is my reward. You men of Antigua may draw
your own conclusions." By others the ambassadors were informed that
the chief officers of the new government were already selected: Vasco
Nuñez was to be stripped of all authority, and Zamudio, as a relative
of Olano, could scarcely hope to fare better. Those who had trafficked
with the natives were to be severely punished. It was enough. Stealing
away, they hastened back to Antigua. "A pretty mess you have made of it,
with your infernal bickerings," they said to the assembled confederates.
"Nicuesa will give you more of law than Enciso, and more of arbitrary
rule than Vasco Nuñez and Zamudio ten times over." A few days after
a messenger, one Juan de Caicedo, arrived from Nicuesa, and informed
them, for their further comfort, that the governor was detained at
one of the islands capturing natives, but would be with them shortly.
Perceiving that his tidings were not hailed with transports of joy, and
being himself embittered against Nicuesa, as were indeed almost all his
followers, Caicedo swung round upon his bearings and laughed at them.
"Silly señores! free and rich, you call in a cormorant to swallow your
substance and yourselves." And now, as usual when folly comes home,
curses flowed freely on themselves and others. The prospect of losing
their gold touched them. What should they do?
Once more Vasco Nuñez offers a pertinent suggestion. "You were
dissatisfied with Enciso, and questioned many of my acts. Now you fear
a governor possessing all the bad qualities of your former rulers,
with, perhaps, few of their redeeming traits. If calling Nicuesa was an
error, is not receiving him a greater one?" Struck by the suggestion,
the colonists drop their differences and unite as one man against
Nicuesa, each taking a solemn oath never to serve under him. Sentries
are then stationed to give notice of his approach, and measures taken
to prevent his landing. After eight days pleasantly passed kidnapping
among the islands, the ill-fated governor enters the harbor and comes
to anchor, little dreaming of the reception that awaits him. On shore
before the town he observes a company of armed men, assembled, as he
supposes, to give him welcome. As he prepares to disembark, the public
procurator[VII-10] advances and, to his astonishment, in a loud voice
warns him on pain of death not to place foot on shore, but instantly to
abandon these parts and return no more.
The colony at Antigua was at this time comparatively strong and
well-conditioned; Nicuesa's followers were few, weak, and disaffected.
For him to enforce authority was not possible. His mind had dwelt
fondly of late on his rising fortunes, and this hostile reception was a
terrible disappointment, for it was the last earthly resource. To return
to the broken camp at Nombre de Dios would be to enter again the jaws
of death; if he could not remain here, he certainly could not depart.
[Sidenote: ILL-TREATMENT OF NICUESA.]
Recovering in a measure, as from a heavy blow, the governor requested
permission to land, promising solemnly to enter into any stipulations
concerning the government which the colonists should deem just. His
proposals were drowned by the shouts of the rabble; and he was warned,
as he valued his life, to approach no nearer the shore. Nicuesa
continued his expostulations till nightfall, when he retired with his
ship a little farther from land. Returning next morning, he renewed his
importunities. A change had apparently taken place in the minds of the
people, for he was now permitted to land with his page. Balboa received
the governor courteously, conducted him to his house, and made him a
guest for the night. The affairs of the government were discussed, and
an amicable understanding was arrived at by the two leaders. It was
nothing less, in fact, than that one of them should be first, and the
other second, in Castilla del Oro. On the following day a portion of
the crew on board Nicuesa's ship was permitted to land; and Vasco Nuñez
now endeavored to reconcile his comrades to the rule of the governor.
It was too late. Sedition is more easily raised than allayed. Not only
was Zamudio jealous of his colleague, but he well knew that under the
proposed regime the odium of all the opposition would fall on him.
Drawing round him the rougher element, he reminded the colonists of
their oath, and pictured to them the poverty and restraint under the
proposed government. So successful was he in exciting bad blood, that
Nicuesa was glad to escape insult and violence by retiring to his ship.
Thus encouraged, Zamudio resolved to press a final issue by capturing
the governor, and dictating terms to him. The next day accordingly
he placed his men in ambush near the landing, and with one companion,
Pedro Macaz, appeared before the ship. Hailing the commander, he assured
him that all was well, and that he now might safely venture on shore.
Nicuesa fell easily into the trap. Joining the conspirators, he walked
unsuspiciously with them toward the spot where the gang lay concealed.
When near it Zamudio changed his tone to one of harsh insolence, "Señor
Nicuesa," he said, "why do you persist in remaining here contrary
to our wishes? Your presence is our ruin. We can neither accept you,
nor abandon this place. You must depart instantly, or die. Take your
choice." Meanwhile his minions sprang forward. Nicuesa saw it all at a
glance. He was fleet of foot, and this was his only hope. So flinging
off dignity, he eluded their clutches, dashed off at the top of his
speed along the shore, and outstripping his pursuers, turned into the
forest to hide.
When Vasco Nuñez saw the desperate plight to which Nicuesa was reduced,
all the generous impulses of his nature were aroused. He hated himself
for the part he had played, and cursed the sordid ambition which thus
unjustly humiliated so chivalrous a gentleman. More in earnest than
ever, he sought out Nicuesa in the wood; and then endeavored to excite
the sympathies of the colonists, and even to intimidate them; but all
was of no avail. Those there were who well knew they had gone too far
ever to be forgiven.
[Sidenote: SAD FATE OF NICUESA.]
Satan now wholly possessed Zamudio. No fiend could ever invent and
execute a more dastardly measure than was now proposed. With sixty men
he entered the forest, seized Nicuesa, and made him swear instantly to
sail for Spain, touching no port till he should reach Cádiz. Then, as
if in mockery, he took from him his only serviceable ship, placed him
into the old brigantine, now rotten and unsafe, which had been in use at
Veragua, and sent him forth with seventeen men and a few devoted members
of his household. It was in March, 1511, that the so lately proud and
gallant Nicuesa was thus driven from Antigua, and neither he nor any of
that ill-fated company was ever afterward heard from![VII-11]
CHAPTER VIII.
FACTIONS AND FORAGINGS IN DARIEN.
1511-1513.
THE GARRISON AT NOMBRE DE DIOS—SUBTLE DIPLOMACIES—VASCO NUÑEZ
ASSUMES COMMAND—ENCISO, HIS LIFE AND WRITINGS—THE TOWN AND
THE JAIL—RIGHTS OF SANCTUARY—VALDIVIA'S VOYAGE—ZAMUDIO'S
MISSION—EXPEDITION TO COIBA—CARETA GIVES VASCO NUÑEZ HIS
DAUGHTER—PONCA PUNISHED—JURA, THE SAVAGE STATESMAN—VISIT OF
THE SPANIARDS TO COMAGRE—PANCIACO TELLS THEM OF A SOUTHERN
SEA—THE STORY OF VALDIVIA, WHO IS SHIPWRECKED AND EATEN BY
CANNIBALS—VASCO NUÑEZ UNDERTAKES AN IMPIOUS PILGRIMAGE TO THE
GOLDEN TEMPLE OF DABAIBA—CONSPIRACY FORMED BY THE NATIVES TO
DESTROY ANTIGUA—FULVIA DIVULGES THE PLOT—DARIEN QUIETED—VASCO
NUÑEZ RECEIVES A ROYAL COMMISSION—SERIOUS CHARGES—VASCO NUÑEZ
RESOLVES TO DISCOVER THE SOUTHERN SEA BEFORE HE IS PREVENTED
BY ARREST.
Thus far the first decade of disaster along Tierra Firme; thus far the
discovery of Rodrigo de Bastidas in 1501; the ineffectual attempt of
Columbus at Veragua in 1502; the failure of the impetuous Ojeda, and
the death of the veteran pilot, Juan de la Cosa; the founding of Nombre
de Dios and Antigua; the destruction of the superb armament of Diego
de Nicuesa, and the sad fate of its commander. Meanwhile we behold
evolved from the factions of Antigua two notable characters, Francisco
Pizarro and Vasco Nuñez de Balboa. We will now further observe society
in Darien, and the attempts of the Spaniards to govern themselves and
pacify their neighbors.
When Diego de Nicuesa embarked to assume command at Antigua, he left
in the fortress of Nombre de Dios a small garrison under Gonzalo de
Badajoz, with Alonso Nuñez de Madrid as alcalde. Their provisions
falling low, and expected relief failing them, like ill-mannered wolves
they fell to fighting over the little remaining food, and but for the
opportune arrival of Colmenares, civilization at Nombre de Dios would
soon have found a miserable ending. To the proposal to join their
countrymen at Antigua, they eagerly assented, and embarked without delay
in the two brigantines sent for the purpose. Lope de Olano was released,
and subsequently rose high in the esteem of Balboa. Thus the settlement
of Antigua, after the departure of the hapless Nicuesa, comprised all
that was left of the two colonies of Nueva Andalucía and Castilla del
Oro, and numbered about two hundred and fifty men.[VIII-1]
The final disappearance of the two commanders by no means allayed the
discords of the colony. Factions assumed broader dimensions than ever.
A band of two hundred and fifty bears, after accomplishing the duties
of the day, would sensibly stretch themselves under the welcome covert;
but intellectual and moral beasts are, by reason of their superiority,
doomed to the eternal curse of government; nor does it make much
difference as to the quality or quantity of the herd; fools will fight
for domination all the same.
[Sidenote: DEEP DIPLOMACIES.]
Zamudio, followed by the gang that had driven out Nicuesa, claims
preëminence as a reward for his villainies. Enciso, the learned and
disinterested representative of the higher orders of mastership, earthly
and heavenly, never fails to keep the high and holy law spread before
these misguided men. Vasco Nuñez keeps his own counsel; but he feels
within himself that neither Zamudio nor Enciso shall rule Antigua. All
he need do is to continue as hitherto to turn against his opponents
their own weapons. The lawyer he vanquishes with law; the ruffian, by
giving him a rope wherewith to hang himself. In the present instance,
like a skilful tactician, he separates his antagonists and opposes
one to the other. Calling Zamudio aside, he makes evident to him the
necessity, if he would continue a municipal government, of withholding
all power from the bachiller. Having no intention of relinquishing
the sweets of office, for which he has risked so much, Zamudio lends
a willing ear. The lawyer must be quieted, but lawfully. High-handed
measures may be employed, but only exceptionally. The law is too useful
a weapon to be flung aside by intelligent knaves. So the two alcaldes
put their heads together and frame charges to fit the occasion. Enciso
is accused of wilful usurpation of authority, of assuming the duties
and exercising the functions of alcalde mayor without license from the
king—grave charges, truly, emanating from so scrupulous a society.
The lawyer's skill at pleading avails him nothing. He is convicted,
his property confiscated, and himself cast into prison.[VIII-2] He
is not long kept in confinement, however, but is set free on giving a
promise immediately to leave the country.[VIII-3] Thus one of the two
ambitious Cæsars is out of the way; but how dispose of the other? Again
Vasco Nuñez draws Zamudio aside and expresses a fear that the enraged
bachiller, once in Spain, will stir up the king against them, and
enter false statements before the tribunal of the Indies regarding the
quality of justice dispensed by the alcaldes of Antigua. "Would it not
be well," continues Balboa, "for one of us to accompany the bachiller?
and thus, while misrepresentations may be promptly refuted, we may at
the same time secure our government upon a more substantial basis."
Zamudio sees this necessity, and is finally induced to accept the
commission. Thus Vasco Nuñez is left to reign alone; and every effort
is made by him firmly to secure his government. While cementing his
friends, he conciliates his enemies; above all he strives to deal justly
by everybody, and with fair success. By caring for their comfort and
exercising strict impartiality in the division of spoils, he wins the
hearts of the fighting men. Even Oviedo, who was not friendly to Balboa,
says: "No chieftain who ever went to the Indies equalled him in these
respects." And yet, beneath the accumulating honors the recipient sits
not wholly at ease. "No one need hope to rule this land," writes Vasco
Nuñez to the king, "and sit or sleep; for if he sleep, he will never
wake. Day and night I think only of your Majesty's interests. In every
battle I lead my men, and with truthful example, and kind treatment of
the natives, seek to bring into favor your Majesty's government in these
parts."
It must not be supposed that the settlers were idle all this time, or
that the natives, or their gold, were neglected. The town had grown in
size and importance since the driving out of Cemaco. Streets had been
regularly laid out round a _plaza_,[VIII-4] or public square, common to
all Spanish towns, and a church and religious houses established, for
priests had come hither with the rest.
[Sidenote: ENCISO AND THE ALCALDES.]
While Enciso made ready for departure, Bachiller Corral, Captain
Badajoz, and others, enemies of Balboa, improved the time by secretly
making specifications of both the alcaldes' errors, and by instigating
others to assist in criminating the rulers. These charges were to be
delivered to the king by Enciso. Hearing of it, the alcaldes seized
the ringleaders and confined them in a pen,[VIII-5] the municipal jail,
situated in the middle of the plaza. But the prisoners escaped from the
cage to the Franciscan monastery, and, claiming the protection of the
sanctuary,[VIII-6] they were finally discharged.
Valdivia, the regidor, was Balboa's friend; before leaving the
Salvatierra plantation they had been warmly intimate. Supplies were
needed, and Enciso and Zamudio required passage to Spain. Taking,
therefore, a small vessel, and placing in Valdivia's hands a large
amount of gold,[VIII-7] Vasco Nuñez sent him to Española, with
instructions to buy the good opinion of Diego Colon the governor,
and Pasamonte[VIII-8] the king's treasurer, and bring back recruits.
The regidor was fairly successful. He set forth the wealth of Tierra
Firme, and the important services of Vasco Nuñez in glowing colors,
and obtained from the governor a commission authorizing Balboa to act
as his lieutenant in those parts. He begged for his friend Pasamonte's
influence with the king; but Enciso was active there with opposing
influence.
* * * * *
Meanwhile Balboa was haunted by thoughts not of the happiest. He well
knew how precarious was his tenure of position. Nicuesa's wrongs were
ever before him. Though not the chief criminal in that affair, he knew
he was criminal enough. Yet before the deed was done, and since, he
had striven to make amends. "Once, twice, three times," writes he to
the king, "have I sent aid to Nicuesa's men, and saved them when dying
at the rate of five and six a day." Then, too, he must confess having
treated poor Enciso somewhat shamefully; and the bachiller was stronger
where there was more strength in the law; while Zamudio was not the same
before the king as before his Antigua ruffians. There remained only one
course. Action was the word. If he would play the great man, and rule
others, he must bestir himself to something nobler than political strife
and demagogy at Antigua. Gold would help him; he thoroughly appreciated
the weakness of officials in that direction; but a notable adventure,
a great discovery, were better. At all events, upon whatever he should
decide, he must act immediately, before being deprived of his present
modicum of authority.
First of all, he would begin his career of greatness by assuming to be
great. One is never nearer the truth than when one puts on humility and
curses one's self for an ass. Without offensive ostentation he assumed
becoming forms of dignity, took upon himself the title of governor,
appointed officers, and drilled soldiers in the tactics of Indian
warfare.
[Sidenote: BATTLE WITH CEMACO.]
Some twenty leagues westerly from Antigua, adjoining the lands of
Cemaco, was an Indian province called Coiba, of which Careta[VIII-9]
was chief. The governor, being informed that Careta was rich in gold
and maize, despatched thither a small company under Pizarro, whom
he had made captain. They were hardly on the march before Cemaco was
encountered, at the head of four hundred men, all fired, like their
chief, with ever-living rage. Never for an hour since the strangers
landed to seize their homes had the eyes of the savages been removed
from them. It was hopeless to fight, naked as they were; yet for what
had they to live, with houses and lands and all their property taken
from them? The mode of warfare, too, was against the natives; they did
not fight here, as at San Sebastian, with poisoned arrows shot from
behind rocks and trees, but engaged in hand-to-hand conflict, opposing
their defenceless bodies to the steel weapons of the Spaniards, on
whose coats of mail their darts and clubs fell harmless. A fight ensued
nevertheless, and fiercely it was waged. It is somewhat difficult to
believe Herrera when he says that Pizarro had with him but six men,
who, when the four hundred closed with them, eviscerated one hundred
and fifty savages, and put the remainder to flight. Hastening back to
Antigua, leaving one man wounded on the field, Pizarro stood before
the governor exhausted and bleeding. Balboa's anger at the desertion
overpowered for a moment his admiration for the desperate courage
displayed by the little band, and turning to Pizarro, he said sharply,
"Go instantly and bring me Francisco Hernan, and, as you value your
life, never again leave one of my soldiers alive upon a field of
battle." Pizarro departed, and soon returned with his disabled comrade.
Balboa immediately placed himself at the head of a hundred men, and
started in pursuit of Cemaco, determined to extirpate the tribe; but,
after ascending the river for some distance and finding no enemy, he
abandoned pursuit. Scarcely had he returned, when the two brigantines
sent to Nombre de Dios for the remainder of Nicuesa's men made their
appearance at Antigua. They brought no news of Nicuesa, greatly to the
disappointment of Balboa, who would now gladly have fortified himself
in a less elevated position, and placed Antigua under the banner of the
lawful governor of the territory.
[Sidenote: EXPEDITION AGAINST CARETA.]
Fresh accounts of the wealth of Coiba, by this arrival, soon dispelled
the governor's misgivings, and turned his thoughts in other directions.
It seems that as the vessels were returning from Nombre de Dios, they
touched the shore of Coiba; and while there were greeted by two painted
savages in plain Castilian. The riddle was solved when the men told them
they were gentlemen renegades, escaped from Nicuesa's colony for fear
of punishment for misdemeanor. After long and dangerous wanderings in
the wilderness, they had thrown themselves, half-dead, upon the mercy
of Careta, who received them with gentle courtesy, bestowing food and
every kindness, which they were now ready to requite by betraying to
the Spaniards the cacique's treasures, for he was very rich.
To this act of treachery the Spanish yielded a prompt compliance, and
were ready for the adventure on the instant. Owing to their present
weak condition Colmenares advised delay, and arranged that one of the
miscreants should go with them to Antigua, while the other remained
with Careta in readiness to betray him at the proper time. Nor had
the governor the least scruple in availing himself of this villainy.
With one hundred and thirty men he marched on Coiba, directing the
two brigantines to meet him there. Acting under the direction of the
fugitive whom he had made his confidant and counsellor, Careta went
out to meet the Spaniards, brought them to his village, and entertained
them to the best of his ability. Balboa began with the modest request
for maize to fill his ships. Careta answered, that owing to war with
his ever hostile neighbor, Ponca, he had this year planted nothing, and
hence had no surplus. Careta's Spanish friend assured his countrymen
that this was false, that the savage had abundance. It was enough. A
heathen had lied to a Christian. Let the nation be anathema!
Bidding the chief a friendly farewell, with thanks for his hospitality,
the Spaniards took their departure as if for Antigua; but about midnight
they returned, attacked the village on three sides, slaughtered the
inhabitants, burned the houses, loaded the brigantines with booty, and
carried Careta and his family prisoners to Antigua. "Why should you do
this?" asked Careta. "How have I wronged you? Take my gold, but restore
me to my country. And as a pledge of my good faith, there is my daughter
who shall remain a hostage in your hands. Take her and let us be
friends." The proposal pleased the governor, not less from the advantage
of the alliance, than from the influence thrown over him by the charms
of the dusky maiden, for she was very beautiful, and had already given
her heart to the Christian chieftain. And thus according to the usage
of her people she became his wife, though not wedded after the Spanish
fashion; and Vasco Nuñez ever cherished her with fond affection.
Before dismissing the new allies with presents to their homes, care
was taken to excite their admiration by showing them the arms and
implements of civilization, and unfolding to them the doctrines of the
true faith. These doctrines must have appeared in strange contrast to
the blood-thirsty deeds of the Spaniards.
A joint expedition against Ponca, in which Balboa participated with
eighty men, overran that chieftain's domain with great damage to him,
and with some gain to the Spaniards in provisions and gold.
Adjoining Careta's lands, on the seaboard to the west, were those
of Comagre,[VIII-10] whose nation numbered ten thousand souls, and
mustered three thousand warriors. Balboa visited him peaceably, upon the
arrangement of a friendly interview by a native _jura_, or official,
a deserter from Careta's council, who had become offended with his
master, and joined Comagre. The jura was a statesman in a rude way, and
a diplomat. He knew of the Spaniards, of their fearful doings, and of
their alliance with Careta; and being an honest, well-meaning savage
withal, he thought to avert disaster by interposing friendly relations.
[Sidenote: PANCIACO'S STORY.]
With a train of attendants, Comagre met his distinguished guest, and
with much ceremony conducted him to the palace,[VIII-11] which for size,
durability, and rude excellence, far exceeded anything the Spaniards
had seen in the New World. Among the numerous descendants of Comagre,
for he was much married, were seven sons, remarkable for their valor,
and nobleness of demeanor. The eldest, Panciaco, united with a haughty
bearing exceptional sagacity. He saw at once the superiority of steel
weapons; he saw that the Spaniards coveted gold; and he thought he
saw an easy way open for purchasing their good-will. Collecting four
thousand ounces of the metal finely wrought, he presented it with
seventy slaves to the Spaniards, and watched the effect. The king's
fifth was first solemnly set aside. Then they began to divide the
remainder of the gold among themselves; and in this division arose
a dispute which made Panciaco's lip curl in scorn as he watched them
weighing the stuff. Louder grew their altercations, which were followed
by blows. Overcome at length by disgust, Panciaco darted forward and
struck the scales a violent blow which sent their precious contents
flying. "Why quarrel for such a trifle!" he exclaimed. "Is it for this
you leave your country, cross seas, endure hardships, and disturb the
peace of nations? Cease your voracious brawl and I will tell where you
may obtain your fill of gold. Six days' march across yon mountain will
bring you to an ocean sea, like this near which we dwell, where there
are ships as large as yours, and cities, and wealth unbounded."
Forgetting in the matter the manner of the discourse, the Spaniards
listened with eager attention. "How say you?" said Vasco Nuñez.
"What proof have you of this?" "Listen to me," replied Panciaco. "You
Christians seem to prize this metal more than body, life, or soul; more
than love, hate, revenge. Some mysterious virtue it must possess to
charm men so! We who can not translate its subtle power, love better
friends, and sweet revenge. My father has an ancient enemy, Tubanamá,
who lives beyond the mountains fronting the other sea. From time
immemorial our people have fought his people; many have been killed on
either side, and many enslaved. Could we for once bring low this hated
Tubanamá, no sacrifice would be too dear. Be yours the gold; give us
revenge. The path is difficult, the enemy fierce. One thousand Spaniards
are none too many successfully to cope with him. Prepare your army. I
myself will accompany you with all the warriors of our nation; bind me
fast; keep me in close custody; and if my words prove false, hang me
to the nearest tree."[VIII-12] Vasco Nuñez pondered. The area of his
destiny seemed suddenly to have enlarged. If this the young man had
said were true, and he might tap the mystery, and bring to the light
of nations this other side of Tierra Firme, the temporary governor of a
handful of heterogeneous colonists might achieve everlasting fame as one
of the world's great discoverers, and realize the dream of Columbus, to
rule the Aurea Chersonesus of King Solomon. To him who can execute comes
opportunity. "God has revealed the secrets of this land to me only," he
piously writes the 20th of January, 1513, "and for this I never shall
cease to thank him." But whence were to come the requisite one thousand
men? After closely interrogating Comagre, Careta, and other chieftains
concerning the tramontane regions, the Spaniards returned to Darien;
but not until many of the natives had renounced idolatry and received
baptism at the hands of the priests. There they found Valdivia returned
from Santo Domingo, after an absence of six months, with a small store
of provisions, and what was of the highest consequence to Vasco Nuñez at
this juncture, the commission from Diego Colon as governor of Antigua.
To guard against the scarcity of food which had thus far been one of
the chief causes of failure in every attempt to colonize Tierra Firme,
the governor had this year caused to be planted a large tract adjacent
to Antigua, the labor of course being performed by captives. "Food
has been our great necessity rather than gold," said Vasco Nuñez in a
letter to the king. But a hurricane, followed by inundation, destroyed
the crop, and Valdivia was again sent with the caravel to Santo Domingo
for provisions. In a letter to Diego Colon, the governor set forth
in extravagant terms his further knowledge of the country, dwelling
upon the information received of a great sea to the southward, and
begging assistance in raising a thousand men for its discovery. Gold to
the value of fifteen thousand pesos[VIII-13] was, by this departure,
remitted the king's officers as the royal share for the last six
months. Large sums were also sent by private persons to their friends
and creditors in Española and Spain. But all to no end. For when near
Jamaica, the vessel was struck by a squall, carried westward, and thrown
on some rocks off Yucatan. Ship and cargo were all lost. Twenty men,
without water, or food, or sail, or oars, in an open boat, escaped with
bare life.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: HORRIBLE FATE OF VALDIVIA.]
And now comes another tale of wretchedness which might well grace the
annals of Acheron. In their helpless condition they are carried by the
currents for thirteen days; one third of their number die of thirst,
and the survivors drift to a yet more horrible fate. Thrown on the Maya
shore, they are seized by savages, placed in a pen, and well fed. After
their sufferings at sea, this is not so bad; but one day Valdivia and
four others are taken to the temple and sacrificed, and their roasted
limbs eaten in honor of the gods; over which prospect for themselves
the survivors are uncomfortable, and nerved by desperation, they break
cage and escape to the forest, where they wander naked and starving
until life is a burden. Then they cast themselves at the feet of Ahkin
Xooc, cacique of Jamancana, neighbor and enemy of the Maya lord. He and
his successor, Taxmar, make them serve as beasts of burden until two
only are left alive, Gonzalo Guerrero, sailor, and Gerónimo de Aguilar,
friar. In an interchange of captives, the sailor becomes the property
of Nachan Kan, chief of Chetumal. Bold and buoyant-hearted, he rises to
barbaric distinction, becomes a great general, marries a princess, and
in after years, when opportunity offers, declines return to civilized
life. The friar is rescued by Cortés, in 1519, in which connection we
shall again meet him.[VIII-14]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: DABAIBA AND ITS GOLDEN TEMPLE.]
Cannibals are horrible things; but their teeth were hardly so sharp
as Spanish steel, which, in following the law of survival common to
the animal kingdom, was sacrificing freely about Antigua at this time.
"Thirty caciques have already been slain in the attempted pacification
of this country," writes Vasco Nuñez to Diego Colon, "and now that I
am obliged to penetrate still further in search of food, I must kill
all who fall into my hands; otherwise our colony can not exist while
waiting relief." In pursuance of this humane measure, early in 1512—it
was toward the close of 1511 that Valdivia had sailed for Española—the
governor organized an expedition against Dabaiba,[VIII-15] a rich
province some thirty leagues to the southward.
Startling stories were told of this place. At a temple lined with gold,
slaves were sacrificed for the gratification of the gods, who returned
in miracles the favors of their worshippers; so that Dabaiba became as
Mecca in the wilderness. Of course, it was an outrage against heaven
that the heathen gods should have so much gold and glory; though hunger
and avarice lent as much assistance, perhaps, as piety, in instigating
the contemplated raid.
Selecting one hundred and sixty men, Vasco Nuñez embarked in two
brigantines for the mouths of the river.[VIII-16] There he divided his
force, sending one third, under Colmenares, up the channel San Juan,
while with the remainder he ascended the Rio de las Redes, the more
direct route to Dabaiba, as he had been informed. But the eye of Cemaco,
in restless hate, was still upon them. Rousing the country, he induced
the caciques along the river to retire, and leave wasted fields to
the invaders, a measure which defeated the expedition. Nevertheless,
the Spaniards secured, a short distance up the river, two canoe-loads
of plunder, valued at seven thousand pesos, but on reaching the gulf
they were overturned in a storm, and the boatmen drowned. Balboa then
proceeded to the Rio San Juan and joined Colmenares, after which the
entire party ascended the Negro channel for six leagues, and captured
a town of five hundred houses, governed by a cacique named Abenamechey,
one of whose arms a Spaniard cruelly struck off after he had been made
prisoner. Leaving there half the men in charge of Colmenares, with the
remainder Balboa continued his ascent of the stream, until, on entering
a small branch, he found himself within the domain of Abibeiba, whose
people built their houses in the branches of palm trees, making the
ascent by ladders drawn up at night for safety. A supply of stones was
kept in the houses for artillery purposes. When they saw the Spaniards
coming, the people ran like squirrels for their houses, and drawing up
after them the ladders, fancied themselves in security.
Approaching the tree in which lived the chief, Balboa hailed him and
ordered him down. "What brings you hither to molest me?" demanded
the chief. "Go your way. I know you not as friends or foes. I have no
gold. I desire only to be left in peace." The Spaniards answered by
applying the axe to the tree, and when the chief saw the chips fly,
while his stone showers fell harmless upon the mail-coated men below,
he capitulated, and the village descended to earth.
[Sidenote: A CONSPIRACY DIVULGED.]
After further foraging and fighting with varied success, the governor
returned to Antigua, leaving Bartolomé Hurtado with thirty-one men
in possession of the country. Of these more than half fell sick, and
Hurtado incautiously despatched them for Antigua with twenty-four
captives in charge. They had not proceeded more than three leagues
before Cemaco was upon them with one hundred warriors; and of the
Spaniards only two escaped to carry the news to Hurtado, who hastened
to Antigua with the further intelligence that five caciques, namely,
Abibeiba of the high-tree house, Abenamechy of the severed arm,
Dabaiba of the golden temple, Abraiba and Cemaco of Darien, had
confederated with five thousand men to exterminate the Spaniards. The
rumor was lightly regarded until Vasco Nuñez was informed by one of his
mistresses, Fulvia he called her, that her brother had notified her to
withdraw from the town on a certain night, so that she might not fall
in the massacre intended. Love overruling duty, Fulvia thus divulged
the secret. She saved the settlement, but she lost her country.
Poor heart of woman touched with love! Vasco Nuñez induced Fulvia
to lure thither her brother, who thereupon was seized and forced to
confess the plot. Furthermore, he told Balboa that then at work in his
fields were forty men long pledged to assassinate him, but as he had
always appeared before them armed and armored, and on a caparisoned
horse, which was their greatest terror, they had feared to attack him.
The rendezvous of the conspirators was Tichirí, not far distant. With
seventy men, by a circuitous route, Balboa marched on the encampment,
while Colmenares with an equal force ascended the river in canoes,
guided by the traitress Fulvia's traitorous brother. Attacked thus
unexpectedly from opposite sides, the confederates were thrown into
confusion; many were killed and many taken prisoners. The chief general
was honored by being shot to death with arrows, while the others were
hanged. Cemaco escaped. So sudden and bold and severe was this blow,
that, while Antigua existed, the savages never recovered from it, and
the wooden fortress which Balboa immediately built as a guard against
future surprise was scarcely necessary.
The natives being thus pacified, the Spaniards were at liberty to evolve
fresh projects. Gold and grain in the vicinity of Antigua were well-nigh
exhausted, and new fields must be found. The time for Valdivia's return
had elapsed; and doubts respecting the integrity of the regidor were
entertained by Vasco Nuñez, with fears for the safety of his treasure.
Unable to endure the suspense he resolved on visiting Spain and pleading
his own cause before the king. But the colony demurred. Friends declared
his presence necessary, while enemies saw danger in his absence. It
was finally arranged that Colmenares and Caicedo, both worthy men who
had been faithful to Nicuesa as long as Nicuesa had been faithful to
himself, and faithful to Vasco Nuñez, should take the only remaining
vessel fit for service and embark for Spain in the general interests
of the colony. The reasoning by which the mistrustful populace arrived
at this agreement was, that if Balboa went he would secure all the
advantages to himself, or never return; while Colmenares, who left large
property in lands and laborers, and Caicedo, a genuine Spanish wife to
whom he was devotedly attached, would be sure to return.
Again the governor wrote Pasamonte soliciting his favor; not forgetting,
in addition to the king's fifth, a valuable present in gold for the
king's treasurer. The commissioners sailed from Darien in October, 1512,
and reached Spain the May following.
* * * * *
Meanwhile times at Antigua ran their varying course. At first nothing of
interest occurred; and such were the composite elements of this society
that inactivity invariably resulted in spontaneous combustion. Again it
centred round the ruling powers. "Who is this Vasco Nuñez that he should
lord it over us? a renegade! an absconding debtor! he of the cask!"
The immediate cause of the outbreak was the investiture of Hurtado, an
unpopular person, with authority; and the more specific charges were
partiality in the division of spoils, and the unlawful assumption of
powers pertaining to a royally appointed ruler.
The new faction was led by one Alonso Perez de la Rua, who for fancied
insult pawed the earth and bellowed vengeance. The agitation becoming
troublesome Perez was arrested and placed in confinement. The insurgents
rushed to arms and demanded the release of their leader, and this
being denied they prepared to rescue him by force. The governor placed
himself at the head of his adherents, and the two parties prepared
for battle. At this juncture peaceful measures were interposed by a
third party, consisting of those who had taken no active part in the
disputes, and embracing many respectable colonists. Perez was released;
but the gnawings of hate continuing he roused his party and made
prisoner Hurtado, who in his turn was given liberty at the hands of the
conciliators.
Chivalry having had its brief day, avarice came in for a share of public
attention. Among the yet undivided plunder was gold obtained in the late
Atrato River raids, equivalent in value to ten thousand castellanos. Of
this the disaffected demanded immediate division.
[Sidenote: THE GOVERNOR WITHDRAWS.]
The governor well knew that in their present mood it was beyond the
power of man to satisfy them. Though omniscient justice distributed this
treasure, new troubles would grow out of it. He determined therefore to
adopt a non-committal policy, retire from the scene, and freely give
them the opportunity, for which they were so ready, to shed blood.
Quitting the town at night, ostensibly on a hunting tour, he remained
away for several days, leaving them to their destruction. The result
was as he had anticipated. Finding themselves free the rioters elevated
to the command Perez of the wounded honor, and Bachiller Corral. Then
breaking into the public plunder-house, they brought out the gold and
placed it in the hands of their leaders for distribution. Proof that the
division was fair lay in the fact that every one was dissatisfied. Each,
rating his own services superior to most and inferior to none, thought
he received too little and another too much. They began to suspect
their mistake. A dim perception of the infelicities that mix with the
rapturous sweets of governing entered their stolid brains. Balboa's
party quickly assumed the ascendency, and thrusting the ringleaders of
the insurgents into prison they awaited the return of the governor.
"Your highness must know," writes Vasco Nuñez of this affair to the
king, January 20, 1513, "that some days ago little differences occurred
here, because the alcaldes, filled with envy and falsehood, attempted to
arrest me. Failing in this they brought against me false accusations and
false witnesses. Hereof I complain to your highness, for if these men
go unpunished, no governor that your highness may hereafter send will
be free from this evil. That your highness may know the truth in the
matter, and of my great and loyal services in these parts of the Indies
and Tierra Firme, I have appointed two judges to investigate my conduct,
and report to your majesty all that I have done. I hope," concludes the
modest cavalier, "that your majesty will read all this, and reward my
great services according to their value."
* * * * *
About this time there arrived at Antigua two vessels, in command of
Cristóbal Serrano, sent by Diego Colon, with one hundred and fifty men
and provisions for the colony. But what gave Vasco Nuñez the greatest
joy was a royal commission, signed by Pasamonte, the treasurer,
investing him with the supreme command of the colony. Thus established
in authority, and being of a generous temper, the governor at the
solicitations of their friends readily pardoned the rebels and set them
at liberty.
Another communication, however, which Vasco Nuñez received by this
arrival, caused him no little anxiety. This was a letter from Zamudio
informing him of his failure to conciliate the royal favor. As had been
feared, the bachiller Enciso, burning under a sense of injuries, had
denounced the alcaldes before the Council of the Indies, and aroused
the king's wrath by a recital of Nicuesa's banishment and probable
death. The Council had decreed that Enciso should be indemnified, and
that Vasco Nuñez should be summoned to court to answer graver charges.
Moreover, Zamudio with difficulty escaped the arrest imposed on him by
the Council.
[Sidenote: BALBOA'S RESOLVE.]
This was as wormwood in Balboa's cup of joy. Yet it was not wholly
unexpected; it was not wholly unmerited. There was one redeeming feature
about it; the intelligence was private. He was still master of himself;
ay, and governor of the colony. Might not some signal service be made
to cover his transgressions, and win for him the royal favor? There was
that mysterious sea to the southward, reported by Panciaco. The very
thing, were men and means at hand for its achievement. Means! There was
no time to talk of means; the next arrival would bring a warrant for
his arrest. Do it without means, and so gain glory the more. Where was
the true Spanish cavalier who would hesitate in such an emergency? Why,
the very danger itself was a fascination. He would do it or die!
CHAPTER IX.
DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN.
1513.
DEPARTURE OF VASCO NUÑEZ FROM ANTIGUA—CARETA'S
WELCOME—DIFFICULTIES TO BE ENCOUNTERED—TREACHEROUS CHARACTER
OF THE COUNTRY—HISTORICAL BLOODHOUNDS—PONCA RECONCILED—CAPTURE
OF QUAREQUÁ—FIRST VIEW OF THE PACIFIC FROM THE HEIGHTS
OF QUAREQUÁ—THE SPANIARDS DESCEND TO CHIAPES—TAKE FORMAL
POSSESSION OF THE SOUTH SEA—FORM OF TAKING POSSESSION—THE
NAMES SOUTH SEA AND PACIFIC OCEAN—FURTHER DISCOVERIES—PERILOUS
CANOE VOYAGE—GOLD AND PEARLS IN PROFUSION—TUMACO
PACIFIED—THE PEARL ISLANDS—THE RETURN—TEOCA'S KINDNESS—PONCA
MURDERED—POCOROSA PACIFIED—TUBANAMÁ VANQUISHED—GOLD, GOLD,
GOLD—PANCIACO'S CONGRATULATIONS—ARRIVAL AT ANTIGUA.
Revolving matters in his mind, plans quickly unfolded. Winning for the
project a few staunch friends, Vasco Nuñez selected with great care one
hundred and ninety men.[IX-1] More could have been taken, but he had
determined on a rapid march of discovery rather than pacification and
occupation. Hence he preferred only tried men, those inured to fatigue,
men resolute and reckless, with heart and head hard, and sinews of
steel. He also provided from among his captives and the neighboring
nations one thousand natives, to serve as warriors and beasts of burden.
These, might live or die, as it should happen: no great matter what
became of them. A pack of bloodhounds completed the company.
[Sidenote: EMBARKATION OF THE EXPEDITION.]
The men were armed with crossbows, swords, arquebuses and targets, and
provisions for the expedition were placed on board a brigantine and ten
large canoes. Before embarking, the hazardous nature of the enterprise
was made known to the soldiers. Wealth and glory awaited success; the
reward of failure, death; opportunity was then offered for any one to
withdraw without prejudice or injury.
Sailing with his little armament from Antigua on the first day of
September, 1513, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa followed the coast of Darien
north-westward to Careta's province, where the expedition disembarked
on the fourth day. The chieftain's dusky daughter, whom the governor
continued to regard with great affection, was still a bond of friendship
between this nation and the Spaniards. Careta added to their stock of
provisions and furnished them with guides; and some of his warriors
joined the expedition, in the hope of witnessing the downfall of their
enemies beyond the mountains. The boats were left in charge of a guard;
and after invoking divine favor the expedition was ready to move.
* * * * *
I know the tendency of the historian, warmed by his theme, to magnify
merit, and the obstacles it overcomes; and I have elsewhere said as
much. While I endeavor to confine myself to the plain words of a simple
story, those who have sat at ease, sipping iced champagne, during a
delightful ride of three or four hours across this sometime terrible
neck, may find in this chapter expressions appearing strong. But I
do assure the reader that it is difficult to magnify in the present
instance. Vasco Nuñez now stood on the northern coast, opposite the
gulf of San Miguel, which, breaking the shore of Panamá Bay, narrows
the isthmus of Darien to a width of fifty miles.[IX-2] But such is
the infamous character of the country, that even modern efforts to
penetrate the unexplored interior from either side have met disaster
and ruin.[IX-3] Inaccessible forests filled with noxious reptiles and
wild beasts, tangled jungles through which man must cut his way foot
by foot; rugged mountains, slippery slopes, and rocky precipices, over
and round which the weary traveller threads his way under a blooming
tropical canopy; frequent and sudden rains and inundations; treacherous
morasses, and the malarious exhalations from putrid vegetation, unite
with warlike savages to render this spot one of the most difficult on
the globe to explore. Add to these obstructions the weight of heavy
armor and cumbrous weapons, and some conception may be formed of a
military march through an equatorial wilderness.
[Sidenote: QUALITY OF THE BAND.]
No wonder Vasco Nuñez scrutinized his company before starting. "I beg
your very royal Highness," he had written before this to the king,
"to give me men from Española; for such as come from Castile are
for my purpose worthless, bringing loss not only on themselves but
others."[IX-4] Born amidst the clash of arms in chivalrous Spain, broken
to adversity at Española, and many of them toughened at Santa Marta,
Veragua, and Antigua, the present band mustered the survivors of daring
expeditions whose bones strewed the shores of Tierra Firme.
[Illustration]
The Spaniards began their march on the 6th of September. The second
day brought them to the lands of Ponca, who having been warned of their
approach had retired from the path.[IX-5] But other thoughts than those
of plunder and petty warfare now filled the mind of Vasco Nuñez; and,
preferring to leave no enemy in his rear, while resting in the cacique's
comfortable quarters he made overtures of friendship to the chief,
who straightway returned from his hiding, and gave gold, together with
valuable information concerning the southern sea and the route thither
in return for beads, mirrors, hawk-bells, and axes. For none knew better
than the courteous governor how to kindle friendship in the savage
breast, and make it profitable. The gold which Ponca gave consisted of
finely wrought ornaments from beyond the mountains, and ten pounds of
the metal from his own mines. He described a certain summit from which
this southern sea might easily be seen, gave information of the nations
to be encountered by the Spaniards, and furnished them with guides for
the secret passes.
Roused by this encouragement, and leaving here the sick and wayworn,
the Spaniards were on their southward march again the 20th of September.
Between the several provinces were no beaten paths, across the rivers no
bridges; so great were the impediments to their progress, and so much
more time was consumed than had been anticipated, that food began to
fail.
Making their way amid these difficulties, they came to the foot of the
high mountains where terminated their pacified territory, and where they
must prepare to dispute the way with native sovereigns of the soil.
Ascending the mountains, they encountered on the 24th a cacique named
Porque, lord of the province of Quarequá, the ruler of these parts,
whose arrogance, fed by his successes, had kept full pace with them. At
the head of a thousand warriors, Porque appeared before Vasco Nuñez,
demanded the object of his visit, and threatened to kill every man
who should put foot within his dominions. The Spaniards nevertheless
continued slowly to advance, keeping well together. Amazed at their
temerity, and indignant at the seeming indifference to his threat,
Porque swept down upon them with flourish of weapons and terrific
yells, confident of easy victory. But as well might he have spent his
unleavened force against the eternal hills.
Waiting until the whole swarm was well within reach, Vasco Nuñez gave
the order to charge. Shouting the inspiriting war-cry, Santiago, y á
ellos! the Spaniards sprang upon them. The fire-arms were discharged,
the bloodhounds[IX-6] let loose, and striking the cruel steel into the
naked bodies of the enemy, he was literally hewn in pieces. Vainly, in
wild confusion, the savages struggled to escape; the flash of fire, the
thundering noise, the sulphurous smoke, bereft them of their senses,
making easy work for the sharp iron which entered unresisted their
vitals, until six hundred lay dead upon the ground, Porque among the
number. Many prisoners were taken; the survivors escaped to the hills.
In the village of Quarequá was found much needed food, and some gold.
So toilsome had been the march that eighteen days had passed since
leaving Careta's town. And here Vasco Nuñez rested for the night,
nursing his wounded, and cheering the sick and down-hearted. The guides
whom Ponca had furnished, and who had proved of incalculable service
to the explorers, were dismissed to their home with presents, and with
hearts made glad by the destruction of Porque. So rolls round the planet
inexorable nature, detested death giving hourly joy to universal life.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: FIRST VIEW OF THE SOUTH SEA.]
The 25th[IX-7] of September, 1513, a day ever memorable in the annals
of the Pacific States, dawned brightly over the sierra of Quarequá. The
village in which the Spaniards had made their quarters was situated on
an elevated plateau, and near it rose the reputed mountain whose summit
had for ages gazed on the mysterious southern sea. At an early hour
Vasco Nuñez was astir, to prepare with thrilling anticipations for the
ascent. But sixty-seven, out of the one hundred and ninety Spaniards who
within the month had embarked upon this enterprise at Antigua, possessed
sufficient strength for the present effort. Departing from the town,
their way at first lay through a tangled forest, which fringed the
mountain base, and whose dense foliage hid from view the more distant
objects. As they mounted upward into a cooler, drier atmosphere, the
vegetation became more stunted, yet the undergrowth was still so thick
that the soldiers had to cut a passage with their sabres. Emerging at
length into an open space near the summit, a bare eminence was pointed
out by the guides, whence the view was said to be unobstructed, and the
sea distinctly visible.
Viewed prosaically, there was nothing astounding in ascending a hill
and taking a look at the ocean. It had been often done elsewhere; it
had been often done here. Nor was there any peculiar difference between
sea and land here and sea and land elsewhere. But there was that to the
minds of the impetuous and impressible Spaniards, there is that to our
own minds, in first things and first views of things, our first view,
our country's first awakening, that stirs the soul and sets faster
beating the heart. Reduced to words, the sentiment is the pleasure the
mind derives from improving surprises; it is the joy of development,
the ecstasy of evolution.
If such be commonly the case, how much more reason had Vasco Nuñez de
Balboa to be impassioned on this occasion. Behind him was ignominy,
perhaps chains and death; before him was glory, immortal fame. And it
was meet in him that this ordinarily trivial act should be consummated
with a ceremony becoming to one of civilization's great achievements.
Ordering a halt, Vasco Nuñez advanced alone. His should be the first
European eye to behold what there was to behold, and that without
peradventure. With throbbing heart he mounted the topmost eminence
which crowned these sea-dividing hills. Then, as in the lifting of a
veil, a scene of primeval splendor burst on his enraptured gaze, such
as might fill with joy an archangel sent to explore a new creation.
There it lay, that boundless unknown sea, spread out before him, far as
the eye could reach, in calm, majestic beauty, glittering like liquid
crystal in the morning sun. Beneath his feet, in furrowed prospect,
were terraces of living green, sportive with iridescent light and shade;
waving plains and feathered steeps white-lined with flowing waters, here
dashing boisterously down the hill-side, yonder winding silent through
the sighing foliage to the all-receiving sea. In that first illimitable
glance time stood back, the mists lifted, and eternity was there. What
wonder if to this Spanish cavalier, in that moment of triumphant joy,
visions of the mighty future appeared pictured on the cerulean heights,
visions of populous cities, of fleets and armies, of lands teeming
with wealth and industry. And to Spain should all these blessings and
advantages accrue; to Spain through him.
[Sidenote: SPEECH OF VASCO NUÑEZ.]
Dropping on his knees, he poured forth praise and thanksgiving to the
author of that glorious creation for the honor of its discovery. The
soldiers then pressed forward, gazed enchanted likewise, and likewise
assumed the attitude of prayer; for however ungodly were their lives,
these cavaliers were always fond of praying.
"There, my friends," exclaimed Balboa, rising and pointing to the
prospect before him, "there is the realization of your hopes, the reward
of your labors. You are the first Christians to look upon that sea,
or to tread its luxuriant shores. The words of the chivalrous Panciaco
concerning the Southern Sea are more than verified; please God so may
we find them regarding the riches of its shore. All are yours, I say,
yours the glory of laying this celestial realm at your sovereign's
feet; yours the privilege of bringing to the only vile thing in it the
cleansing properties of our holy faith. Continue, then, true to me,
and I promise you honor and wealth to your fullest desire." A shout
of approbation, such as the rabble are ever ready with before success,
was followed by pledges of fidelity and fair service, to be broken upon
the first occasion. And if we may believe old Peter Martyr, who enjoyed
this triumph of progress almost as much as the discoverers themselves,
Hannibal from the summit of the Alps, pointing to his soldiers the
delicious fields of Italy, displayed no grander conception of his
high achievements, past and future, than did Balboa at this moment.
A cross was erected, round which stones were heaped; the trees were
blazoned with the sovereign's name; the Te Deum laudamus and Te Dominum
confitemur was solemnly chanted by the company; after which Balboa in a
loud voice called on all present to witness that he then and thereby,
for and in the name of the sovereigns of Spain, took possession of
this Southern Sea, with all its islands and firm lands, and all shores
washed by its waters. The notary was ordered to draw up a certificate
in accordance, to which each present affixed his name.[IX-8]
Because the strangers seemed to delight in it, the savages assisted in
the cross-raising and in carrying stones, though they saw nothing in
the surroundings to become so excited about. Meanwhile the Spaniards
wondered how far the water extended, what nations inhabited its borders,
what the commerce and religion of those nations, and what would be the
effect of the discovery on Spain, on the world, on their own fortunes.
[Sidenote: CHIAPES AND THE SPANIARDS.]
Descending the mountains on its seaward side they were met by a
cacique, called like his province, Chiapes, who ordered them back
if they sought not death. The policy of Vasco Nuñez here was peace.
Hostile entanglements at this juncture he knew would sooner or later
result in the destruction of his party. It must be a peace, however,
based on fear and respect, seldom to be achieved among savages except
by slaughter. Overtures of friendship were accordingly instituted
by a sudden and vigorous onslaught with fire-arms, cross-bows, and
bloodhounds, during which Chiapes took to his heels, midst thunder,
smoke, and consternation; in consequence of which he was all the more
happy when the men of Quarequá sought him out, and told him that these
supernatural visitors who held the elements at their command were easily
propitiated with gold. Tremblingly he appeared and laid at the feet of
Vasco Nuñez five hundred pounds of the metal, glad that the favor of the
gods might be bought so cheaply. The Quarequá guides were now dismissed
with presents, and by them orders were sent the Spaniards resting at
their town to follow the advance party.
The object of Vasco Nuñez was to approach the verge of the ocean
and touch the water he had seen. For this purpose he despatched, in
different directions, three parties of twelve men each, under Francisco
Pizarro, Alonso Martin de Don Benito, and Juan de Escaray to search
an opening to the seaside through the dense foliage that concealed it.
It is not a little singular that two days should elapse, and that the
explorers suffered severely for want of water before any one could find
the beach, though they were all the time so near it. Alonso Martin's
party came first to an inlet, on the shore of which were two canoes,
the open bay being still hidden. Desirous of being first in something,
however small, Martin sprang into one of the boats which was barely
floating on the incoming tide, and cried to his companions, who had
thrown themselves down under the cooling leaves—"I call on you all to
witness that I am the first Spaniard to sail upon these waters." "And
I the second," exclaimed another, rushing for the other boat.[IX-9]
Returning to Chiapes, Martin reported to Vasco Nuñez, who immediately
began preparations to take more formal possession of the Southern Sea.
[Sidenote: TAKING POSSESSION.]
On the 29th of September, St Michael's day, Vasco Nuñez with twenty-six
men set out for the border of the sea, accompanied by Chiapes with
a numerous train. Arriving there they found the tide out, and seated
themselves upon a grassy slope beneath the overhanging foliage, waiting
the return of the waters. Presently, when the sand was covered to the
depth of one or two feet, all arose, and Vasco Nuñez, armed and armored
cap-a-pie, drew his sword and, taking from the hand of an attendant
a banner, on one side of which were pictured the virgin and child and
on the other the arms of Castile and Leon, marched into the water, and
waving aloft his banner cried in a loud voice: "Long live the high and
powerful monarchs Don Fernando and Doña Juana, sovereigns of Castile,
and of Leon, and of Aragon, in whose name, and for the royal crown
of Castile, I take and seize real and corporeal actual possession of
these seas and lands, and coasts and ports and islands of the south,
with all thereto annexed; and kingdoms and provinces which belong to
them, or which may hereafter belong to them, in whatever manner and
by whatever right and title acquired, now existing or which may exist,
ancient and modern, in times past and present and to come, without any
contradiction. And if any other prince or captain, christian or infidel,
of whatever law or sect or condition he may be, pretends any right to
these lands and seas, I am ready and prepared to contradict him, and
to defend them in the names of the present and future sovereigns of
Castile, who are the lords paramount in these Indies, islands and firm
land, northern and southern, with their seas, as well in the arctic
pole as in the antarctic, on either side of the equinoctial line, within
or without the tropics of cancer and capricorn, according to what more
completely to their majesties and their successors belongs and is due,
for the whole and any part thereof; as I protest in writing shall or may
be more fully specified and alleged on behalf of their royal patrimony;
now and in all time while the earth revolves, and until the universal
judgment of all mankind."[IX-10] To which grandiloquent harangue there
came no reply; no armed Poseidon appeared to dispute possession; only
the mighty ocean dashed from its face the blinding glare of this new
doctrine, heaved its bosom in long glassy swells, and gently growled
its perplexity to the sympathizing beach.
[Sidenote: THE NAME PACIFIC OCEAN.]
The followers of Vasco Nuñez, however, even if all did not comprehend
better than the sea what their leader had said, swore with loud
acclamations to defend the claim of the sovereign who would thereby
have so much more land to bestow, and to follow their gallant leader
to the riches and honor he had so freely promised them. Andrés de
Valderrábano, the notary of the expedition, was then called upon to draw
up a certificate of the act of taking possession, to which all present
subscribed their names. This being the day of St Michael,[IX-11] the
archangel, the gulf before them was called El golfo de San Miguel, which
name it bears to this day. Tasting the water they found it salt, which
proved it a true ocean sea that they had found; then they cut crosses
on the trees in honor of the holy trinity, and with longings satisfied
and hearts singing their high hopes, the party returned to Chiapes,
richer, according to their pretensions, by one Pacific Ocean,[IX-12]
ten thousand islands, and twenty-five hundred leagues of continental
seaboard.
The grand event being so happily consummated, the Spaniards thought
that, before returning to Antigua, they might indulge in a little
exploration. Luckily the powerful Chiapes was not only their friend,
but he could furnish them a goodly list of enemies having an abundance
of gold and pearls. Under his direction they crossed a large river,
fell upon a chieftain called Cocura, and returned to Chiapes with six
hundred and fifty pesos. Then they decided to explore an arm of the
gulf, which involved a short but dangerous canoe voyage. In vain Chiapes
protested against the project. "Our God will protect us," replied the
devout Vasco Nuñez, as with eighty Spaniards, and a dusky band under
Chiapes, he stepped into the canoes, the 17th of October. Soon they
found themselves in a sea so tempestuous that they were glad to escape
upon an island whose uncertain soil threatened every moment to dissolve
beneath their feet. There they remained up to their waists in water all
that night. Fortunately before morning the waters of the gulf subsided,
else the discoverers of the Pacific Ocean never would have returned
to tell their tale. Daybreak presented a dismal spectacle. Some of the
canoes were split, others embedded in the sand; and all the provisions
and clothing had been swept away. But to such hardships these men were
inured. Since leaving Spain they had lived chiefly on maize bread,
wild herbs, fruit, roots, sometimes fish, seldom meat. This was their
best diet. In times of scarcity, which were frequent, they were glad
to get reptiles, insects, or anything that would sustain life. They
had no salt; and their only drink was river water, frequently putrid
and unwholesome. Yet while life lasted, the brain worked inexhaustible
resources. In the present emergency, for example, when both sea and land
proved treacherous, they by no means yielded to despair. Stripping the
glutinous bark from certain young trees which they found, they bruised
it with stones, added to it fibrous sea-plants reduced in like manner,
and, after binding their broken boats firmly with cords, they calked the
seams with the mixture. Again they committed themselves to the mercy of
the sea, and after two days of hazardous navigation, half naked and half
starved, they ran into a small creek which flowed through a province
called Chitarraga, and landed about midnight near an Indian village
governed by a cacique named Tumaco.[IX-13]
[Sidenote: PEARL GATHERING.]
Carrying the village, though not without resistance, Vasco Nuñez, as
usual, sought the friendship of the fleeing Tumaco, who was induced to
return, bringing gold valued at six hundred and fourteen pesos, and a
basin of pearls, two hundred and forty of which were of extraordinary
size. This was indeed something worthy of an oriental India, thought
the Spaniards, as their hearts danced enraptured over the beautiful
baubles. Tumaco could not understand what power his gift possessed that
it should so charm these heavenly strangers. To him the oyster which he
could eat was seemingly worth more than the pearl which he could not
eat; for in roasting the bivalve he had spoilt pearls enough to make
him rich in the eyes of any potentate in Christendom. When once he knew
that pearls were wealth, Tumaco became eager to show the Spaniards how
much he had at his command, and set his men to fish; and in four days
they returned with twelve marks' weight, or ninety-six ounces of pearls.
Six Spaniards accompanied them to see whence came the gems, and they
showed the natives how to open oysters without heat, which discolored
the pearl. Likewise gold hereabout was plentiful and lightly esteemed.
* * * * *
Vasco Nuñez endeavored to gain all the information possible concerning
the nature and extent of the sea-coast. He was told by Tumaco that the
ocean and the mainland extended southward without end; that far distant
in that direction dwelt a great nation whose riches were immense, who
navigated the ocean in ships, and employed beasts of burden. In order
the better to describe these animals, Tumaco moulded in clay a figure of
the llama, which seemed to the eyes of the Spaniards a species of camel.
"And this," says Herrera, "was the second intimation Vasco Nuñez had of
Peru, and of its wealth." Nor did Francisco Pizarro, who was present,
fail to hold these things in remembrance.
Balboa now felt his mission accomplished. Had the new sea and its border
been made for him it could not have pleased him better. Columbus had
found a new continent; he had found a new sea; and wealth on this south
side seemed illimitable. But before returning he deemed it prudent to
supplement his deed of possession by the enactment of that ceremonial on
the shore of the main ocean, for his exploits had hitherto been confined
to the gulf of San Miguel. Applying to Tumaco for the requisite means,
an immense canoe was produced, the barge of state, with oarsmen, and
oars inlaid with _aljófar_, an inferior kind of pearl; and Vasco Nuñez
called on the notary to write it down, that boats on this Southern Sea
were propelled by oars inlaid with pearl, so that his sovereigns might
thereby place a greater value on it and on his own great services.
In pursuance of this plan, on the 29th of October, the Spaniards
embarked in Tumaco's barge, and, proceeding to the shore of the main
ocean, landed near an island called by the natives Crucraga, but to
which Vasco Nuñez gave the name of San Simon. Here with banner and
buckler, with drawn sword and high-sounding declamation, and amidst
the lordly waves which had rolled their unimpeded course from far
beyond the ever lifting horizon, the vaunting cavalier again affirmed
ownership, swearing to defend he knew not what against he knew not whom;
but "herein," according to Herrera, "he used all the formalities that
could be imagined, for he was brave, subtle, diligent, and of a generous
temper, a commander fit for mighty enterprises."
As they were about to depart, the men of Chitarraga directed the
attention of Balboa to a group of small low islands rising from the sea
five leagues distant. A powerful chieftain governed there, who, crossing
to the mainland, made fearful havoc among the seaboard villages; and
would the Spaniards please go and kill him, for at the largest island,
Toe, were the most beautiful pearls in all that region. The Spaniards
would go there or elsewhere for pearls and gold if they only had the
time, and a favorable sea, but Vasco Nuñez would not permit himself to
be led away into further fascinations on this visit. He nevertheless
gave names to the islands, calling the largest Isla Rica, and the
group Islas de las Perlas,[IX-14] or Pearl Islands, assuring Tumaco,
meanwhile, that he would return some day and avenge him his injuries.
[Sidenote: THE RETURN.]
Once more back at Chitarraga, Vasco Nuñez made ready his departure
for Antigua. He proposed to cross the mountains by a different route
from that by which he came. The sick and disabled he would leave with
Chiapes, now the firm friend of the Spaniards, who were to kill his
enemies and not him. This chieftain and a son of Tumaco asked permission
to accompany the party as far as Teaochoan, an adjoining province.
Accordingly, on the 3d of November, they embarked in canoes, and guided
by the young cacique of Chitarraga, proceeded to the upper end of the
gulf and entered a large river,[IX-15] so inconstant as to overflow its
banks in places, narrowing elsewhere between rocky confines, and rushing
forward tumultuously under the overhanging foliage to the sea. By and
by the youthful chieftain brought the boats to land. Disembarking, the
Spaniards pacified the province in their usual way, the ruler, Teoca,
chief of Teaochoan, being glad to save his life by paying one hundred
and sixty ounces of gold and two hundred large pearls. Indeed, so
effectually had Vasco Nuñez succeeded, by a judicious use of fire-arms
and fair words, and some trifling presents, in winning the affections
of the South Sea savages, that in taking leave of Chiapes and the
Chitarraga youth at Teoca's town, they wept. It was indeed affecting;
and soon Teoca, although the last to be robbed, caught himself paying
the strangers the same briny tribute of his esteem.
After three days of rest the party proceeded, and reaching the base
of the mountains they began to scale them. A supply of dried fish
and maize, with men of burden and guides, had been secured, and they
were accompanied by Teoca's son, who had instructions to attend to
all requirements of the strangers, and not to leave them without the
permission of their commander. It was well for the company that they
had a leader thoughtful and efficient; that instead of zealous guides,
and willing men to bear the burdens, there were not lurking foes or
treacherous friends with whom to deal—not one of them otherwise would
have reached Antigua. For, toiling up the steep ascent under a burning
sun, they soon found themselves without water, the springs upon which
they had depended having failed. One by one the men yielded their
strength and threw themselves upon the ground, victims of despair.
Teoca's son assisted and encouraged them, and finally brought them
all in safety to a cool, sequestered valley where were life-restoring
waters.
[Sidenote: INFAMOUS ACT OF BALBOA.]
Was it their way of giving thanks for the late escape from death, now
to plan the death of others? While resting in the refreshing shade,
Balboa asked his guide about a certain Poncra, a hideous despot,
as rich as he was repulsive, of whom he had heard much. "We are now
within his lands," the young chief replied. "Over the brow of yonder
hill is situated his village." Then was detailed a story of this man's
wickedness which sent a thrill of pleasing horror to the heart of every
Spaniard present. Instantly all was excitement; and those so lately the
readiest to faint were now the readiest to fight. Marching forward they
entered the village only to find the vulture flown. Finely wrought gold
to the value of three thousand pesos was found there to reconcile them
to his absence. Scouts soon discovered his retreat, however, and partly
by threats and partly by promises of safety, this lump of deformity was
induced to give himself up with three of his principal men. No sooner
was it known that the hated Poncra was prisoner in the hands of the
Spaniards, than the neighboring chieftains flocked in and begged his
extermination. "Whence came your gold?" demanded Balboa of the unhappy
man. "I know not," replied Poncra. "My forefathers left it me. We place
no value on the unwrought metal." Although torture was applied, nothing
further could be elicited. The bystanders clamored loudly for his death,
charging him with infamous crimes, revolting to humanity. In an evil
moment Vasco Nuñez yielded. The bloodhounds were let loose, and loud
acclamations rent the air as the quivering flesh was torn from the limbs
of the four unfortunate wretches, and they were made, as Ogilby says,
"a Breakfast to the Spanish Doggs." Vasco Nuñez de Balboa gained the
approval of the crowd; but throughout all time, wherever the name of the
illustrious discoverer of the Southern Sea is spoken, this infamous act
of treachery shall stain it. The praises of the savages, however, were
profuse; "and there he remained thirty days," says Gomara, "receiving
and ruling like a king." And very prettily Balboa commemorates his
outrage by calling the place Todos Los Santos.
While resting here, the Spaniards were joined by the comrades who had
been left at Chiapes. Throughout all this region the strangers were
treated as invincible and superhuman. Passing through the domain of a
chief named Bononiama, they were not only received as friends, coming as
they did from Chiapes, but were presented with gold to the value of two
thousand pesos, and the chief accompanied them to Poncra's village, that
he might behold the wonderful leader of these wonderful men. Poncra's
successor came forward in answer to overtures of peace; and on the first
of December the Spaniards continued their journey, weighted down with
spoils. Five days brought them to a small depopulated town whose chief,
Buquebuca, had fled because he had not the means, he said, fitly to
entertain such illustrious visitors. He was permitted to purchase their
favor by delivering up the gold in his possession, including some finely
wrought plates.
[Sidenote: BALBOA AMONG THE CACIQUES.]
Following a path northward from Buquebuca's they were hailed from a
cliff near by. "Our King Chioriso sends greeting, O mighty men! and
presents this offering, begging your assistance in vanquishing an enemy
too powerful for him." The gift was certainly persuasive, being no less
than thirty large gold medals or plates worth fourteen thousand pesos.
Balboa scarcely knew what to do, nevertheless he graciously received
it, and sent in return three axes, some gilt beads, and several pieces
of leather and cloth, making the recipient to his own thinking the
richest potentate in savagedom. Balboa furthermore promised to assist
him at some future time in his wars. The country through which they were
now passing was exceptionally rugged, and the men of burden were quite
exhausted when on the 13th of December they arrived at the village of
Pocorosa. Several of the soldiers had also fallen seriously ill from
fatigue, and it was accordingly decided to tarry here for thirty days.
The chief, as usual, had fled at their approach, but was brought back
to purchase friendship of the Spaniards with slaves and gold.
Pocorosa informed the Spaniards that not far from there[IX-16] lived
the famous Tubanamá, of whom Panciaco had spoken when first directing
the attention of the Spaniards to the South Sea. He was reputed the
richest as well as the strongest chieftain of these mountains, and was
the terror of the neighboring nations. Balboa felt it more than ever
his duty to overthrow Tubanamá, kill some of his men, steal a few of
his women, and relieve him of his gold. But to do this he must have
a thousand soldiers, so he had been told. Casting his eye over his
little band of bruised and wayworn men, he thought how one mistake
might swallow all his past successes, and sighed; then he slept on it,
and when after a few days' rest the question was adventured, enough
were eager for the raid. The result was that seventy Spaniards, and
a squad of Pocorosa's warriors, after a rapid march, fell on Tubanamá
about midnight and brought him away prisoner, Ogilby says with eighty
concubines. The men of Pocorosa, and chiefs of adjoining tribes, began
to revile him, and begged of Vasco Nuñez his immediate death. He had
done worse things than Poncra, they said, and had beside spoken ill of
the Spaniards, threatening to drag them to death by the hair of their
head if ever they came within his reach. Vasco Nuñez pondered. For some
time past he had entertained a plan of establishing in this vicinity a
military post for the protection of commerce between the seas, and also
of gold-mining. Was it better to kill this chief as an enemy, or let
him live as a friend, and assist to keep the others friendly? He chose
the latter course. But first he must temper the proposed friendship by
trial. "Infamous tyrant," he thundered at the trembling prisoner, "now
shalt thou suffer for thine abominations. Thou shalt be made to feel the
power of the Christians, and the same doom which thou before thy naked
slaves didst promise them, shall now be meted thee." He then motioned
the attendants as if to remove him for execution. The unhappy cacique
denied the accusations and begged for his life. Balboa apparently
overcome by his entreaties slowly relented, and finally ordered the
captive released. The overjoyed chieftain could not do enough for his
deliverer. He stripped his women of their ornaments, and, collecting
all articles within his reach fabricated of the coveted metal, presented
the Spaniards with thirty marks of gold, and his subjects soon brought
in sixty marks more. Enjoining Tubanamá to gather gold, and ever remain
true to the Spaniards, Balboa returned in triumph to Pocorosa's town,
with a long train of enslaved captives. About this time Vasco Nuñez
fell sick; and no wonder when we consider the strain on mind and body
during the past four months. First in every action, bearing exposure and
privation in common with the poorest soldier, with the responsibility
of the adventure resting wholly on him, he was a fit subject for fever.
But his indomitable spirit never forsook him, and causing himself to be
carried on a litter he still directed movements, as they resumed their
march.
Weary, ragged, but exultant, the party at length reached the village of
Comagre. Panciaco was overjoyed to see them. The old chief was dead,
and the young man filled his father's place. He could not do enough
for Vasco Nuñez, for whom his affection seemed to grow in proportion
as he was permitted to do him service. Panciaco had given the strangers
gold and slaves; he had entertained them royally, had told them of the
Southern Sea and the way to reach it, all his words proving true. Now he
was permitted to entertain and nurse the emaciated Spaniards, and this
he did with lavish generosity, watching Vasco Nuñez through his sickness
with the affection of a brother. He was permitted to give them more
gold, and did so. The Spaniards graciously received these benefits; and
in return for obligations too vast for requital, the generous cavalier,
the chivalrous discoverer of the great South Sea, gave his friend and
benefactor a linen shirt and some worthless trinkets. His parting words
were "Gather and send me more gold, Panciaco." The chief, however,
before the party left, had embraced Christianity and received baptism.
[Sidenote: ARRIVAL AT ANTIGUA.]
It was the 14th of January that the party left Comagre. A short and easy
march brought them to Poncra's village, where fortune wreathed in smiles
still attended the commander, now free from illness and loaded with
gold. Vasco Nuñez here was met by four Spaniards from Antigua who had
come to report the arrival of two vessels from Española with provisions
and reinforcements. Leaving the greater part of his company to follow
at their leisure, Balboa with twenty men pressed forward, and after a
hearty greeting from Careta at his village, embarked in the brigantine
which there awaited him, and arrived the 19th of January, 1514.
His entry into the settlement was a triumph. All the people came to
welcome him, and he was conducted to the public square midst loud
acclaims. And when he told them of his successes, of the wealth-bound
sea, and the treasures he had obtained, they were wild with exultation.
Beside gold, to the value of more than forty thousand pesos,[IX-17] the
Spaniards had brought eight hundred Indian slaves, and a large quantity
of pearls, cotton cloth, and Indian weapons. All the nations on the
route, both in going and in coming, had been subjugated without the loss
of a battle and without the loss of a man. Thus terminated one of the
grandest and most successful achievements of the Spaniards in the New
World.
* * * * *
The remainder of the company soon arrived, and the spoils were thereupon
distributed in equitable allotments, wherein also those participated
who had remained at home. Beside the royal share, two hundred of the
largest and most beautiful pearls were set apart by Vasco Nuñez and his
companions as a present for the king, and one of their number, Pedro
de Arbolancha, an intelligent man and trusty friend of the governor,
was chosen as envoy to proceed immediately to Spain and proclaim
this important discovery. By him Vasco Nuñez sent the sovereign a
letter detailing his brilliant achievement, and requesting the royal
appointment as governor of the region by him discovered, with the means
to prosecute further adventures on that coast. "And in all his long
letter," says Peter Martyr, "there is not a single leaf written which
does not contain thanks to Almighty God for delivery from perils, and
preservation from many imminent dangers." This letter was dated at
Antigua the 4th of March, and a few days after Arbolancha took his
departure.
[Sidenote: PROSPERITY OF THE COLONY.]
Meanwhile Balboa was unremitting in his efforts to advance the
prosperity of the growing colony. Having so long suffered the miseries
and inconvenience of a meagre supply of food, particular attention was
turned to agriculture. Indian corn was produced in great quantities,
and seeds of various kinds from Spain were planted, yielding fruit in
abundance. Society became more settled and factions were at rest; for
who could stand before Vasco Nuñez? Memories of home bloomed anew.
Old-time amusements were again enjoyed; national holidays were regarded,
and jousts and tournaments were held, if not with as rich display as
formerly, yet with heartiness and merrymaking. Two of the pacified
caciques became discontented and rebelled, but were soon quieted by a
few men under Diego Hurtado. Another captain, Andrés Garabito, was sent
to explore the country for the shortest and best route between the seas.
Peace everywhere reigned; and with a profusion of food and gold already
in store, with high anticipations regarding the future; with wealth, and
dominion, and honor, and brilliant hopes, and multitudes of heathen for
slaves, ought not these pirates to have been supremely happy?
CHAPTER X.
PEDRARIAS DÁVILA ASSUMES THE GOVERNMENT OF DARIEN.
1514-1515.
HOW THE DISCOVERY OF A SOUTHERN SEA WAS REGARDED IN
SPAIN—THE ENEMIES OF VASCO NUÑEZ AT COURT—PEDRARIAS DÁVILA
APPOINTED GOVERNOR—DEPARTURE FROM SPAIN AND ARRIVAL AT
ANTIGUA—ARBOLANCHA IN SPAIN—PEDRARIAS PERSECUTES BALBOA—THE
KING'S REQUIREMENT OF THE INDIANS—JUAN DE AYORA SENT TO
PLANT A LINE OF FORTRESSES BETWEEN THE TWO SEAS—WHICH WORK HE
LEAVES FOR WHOLESALE ROBBERY—BARTOLOMÉ HURTADO SENT TO BRING
IN THE PLUNDER—DISASTROUS ATTEMPTS TO VIOLATE THE SEPULCHRES
OF CENÚ—EXPEDITION OF TELLO DE GUZMAN TO THE SOUTH SEA—THE
SITE OF PANAMÁ DISCOVERED—THE GOLDEN TEMPLE OF DABAIBA ONCE
MORE—GASPAR DE MORALES AND FRANCISCO PIZARRO VISIT THE SOUTH
SEA.
In Spain the tidings of Balboa's discovery created little less sensation
than had that of Columbus twenty-two years before. The hypothesis still
obtaining that America was eastern Asia, to what new manifestations
was not this Southern Sea to lead? Coupled with the belief was the
concurrent testimony of all the native peoples, that along its shores
were wealth and industry, gold, pearls, and civilization, hope-inspiring
of replenished coffers to Ferdinand, and to zealous churchmen of
increase of souls. At last, said the wise men, the opulent kingdoms of
the eastern Indies which have so long eluded our grasp are opened to us.
Unfortunately for Vasco Nuñez, success came late; for prior to the
arrival of his messenger in Spain there had been laid a train of
events which threatened his ruin. Fanned to a yet redder reality by the
argumentative winds of the Atlantic, Enciso's wrath glowed hot as he
pictured to the king in only too truthful colors the quality of justice
administered in his name to his subjects of Antigua. And the bachiller
became really happy as he rolled the story of Nicuesa's wrongs, a
sweet morsel, under his tongue, to the utter demolition of his enemies.
Zamudio and Vasco Nuñez were condemned, as we have seen, and the king
determined to send out a new governor who should investigate and punish.
[Sidenote: A NEW GOVERNOR.]
Out of the many applying was chosen a gentleman of Arias in Segovia,
Pedro Arias de Ávila, called by Spanish contemporaries Pedrarias, and
by English historians Dávila. He was large of frame, pronounced in mind
and temper, and coarse-grained throughout, the grizzled hair surrounding
his dark features like the selfish and unholy nature that environed his
swarthy soul. Whence it would appear that he was elderly for so rude a
mission, which was true; but being an officer in good repute, well born
and highly connected,[X-1] and with no lack of fire and stubbornness
remaining, his age was not reckoned so much against him. The nicknames
El Galan and El Justador were significant of a gay and courtly youth, as
that of Furor Domini, given him by the monks of the New World, was of a
virulent old age. He was rich, at least his friends were, so that money
was at his command. Fonseca favored the appointment—a habit the bishop
had of looking kindly on those whose petitions were backed by gold. And
so Ferdinand made him governor and captain-general of Castilla del Oro,
which was now ordered to be called Castilla Aurífica.[X-2]
Several causes united to favor Pedrarias at this juncture. The arrival
at court of Caicedo and Colmenares, commissioned by the settlers
of Antigua to report the rumors concerning a sea to the south, and
solicit aid for an expedition in that direction, renewed speculation
and inspired enthusiasm.[X-3] The envoys were graciously received, and
presented by Bishop Fonseca to the king, who listened with attention
to their recitals. "They often sojourned with me," says old Peter
Martyr, "and their countenances declare the intemperateness of the
air of Darien; for they are yellow like those afflicted with the
jaundice," or as Oviedo expresses it, "as yellow as the gold they went
to seek," "and also swollen," continues the former, "the cause whereof
they ascribe to the hunger endured in times past." The air of mystery
enfolding the region, no less than the gold displayed by persons coming
thence, threw over the enterprise a charm which brought to the standard
of Pedrarias hundreds of eager applicants. Then there was the sudden
breaking-up of the Italian expedition under Gonsalo de Córdoba. The
French victory at Ravenna, which threatened King Ferdinand's Neapolitan
possessions, had roused the chivalry of Spain, and when the standard
of the Gran Capitan was raised at Seville, thither flocked youthful
cavaliers and veteran soldiers burning to enlist under the banner of
so great a leader in so glorious a cause. But the king, envious of
the popularity of his general, in a fit of jealousy countermanded the
expedition, thus filling the streets of Seville with purposeless men,
many of whom had sold or pawned their birthright for means to procure
an outfit, and who now preferred any adventure, however desperate,
rather than return in humiliation to their homes. Therefore they hailed
with rapture this New World enterprise where gold as well as glory
might be won. Moreover, the success of Portugal in India, with which
Spain's in the west compared unfavorably, and which had engendered both
fear and envy, oiled the wheels of government and unlocked the royal
strong-box, so that the ducats of Pedrarias were increased in number to
fifty thousand, "an enormous sum in those days," as Quintana observes,
"in the expenditure of which was manifest the interest and importance
attached to the enterprise."[X-4] Arms and ammunition were drawn from
the royal arsenal; and in place of the heavy iron armor which had proved
oppressive in tropical latitudes, were substituted wooden bucklers and
coats of quilted cotton, proof sufficient against the weapons of the
natives. The fleet numbered about nineteen sail, with accommodations
for twelve hundred men. These were soon enrolled, while as many more
offering themselves had of necessity to be refused. Subsequently, by
permission of the Council of the Indies, the number was increased to
fifteen hundred.[X-5]
[Sidenote: RETINUE OF PEDRARIAS.]
Pedrarias was accompanied by his wife, Isabel de Bobadilla, an estimable
lady, niece to the Marchioness de Moya.[X-6] The other members of his
family, consisting of four sons and four daughters, were left in Spain.
Among the officers were several nobles; and his followers consisted,
as was usual in these mad migrations, of persons of every caste, not
alone the young and naturally thoughtless, but, if we may credit Peter
Martyr, "no small number of covetous old men" were of the company.
They were mostly officials, cavaliers and ecclesiastics, however, for
governing, fighting, and preaching offered the chief attractions; and
very few artisans, agriculturists, or colonists of value in constructing
a permanent and prosperous commonwealth. Under the new government a
young man from the schools of Salamanca, called the Licenciado Gaspar de
Espinosa, was appointed alcalde mayor; Bachiller Enciso, alguacil mayor;
Alonso de la Puente, treasurer; Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdés,
the historian, veedor or inspector;[X-7] Diego Marquez, contador, and
Juan de Tabira, factor. The fighting men were, first, the governor's
lieutenant, Juan de Ayora, an hidalgo of Córdova, and brother of the
chronicler, Gonzalo de Ayora. Next, captains of hundreds, Luis Carrillo,
Francisco Dávila, Antonio Tello de Guzman, Diego de Bustamante, Gonzalo
de Badajoz, Diego Albites, Contreras, Gamarra, Villafañe, Atienza,
Meneses, Gonzalo Fernandez de Llago, Francisco Compañon, Francisco
Vazquez Coronado de Valdés, Juan de Zorita, Francisco Hernandez, Gaspar
de Morales, cousin of the governor, and a nephew of the governor,
likewise named Pedrarias, captain of artillery, and others. Several of
these names became notable, and we shall meet them hereafter. Chief
of the spiritual army, under the title of Bishop of Darien,[X-8] was
Juan de Quevedo, the first prelate to come to Tierra Firme; and with
him was a company of Franciscan friars. Bernal Diaz del Castillo, then
but little more than a youth, afterward the chronicler of the Mexican
conquest, came with the expedition, and also Pascual de Andagoya,
Hernando de Soto, discoverer of the Mississippi, Benalcázar, who
afterward conquered Quito, and Diego de Almagro, one of the pacificators
of Peru. It was, in truth, a brilliant company. Juan Serrano was chief
pilot, he who was subsequently killed with Magellan, the discoverer of
the strait that now bears that name.
[Sidenote: REGULATIONS FOR THE COLONY.]
Cemaco's village, still bearing the name of Santa María de la Antigua
del Darien, was by royal ordinance raised to the title and dignity
of a city, with metropolitan prerogatives, ecclesiastical as well as
civil. Lengthy instructions were provided the governor by the Council
of the Indies. He was charged to see that his people were properly clad,
comfortably but not extravagantly; to prohibit the sale or use of cards
and dice; to punish murder, theft, and blasphemy; to tolerate no lawyer
or any ecclesiastical or professional or unprofessional practitioner of
the law in the colony;[X-9] to take no important step without consulting
the bishop and other royal officials—an injudicious measure which broke
society into factions; to render justice quickly and in accordance with
the laws of Spain; to be a bright and shining light to the heathen in
all truth and fair honesty; and, last of all, by no means to forget the
king's share of the spoils taken in the exercise of said virtues.[X-10]
The new governor was furthermore charged to strip from Vasco Nuñez de
Balboa all semblance of authority, and to bring him to a strict account
for his misdeeds. The survivors of poor Nicuesa's followers were to be
treated with special leniency, even to the remitting of the king's fifth
on their accumulations. All this, it will be remembered, was before the
discovery of the South Sea became known in Spain; and that discovery
remained still unrevealed when, on the 11th of April, 1514, after an
ostentatious review in the plaza of Seville, the fleet sailed away in
grand glee from San Lúcar.[X-11] After touching at some of the islands
for the purpose of capturing Caribs for slaves, and also at Santa Marta
in order to ascertain the fate of eleven Spaniards said to have been
left there by Rodrigo de Colmenares, the armament reached Darien in
safety. Significant of the coming rule was an incident which occurred
during one of the landings. A servant of Pedrarias, named San Martin,
had failed in respect toward Ayora, the governor's lieutenant, while
ashore. Informed of it, Pedrarias ordered Ayora to return immediately
and hang the offender to the first tree, which was done.[X-12]
* * * * *
Scarcely had the vessels of Pedrarias disappeared from the shore of
Spain, when the tardy envoy of Vasco Nuñez arrived at court, and craved
audience of the king. Pedro de Arbolancha had unfortunately delayed his
departure from Darien for two months after the return of the South Sea
discoverers. On this point of time turned the destinies of Vasco Nuñez
and of the New World. Pedrarias would scarcely have been made governor;
Pizarro would probably never have become the conqueror of Peru, and
Vasco Nuñez might possibly have reached Mexico before Cortés.
Arbolancha was conducted into the royal presence. He displayed his
treasures and told his tale. The sovereign's heart was touched at the
soldier's recital. Those pearls! They would make the darkest deeds
resplendent in righteousness. And that new Southern Sea! Surely it
would wash away far deeper stains than any which sullied the hands of
its gallant discoverer. Oh! that this man had sooner come; for then
the many thousand ducats spent on old Pedrarias might not have been out
of their box. What this costly armament was sent out to do, a handful
of roving Spaniards had done, under the leadership of a condemned man,
against whom the royal wrath up to this moment had burned. And in this
achieving there had been neither much bloodshed nor any cost to Spain;
the current formulas for securing possession had been observed, and even
the king's fifth and the king's present were not forgotten. In such
performance there was manifest no mean mind; any further thought for
the punishment of so meritorious a cavalier could not be entertained;
and King Ferdinand resolved that Vasco Nuñez should not go unrewarded.
So rides success triumphant, even sagacious royalty bending its stiff
neck before it.[X-13]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: ARRIVAL OF PEDRARIAS.]
Meanwhile Pedrarias entered Urabá Gulf and anchored his fleet before
Antigua. Not knowing in what temper the redoubtable chieftain of the
town might receive a successor, Pedrarias despatched an officer to
acquaint the colonists with his presence, and with the nature of his
commission. Landing, the messenger asked of the first men he met for
their leader. He was pointed where some native workmen were thatching
a small cottage under the direction of a man clad in cotton jacket and
drawers and pack-thread shoes. Now silk and brocade was the covering
this petty officer had provided himself withal to flaunt it in Italy,
while this cotton-clad fellow looked more like a common laborer than the
governor of a Spanish colony. Nevertheless the officer knew his duty and
approached the man in cotton respectfully. "I come from Don Pedrarias
de Ávila," said he, "lately appointed governor of Darien."
It was sudden; like death, which, even when expected, seems abrupt.
How swiftly in his brain revolved probabilities and possibilities. With
self-possession and courteous dignity, however, he answered presently:
"Say to Don Pedrarias that he is welcome to Antigua."
Next day, which was the 30th of June, Pedrarias disembarked. The
landing, where he formed his brilliant retinue, preparatory to the
entry into the metropolis, was a league from the town. On one side
the governor held by the hand his wife, Doña Isabel, and on the
other, arrayed in episcopal robes, walked the bishop of Darien, while
dignitaries, officers, cavaliers, and adventurers followed in the line
of march. Near Antigua they were met by the sallow-faced colonists, who,
though ragged, were rich both in experience and in gold.
The two leaders met with great courtesy; Vasco Nuñez was reverent,
Pedrarias gracious. Then all went forward to the town, the friars
chanting their Te Deum laudamus for delivery from ocean perils. Vasco
Nuñez conducted Pedrarias and the officers to his own dwelling, while
the remainder of the company were distributed among the colonists. And
soon a New World repast was spread before the new-comers, consisting
wholly of native products, maize bread, esculent roots, fish, and fruit,
and to drink water.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: HYPOCRISY AND HATRED.]
And now begins a game played by malevolent craft on one side, and
honorable frankness on the other, which is unapproached by any of the
New World trickeries and treacheries. For whatever his faults, whatever
the pitfalls his tumultuous destiny had spread for him, Vasco Nuñez was
by nature single-hearted and chivalrous, whereas Pedrarias Dávila was
almost satanic in jealousy and cold hatred.
Seeking an early interview, the latter assumes an air of friendship,
praises Vasco Nuñez for his abilities, congratulates him on his
successes, and speaks of the high appreciation of the king. And as the
object of both is only the welfare of the colony, will he not kindly
write down what he has done and what he is just now intending to do?
Thrown from his guard by this semblance of sincerity, Vasco Nuñez
consents, and writes not only what will enable Pedrarias to profit by
his experience, but, as the governor hopes, to occasion his overthrow.
For the old man is not slow to perceive, on arriving at Antigua and
learning of the wonderful discovery, that he is now and must be in
reality second in these parts where so lately he was appointed first.
Dropping the mask, he institutes charges, and orders Vasco Nuñez to
stand trial for his life.
As alcalde mayor, the investigation must be brought before the
licentiate Espinosa, and he, in conformity with royal instructions, had
to be associated with the bishop Quevedo. Though inexperienced, Espinosa
is honest. As for the prelate—does not the accused pray devoutly, and
pay liberally? and does he not send the good bishop gifts of slaves,
and share with him several lucrative enterprises? Go to! He of the
cask is not so great a simpleton after all. He forces even Doña Isabel
to smile upon him. He is acquitted. The enraged Pedrarias then hurls
civil processes at him, until he is nearly ruined. Enciso meanwhile
manufactures fresh guilt relative to the affair of Nicuesa. It is of
no use; for the bishop fattens. Pedrarias now swears he will send the
fellow to Spain for trial. This does not suit Quevedo. "What madness,"
drawls the bishop, "to send a successful man to court. Know you not that
ere this all Europe is ringing his praises? Better keep him within your
grasp; become reconciled, then crush him under your protecting wing."
Never is more diabolical mercy solicited for a friend. The governor
perceives more than the prelate intends, and immediately arrays his
villainy in friendship's smiling garb.
* * * * *
Amid such profitless pastime, too often the chief occupation of rulers,
the so lately hilarious fifteen hundred were becoming hungry. The
provisions they had brought were exhausted. Looking at the five hundred
old settlers, the remnant of other fifteen hundred, the unseasoned
opened speculation as to their own similar contraction. And straightway
they began to die; twenty a day, until seven hundred were buried in
their brocades. Sending under a strong guard some provisions to a secret
spot, at a distance from the town, Pedrarias repaired thither and fed
himself.
* * * * *
Immediate occupation alone could save the survivors. Taking advantage
of Balboa's plans, Pedrarias determined to appropriate to himself the
benefits of his discovery. Luckily, on hearing of the late discovery,
the king had written to establish a line of posts from sea to sea,[X-14]
to make settlements, selecting therefor healthy sites, where was good
water; also to build a town on the shore of San Miguel Gulf, and three
or four caravels likewise, giving them in charge of skilful captains
for the prosecution of new discoveries in that direction. Accordingly,
at once to plant the line of posts and circumvent any efforts of
Vasco Nuñez in that direction, Juan de Ayora with four hundred men was
despatched across the mountains from Careta.
We have found Balboa's policy in his treatment of the natives severe
enough, but that which was now to be inaugurated makes his conduct seem
humane in comparison. Whatever harsh measures circumstances at times
seemed to him to render necessary, the fact remains that on his return
from the South Sea expedition he left the nations friendly.[X-15] In all
their bloody pacifyings, probably not one of the New World commanders so
nearly observed the wishes of their Catholic majesties as Vasco Nuñez.
[Sidenote: REQUIREMENT OF THE INDIANS.]
Among the rules respecting the natives was one directing how war should
be made, and what the savages must do in order to save themselves and
their lands. The formula drawn at an earlier date by a conclave of
Spanish jurists and divines, by which Nicuesa, Ojeda, and others were
to take possession of territories, was superseded by a Requirement of
the Indians furnished Pedrarias by his sovereign, a translation of which
I give in full below.[X-16] This requirement, which heralded to the
heathen the name of Christ and European civilization in terms ridiculous
and distasteful enough, was mild and logical in its intention as
compared with the horrors attending its execution. In the instructions
accompanying the _requerimiento_, Pedrarias had been charged never to
wage war unless the Indians were the aggressors, nor until they had been
summoned to obedience once, twice, three times. This the governor told
his lieutenant, but Pedrarias likewise told Ayora to send him food and
gold without delay. It was seldom difficult to excite savages to acts
of aggression, and as for reading to the natives the requerimiento, as
required by law, that might be done by the notary at his convenience,
but never so as to interfere with the advantages of a sudden surprise
or preliminary butchery. In a word, the requirement was no less void in
practice than absurd in theory.
[Sidenote: AYORA'S OUTRAGES.]
The first action of Ayora was evidence of this. Ever since the union
of Vasco Nuñez and Careta's daughter, equivalent with the natives to a
marriage, the most friendly relations had existed between the Spaniards
and Careta's people. Not only did the cacique present his respects
in person to Pedrarias, but many times he sent food to the famishing
colonists. It seems incredible that creatures in human form, to say
nothing of European or Christian men, should repay such kindness by
sudden, unprovoked attack, such as surprising peaceful villages by
night, firing the houses, and murdering some of the slumberers while
taking captive others, all being attended by wanton cruelty and pillage.
Yet such was the fate of Careta, Panciaco, and other friends and allies
of Vasco Nuñez. From the accident of conquest, captives for slaves had
become one of the objects of conquest.
[Illustration]
After this brilliant achievement at Careta, Ayora passed on to a small
port which he named Santa Cruz,[X-17] where he planted the initial
settlement of the line which was to extend from sea to sea. Leaving
there eighty men, he marched southward, robbing and murdering as he
went. "The caciques were tortured to make them disclose their gold,"
writes Oviedo. "Some they roasted, others they threw to the dogs, others
were hanged."[X-18]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: HURTADO SENT OUT.]
If not for the church, then for himself the good bishop of Darien
was interested in the spoils of God's enemies everywhere. In Ayora's
maraudings he had special interest; and no intelligence reaching Antigua
for some time concerning them, Quevedo suggested to Pedrarias that a
messenger be sent to ascertain his lieutenant's progress. Bartolomé
Hurtado, once the friend of Vasco Nuñez, but anxious now before the
new powers to wipe out that stain, was accordingly sent to bring in the
plunder.
On the way, to please Pedrarias, Hurtado sought to excel Ayora in
rapine; but that was impossible. In returning with the plunder, however,
he stopped at Careta's village and asked for men to carry burdens to
Antigua, and this was readily granted by the chief, anxious as he still
was for the friendship of the Spaniards. After honorably discharging
his trust with regard to Ayora and Pedrarias, in manner becoming a
Christian and a cavalier, he selected from Careta's men six of the
finest specimens and presented them as slaves to the governor; to the
worthy bishop he gave other six; and to Espinosa four. After thus going
the rounds among the high officials, the remainder were branded and
sold into slavery at public sale.[X-19] Hurtado was forgiven his former
humanity.
Entering the dominions of Tubanamá, Juan de Ayora planted there
another fortress which he left in charge of Meneses. But instead of
continuing his labors across the Isthmus, as ordered, he determined
to give himself wholly up to robbery, and escape the country before
his offences should be fully known. Following this plan he soon found
himself overloaded with booty; and, leaving his captains to overrun the
land at pleasure, he returned with his captives, gold, and provisions
to Antigua. The gold, he said, must remain untouched, for future
division. The provisions were deposited with the governor, and the
captives distributed among the royal officers, who had been sent hither
at the king's cost, to see among other things that the natives were
not enslaved. Yet Ayora was ill at ease. His dreams and meditations
were not pleasant; he knew that there must be a day of reckoning when
his atrocities became known. The villain determined to escape before
the return of the captains. Making ready with his men, he watched
his opportunity, and seizing one of the ships lying at the anchorage,
not unknown to the governor however, as many think, he escaped with
his booty. Peter Martyr, while acknowledging a long acquaintance with
Ayora, says that "in all the turmoyles and tragicall affayres of the
Ocean, nothing hath so muche displeased me, as the couetousnesse of
this man, who hath so disturbed the pacified minds of the Kinges."
And "if Juan de Ayora had been punished for his many injuries to the
peaceable caciques," wrote Vasco Nuñez subsequently to the king, "the
other captains would not have dared to commit like excesses."[X-20]
The chronicles continue in about the same strain. Shortly after Ayora,
Francisco Becerra came in from the hunt with gold to the value of
seven thousand pesos de oro, and with over one hundred captives, by the
judicious distribution of which official inquiry was not only quieted,
but Becerra obtained a new commission. He was sent with one hundred and
eighty men and three pieces of artillery to Cenú, to avenge the death
of forty-eight men lost by Francisco de Vallejo some time before. It
was here that Enciso once attempted to violate the native sepulchres
in search of golden ornaments. Becerra went with the determination to
spare neither age nor sex; but, on landing, the party was decoyed into
ambush and every man of them slain by the poisoned arrows of the enemy,
a native servant-boy of Becerra alone escaping to carry the news to
Antigua.
[Sidenote: DESTRUCTION OF SANTA CRUZ.]
Since the whole region was in arms the eighty men at Santa Cruz found
it every day more difficult to sustain life by stealing. Wherever
the savages could catch them they repaid their cruelties in kind,
cutting off the limbs with sharp stones, or pouring melted gold down
their throats, crying "Eat! Eat gold, Christians! take your fill of
gold!"[X-21]
Growing yet bolder, Pocorosa collected a large force and captured the
fort, five Spaniards only escaping to Antigua.[X-22] Thus within six
months after establishing Santa Cruz, not a vestige of the settlement
remained.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: TELLO DE GUZMAN AND ALBITES.]
Antonio Tello de Guzman was sent with one hundred men to continue the
work abandoned by Ayora. Departing from Antigua early in November, 1515,
he proceeded to the province of Tubanamá[X-23] and found the fortress,
in command of Captain Meneses, besieged by the savages, and the garrison
reduced to the last extremity. The place was abandoned, and Meneses
marched southward with Guzman into the provinces of Chepo and Chepauri.
There they were met by several caciques combined to oppose them; but
the savages were persuaded to think better of it. Chepo presented his
visitors with a large amount of gold and feasted them. While seated at
dinner a young cacique rushed in greatly excited and denounced the host
as a usurper, who had defrauded him of his inheritance. "Reinstate me,"
he urged, "and I will give you twice the gold Chepo has given." The
argument was irresistible. Chepo was hanged; seven of his principal men
were given to the dogs, and the adjudicators received gold to the value
of six thousand pesos. Then they went their way.
As they approached the seaboard they heard a place much spoken of which
the natives called Panamá. It must be that gold or pearls were there,
the Spaniards thought; for how otherwise could any place be famous? On
reaching it, however, they were disappointed to find only a collection
of fishermen's huts, the word _panamá_, in the aboriginal tongue,
signifying "a place where many fish are taken."[X-24] Resting here with
part of his company, Tello de Guzman despatched Diego de Albites with
eighty men to the rich province of Chagre, ten leagues distant; and
this captain plumes himself, and we permit him in God's name, that he
did not murder the sleepy savages when, roused at dead of night, they
gazed with stolid astonishment on their strange visitors, and promptly
paid twelve hundred pesos for the privilege to be left alive. Acquiring
so much so easily, Albites deemed it only proper to demand more, and
handing another large sack to the cacique, he told him to fill it with
gold. "I can fill your sack with stones from the brook," was the reply,
"but I cannot make gold, neither have I any more." Even for this the
good Albites did not cast him to the dogs, but took his departure for
Pacora,[X-25] where joined by Guzman the entire company returned to
Tubanamá.
[Illustration]
Thus far the expedition of Tello de Guzman had been prosperous, and
more important than he himself imagined, for his was the first visit
of Spaniards to the site of the afterwards renowned city of Panamá.
Hence to Antigua, however, the march was distressing. Elated by his
success at Santa Cruz, Pocorosa appeared at Tubanamá; with an increased
force. Hoisting as banners the bloody raiment of slain Christians, the
savages brandished their gory pennons on every hillside, crying, "Behold
the fate of the accursed, who leave their homes to mar the peace of
unoffending nations." All along down the mountain and over the burning
plain of Darien to the very threshold of Antigua, the Spaniards fought
a hidden foe, who never offered pitched battle, but so harassed them
that ofttimes they were on the point of throwing away their heavy plates
of gold, and lying down to die from thirst, hunger, and exhaustion.
Nevertheless they arrived at Antigua with many slaves and much treasure.
* * * * *
All this time Vasco Nuñez was left in the background; and while such
dastardly doings were in order it was as well for every honorable man
to remain unoccupied. It was hard, however, to remain idle; and in an
evil moment, at the earnest solicitations of the old comrades who had
no confidence in any other leader, he consented to take part in another
expedition to Dabaiba, in search of the gold and the golden temple
there. It was a desperate undertaking, as the former adventure had
proved, but the colony was an Ixion's wheel that kept the government
ever moving.
When two hundred men were ready, and the question of leadership arose,
Pedrarias named Luis Carrillo; but there were those who would not go
except under Vasco Nuñez. Then it occurred to the governor to divide the
leadership in such a way that if the expedition proved successful his
own captain should have the credit, and if a failure, the blame should
fall upon his enemy. And so it was arranged, to the infinite disgust of
Balboa, who plainly saw the governor's purpose, and would have declined
could he have done so without prejudice to his friends. Embarking in
June, 1515, and ascending the Atrato for some distance, the expedition
was suddenly surrounded by hostile canoes which darted simultaneously
from beneath the foliage overhanging either bank. The Spaniards were
taken at a disadvantage; for beside attacking them with wooden lances
the savages, who were more expert upon the water than the Spaniards,
dived under and overturned their canoes, to the destruction of one
half the expedition. Among the lost was Luis Carrillo. The one hundred
survivors found their way back to Antigua with no small difficulty.
[Sidenote: EXPEDITION UP THE ATRATO.]
One might think that this would be enough of the golden temple for the
present. But not so. These men were not Castilians if danger and defeat
acted otherwise than as stimulants to new adventure. Furthermore, like
the honors of the arena which are magnified by the difficulties of their
attainment, the mysterious dominion so stubbornly defended must hold
great treasure, and in the inflamed minds of the Spaniards the savage
pantheon of Dabaiba had risen into a lofty edifice glittering with gold
and gems, and situated in a region rich and beautiful beyond comparison.
And Juan de Tabira, the factor, was confident he could capture it, as
likewise was Juan de Birues the inspector. They would build three light
brigantines; and with these, and a small fleet of canoes, and, say one
hundred and sixty men, bid defiance to the demon host of Dabaiba. This
they did, Tabira commanding. The cost fell heavy on the factor, but the
king's chest helped him out, if Herrera speaks truly.
As hitherto, the invaders were attacked, but the savages were easily
beaten off. Not so the goddess of the golden temple, who sent such a
flood as uprooted trees, overturned the factor's vessel, and drowned
among others both Tabira and Birues. Francisco Pizarro being of the
party was asked to assume command and continue up the river, but he
declined, and further efforts in that direction were abandoned.[X-26]
[Sidenote: A VISIT TO THE PEARL ISLANDS.]
Rumors arriving from Spain of the recognition by the India Council of
the services and merits of Vasco Nuñez, Pedrarias hastened to move men
to the southern seaboard, lest he should see his enemy placed in power
there. For this mission were chosen the governor's cousin, Gaspar de
Morales, and Francisco Pizarro, to whom were given sixty men.[X-27] They
were told to cross the mountains by the shortest route, and, taking
possession of the Pearl Islands found and named by Vasco Nuñez, to
gather the fruit thereof. The object of the Europeans in attacking the
islanders was, of course, to extend the boundaries of their enlightened,
just, and humane civilization, and bring the benighted heathen to a
knowledge of the Christian religion. True, they might gather a little
gold, or pick up such pearls as fell in their way, for the laborer is
worthy of his hire.
On reaching the seashore, Morales quartered half of his men, under
Peñalosa, on a cacique named Tutibrá, and the remainder on the
neighboring chieftain, Tunaca. Chiapes and Tumaco, still loyal to the
Spaniards, joined them there. Every requisite, food, boats, and men,
was provided by the savages with alacrity, for they who should despoil
their ancient enemy were welcome.
One day, just before dark, Morales and Pizarro with thirty Spaniards
and a large company of natives embarked in a fleet of canoes, but
so boisterous was the sea that they were unable to reach the islands
before the next day. Landing on one of the smaller islands and meeting
but slight resistance, the invaders passed over to Isla Rica, as it
was called by Vasco Nuñez, the largest of the group, where dwelt the
terrible king, who made the caciques of the mainland tremble, and who
now, nothing daunted, came forward at the head of his warriors and
fought the strangers bravely. And notwithstanding Castilian gunpowder,
steel, and bloodhounds heaping in lifeless masses before his eyes his
best and bravest, the stubborn king fought on as if he knew not how
to yield. Finally Chiapes and Tumaco spoke to him, and showed how vain
resistance was, how valuable the friendship of the strangers. Believing
this, the island monarch submitted, and brought the Spaniards to the
spacious palace, as the old chroniclers called his house, and set before
them a basket of large and lustrous pearls to satisfy their avaricious
souls. In return the king was made passing rich by a present of a
few cheap hand-mirrors, some hawk-bells and hatchets, and exhibited
almost as foolish a delight over his trinkets as did the Europeans over
theirs. "Commend me to the friendship of these gods," cried the king,
as he sought his swarthy other self behind the mirror, and jingled the
hawk-bells, so much more beautiful than pearls, and tried the keen edge
of his hatchet on the skull of a slave standing by. Embracing Morales he
led him to a tower which crowned the dwelling, and commanded a view of
the isle-dotted ocean on every side. "Behold," he said, "the infinite
sea extending beyond the sunbeams; behold these islands on the right
hand and on the left. All are mine; all abound in pearls, whereof you
shall have as many as desired if you continue my friend." He also spoke
of the nations of the distant mainland whose mighty power was evidenced
by the ships which he had sometimes seen.
Morales readily promised eternal friendship, stipulating only that one
hundred marks of pearls should be annually paid the king of Castile,
and to this assented the king of Dites,[X-28] as the natives called
Isla Rica. In order, so far as possible, to render insignificant
the achievement of Vasco Nuñez, Morales had been instructed to take
possession of the South Sea for the king of Spain in the name of
Pedrarias. This was now done. The name of Isla de Flores was substituted
for that of Isla Rica, and the holy rite of baptism was administered to
the king, who received the name Pedro Arias.[X-29]
[Sidenote: MISFORTUNES OF MORALES.]
The good fortune of Morales now forsook him. On returning to the
mainland he found that the country was in arms, owing to the excesses of
Peñalosa, who was a relative of Isabel, wife of Pedrarias. The villain
had repaid the hospitality of Tutibrá by outrages on his women, and the
chieftains had in consequence confederated for the protection of their
homes. In revenge for this Morales spread fire and sword throughout that
region. On one occasion eighteen caciques, called to a friendly council,
were treacherously seized and given to the dogs; at another time seven
hundred savages are said to have been slain within an hour. But in
burning the village of a cacique named Birú,[X-30] on the eastern side
of the gulf, the Spaniards were repulsed, and in attempting to cross
the mountains to Darien they lost their way, and after considerable
wandering and suffering found themselves back at the starting-point.
Again they essayed the transit, a handful of men amidst infuriated
hosts. In retaliation for night attacks, and darts showered by day from
cliffs and thickets, the Europeans strewed their path with murdered and
mutilated captives to the number of one hundred, hoping to intimidate
the enemy, who was only the more maddened thereby. Thus, midst this
bloody disturbance, which in ferocity far exceeded anything of which
wild beasts are capable, this band of Spanish marauders escaping their
just deserts, managed with great tribulation to reach their settlement,
still clinging to the gold and pearls.[X-31]
To Gaspar de Morales Vasco Nuñez pays the same encomiums as to the other
captains of Pedrarias. "Be it known to your Majesty," he writes, "that
during this excursion was perpetrated the greatest cruelty ever heard
of in Arabian or Christian country, in any generation. And this it is.
This captain and the surviving Christians while on their journey took
nearly one hundred Indians of both sexes, mostly women and children,
fastened them with chains, and afterward ordered them to be decapitated
and scalped." But "being cousin and servant of the governor," adds
Oviedo, he suffers "neither pain nor punishment."
CHAPTER XI.
DARIEN EXPEDITIONS UNDER PEDRARIAS.
1515-1517.
GONZALO DE BADAJOZ VISITS THE SOUTH SEA—WHAT HE SEES
AT NOMBRE DE DIOS—HIS DEALINGS WITH TOTONAGUA—AND WITH
TATARACHERUBI—ARRIVES AT NATÁ—THE SPANIARDS GATHER MUCH
GOLD—THEY ENCOUNTER THE REDOUBTABLE PARIS—A DESPERATE
FIGHT—BADAJOZ LOSES HIS GOLD AND RETURNS TO DARIEN—PEDRARIAS
ON THE WAR-PATH—HE STRIKES CENÚ A BLOW OF REVENGE—ACLA
FOUNDED—THE GOVERNOR RETURNS ILL TO ANTIGUA—EXPEDITION
OF GASPAR DE ESPINOSA TO THE SOUTH SEA—THE LICENTIATE'S
ASS—ROBBERY BY LAW—ESPINOSA'S RELATION—A BLOODY-HANDED
PRIEST—ESPINOSA AT NATÁ—HE COURTS THE ACQUAINTANCE OF
PARIS—WHO KILLS THE AMBASSADORS—HURTADO SURVEYS THE
SOUTHERN SEABOARD TO NICOYA—PANAMÁ FOUNDED—AN ABORIGINAL
TARTARUS—RETURN OF ESPINOSA'S EXPEDITION.
While these expeditions were directed to the east side of Panamá Bay,
other captains were equally active on the west side.
Gonzalo de Badajoz embarked at Antigua for the South Sea in March, 1515,
with one hundred and thirty men.[XI-1] Landing at Nombre de Dios, where
no white man had touched since Nicuesa's departure, a dismal spectacle
was there presented. The dismantled fort stood surrounded by tenantless
dwellings, whose walls were once the silent witnesses of despair; while
crosses, heaps of stone, and dead men's scattered bones, seemed to tell
how restless were these adventurers even in their last resting. The
most impassive of all that callous company was struck by a momentary
shudder as he gazed on these ghastly portents of his own probable fate;
and they would have turned back on the spot had not their leader hurried
the ships away beyond their reach.
[Sidenote: ADVENTURES OF BADAJOZ.]
The versatile adventurer quickly recovers himself, however, and what is
more wonderful is the indifference with which sanguinary recitals often
repeated are soon received. The homely adage that familiarity breeds
contempt is nowhere more strikingly true than in our own intercourse
with danger, pain, and death. It is not altogether a Hibernicism to
say that men get used to these things, even to hanging. And when the
oft-repeated disasters are distant, and only the survivors with their
prizes are present, the terrible tale makes still less impression. That
colony after colony in the New World occupation should be swept away or
divided by death, and divided yet again, ten times, or twenty times cut
in twain; or that expedition after expedition should return to Antigua,
leaving half or two thirds of its number rotting on the heated plain,
or scattered in the mountains furnishing food for carrion-birds, and
yet new colonists continue to come out, and new expeditions continue
to be organized by those willing to take the same even chances of never
returning, shows an ignorance, or indifference, or both, to which fear
of consequences is as inaccessible as ever was the feeling of love to
Narcissus.
The mission of Badajoz was the usual one. He was to cross the Isthmus
at its narrowest part, take possession of the country, and gather in
its treasures. We all know what this implied. Were any but civilized
Christians so to do it would be called murder, robbery, treachery,
violation, and the rest.
Totonagua was the first victim on this occasion. His dominions were
of great extent and thickly peopled, the village where he resided
standing on the mountains opposite Nombre de Dios. Surprised by night
he surrendered gold to the value of six thousand pesos. Tataracherubi,
a wealthy cacique on the southern side, was similarly relieved of gold
to the value of eight thousand pesos. Seeing the Spaniards so deeply
in love with gold, Tataracherubi told them of a chief named Natá, some
distance to the south-west, very rich and with few fighting men. Thirty
men under Alonso Perez de la Rua were deemed ample for the adventure,
but after a night's march the Spaniards found themselves, as morning
broke, in the midst of a cluster of villages belonging to a numerous
and warlike people. Retreat was impossible, and not a moment was to
be lost. Rushing for the principal village they seized the leading
cacique, Natá,[XI-2] and were masters of the situation. For when the
savages pressed them hard in the fight that followed, and would have
slain them all, they threatened Natá with instant death if he did not
cause his men to lay down their arms. Natá obeyed. Presently Badajoz
joined Perez, and the chief was released to collect for his captors
gold in value to fifteen thousand castellanos. After remaining at Natá
two months the conquerors surprised the village of Escoria, ten leagues
to the southward, and secured gold[XI-3] to the value of nine thousand
pesos. Westward from Escoria lived Biruquete[XI-4] and a blind neighbor,
who were relieved of six thousand pesos worth of gold. In the vicinity
were the villages of Taracuri, Pananome, Tabor, and Chirú, where the
Spaniards obtained another considerable quantity of gold.
Gonzalo de Badajoz was gathering a rich harvest. Thus far his
accumulations reached eighty thousand castellanos, equivalent to
more than half a million of dollars at the present day. It was not a
disagreeable way of making money. It was quite honorable stealing in the
eyes of the plunderers themselves, although the stupid savages never
could wholly make out the right of it. In addition to gold there were
always plenty of women for slavery, and so the adventurers who for these
benefits had staked their lives were happy.
[Sidenote: THE CACIQUE PARIS.]
Elated by their successes, the conquerors continued the good work. Not
far from Chirú were the dominions of a cacique called by the Spaniards
Parizao Pariba, subsequently abbreviated into Paris.[XI-5] Advised
of their approach Paris fled to the mountains with all his people and
treasure. Badajoz sent a message threatening to put the dogs upon his
track unless he returned. Paris returned word that he was exceedingly
occupied and hoped the Spanish captain would excuse his coming. He
begged him, however, to accept an accompanying gift from his women,
and wished him a prosperous journey out of the country. The gift so
carelessly presented was carried by four principal men in baskets made
of the withes of palm-leaves and lined with deerskins. In dimensions
they were about one and a half by two feet, and three inches in depth.
The contents consisted of fabricated gold, breast-plates, bracelets and
ear-rings, valued, as the Spaniards affirmed, at forty or fifty thousand
castellanos.
[Illustration]
So much treasure so royally presented only excited their cupidity the
more. Thanking the savages, Badajoz retired with his men, but as soon
as Paris returned to the village, he surprised it at night and obtained
as much more gold as had already been sent. This greediness resulted
in their ruin. Paris sent out upon the road one of his principal men
who was instructed, when captured, to pass himself off as belonging
to an adjoining village, three leagues distant, and to say that it
was well stocked with gold. He was on his way to the river to fish,
but would show them his town. The strategy succeeded. Badajoz sent
a portion of the men under his guidance to bring in the treasure.
Meanwhile Paris had raised an army of four thousand warriors, and the
invaders being now divided, as had been designed, he fiercely attacked
and almost exterminated one part before the other could join it. The
Spaniards fought until seventy of their number were slain, whereupon
they abandoned the treasure, cut their way through the savages, and
fled to the territory of Chame.[XI-6] Thence they crossed to an island
occupied by Tabor, and afterward to Taboga Island, where they remained
for thirty days recruiting their strength for the desperate attempt to
reach Darien. This they finally accomplished, but Perez de la Rua lost
his life immediately on returning to the mainland. Since they failed to
bring home the gold of which their stories were full, we may each of us
believe them according to our faith.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: ATTACK ON CENÚ.]
The year 1515 was now drawing toward its close. It had been clouded with
more than one disaster, and Pedrarias was anything but pleased. Himself
a fighting man as well as civil officer, he determined to show his young
captains what an old man could do in the field; for whatever his general
character, and it was detestable enough, Pedrarias was not a coward.
His first blow was to be directed against the Cenú people, toward whom
he had not felt kindly since the slaughter of the two companies under
Vallejo and Becerra. What right had these savages to kill Spaniards? And
yet were his purpose known of entering within range of those poisoned
arrows he would have few followers to the wars. An expedition of three
hundred men was therefore organized ostensibly against Pocorosa, and
with this he coasted westward until after night-fall, when he ordered
the pilots to turn back and make for Cenú, whose tristful shore the next
morning saw them close approaching. Anchoring, Hurtado was sent with two
hundred men to fire the village and do what killing was convenient. He
managed to cut in pieces a few women and children as they escaped the
flames, and secure some captives for slaves, but the poisoned arrows
soon terminated the sport, and the expedition turned again toward the
province of Pocorosa.
The purpose of the governor was to found at least two posts of the line
ordained by the king, but which his captains had failed to establish.
Pedrarias resolved that the termini of the intended line on either ocean
should be at once selected and town-building begun. Coasting westward
in search of a site he came to a pleasant port, northward of Careta,
beyond which extended a dry and fertile plain with timber suitable
for ship-building, and from which led a now well-known route across
the Isthmus. The natives called the place Acla,[XI-7] that is to say,
'Bones of Men.' There the governor began to build a wooden fort with
such enthusiasm as not only to direct the laborers, but to assist them
with his hands, until excess of zeal brought on a fever which rendered
it necessary for him to be carried bedridden to Antigua. Gabriel de
Rojas was left in command of the unfinished enterprise, and Gaspar de
Espinosa with a stout force was permitted to try the fortunes of war on
that permanent object of the spoiler, Pocorosa.
[Sidenote: THE LICENTIATE'S ASS.]
It seems that the youthful magistrate on finding his official duties
spiritless without the mellow growl and inane wit of pettifogger or
pundit, had laid aside the long-robe and buckled on the sword, this
being in his opinion the more significant emblem in the arbitration of
Indian affairs. And as the highest wisdom is that which adapts learning
to the duties of the day, the licentiate would not be bound by the
mechanical restrictions which governed the illiterate cavaliers in their
encounters with the natives. There are some whom travel improves but
little, though like Haddad Ben Ahab, they should climb to the top of the
world's wall and look down the other side. Our juvenile judge was not
one of these. _Bonum est fugienda adspicere in alieno malo_, was his
motto. It is good to note in the misfortunes of others what we should
avoid, for so Publius Syrus has said. He would go to the wars as a
warrior, not plodding his way wearily over mountain and through morass,
like a common foot-soldier, but he would enter the domain of the enemy
mounted, and in a manner becoming a general and a judge. Athena went to
war mounted on a lion, Alexander on a horse, Espinosa on—an ass. History
gives the licentiate this honor, and as an honest man I cannot deny it
him; he was the first to cross the Isthmus on an ass. Some horses had
of late been brought to Antigua, which were employed to a very limited
extent in the wars of Tierra Firme and also on the present occasion; but
the alcalde mayor preferred to bestride an ass; it was a more judicial
beast, not say surer-footed or more safe. Moreover, it was staid, and
not liable to rush recklessly into battle. There was another advance.
Several pieces of artillery were dragged across the Isthmus in this
expedition.
When the savages first beheld the conquering hero borne triumphantly
through crowds of admiring spectators, they fell back dumbfounded. They
knew the force of Spanish steel; bloodhounds they knew, and arquebuses
vomiting fire and hurling thunderbolts. But what was this? Its eyes were
not fiery, nor its nostrils distended, nor its teeth flesh-tearing.
Its countenance betokened mildness, and mind-absence, such as attend
benevolent contemplation; there was in it nothing of that refined lust
or voracious piety which characterized the faces of the Spaniards. And
surely Apollo was in error when he gave Midas such ears because he could
not appreciate music. For listen to its notes. Ah, that voice! When Sir
Balaam lifted up his voice the savages fled in terror. Tremblingly they
returned and enquired for what the creature was asking. The Spaniards
replied that he was asking for gold; and during the campaign his musical
beast brought the licentiate more gold than did ever Leoncico earn for
Vasco Nuñez. And throughout that region the learned licentiate became
known to the natives by the noble animal that he bestrode, so much so
that those who entered the Spaniard's camp to see the general used to
announce their object by braying like an ass, an appeal to which the
chief officer ever obligingly responded.
* * * * *
As alcalde mayor it was the duty of Espinosa at all times and in all
places to administer the law. For so God and the king had commanded;
so he had sworn to do. Now it was often somewhat inconvenient to rob
and murder at pleasure, even under the liberal provisions of the king's
Requirement, according to the governor's ideas of business. Therefore
it was deemed wise and prudent to issue an edict from the imperial city
of Antigua declaring all Americans in arms against the Europeans to be
outlaws, doomed to slavery, mutilation, or death. Those who had taken
part in the destruction of Santa Cruz should be burned; and it was quite
remarkable in so young a jurist how quickly he determined, no matter
how distant the evidence, whenever the destruction of a people, while
promoting the sovereignty of law, would at the same time yield profit
to the lawgiver.
The judge had not proceeded far upon his new circuit before he met
Badajoz, who was returning dejectedly to Antigua, suffering from the
effects of excessive cupidity. Informed of the immense treasure Badajoz
had failed to bring back, Espinosa wrote Pedrarias for more men that
he might go and gather it. Badajoz claimed the command as a right; but
Pedrarias said, "Not so; Espinosa is alcalde mayor; furthermore, Captain
Badajoz brings back neither slaves nor gold wherewith to purchase
favor." With this the licentiate received one hundred and thirty
additional men under Gerónimo Valenzuela. So great was becoming the
abhorrence of the colonists for these hazardous and unholy adventures
that this captain, in conformity to his instructions, scuttled his ship
on reaching Acla, in order to deprive the men of the means for returning
to Antigua.
* * * * *
Cæsar's Commentaries on the Gallic wars are not more minute in detail
than the narration[XI-8] of incidents during this expedition as given
by Espinosa to the governor. The licentiate was exceedingly careful
in every instance, first of all to propitiate the law by observing its
smallest letter, such as reading and expounding the king's Requirement,
and never to rob or kill the natives except in the name of the king of
Spain, and the rights of man. His judicial conscience thus quieted, he
went to work with a will.
[Sidenote: DEPOPULATION OF THE PROVINCES.]
The provinces of Pocorosa and Comagre were at this time almost
depopulated, and the licentiate could with difficulty obtain food for
the men or exercise for his arms. On the approach of the Spaniards,
the poor remnants of these once happy nations fled affrighted to
their hiding-places. This the learned licentiate ruled _ipso jure_ a
declaration of hostilities; in a word, if the law could not be twisted
to fit the occasion, the chief guardian of the law, himself turned
law-breaker and spoiler, was as ready to throw overboard the law as
was the most lawless cavalier. Whole nations, I say, were declared
outlaws by the honorable chief judge, because they would not come
forward and embrace slavery of their own free will. If any fugitives
were particularly hard to catch, that was proof of participation in the
Santa Cruz affair, and they were burned according to law.
The caprice of the law, however, does not exhibit the pretensions
of civilization and Christianity in these parts in their grossest
absurdity. In the outrageous raids under Pedrarias, the most revolting
crimes were committed in the name of religion. The itching palm of
Quevedo, the bishop, has been more than once referred to; and now we see
his dean actually enter the field of inhumanity in person against the
unhappy natives. The licentiate writes: "We proceeded on our way about
one league and a half to Poquina's land, where the Indians set fire to
their huts and ran away. I sent the dean with one squad, and Ojeda with
another, and they brought back some Indians, the number whereof will
appear in the distribution. I gave Chiarna some of these Indians, and
that overpaid him for the provisions he had furnished us." Unfortunately
this is not the only instance we are doomed to encounter in this
history, of a priest disgracing the faith by placing himself beside
bloodhounds and bloody-minded men, and joining a hunt, in Christ's name,
to bring innocent men and women and children to slavery and death.
After sending to Santa Cruz in the hope of finding provisions from
Antigua, "we went to the province of Tamame," continues Espinosa,
"whence I sent all the captains to explore the Rio Grande,[XI-9] on both
banks, as I had been informed that Pocorosa's people were there hiding.
Some Indians were caught, as will appear in the distribution, five
of whom were burnt to ashes, on confessing their participation in the
murders of Santa Cruz." Indeed, "I used to send men after the Indians,
and justice was done upon all those who had participated in the Santa
Cruz outrage, either by hanging or burning, and two were shot off from
the cannon's mouth the more to frighten them."
[Sidenote: ESPINOSA ON THE PACIFIC.]
Crossing the Cordillera by way of Tubanamá and Chepo to Panamá, where he
hoped to obtain food, but found only some huts and one woman, Espinosa
passed on to Chirú, sending out his captains in every direction for
plunder. At Chame the Spaniards found only four Indians; and as the
chief had furnished corn to Badajoz, they did not molest him. The
cacique of Chirú was captured with his women and gold, by Hurtado, but
appearing peaceable he was liberated, and made the custodian of some
slaves, and ornaments for the mass, for a church was to be organized on
the shores of Pacific. Chirú sent Espinosa iguanas to eat, and _chicha_,
fish, deer, and salt, and was given some hammocks in return.
After this the Spaniards charged on Natá one night, securing one hundred
captives, and gold to the value of fifteen hundred castellanos. The
cacique escaped, and rallying his warriors prepared to attack the
Spaniards; but when the natives saw the horses they fled in terror,
fearing that they would be torn in pieces by them. As it was, the
horsemen pursued the fugitives and hewed them down in great numbers.
Espinosa marvelled at the multitudes of people he here encountered, and
at the number of their villages. He found also an abundance of maize,
fish, and deer, and there were geese and turkeys. Four months' supply of
corn was at once secured for the army; and for better protection during
the sojourn palisades were erected.
One morning while the licentiate was reposing in his lodge, Natá with
one attendant rushed unceremoniously into his presence, desperation
depicted in their countenances, and with empty quivers in their hands.
"You are too strong for me," cried the chief. "You have taken my
warriors, my wives, my children; do with me as you please." Espinosa
received him kindly, returned him his wives and children, and told
him to bring his people from their hiding-places and fear nothing. The
gold which had been taken from Badajoz was then demanded of him, but
Natá denied having any of it, saying that Paris had kept it all. Being
well established here the Spaniards proceeded against the neighboring
provinces. The people fled, but were compelled by hunger to return.
Among the captives taken some were employed in planting, and if any
became unruly they were hanged. Others assisted in building a little
chapel, for the zealous dean had now sheathed his bloody sword to preach
through an interpreter the glad tidings of good-will to man, and many
were baptized.
Meanwhile a deputation composed of the natives of Natá was sent to the
cacique Paris, demanding his allegiance to the king of Spain, and the
restoration of the gold taken from Badajoz. Paris replied by hanging
all the ambassadors, save two, by whom he sent back word that every
Christian caught within his territories would be treated in like manner.
The licentiate prepared immediately to march against the redoubtable
chieftain.
On the 29th of July, 1516, every member of the army was confessed by
the priest. Vows were made to Our Lady of Antigua, "and in the name
of God," says the licentiate, "we began our journey." Hurtado had been
sent with fifty men to Escoria, and the ruler of that province together
with Chirú and Natá was forced to accompany the expedition against
Paris.[XI-10] The inhabitants melted before the invaders, and it was
with difficulty that men could be captured for guides. The Spaniards
had not advanced far before they learned that a council had been held
by the chiefs confederated for self-protection, to determine whether
the gold taken from Badajoz should be returned. Some were in favor of
restoring it; but others objected that, this being given up, as much
more would be demanded, and since fight they must in either case, it
was agreed to do so before surrendering the treasure. It so happened
that Diego Albites with eighty men was marching in advance, and coming
to a rivulet he espied some Indians hidden under the bank and undertook
to capture them. Instantly the country was alive with savages; Albites
found himself surrounded by four thousand of the enemy, wholly cut off
from the main body. The Spaniards fought desperately for six hours,
and would have been destroyed had not Espinosa appeared and let loose
upon the assailants the bloodhounds and the horsemen. Twenty caciques
and a host of warriors were slain, and many of the Spaniards were badly
wounded. "That night we slept upon the battle-field," says Espinosa,
"and next day I threw up a protection of palisades and sent out in
search of the cacique Paris." The cunning chief had burned his village
and fled, thus leaving the invaders neither gold nor provisions.
Albites went out to forage, with instructions to fire a cannon in case
of danger. Nine times that night the licentiate heard the report of a
gun, and was not a little alarmed for the safety of the captain. Great
was his joy, therefore, when early in the morning Valenzuela appeared
with reinforcement of one hundred men from Antigua and informed the
licentiate that it was he who had fired the guns while in search of the
commander's camp.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: VALENZUELA JOINS ESPINOSA.]
Espinosa having now three hundred men felt himself strong enough to
prosecute discovery according to the full tenor of his instructions,
which were to explore the coast westward as far as practicable. As a
first step he sent a detachment of eighty men under Valenzuela into the
province of Guararí, near the seashore, in search of trees for canoes.
Meanwhile the treasure lost by Badajoz must if possible be found before
abandoning these parts. Companies were sent out in various directions
under Albites, Hurtado, and Pedro de Gamez, between whom arose no small
rivalry for securing the honor of the capture. Their purpose was to
seize the caciques and wring from them the secret by torture. At length
Gamez came upon the scent, and followed it into the province of Quema.
He was even so fortunate as to capture the chief, but for want of an
interpreter nothing definite could be learned. He nevertheless reported
favorably to Espinosa, who ordered Albites and Hurtado to go to his
assistance. Under the gentle persuasion of the rack Quema disclosed
the place where part of the gold, some thirty thousand castellanos,
was hidden, but denied any knowledge of the remainder. With this gold
and other plunder, the three captains rejoined their commander, who had
passed on to Guararí.
Two canoes being completed, each capable of carrying seventy men, and
three smaller ones having been brought by Pablo Mejía from Chirú, they
were placed in charge of Bartolomé Hurtado, who with eighty or ninety
men coasted south and westward, while Espinosa with the remainder of
the company followed by land. The rain fell in torrents, and the worthy
licentiate was soon tired of wading through the thick mud; and so, after
four days' march to a small port called Huera,[XI-11] in the province
of Vera, a council was held which arranged that Hurtado should continue
the survey with one hundred men, in boats, while the land party should
return to Quema and search for the remainder of the Badajoz treasure.
[Illustration]
The first province at which Hurtado landed was called Guanata, whence
the inhabitants had fled, and where by reason of continuous rains
the Spaniards rested seven days. Securing guides they then passed on
to an island, called by the natives Caubaco, or Cebaco,[XI-12] three
days distant. Hurtado was acquiring experience, and found it better to
treat these wild people gently. This policy succeeded, and, although
his landing was at first opposed, he and the islanders soon became the
best of friends. Their ruler was absent on the mainland, fighting; and
when he returned his subjects introduced the strangers with such warmth
that he at once extended his good-will, giving Hurtado a golden armor
valued at one thousand castellanos. Indeed, he proved most affable
and accommodating, willing to acknowledge the king of Spain, accept
Christianity, or anything they desired; so much so that the Spaniards
called him Cacique Amigo. An expedition was organized against the
inhabitants of a neighboring island, named by the Spaniards Isla de
Varones, in which they were joined by Pequeari, brother of Cebaco,
with nine canoes. These islanders were found entrenched in a log
fortress, surrounded by a ditch, and so difficult to carry that the
assailants were repeatedly thrown back and must have failed but for
their artillery. Seven leagues to the westward was an island called
Cabo,[XI-13] where the Spaniards found a little gold. Thence they kept
along the mainland, but the inhabitants were so fierce they dared not
land. Some boatmen told them, however, that through the lands of the
adjoining provinces, Torra and Tabraba, the distance to the North Sea
was but three days' journey. And here they met with rumors of a rich and
powerful nation to the westward, with double faces and rounded feet—an
allusion probably to the table-land civilization. There are people with
the former characteristic even to-day, and among our superior European
culture.
[Sidenote: SOUTH SEA EXPLORATIONS.]
Hurtado explored the coast as far as the gulf of Nicoya,[XI-14]
about one hundred and forty leagues from Natá. In the vicinity of
the Golfo Dulce,[XI-15] the people were called Chiuchires. The beauty
and fruitfulness of the country proved a constant temptation to the
Spaniards to land and dispute possession with the owners, who appeared
along the shore with drum and trumpet to frighten the visitation. But
such was not Hurtado's purpose, nor his ability; from Nicoya he returned
to join Espinosa.
* * * * *
After due deliberation it was determined at Antigua that the fishing
station of Panamá[XI-16] should be the site of the chief city, the
terminal post of the transcontinental line on the shore of the South
Sea. And after the return of Hurtado, which was early in 1517, Espinosa
proceeded, under present instructions from Pedrarias, to place an
establishment there. Its first commander was Hernan Ponce, who had just
returned with Hurtado from the Nicoya expedition.[XI-17]
[Sidenote: GOLD HUNTING.]
During the absence of Hurtado, Espinosa had proceeded to Quema in his
search for Paris, and the gold that Badajoz had lost, but he was soon
obliged to leave that province on account of the scarcity of provisions.
Two days' journey inland brought the Spaniards to a village governed by
a cacique called Chiracona, who was accused of having been instrumental
in the defeat of Badajoz, and who now held in his possession two of the
baskets of gold. Into this province, famous for the bravery of its men
and the beauty of its women, and also as being haunted by _tuyraes_, or
devils, Diego de Albites was sent forward with sixty men, the remainder
of the company following at a slower march while feeding on reed roots.
"By God's will," says the pious licentiate, "the cacique was captured
with his women and children." Chiracona at first denied the impeachment,
but when tortured he promised to produce the gold.
The poor fellow really knew nothing of the treasure, but he saw that it
was necessary for him to confess something if he would live. And under
the pressure his wits quickened. According to tradition the rendezvous
of devils was a mountain fastness, ten leagues distant, into which
Tartarean retreat no man had ever ventured. "If," thought the sadly
battered Chiracona, "these infernal Christians can be enticed thither,
there will be a happy end of them." But when he told them of the beauty
and fertility of the place, and of the vast stores of wealth the ages
had garnered there, a woman of Escoria, whom the chaste licentiate
regarded with tender favor, besought her master not to enter that
dangerous recess, for she had heard say that Chiracona sought only the
destruction of the Spaniards, confident that the earth would open to
swallow them. But the licentiate replied, "Have no misgivings, amiga
mia; Christians fear not devils; devils fear Christians, and fly before
them." And so Pedro de Gamez was sent with seventy men to the abode of
the devils. The night following there was a terrible earthquake: both
heathen and Christian believed his hour had come; and as Chiracona rode
in his house the oscillating earth, as in a canoe he rode the billowy
ocean, he smiled to think how well his plan was working.
Next day Gamez returned without the gold; whereat both white men and red
were disappointed, the former because the treasure was not forthcoming,
the latter because the Spanish had returned unharmed, since this would
beside require Chiracona to invent some new pastime for their greedy
avarice. The Spaniards remained at this place two months, living on
supplies forced from Chiracona, and urging upon him Christianity,
allegiance to Spain, and the delivery of the gold. Finding him obdurate
on all these points, they gave him to the dogs and went their way. Paris
being heard of at Quema, Diego de Albites was sent thither, but was
unsuccessful in the primary object of his mission. The 2d of January,
1517, all passed into Escoria, whence Albites was despatched on a three
days' journey to the northward to capture a cacique named Tabraba.
He was successful, and secured gold to the value of four thousand
castellanos.
[Sidenote: RETURN OF ESPINOSA TO ANTIGUA.]
Espinosa now made ready for returning to the North Sea. It filled him
with indignation to witness the ingratitude of the few caciques whose
lives he had spared. Natá apostatized, burned the Spaniards' palisades,
destroyed their growing grain, and joined a hostile confederacy.
The people of Chirú and elsewhere retired, thus adding insult to the
failure to supply articles for plunder. While passing through Tubanamá,
Espinosa overthrew a chief named Chamna, who had been hostile to Vasco
Nuñez. In Comagre he found Serrano, sent again to scourge that almost
desolate province. Half famished the Spaniards arrived at Acla, and were
overjoyed to find Vasco Nuñez, who gave them food and provided them a
vessel in which to return to Antigua.
The alcalde mayor's were the mightiest stealings of them all. Herrera
estimates the returns of gold at eighty thousand pesos, and two thousand
captives for slaves. After giving the king his fifth, and the governor
and officials each a liberal share, there was enough distributed among
the soldiers to make each esteem himself rich. Then followed days and
nights of glorious debauch, in which, beside women and wine, gambling
was conspicuous. A second distribution of capital was speedily effected
under the auspices of the goddess unfathomable. It was paltry to
bet less than a peso on any game, while a slave was a common wager.
The governor, his council, and the soldiers took jovial parts in the
exercise, and it is said that Pedrarias at one sitting played away a
hundred slaves. It was of great avail, indeed, with such servants and
subjects, for the king to forbid playing-cards to be sent to the New
World, and for the Council of the Indies to restrict a twenty-four
hours' loss at play to ten castellanos.
CHAPTER XII.
THE FATE OF VASCO NUÑEZ DE BALBOA.
1516-1517.
AFFAIRS AT ANTIGUA—DIFFERENT QUALITIES OF
PACIFICATION—COMPLAINTS OF VASCO NUÑEZ TO THE KING—A
NEW EXPEDITION PLANNED—VASCO NUÑEZ MADE ADELANTADO AND
CAPTAIN-GENERAL OF THE SOUTH SEA—PEDRARIAS KEEPS SECRET THE
APPOINTMENT—RECONCILIATION OF BALBOA AND PEDRARIAS—BETROTHAL
OF DOÑA MARÍA—VASCO NUÑEZ GOES TO ACLA—MASSACRE OF OLANO—THE
MUNICIPALITY OF ACLA ESTABLISHED—MATERIALS FOR SHIPS
CARRIED ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS—DIFFICULTIES, PERILS, AND
MORTALITY—BALBOA AT THE PEARL ISLANDS—PREDICTION OF MICER
CODRO, THE ASTROLOGER—RUMORED ARRIVAL OF A NEW GOVERNOR AT
ANTIGUA—MEDITATED EVASION OF NEW AUTHORITY—THE INFAMY OF
GARABITO—VASCO NUÑEZ SUMMONED BY PEDRARIAS TO ACLA—HIS JOURNEY
THITHER—TRIAL AND EXECUTION.
During Espinosa's absence in the south, affairs at Antigua were
exceptionally dull. The illness of the governor, unfortunately, was
not fatal. Business had approached its end, for the fighting men
were away, and the thrifty arts offered few attractions to piratical
adventurers. So low was the colony at one time reduced that the Casa
de la Fundicion, or melting-house, was closed and public fasts were
appointed—a homœopathic policy, in truth, for a starving community. But
for the feud between Pedrarias and Vasco Nuñez, which in that infamous
environment was easily kept alive, little would have occurred worthy of
record.
[Sidenote: QUARRELS WITH THE GOVERNOR.]
It should be no fault of the governor if the cavalier was not ruined.
His choicest schemes were marred by incompetent and evil-minded men.
He was vilified at court, and in the colony every indignity possible
was laid upon him. The observant reader must already have drawn a
contrast in the respective quality of enterprise pursued by these men.
Whatever may have been the immediate results, whatever the wrongs and
cruelties inflicted by either, in the one case there was the lofty aim
of discovery and peaceful occupation; in the other, no higher object
than plunder was apparent. Balboa had not time for much gold-gathering;
the captains of Pedrarias had time for nothing else.
Excepting the raid of the alcalde mayor, the expeditions planned by
Pedrarias were not remarkable for their success. Nor did Balboa scruple
to rail at the old governor in consequence. "All the enterprises of
Pedrarias met with such ill success," says Benzoni, "that Balboa laughed
at him and mocked him, whereat the governor became irate, and serious
contentions resulted."
* * * * *
Balboa was now in the prime of manhood, approaching forty, and had
during the past few years developed from a careless rambler into
a thoughtful ruler, with a New World fame second only to its first
discoverer. "Behold," says Peter Martyr, "this rash royster turned
into a politic captain, a violent Goliah transformed to Heliseus,
and from Anteus to Hercules the conqueror of monsters." And of all
monsters he might encounter by sea or land, old man Pedrarias was the
most monstrous. It was exasperating beyond endurance to an ardent and
chivalrous nature like Balboa's, thus to have his glories reaped and his
energies placed in circumscription by a superlatively selfish person of
far inferior natural abilities, made by mistake his political superior.
And he never ceased to strike back with all the force at his command.
By every departure he appealed to the royal authorities in Spain, laying
before them vivid accounts of outrages on the natives, perversion of the
laws, and gross mismanagement of the colony. "Most powerful sovereign,"
he wrote the king, "I, a true and law-abiding servant, sensible of
the many obligations I am under to do loyal service for benefits
bestowed—and may your Majesty live long to grant me more—humbly desire
to undeceive your Majesty regarding the governor, Pedrarias Dávila, that
your Majesty may order such provisions as may be deemed best." He urged
Oviedo, when about to depart for Spain, to place before the Council of
the Indies the true condition of things. And again he writes, "I beseech
your Majesty not to regard me as a calumniator, or as stating aught
in malice, but that you will order an investigation, that you may know
all I have said is true." He still entertained hopes that the report of
Arbolancha, accompanied by the presents, would be graciously received,
and that his successes would atone for past irregularities.
* * * * *
While awaiting the results of these endeavors, he determined to make an
expedition to the South Sea, without permission or aid from Pedrarias,
and to extend his discoveries there in either direction. In pursuance
of this purpose, and with the coöperation of the small remnant of
those who had sworn fealty on the heights of Quarequá, he secretly
despatched to Cuba for men and arms, a small vessel in charge of Andrés
Garabito. Having thus set in motion the wheels of his fate, he awaited
developments.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: ADELANTADO AND CAPTAIN-GENERAL.]
We have seen how King Ferdinand received Arbolancha, how the royal heart
was touched by the discoveries and pearls of the generous cavalier. And
we must confess the monarch's dilemma. The establishing of Pedrarias'
government had cost him much money, and the very qualities which
achieved desperate adventure tended to loosen the bonds of allegiance.
But Vasco Nuñez had manifested no disposition to throw off royal
authority; furthermore, it had become a principle of colonial economics,
that the services of successful commanders should be paid for out of
their future gains. How then could any sovereign expect the extension
of his dominions, if successful adventure was defrauded of its right?
It was therefore determined that the reward of Vasco Nuñez should be
the title of adelantado of the Southern Sea, and captain-general of
the provinces of Coiba and Panamá, but subject to the supervision of
Pedrarias as superior officer.
The royal despatches conferring this appointment reached Antigua early
in 1515, prior to the departure of Espinosa. Pedrarias, of course,
was at the same time informed of the fact. His mortification was only
exceeded by his dastardly resolve. Take from Castilla del Oro its
southern seaboard and the government was not worth the having, even
though the jurisdiction of Antigua did extend nominally over the whole.
The north coast was already stripped, and the climate was such as no
European could long endure; while in the south wealth and dominion
awaited romantic adventure. All despatches arriving at Antigua had
to pass through the governor's hands. Those for Vasco Nuñez on this
occasion were withheld.
Pedrarias well knew that some excuse would be necessary for his conduct;
and he began to look about for one. It was unlawful in the provinces
for any governor or captain-general to exercise the functions of office
while undergoing his residencia. New charges against the former governor
of the colony must therefore be invented, and litigious persecution
renewed. By collusion with the judge this investigation, as the law then
required, could be continued indefinitely. Still better, the alcalde
mayor, who was the person most proper in this instance to take the
residencia, might be allured from his friendship for the discoverer by
the offer of a military command after proceedings had been instituted,
for it was well known that the licentiate's vanity was not less than
his cupidity.
Believing himself prepared, the governor summoned his council, revealed
the secret, and urged that the commission should be withheld. All agreed
save Bishop Quevedo, who had real friendship for Vasco Nuñez, and who
saw more honor for Spain and for the Church in the elevation of the
free-handed cavalier, than in the military raid of the alcalde mayor.
And so seeing, he grew zealously virtuous, and began to storm about it.
Outnumbered in the council, he mounted his pulpit and hurled invectives
at his opponents. "Can it be," he cried, "that the execrable passions
of envious and designing men may thus subvert the royal design, and
withhold the just reward of eminent service?" Furthermore, he threatened
to spread the bare facts before the authorities in Spain.
Pedrarias quailed. He had not anticipated the violent opposition of
the prelate, and he feared the rising strength of his adversary, now
that the royal favor and a royal commission were known to have been
granted him. Vasco Nuñez might have his office, but the old man swore
it should be the death of him. For he would lay around him such snares
and pitfalls as would surely prove his destruction in the end. Pedrarias
would be the power; and play upon this braggart as he would upon a pipe
for devils to dance by.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: QUEVEDO AS MEDIATOR.]
The public acknowledgment of dignities, attended by the congratulations
of friends and the discussion of southern projects in which alone
interest now centred, raised in popularity and importance the new
governor, to the overshadowing of the old one. But once more the
destiny of Vasco Nuñez is to turn on the bad advice of a friend. Thrown
upon himself, his own sound judgment had ever been sufficient, but
the counsels of piety or erudition were as quicksand under his feet.
Quevedo induced him, for the sake of peace and in order to enter without
delay upon his South Sea schemes, to waive in favor of Pedrarias some
portion of the rights the king had granted him. Espinosa and others were
accordingly permitted to overrun the southern provinces at pleasure.
This was a mistake.
Thus reconciled, in appearance at least, Pedrarias himself would fain
have had rest, if it had been permitted by his evil nature, which still
demanded its daily bitter pabulum.
Scarcely were these pacific fictions consummated when the vessel
of Andrés Garabito returned from Cuba with men and supplies for the
projected expedition of Vasco Nuñez. Arriving off the coast of Darien
Garabito despatched a messenger to Balboa, informing him of his
return, and asking orders. It soon reached the ears of Pedrarias that
a suspicious-looking craft, armed and equipped as if on some illicit
mission, lay hidden in a small bay some six leagues distant. He was
furthermore informed that the captain of this vessel was in secret
communication with Vasco Nuñez, and that preparations were being made
for some mysterious undertaking. Pedrarias became both frightened and
furious. He called to mind the fate of Nicuesa. Alarm for his own safety
was mingled with ire and envious regrets for ever having yielded even
in appearance to any recognition of this upstart's titles and honors.
He ordered the instant arrest of Balboa, and even threatened to confine
him for safe keeping in the large wooden cage stationed in the middle
of the plaza.
The fears of Pedrarias were calmed, however, by the cooler heads; the
nature and purpose of the intended expedition were explained; no lurking
treason was discovered, no plot against the peace of Antigua or sinister
designs upon the person of its governor were found; and having bound
himself to new and more stringent restrictions, Vasco Nuñez was set at
liberty, and the precarious friendship ostensibly renewed.[XII-1]
* * * * *
About this time the bishop of Darien was seized with a luminous idea.
Through his pertinacious devotedness the worthy prelate had twice
rescued his friend from a life of independence and honor, and had twice
consigned him to the mercies of an insidious enemy. He had prevented
Pedrarias from sending him in chains to Spain, which would have sounded
his renown and enlisted for him sympathy throughout Christendom; he had
persuaded him to relinquish his rights to such an extent as to place his
fortune at the disposal of an inveterate foe. I do not say Quevedo was
an Ahithophel; yet the machinations of all his enemies could not bring
upon Vasco Nuñez the evils consummated by this one friend. Nevertheless,
the present conception happily brought forth, and malice and suspicion
will forever give place to confiding affection.
[Sidenote: BALBOA'S BETROTHAL.]
Four blooming daughters Pedrarias had left in Spain. The health of the
governor seemed to be yielding before the combined influence of temper
and climate. Who could be a more fitting successor in the government,
and who a more suitable son-in-law? Let Balboa take to wife Doña María,
eldest daughter of Pedrarias, and so bind the North Sea to the South by
cords of love. Such was the plan of the prelate. Vasco Nuñez, nothing
loath, assented, for the daughter was as amiable as the father was
malicious. Doña Isabel was not the mother to look coldly on so gallant
a proposal; as for the daughter, then dreaming her maiden days away in
a convent at Seville, her own consent to the betrothal was a question
which gave parents little concern in those days; the chief difficulty
was the splenetic father. Approaching the governor, not without
misgivings, Quevedo said: "Time passes, Señor Pedrarias, and with time,
all flesh. Those who shall take our places follow close at our heels.
A powerful rival converted into a firm ally is double compensation, and
the father of four daughters has not the opportunity every day to refuse
a governor for a son-in-law. Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, a man of no mean
parts, well-born and famous, asks your daughter in marriage. Grant him
his desire, and so heal discord and fortify your declining years."
Notwithstanding the obvious advantages, Pedrarias hesitated. It was no
easy matter at once to purify the poisoned stream of thought. But the
offer was too tempting to be declined, although Pedrarias would have
much preferred for his adviser a Thrasybulus, who counselled Periander
to cut off the tallest heads if he would maintain his power. The old
man, still hugging his suspicions, signed the marriage contract, and
ordered fair Doña María to appear and accept marital honors. But even
the gift of the daughter was like the gifts of Medea—envenomed.
* * * * *
Now surely might Vasco Nuñez walk the firm earth, his fortune ascendant.
Adelantado, captain-general of the Southern Sea, son-in-law of
Pedrarias, and in favor with the royal authorities, though Ferdinand,
poor king, was dead. The clouds which had so long obscured Balboa's
rising fame were by this masterly invocation of the bishop forever
dissipated. There was no longer any fear from the unclean ghosts of
entombed mistakes, while his good deeds would shine with steadier
and ever-increasing lustre. He might now prosecute adventure to the
uttermost of his ambition, while his friend and counsellor, the bishop,
carried the happy tidings of reconciliation to court.[XII-2]
The year 1516 was advancing toward its middle term. Vasco Nuñez craved
permission from his father-in-law—for betrothal was equivalent to
marriage so far as the political aspect of the case was concerned—to
proceed to Acla and continue the business there begun, which was
indeed none other than part of his original scheme. Pedrarias assented,
placing every requisite at the command of his dear son. The South Sea
expeditions had drained the colony of most of its available men, yet so
esteemed was Vasco Nuñez that all who were at Antigua eagerly flocked
to his standard. Fernando de Argüello, a notary, formerly the opponent
of Nicuesa, but always a partisan of Vasco Nuñez, having accumulated
wealth placed it at the disposal of his friend, and soon after Balboa
embarked with eighty men.
[Sidenote: SOUTH SEA EXPEDITION.]
Arrived at Acla he found the post destroyed and the comandante Olano,
the successor of Gabriel de Rojas, together with twelve soldiers,
had been massacred by the men of Careta, in retaliation for the act
of Hurtado which consigned one hundred of their number to slavery.
For this outrage the people of the province were declared outlaws.
Balboa immediately organized a municipality, appointed an alcalde
and a regidor, laid out a new town, and began to build. Each citizen,
either in person or by slaves, was required to plant sufficient for
his sustenance. Requiring more men, Balboa accompanied Espinosa to
Antigua, early in 1517, and returned with two hundred recruits. The
restoration of Acla was intended only as preliminary to further South
Sea discoveries; but this accomplished, an obstacle interposed itself,
at first glance insurmountable. In order to navigate the new ocean
ships were necessary. The short voyages hitherto undertaken in native
canoes had been perilous in the extreme. Herein lay the difficulty. The
cordillera here rises abruptly from the northern side of the Isthmus,
undulating gently on the opposite side toward the Southern Sea. On the
northern slope grew trees suitable for ship-building; on the southern
side vegetation was more diminutive. But of what avail were trees on
the border of one ocean, for the purposes of navigation on the other?
The true standard of greatness is in the application of means to ends.
The magnitude of the means has no more to do with it than the results,
which may or may not prove successful. With a few hundred Spaniards,
and such savages as could be whipped into the service, Vasco Nuñez
dared conceive and execute the project of building ships on one side
of a chain of mountains for use on the other side; to navigate his
vessels in pieces or sections, on the backs of Indians, over hills and
swamps, and that under a sun so hot, in an atmosphere so poisoned, and
through vegetation so rank and tangled as successfully to have defied
the efforts of science for centuries thereafter. "No living man in all
the Indies," testifies the moderate Herrera, "dared attempt such an
enterprise, or would have succeeded in it, save Vasco Nuñez de Balboa."
The plan of Vasco Nuñez was to prepare his timber as near as possible
to some navigable point on one of the many streams flowing into the
South Sea, which are generally torrents on the mountain-side, but which
become broad and calm before reaching the ocean. The stream chosen for
the purpose was called the Rio de las Balsas,[XII-3] or River of the
Rafts. Carpenters and builders are sent out in search of trees suitable
for the purpose, and the preparation of the timber is begun. With fifty
men Francisco Compañon passes over the cordillera and selects a place
upon the river, twenty-two leagues from Acla, from which to launch the
ships. Likewise on the summit of the sierra, twelve leagues from Acla,
he builds a fort, to serve as a half-way house for rest and protection,
beside stations established at other points. All is bustle and activity
at Acla and in the neighboring forests; some are felling trees, some
measuring and hewing timber; some preparing anchors, rigging, and
stores. "In all labors," says Las Casas, "Vasco Nuñez took the foremost
part, working with his own hands and giving aid and encouragement
everywhere."
[Sidenote: CARRIES SHIPS ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS.]
Materials for four brigantines being at length prepared, the herculean
task of transportation across the mountains is next to be performed.
Thirty negroes have been secured from Antigua, but these are not a tenth
part of the force required. Squads of soldiers are therefore sent out
in every direction, and natives are driven in to the number of several
thousand. Upon their naked backs the heavy timbers are laid, and goaded
forward by merciless overseers, among whom is the black African as
well as the white European, they are forced through the marshy thicket
and up the rocky steep until they sink exhausted beneath their burden.
Unused to labor, ill-fed, made desperate by their distress, some
attempt escape, but the bloodhound is quickly on their track; some kill
themselves, but more sink lifeless under their heavy loads. All along
those terrible leagues the newly cut path is strewed with dead savages,
and soon the air is rank from putrid carcasses. "More than five hundred
Indians perished in the transportation of these ships," affirmed Bishop
Quevedo before the court of Spain, and Las Casas says the deaths were
nearer two thousand in number.[XII-4] To take the places of the dead,
recruits are caught in the forest; the work goes bravely on, and the
stupendous feat is finally accomplished. The wild bank of the Balsas
was strewed with materials for this new sea navigation. But on putting
the pieces together it is found that after all the toil there is timber
enough for only two vessels instead of four; the rest has been lost by
the way. And this is not the worst of it. That which has been brought
over at such cruel cost, cut near the coast and hewed green as it was,
is so full of worms that it cannot be used. All must be thrown away and
the work begun anew.[XII-5]
Timber is sought nearer at hand this time, and with fair success. Vasco
Nuñez now divides his force into three parties, and sends one to hew
timber, one to bring supplies from Acla, and a third to forage on the
natives. Again they are ready with new materials to begin construction,
when the heavens suddenly darken and drop such a deluge on them that
they are obliged to take refuge in trees. Part of the timber is swept
away, and part buried in mud. To add to their misfortunes, foraging
fails; hunger pinches; and "when Vasco Nuñez himself was forced to feed
on roots," says Las Casas, always with an eye to his protégés, "it may
well be imagined to what extremity six hundred Indian captives were
reduced."
It now looks very dark to Vasco Nuñez, and he begins to consider if it
were not better to move on, one way or the other, than to die there. But
these misgivings are only for a moment. No, it is not better. Throwing
a bridge of floating withe-tied logs across the river he sends over
Compañon with a strong company, and tells him never to return except
with food. Hurtado he despatches to Antigua for more men, and goes
himself to Acla for necessary effects. In all which he is successful;
and he is successful finally in floating two brigantines upon the
Balsas. There is no such thing as failure this side of death.
What a bright vision it is that greets him as he drops down into the
sea, his own sea that he had found and well-nigh lost again! Heaven is
indeed beautiful if it be anything fairer. Silver and gold and pearl are
the sunshine, land, and sky; while the sea, the murmuring, gladdening,
majestic sea; it would inspire a brute with nobility, one sight of it!
Dreams and realities! Wild as had been the dreams of these ignorant and
voracious men, dreams with their Indies and Araby isles, they fell far
short of reality. How could they dream of a Montezuma empire waiting
expectantly to welcome the destroyer, or of an Inca faction so evenly
balanced that so light a hell-flake as a Pizarro might turn it?
[Sidenote: AT THE PEARL ISLANDS.]
Selecting Isla Rica, the largest of the Pearl Islands, as a rendezvous
and place of settlement, Balboa discharged his vessels there and sent
them back to bring from the Balsas the remainder of the company,
together with materials for two more ships, which were in due time
completed, making four in all. More supplies were brought from Acla, and
journeys between the two seas were from this time frequent. Meanwhile,
after pacifying the Pearl Islands, he embarked with one hundred men for
a cruise eastward. After sailing twenty leagues a shoal of whales so
frightened the sailors that they anchored for the night near the shore,
and embraced the opportunity to kill a village of Indians for having put
to death Bernardo Morales and his men in a former expedition. The wind
being contrary the fleet next morning returned to the Pearl Islands.
Thus haply launched upon the tide of glorious adventure, with full
freedom in the south, and in harmony with superior powers, what could
fortune offer more satisfactory or secure? But fickle the goddess,
and malignant the while, keeping alive suspicion and envy where only
honor and good-will should be. It happened about this time that as
one of Balboa's captains was setting out on his return to the South
Sea, rumor reached Acla that Lope de Sosa, a native of Córdova, then
acting governor of the Canary Islands, had been appointed to supersede
Pedrarias. At one time such a prospect would have been hailed with
delight by Vasco Nuñez, but now that his fortunes were so happily linked
with those of his ancient enemy he could desire no change.
One evening while in friendly conversation with the vicar, Rodrigo
Perez, and the notary, Valderrábano—for on these Pearl Islands now were
all the paraphernalia of spiritual and temporal rulership—upon the
probable effect of a change of governors on South Sea affairs Vasco
Nuñez remarked, "It may be possible that Lope de Sosa has ere this
received his commission, and that even now he is at Antigua, in which
case my lord Pedrarias is no longer governor, and all our toilsome
undertakings will profit us nothing. In order therefore to know best
how to proceed in this emergency I am of opinion that it would be well
to send some faithful messenger to Acla for our further necessities;
and if the new governor has come, we will furnish our ships, and pursue
our enterprise as best we can, trusting to his future approval. But if
my lord Pedrarias is still in power, he will allay our fears, and we
will then set out upon our voyage, which I trust in God will succeed
according to our wishes." I beg the reader to remember these words, and
say if in them is hidden the venom of treason to the father-governor
when morbid acrimony decides them criminal. I do not say that at
this juncture Vasco Nuñez would not have disregarded any whimsical
malevolence on the part of his future father-in-law which might stand in
the way of his high purposes. I think he would have done so. But that
he saw no necessity for so doing, and never dreamed of disobedience or
disloyalty, I am very sure.
As his ill-fate would have it, just when Vasco Nuñez was concluding his
remarks on this subject, a sentinel on guard in front of the general's
quarters stepped up under the awning to shelter himself from a passing
shower. This fellow, whose sense of smell was so acute that he could
detect disloyalty though hidden in a barrel of salt, found here at once
a mare's nest. Of course his general was talking treason; he had often
been suspected, and now he openly admitted that if affairs planned in
Spain or at Antigua did not suit him, he would sail away and leave all
emperors and governors in the lurch. And if he alone might have the
disclosing of this villainy his fortune was made.
[Sidenote: MICER CODRO, THE ASTROLOGER.]
A story is told of one Micer Codro, a Venetian astrologer, who
followed his stars to the Indies and there interpreted nature for
a consideration. For up and down the world the devil used to lead
him with the faintest thread of comet-light. While at the height of
his power in Darien, the horoscope of Vasco Nuñez was cast by this
philosopher, and his fate foretold with all the precision characterizing
the profession. Directing the attention of his auditor to a particular
star he said: "When you behold that star at yonder point, know that
your fate approaches; your fortune then will be in jeopardy, and your
life in peril. But if you escape that danger, wealth and renown such
as have fallen to the lot of no captain in all the Indies will be
yours." Amidst the bustling activities of life Vasco Nuñez had well-nigh
forgotten the words of the soothsayer. But while waiting the progress
of his plans at the Pearl Islands, he chanced to take a stroll upon
the beach one night in company with his friends. The air was clear of
moisture, and the heavens ablaze with stars which seemed by their own
light multiplied. Nor was this gorgeous firmament more glorious than the
hopes which then thrilled the breast of the cavalier. While in careless
conversation his eye was suddenly arrested by the star of his destiny
which hung portentous in the exact spot designated by Micer Codro. The
prediction of the astrologer at once flashed upon him. "But surely,"
he thought, "the worthy fellow read carelessly, or else possesses
little knowledge of his art, for my time of peril has passed. I will,
however, accept the saving clause of his prediction, and now achieve
the fame and wealth whereof he spake." Then with a smile he turned to
his companions. "Have a care of soothsayers," he said gayly. "You all
know Micer Codro. According to his prediction I stand this moment on
the verge of demolition. But I defy thee, fate! See there those ships,
and this wealth-bordered sea; see here this good right arm, this stout
heart, and you, my friends, three hundred faithful men. Does this look
like collapse?"
Notwithstanding the rumor of a new governor at Antigua, this South Sea
enterprise ought to be prosecuted at all hazard. By authority both of
the king and of his representative in Darien the expedition had been
undertaken. Money had been spent and infinite toil; life had been
adventured—the lives of Spaniards, that is to say, for a thousand or
two dead savages were scarcely to be regarded in the account. And now
it behooved them to give no new king or new governor the opportunity of
ruining their hopes by countermanding the expedition.
It was finally arranged that Andrés Garabito, Luis Botello, Andrés
de Valderrábano, and Fernando Muñoz should proceed to Acla, and as
they drew near the town the party should halt; one of them should
enter at night alone, and, proceeding to the house of Vasco Nuñez,
should ascertain from the servant to be found there if Pedrarias was
superseded; and if the new governor had arrived the party would withdraw
unobserved, return to the South Sea, and proclaim Vasco Nuñez governor
of Tierra Firme, at the same time giving him a paper purporting to be
his commission. Thus would his command be deceived into the belief that
he was legal ruler, and so follow his bidding without question. This
was a glance toward treason; it was as bad as treason; but neither now
nor ever was it treason. The projected stratagem was dangerous, and
wholly useless, and most unfortunate, as the result proved; complicating
affairs and aiding his enemies in casting over him that cloud of
suspicion which ultimately involved him in ruin.
[Sidenote: TREACHEROUS MESSENGERS.]
Likewise the agents for this errand were unhappily chosen. Garabito
was the deadly enemy of Balboa, though the latter did not know it.
Worse than that, far more dastardly and damnable than enemy, he was
a treacherous friend. Balboa had often shown him favors, and placed
implicit confidence in him, as the prominence given him in this delicate
mission plainly indicated. Within a friendly, even fawning exterior,
lurked deadly hate. It originated thus: While Vasco Nuñez was yet
under the cloud of the governor's displeasure, Garabito had attempted
improper intimacy with Careta's daughter, Balboa's wife after the Indian
fashion. One word from her protector, one glance from his eye—for the
miscreant saw perdition in it—was sufficient to check his presumption;
but Garabito never forgot it, and awaited only his revenge. While on
the Balsas he had even written Pedrarias that it was Balboa's purpose,
on reaching the ocean, to throw off allegiance to him, and to every one
but the king. He further affirmed that Vasco Nuñez cared nothing for
his daughter, loved only the Indian girl, and never intended to ratify
his betrothal obligation. Though Garabito knew well enough he deserved
hanging for this, and might even achieve that infamy, yet he understood
both himself and Pedrarias, and he knew these lies would fatten on the
old man's soul.
[Sidenote: GARABITO'S INFAMY.]
When Garabito arrived at Acla, instead of doing as he had been told,
he set about to perform a little drama which should at once precipitate
revenge and free him from the odium of traitorous friendship. Mingling
with the gossips of the town, he talked mysteriously about South Sea
affairs, threw out insinuations, and dropped dark hints concerning Vasco
Nuñez and the government. By such means he succeeded in causing himself
to be arrested; and when brought before the magistrate for examination,
no torture was required to draw from him all he knew, and more. An
abstract of the evidence taken in this investigation, together with the
letters and papers of Garabito, was forwarded to Pedrarias.
* * * * *
When Vasco Nuñez embarked from Antigua on this enterprise, it was
stipulated that he should return at the expiration of eighteen months.
The time having expired, he wrote Pedrarias requesting its extension,
giving as a reason for requiring it the extraordinary difficulties under
which he had labored, and the attendant delays. He requested Fernando de
Argüello, who had a large pecuniary interest at stake, to gain further
time, if possible, as otherwise their expenditure and toil would all be
lost. In answer to the application of Argüello, Pedrarias said little;
but within the caldron the black stuff simmered.
This inopportune revival of the ancient feud between the governors
excited no small stir at Antigua. And when tidings of Garabito's arrest
were received, and the character of his testimony was made known, the
friends of Vasco Nuñez entertained fears for his safety. It made little
difference whether what this villain had said was true or false—though
no one believed that Vasco Nuñez contemplated anything criminal—old
man Pedrarias with his malignity aroused was a fiend incarnate.
Argüello wrote Balboa that the governor would neither grant nor deny
an extension of time, and the notary advised him to put to sea at once,
and place himself beyond the rancorous caprice of Pedrarias. He further
informed him that in the event of a rupture he could appeal to the
Jeronimite Fathers, at Santo Domingo, who would see justice done him.
Unfortunately, this letter was intercepted and sent to Pedrarias.
* * * * *
The conflagration which sweeps a city is often kindled by a spark.
The South Sea discoverer entertained a harmless ruse, justifiable,
in his opinion, as tending to settle the minds of his men and ensure
their more perfect obedience in hazardous enterprise; he harbored
at the most the intention of placing himself for no unlawful purpose
beyond the call of the new governor until he had consummated his long
cherished schemes, and not of deceiving the old governor, to whom, if
still in power, his messengers were to disclose all his fears, in the
belief that his necessities would certainly be relieved. These trivial
thoughts, flung distorted by Garabito into the inflammable breast of
Pedrarias, were more than sufficient to light a flame beyond the power
of man to extinguish. On former occasions the enmity had been rather of
a political than a personal nature; now it enters the private chambers
of the affections, and beside crimes plotted against the ruler, the
father is to be wounded and insulted. And his hate becomes unto death,
murderous.
With the several pretended disclosures of Garabito before him, his mind
ran quickly back over the career of Vasco Nuñez, his ill treatment of
Enciso, his expulsion of Nicuesa, his irregularities while in office,
the king's order to call him to a reckoning, the brilliant discoveries
intervening, the failure to convict him of crimes, the king's favor,
and at last the nearer and to be hoped final reconciliation. Warmer yet
within him glowed the thought of these things, as his mind dwelt upon
the letters disparaging to himself which Vasco Nuñez had sent the king,
and recalled once more what Garabito had said concerning the repudiation
of both himself and his daughter. He talked with Bachiller Corral, who
had been once arrested by Vasco Nuñez for improper conduct, and to the
royal treasurer, Alonso de la Puente, whom Vasco Nuñez had once offended
by demanding the payment of a debt, he read the letter of Fernando de
Argüello, and then ordered the arrest of the writer.
He communed with his heart in his rage and was glad. And he wrote his
son-in-law a letter, his dear son-in-law, a friendly, fatherly letter,
requesting his presence at Acla for the purpose of consultation over
affairs affecting their mutual interests. This letter was despatched by
messengers urged to the greatest haste, that the friends of Vasco Nuñez
might not have time to warn him of his danger. "Once within my grasp,"
muttered the old man, "he never shall escape me." That he might not
embark on some lengthy voyage or otherwise delay his coming, Pedrarias
ordered Francisco Pizarro to place himself at the head of as large a
force as he could muster, and immediately to find and arrest his former
comrade and commander, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, and bring him under safe
guard to Acla.
Now the dissembling letter of Pedrarias, so the chroniclers tell us,
was placed in the hands of Vasco Nuñez while yet the star of his destiny
hovered, impatient of flight, about the spot whereon it was to determine
his fate; which proves to any reasonable mind, beyond peradventure,
several things; _item_, that the heavenly lights are fingered by
Omnipotence for individual import; _item_, that Micer Codro knows the
stars; _item_, that the stars know Micer Codro; _item, parva momenta in
spem metumque impellere animos_.
Conscious of no wrong, Vasco Nuñez suspected no treachery, and on
receipt of the letter he set out at once with the returning messengers
to grant his father-in-law the desired interview, leaving his command
at the Pearl Islands in charge of Francisco Compañon. As they journeyed
toward Acla he interrogated his companions concerning the affairs of
the colony. At first they were cautious in their replies, and made
evasive answers; but the prompt and cordial manner in which Vasco
Nuñez responded to the summons of Pedrarias carried conviction of his
integrity. Further than this, they had long known Vasco Nuñez as a
gallant cavalier and a genial friend, and they resolved, come what
might, he should not fall into the clutches of his enemy without a
word of warning from them. Enjoining secrecy, they told him all; that
current opinion considered not only his liberty but that his life was
in jeopardy.
Balboa would not believe it. Pedrarias might be very angry, though he
had written in so friendly a strain; it was his nature to be suspicious
and treacherous; he could not help it; he was martyr to a hate wherein
he was created, and not unlike that of Acrisius who quarrelled with
his twin brother Proetus before they were born. There might be some
difficulty in pacifying Pedrarias, but as for fearing him, the idea was
preposterous. Even though he had meditated treason against the governor,
which he had not, he was not guilty of any criminal act; and surely a
man cannot be hanged for his meditations. Of course he would go forward.
[Sidenote: THE ARREST.]
As he descended the mountains and drew near Acla, Vasco Nuñez was met
by the force sent out by the governor. As the leader advanced to make
the arrest, his old friend and patron cast on him a reproachful look and
exclaimed, "How is this, Francisco Pizarro? You were not wont to come
out in this manner to receive me!" He offered no opposition, however,
and made no remonstrance when the irons were put upon him and he was
led away to prison at Acla.
* * * * *
History presents few sadder pictures than the closing scenes in the
career of Vasco Nuñez de Balboa. And as we look at it, our sorrow waxes
hot with indignation over the triumph of wrong. Occasionally, in the
hostile encounters of men, justice seems to abandon the arena, leaving
iniquity master of the field; at which times the spectator burns for
the power which Omnipotence declines to exercise.
The game here played was for a valuable life. On one side was a
singularly morbid hate, envenomed and pitiless, united with unscrupulous
treachery and hypocrisy, which in an old man of ability, breeding,
and position, was hideous beyond expression. On the other side were
recognized talents of so exceptional an order as to make the possessor
the most popular man in the colony. This is what kept his irascible
adversary on nettles. Vasco Nuñez was the hero of this conquest. He was
to Pedrarias as Loki to Baldur, or as Hyperion to a satyr; and in their
strangely assorted friendship they were more unequally yoked than in
their enmity they were divided. He was the mirror in which by comparison
the governor most clearly saw his own infirmities. Like Othello he was
of that free and open nature which thinks men honest that but seem so.
His faults were those of the times rather than of the man. He was as
ambitious as Achilles, but it was a laudable ambition as times went. He
was neither voracious nor avaricious; cruel he unquestionably was, but
not wantonly so; he gathered gold, but he scattered it open-handedly.
He coveted fame; and in those days neither equity nor humanity were
essential to greatness. I do not regard him as greedy of office; he
loved power, but he loved adventure more. Of course, in principle,
the robber life he led was wrong, though sanctioned by philosophers
and divines, and Vasco Nuñez aspired to belong to neither class. He
was an illiterate cavalier, honest and religious, ready to accept
the theories of the day if they did not too greatly interfere with
his desires. Neither his loyalty nor his religion was sufficient to
be of great injury to him; although, if we may credit Peter Martyr,
he never attempted any adventure without the invocation of the deity
and all the saints. Among his comrades he had ever at command a light
artillery of wit; in logical argument he was not equal to his archenemy,
but in action he was the inferior of no man. A natural and perfect
leader, he was out of place as second. Conception and execution were
one with him; he could not be bound by another's ideas. Latent in him
were inexhaustible resources, known to exist, even by himself, only as
occasion required them. Only with emotions of pride might any Spaniard
regard his frank intrepidity, chivalrous bearing, and affable, generous
disposition. In cruelty, subtlety, and base cunning Pedrarias was his
superior, but not in war, or statesmanship, not to mention honorable
enterprise. Throughout his entire career, whatever Vasco Nuñez touched
by himself was a success; there was no chance about it, but simply
energy and ability, temperate courage and common sense. His final
overthrow was accomplished not by fair and open opposition, but by
means most foul and damnable. Some might say that in this contemplated
assumption of authority he was, like Icarus, flying too near the sun;
yet, in truth, it was no sun, but fires infernal that melted the wax
of his wings. His trial, to which let us now pass, was a judicial
assassination.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: HYPOCRISY AND CUNNING.]
Old man Pedrarias could scarcely conceal his exultation in thus having,
as he imagined, outwitted his prisoner. He could with difficulty refrain
from feasting his eyes upon him; nay, he would not, and arraying his
features in fatherly concern, he repaired to the prison. Gently he
accosted Balboa, assuring him that he had been forced to this step
against his will, that the treasurer, Puente, was the accuser, and
that he, the governor, was in duty bound to investigate all charges,
particularly accusations made by a royal officer. "But be not cast down,
my son," said the venerable hypocrite, "neither give way to fear; for
the more clearly your actions are brought to light, the brighter will
shine your eminent and loyal services."
Going his way, Pedrarias threw himself with all his strength into
the prosecution, or rather, I should say, persecution. The laws of
Spain, transported to the colonies and administered by passionate and
unprincipled men, were capable of almost any construction desired, and
hence were as often used to cloak villainy as to punish crime. The law
was ever on the side of him who possessed the power to enforce it. All
the accusations of former trials were in this instance brought together,
and old charges, long since obliterated by royal forgiveness, were
renewed. To the oft-told tales of Enciso's imprisonment and Nicuesa's
death, were added misdeeds conjectured or invented by the listening
sentinel, Garabito, and the rest. Arguello's letter was offered in
evidence, and all his enemies had their fling at him. The licentiate,
Espinosa, before whom the case was brought, was now a firm adherent
of the governor. He had been paid his price in the South Sea command,
and the downfall of Balboa would open for him further empire in that
quarter.
All is going well; Pedrarias is content. The prisoner's chains are
doubled. A little torture now applied might be pleasing in effect.
Dropping the mask, Pedrarias enters the prison. "So, villain! you
thought to escape me," he cried. "Your governor has become your tool,
your plaything; his daughter an idle jest, jilted for a savage strumpet.
Thank God! your days are numbered."
Balboa at first made no reply, did not even manifest surprise. He had
seen, soon after the trial began, that his judges thirsted for his
blood, and that he was foredoomed. Finally he spake. "I am here at your
bidding. Since last we pledged friendship I have toiled faithfully in
your behalf, and mine. I have suffered many hardships, and have overcome
obstacles deemed insurmountable by most men. Never for a moment have I
entertained one thought disloyal to my betrothed or you. For the truth
of this I refer you to my actions, and call God to witness. If I am
guilty, as you say, why am I here? Think you, with four good ships and
three hundred devoted men at my command, with fortune beckoning me from
every direction, that had I harbored treason I would not have spread my
sails and sought a land unknown, beyond all fear of capture? You know,
my lord Pedrarias, that I am innocent."
[Sidenote: THE SENTENCE.]
It was patent to all that Vasco Nuñez was to be sacrificed to the
insatiable hate of the hoary-headed governor. Even Espinosa was becoming
tired of it, and would have discharged the accused, had it not been
for Pedrarias and Puente, who insisted on what they called a verdict
in accordance with the law and evidence. Under such pressure Espinosa
was forced to adjudge the prisoner guilty. The penalty was death.
Vasco Nuñez claimed the right of appeal to the Council of the Indies,
which was denied him; to the Jeronimite Fathers, which was also denied.
Espinosa became alarmed; he shrank from having on his soul the blood
of this man, so gallant a cavalier, so eminent a discoverer; he never
really desired more than to drive him into obscurity, and he begged
the governor that the petition for appeal might be granted. "No," said
Pedrarias, "if he has sinned, let him suffer."
With horror the colonists heard that Vasco Nuñez was condemned to
be beheaded. Four of his friends were to suffer with him, Andrés de
Valderrábano, Luis Botello, Fernando Muñoz, and Fernando de Argüello.
* * * * *
It was a dismal day at Acla, the chroniclers tell us, that on which
five brave men were doomed to die, not for any crime, but as victims
of a ferocious, savage-hearted old man. At an early hour the dull
strokes of the carpenter's hammer were heard in the plaza where the
scaffold rose. Troops of men gathered on the streets and talked of the
coming execution, wondering if there would be an attempt at rescue. But
Pedrarias had taken care of that. Were the heavenly powers a-dreaming
that they should without interference permit this horrible crime? Alas!
these very men had just as iniquitously slain their innocent thousands.
Why should we pity them? And the same oft-invoked Omnipotence had
permitted the ghastly work to be done in his name. Of what avail is it
to wonder?
Heavily chained, and surrounded by a strong guard, the men were brought
forth. First came Vasco Nuñez. His step and bearing were not those of
a malefactor. Fire flashed from his eye and indignation flushed his
cheek as he beheld the preparations for his ignominy. But this renowned
and honored chieftain, even while marching to the scaffold, was less
to be pitied than Pedrarias, who from behind a screened window was
this moment feasting his eyes upon the victim. Before the prisoner
walked the town-crier, who, as he approached the middle of the square,
exclaimed in a loud voice, "Behold the usurper, a man recreant to
his trust, and disloyal to his king. Let death be ever the doom of
traitors." "'Tis false!" cried Vasco Nuñez. "Never have I been disloyal
or untrue. To infamous treachery and wrong I yield my life, and not to
justice."[XII-6]
[Sidenote: THE EXECUTION.]
The sacrament having been previously administered, and having made
confession, Vasco Nuñez, with his usual firm step and calm demeanor,
mounted the scaffold. Raising his eyes to heaven he called on God to
witness his innocence. Then with a rapid farewell glance at heaven's
light and earth's beauty, at the eager upturned faces of his friends,
he placed his head upon the block, and in a moment more it was rolling
trunkless on the platform!
Valderrábano, Botello, and Muñoz each suffered in turn. Argüello
remained. A last attempt was made to move Pedrarias. "It cannot be,"
was the reply. "Rather than one of them should live, I myself will
die." It was dark before the last dull heavy stroke told the crowd that
the sickening work was done. With the death of the offender justice is
satisfied; not so vengeance. By order of Pedrarias the head of Vasco
Nuñez was placed upon a pole, and displayed in the market-place.
* * * * *
Time, which throws a misty cloud between the present and the past, and
strips the hideousness from many iniquitous deeds, drops no friendly
mantle over the horrors of that day at Acla. One century after another
rolls by, and the colors on the canvas deepen; the red gore dripping
from the scaffold becomes redder, the black heart of Pedrarias blacker,
and the generous qualities and brilliant achievements of Vasco Nuñez
shine yet brighter.
CHAPTER XIII.
DECLINE OF SPANISH SETTLEMENT ON THE NORTH COAST.
1517-1523.
DISHONESTY THE BEST POLICY—PEDRARIAS STIGMATIZED—HIS AUTHORITY
CURTAILED—QUEVEDO IN SPAIN—HE ENCOUNTERS LAS CASAS—THE
BATTLE OF THE PRIESTS—OVIEDO ENTERS THE ARENA—BUSINESS IN
DARIEN—THE INTEROCEANIC ROAD AGAIN—ITS TERMINI—PEDRARIAS
AND ESPINOSA AT PANAMÁ—THE LICENTIATE MAKES ANOTHER RAID—THE
FRIARS OF ST JEROME HAVE THEIR EYE ON PEDRARIAS—THE CABILDO
OF ANTIGUA SHAKES ITS FINGER AT HIM—CONTINUED ATTEMPTS TO
DEPOPULATE THE NORTH COAST—ALBITES BUILDS NOMBRE DE DIOS—LUCKY
LICENTIATE—ARRIVAL AND DEATH OF LOPE DE SOSA—OVIEDO RETURNS
AND DOES BATTLE WITH THE DRAGON—AND IS BEATEN FROM THE FIELD.
For the villainous adjudging of Vasco Nuñez, Gaspar de Espinosa
received his place on the South Sea. And when true tidings reached
Pedrarias of the appointment of Lope de Sosa as his successor, the
grizzly old governor did exactly that for which he pretended to
have beheaded Vasco Nuñez. Striking corollaries from the historical
propositions of the preceding chapter.
[Sidenote: THE CONDUCT OF PEDRARIAS CONDEMNED.]
That Pedrarias was not at once deposed may seem strange to us. He was
deposed, however; but slipping south he sought new fields, as we shall
presently see; and by the intercession of powerful friends at court
he managed to retain rulership for a term of years. Then, too, the
changes. It was troublesome and expensive for royalty to establish
subordinate governments in the Indies; and as nearly all of Spain's
New World governors, and, indeed, officials and subjects, were wrong in
some particular, there was not always encouragement to make a change.
Yet Spain and all Christendom were indignant over the infamous doings
at Acla. The friars of St Jerome instantly clipped the wings of the
cormorant, by ordering him in the kings name "to resolve upon nothing by
himself, but to follow the advice of the _cabildo_[XIII-1] of Darien;
and, moreover, to send to Española all the gold taken from Cacique
Paris." This was of little practical avail, however. Royalty might issue
edicts; but those appointed to enforce them seemed to turn to corruption
on entering the atmosphere of the Indies.
Some said, if the good bishop had been there, Vasco Nuñez had not died.
But according to Micer Codro it was scarcely among the possibilities
for the inauspicious friend of Balboa to have been present at the
right moment. Associated with the alcalde mayor and the governor in
magisterial authority, the bishop could without doubt have diverted
the quarrel from such gory channels; for there was always enough of
the temporal in his spiritual polities to give his influence weight in
balancing power. It was a wolfish flock. The bishop complained of it
to the king; and on the other hand the royal officers complained of the
bishop. Both were right. It was impossible too severely to censure such
acts as were constantly perpetrated by the officials of Castilla del
Oro, and although Quevedo had gone to Spain on the more pleasing errand
of love and reconciliation, he found it convenient occasionally to say
a word to the king in his own defense, and not without influence on the
imperial ear. Once the royal officials wrote the king that the bishop
neglected the conversion of the Indians, favored Vasco Nuñez against
the government, and discouraged colonization by speaking ill of the
country; and again that the bishop was a source of constant disturbance,
and praying that a _provisor_, talented and upright, be appointed to
superintend sacred affairs.[XIII-2]
Before the sovereign, Quevedo spoke disparagingly of both Pedrarias and
Vasco Nuñez; the prelate alone was perfect. But beside the genuine ring
of Las Casas, the base metal of Quevedo's composition sounded flat. The
protector-general was at this time busy at once with his colonization
scheme and his impeachment of the Jeronimite Fathers, who, although
meaning well, were slack in exacting the right as measured by apostolic
zeal.
On one occasion, in the royal antechamber at Molin del Rey, while
waiting for the bishop of Badajoz, one of the king's preachers, with
whom he had an engagement to dine, Quevedo was bluntly accosted by Las
Casas. "I understand, my lord, that you are the bishop of Darien. I too
am interested in the Indies, and it is my duty to offer you fellowship."
"Ah! Señor Casas," rudely replied Quevedo. "And from what text will
you preach us a sermon to-day?" "I have ready two sermons," retorted
the always armed Protector, "which, if you would listen to them, might
prove to you of higher import than all the moneys which you bring from
the Indies." "You are beside yourself! You are beside yourself!" was all
the bishop could stammer as his host appeared and withdrew him from the
merciless shots of Las Casas. But Quevedo was not to escape so easily.
Presenting himself after dinner at the house of the king's preacher, Las
Casas tortured his enemy into yet hotter dispute. Young Charles hearing
of it ordered the battle of the priests to be continued before him. This
was the first audience by the prince in matters relative to the Indies.
Brought into the royal presence Quevedo thanked God for the honor,
pronounced the first governor of Darien a bad one, the second much
worse, and the savages in a deplorable condition. Las Casas following
charged the fault as much to royal officers and clergy as to hidalgos
and lesser subjects.
Soon after this discussion Quevedo presented two memorials, one against
Pedrarias Dávila, and the other for restricting the power of governors
in general, and of the military, and for the better protection of
the natives. He pledged himself to name a ruler for Castilla del Oro,
meaning Diego Velazquez, then governor of Cuba, who would expend from
his own private means fifteen thousand ducats in the service of the
colony. Within a few days thereafter Quevedo was seized with an illness
which terminated in his death; Charles was summoned to accept the
imperial crown, and for a time little attention was paid to the affairs
of the Indies.[XIII-3]
[Sidenote: QUEVEDO AND OVIEDO IN SPAIN.]
Another political agency appeared in Spain about this time. Gonzalo
Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdés, first chronicler of the New World, who,
as we have seen, came with Pedrarias to Tierra Firme as superintendent
of gold-melting and acting notary-general, becoming disgusted with both
the governor and the bishop departed from that shore in October, 1515.
Scarcely had Oviedo arrived at Madrid when he received word of King
Ferdinand's death, which was a severe blow, as he had hoped through the
influence of his former patrons to reorganize the government of Castilla
del Oro and place it on a better basis. Proceeding to Flanders he laid
the matter before the ministers, and was referred to Cardinal Jimenez,
who listened and did nothing. There the matter rested until the death
of the cardinal, when Oviedo again appeared at court and succeeded in
obtaining the appointment of Lope de Sosa to succeed Pedrarias in the
government of Castilla del Oro. Satisfied thus far in his attempts
to benefit the colonists at Antigua, he solicited for himself the
government of Santa Marta. The appointment was conferred; but being
refused one hundred knights of Santiago, who were deemed indispensable
to the subjugation of the country, he declined the office. Like Quevedo,
he aroused the enmity of Las Casas, through his opposition to the
schemes of the fiery philanthropist in the management of the natives.
Nevertheless Oviedo obtained many beneficial decrees for Darien. The
duties of the governor were defined anew; royal officials were forbidden
to trade; the royal assayer was required to give bonds; orders were
issued regulating the gold-melting house; duties were abolished for four
years; the export duty on gold was reduced nearly one half for a term
of five years.
* * * * *
A business paralysis succeeded the dark days at Acla. Little was done in
1518 in the way of new adventure, though Pedrarias had enough to occupy
himself withal, in keeping his own head on his shoulders. More than one
lofty scheme was cut short by the stroke that laid lifeless Vasco Nuñez.
The young and hardy scarcely dared achieve prominence; the old and
imbecile could not; even the ferocious genius of Francisco Pizarro lay
dormant all through his fiery youth, and past early impatient manhood,
unknown even to himself.
Made captain-general of the South Sea, not long after the catastrophe at
Acla, Espinosa was unable at once to take command in person of the force
at Isla Rica. Though the licentiate was of a mild, obedient disposition,
it was not without misgivings that Pedrarias permitted him to assume
so important a trust, the most dangerous for purposes of revolt of any
within the government of Castilla del Oro; for instruments employed in
the accomplishment of base purposes are not apt to inspire the greatest
confidence. But Espinosa was not a mere rover; he was an anchored
judge already high in colonial office, whose robberies and murders,
however unjust and lawless, were of a quasi judicial nature; moreover
he was popular with the soldiers, for his legal decisions by no means
interfered with popular rights in pillage and licentiousness. Indeed,
when Pedrarias afterward contemplated absence, the people of Antigua
begged that Espinosa might be left there to govern them, but this
excited the jealousy of the governor, who refused the petition.[XIII-4]
The much talked of interoceanic chain of posts, with a commercial
city at either end, was not yet an accomplished fact. As the breadth,
coast-trends, and configuration of the country became better known, Acla
was found situated too far to the eastward. The narrowest part of the
Isthmus had been ascertained, as also the most practicable route for a
road, requiring a north-coast seaport somewhere opposite Panamá, which
had long since been decided upon as the best site for a city on the
southern seaboard. Hernan Ponce de Leon, temporarily stationed there,
had abandoned the place, so that both termini of the proposed road must
be founded anew. The point selected on the north coast was Nombre de
Dios.
[Sidenote: SOUTH SEA ATTRACTIONS.]
Before Espinosa was ready for his South Sea command, positive
information of the appointment of Lope de Sosa reached Antigua. It now
behooved both Pedrarias and the licentiate to look to their footing, for
it was not unlikely to fare hard with them in their coming residencias.
It might be as well, after all, for these astute and subtle minds to
fall back upon the idea of Vasco Nuñez—indeed, the cavalier's ideas
seemed better than any of their own—of withdrawing beyond the possibly
too restraining influences of superior authority, and establishing
themselves in freer latitudes. The north coast offered no further
attractions in any event. Give them the South Sea, and Sosa might have
the north, and die there at his convenience. For it was assuredly the
abode of death.
Pedrarias accordingly determined to make the southern seaboard his
future base of operations, and to convey thither as much as possible
of what he esteemed valuable. To this end he embarked from Acla, and
laid before the council at Antigua a proposal to abandon that site, and
remove the capital to Panamá. The plan was not regarded with favor, as
he neither expected nor desired it to be; for, if Panamá was made the
capital, Sosa's government would be there, and might seriously interfere
with his projects. Two advantages were, however, gained by making the
proposal. By opening the question it unsettled the minds of residents at
Antigua, and enabled Pedrarias with less difficulty to enlist recruits,
and it could not afterward be said that he had sought to abandon the
government, having offered to carry it with him. Nevertheless, he could
not part with the people and their council without a fling at them; so,
one night he summoned the cabildo to appear at his house, and took from
them their insignia of office, leaving the municipality to manage as
best it might during his absence. Returning to Acla, he ordered Espinosa
to summon the forces stationed in the province of Pocorosa, and unite
with them all the available troops of the colony. With these, and such
provisions and articles of trade and use as they could lay their hands
upon, the governor and the alcalde mayor set out across the cordillera
for the Southern Sea.
[Sidenote: FOUNDING OF PANAMÁ.]
Pedrarias was not altogether satisfied with the site of his proposed
Pacific city. On either side of the old fish-drying station thick
tangled woods rose from marshy bottoms; so that, while the spot
called Panamá was obviously malarious, there seemed at hand no better
one.[XIII-5] At the Pearl Islands affairs were found as Vasco Nuñez
had left them. Compañon had proved faithful to his trust. More acts of
possession were now inflicted on this thrice-gulped wilderness, one on
the mainland, January 27, 1519, and one two days after, on the Isla
Rica of Vasco Nuñez, called by Pedrarias as Morales had christened
it, Isla de las Flores.[XIII-6] Taking the ships Balboa had built, the
governor and Espinosa embarked the forces, and proceeded to the island
of Taboga,[XIII-7] where Badajoz had been three years before, opposite
and some five leagues distant from the proposed settlement.
Pedrarias and Espinosa had now at their command about four hundred
men, most of whom were opposed to city-building as detrimental to the
nobler profession of plundering. But calming their fears in this regard,
Pedrarias sought to secure their interest in his scheme by partitioning
the lands adjacent to Panamá, and giving to each man a section. Foraging
expeditions were sent out at once, and the soldiers were encouraged to
make captures, and so secure laborers for their lands and means for the
indulgence of their lusts. Thus every settler soon had from forty to
ninety slaves, who did not live long, however. Nor were the colonists at
Antigua forgotten in this division, to the end that by offering superior
inducements here, the northern coast might the sooner be depopulated.
The formal act of founding the city of Panamá was consummated August 15,
1519; the public notary certifying that Pedrarias Dávila founded then
and there a city, the name whereof was Panamá, and that in the name of
God, and of the queen, Doña Juana, and of Don Cárlos, her son, he would
defend the same against all opposers.[XIII-8]
* * * * *
Not the least important or successful among the foraging expeditions
at this time sent out from Panamá was one under Espinosa, who with a
hundred and fifty men embarked in one of the brigantines in search of
the gold that Badajoz had lost. Ah! that gold; the Spaniards could
scarcely sleep for thinking of it. But now the licentiate should
judicially recover it; then might Panamá have rest.
Dropping westward a few leagues, Espinosa anchored at the mouth of a
small river flowing through the province of Cutara, called after the son
of the late Paris who now ruled that province. Ascending the river in
canoes the Spaniards surprised by night the village, and no opposition
being offered, the robbers took such plate, provisions, cotton cloth,
and Indian weapons as they could lay their hands on. It then occurred
to the more ghoulish of the company to search the death-chamber of the
cacique Paris, whose body was then lying in state. And there, to their
unutterable joy and thankfulness, round the corpse were not only the
golden plates before captured, but piles of vessels and ornaments of
the same blessed metal. By this desecration, gold to the value of forty
thousand castellanos was secured, which made glad the heart of the old
governor at Panamá. And who shall say the learned licentiate was not an
humane and pious man, a just judge and good Christian withal, when after
taking the trouble to drive the inhabitants of that village captives to
the sea, he liberated them all at the entreaty of the youthful cacique,
who had followed them wildly wailing, and faithfully promising a ransom
of as much more gold as had been already taken? On the way back the
licentiate stopped at the landing of the cacique Biruquete, of whom he
bought a cargo of maize, without paying for it. Lest the treasure should
fall into improper hands, half of it was buried at Panamá by Pedrarias
and Espinosa; with the remainder the worthy couple set out immediately
for Antigua, where the latter paid over the king's share, and then
made preparations for a voyage of discovery along the coast, toward the
north-west.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: THE STUBBORN CABILDO.]
It occurred to Pedrarias that while Espinosa was absent from Darien
with the men and ships making discoveries, it would be well for him
to visit Spain and place his declining power on a firmer basis. But in
order to leave he must have permission from the chief authority, or else
lay down his office and submit to a residencia. Since the Jeronimite
Fathers had made the cabildo of Antigua their agent to watch Pedrarias,
and if possible keep him within the bounds of humanity and decency, he
applied to it for permission to leave the country, and was refused. It
was very hard, he said, that the king's governor should be thus subject
to check by a vulgar town council; but the friars at Santo Domingo must
be obeyed.
Since he could not go to Spain Pedrarias wrote the royal authorities
there, setting forth what he had done at Panamá, soliciting a South
Sea government for himself, and the removal of the municipality and
cathedral of Antigua to the new city. Again, midst much storming, he
applied for leave, saying he had been chosen _procurador_ in Castile;
and again he was refused permission. Then he dissembled, spoke softly,
and said he loved the councilmen as his children, but nothing availed.
An act of this council, passed during his absence, greatly exasperated
him, as tending to show a disregard for his authority. This was the
granting of a request by Diego de Albites to plant a colony on the
coast of Veragua. Fearing that the friars might impose upon him further
restrictions he abruptly broke off all conference with the council of
Antigua, and proceeded to Panamá.
There he found the soldiers and colonists more than ever dissatisfied.
Provisions were scarce, and there was fever among them, and they said,
Espinosa among the rest, if they were to become citizens, they would
prefer the pure air of Spain to this pest-hole. "Very well," replied
the governor, "let the gold be unearthed, and that with all the rest
returned to the people of Paris, as the Jeronimite Fathers have ordered,
and let us return to Castile. I assuredly can live there without
hunger." A threat from Pedrarias to do a righteous act was uncommon and
terrifying. The disaffected were silenced; and while Pedrarias yielded
so far as to agree to the search for a more favorable country to the
westward, it was at the same time determined that the building of Panamá
should be proceeded with.
[Sidenote: THE DOINGS OF ALBITES.]
Meanwhile the cabildo of Antigua proceeded as best it could with the
establishing of a northern seaport. By several successful raids on the
north coast, toward Veragua, Diego de Albites had accumulated wealth,
and with wealth ambition more vaulting. During the war between Vasco
Nuñez and Pedrarias he pictured to himself political dissolution, and
sent to Spain Andres Niño, a pilot, and two thousand castellanos to
purchase for him a South Sea government. Better skilled in navigation
than in diplomacy Niño returned without the office and without the
money. At another time, while left in command at Acla during Vasco
Nuñez' absence at the South Sea, Albites slipped cable and sailed for
Española, where he applied for authority to build a town at Nombre de
Dios or establish a colony on the coast of Veragua. Referred by the
friars to Pedrarias, as an excuse for his absence he enlisted sixty
men, loaded his ships with much-needed provisions, and returned to
receive the thanks of the governor whom he had sought to circumvent.
For this faithful service he received permission from Pedrarias to
make an incursion into the province of Veragua, which greatly offended
Vasco Nuñez; and when Albites returned successful from this raid the
cabildo at Antigua granted him permission to establish a settlement
not only in that province, but at Nombre de Dios, to Pedrarias' extreme
annoyance.[XIII-9]
It was in 1517 that Albites returned to Antigua from Veragua, Chagre,
and Nombre de Dios with much gold and many slaves. According to Herrera
he attempted an expedition to Veragua in 1518, but was driven back to
Nombre de Dios, where he founded a city. Andagoya is correct, however,
when he places the settlement of Nombre de Dios in the latter part of
1519, though it was not by order of Pedrarias as he affirms. Embarking
from Antigua in a brigantine and caravel, Albites touched at the isle
of Bastimentos, and coasted westward a few leagues, raiding upon the
natives for gold with meagre results. One of the ships becoming leaky he
returned to Bastimentos, where it foundered. Thence he was conveyed by
the cacique in canoes to Nombre de Dios, and at once set about building
a town.
Two opposite posts being thus established, a road was constructed from
sea to sea, "through the mountains overgrown with thick woods never
touched from all eternity," as Peter Martyr expresses it. At great labor
and cost both to the crown and to the colonists, a way wide enough for
vehicles was cut through the thickets; trees were felled and thrown
into the marshes, obstructing rocks torn from their beds, and bridges
made where necessary.[XIII-10] Thus was opened through primeval shades
a passage for the blessings and the curses of that Atlantic civilization
which was to illuminate the Pacific.
* * * * *
This same year the lucky licentiate and alcalde mayor, Gaspar de
Espinosa, was gaining further renown as discoverer and treasure-seeker.
With Juan de Castañeda as pilot, he coasted one hundred and eighty
leagues toward the north-west, touching at Huistá, Natá, Chirú, Chame,
and other posts, and returned to Panamá well laden with maize and other
provisions, and gold to the value of thirty-three thousand castellanos.
During this exploration he entered a gulf to which he gave the name
Culebras,[XIII-11] from the many snakes of various colors seen there.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: INOPPORTUNE DEATH OF SOSA.]
A stroke of better fortune than he deserved likewise befell Pedrarias
not long after. In May, 1520, Lope de Sosa, with three hundred men,
arrived and anchored in the harbor of Antigua. Pedrarias, who was there
at the time, immediately made preparations to receive him with becoming
ceremony. Having given orders concerning his disembarkation, the new
governor entered his cabin to dress. While there he was seized with
a sudden illness, from which he shortly after expired. With mournful
pomp and outward demonstration of grief Pedrarias conveyed the body
to the church and buried it before the altar. Juan Alonso de Sosa, the
son, and all the followers of the late governor were treated with that
show of distinction which the old courtier could so well assume. Juan
Rodriguez de Alarconcillo, who came as alcalde mayor, and before whom
the residencia of the outgoing governor would have been taken, was
favored with marked consideration. By way of prudence, some time before
the anticipated arrival of his judge Pedrarias had sent his wife to
Spain with all his gold and pearls.
* * * * *
Sosa's appointment to supersede Pedrarias was one of the reformatory
measures which the chronicler Oviedo claims to have effected while in
Spain.[XIII-12] For himself he had obtained, besides the offices of
veedor and escribano-general, those of collector of chamber penalties
and _regidor perpetuo_ of Antigua. Orders were issued, furthermore,
to all New World governors to furnish him a truthful report of all
their acts, so that he might complete the General History of the Indies
already begun. He was also appointed receiver of the property of Vasco
Nuñez and his accomplices which had been confiscated to the king. He
arrived at Antigua with his wife and two children soon after Sosa.
But the heart of the scholar was not in the coarse cunning of Darien
politics; he became discontented, irritable, and while commanding the
respect of the colonists he was not popular with them. They did not want
reform so much as plunder. Pedrarias was his enemy, as he was the enemy
of every well-meaning man of ability. The deaths first of a boy and then
of his wife did not tend to sweeten his disposition. "Many times would I
have returned to Spain," he exclaims, "had not need and shame prevented
me."
The powers of the governor having been enlarged by means of the veedor,
Oviedo's was the first head on which they were visited. The principal
quarrel was over the depopulation of the northern coast. The veedor
protested in the king's name, but the governor, now lord of all, was
determined to execute his cherished project while he possessed the
power. There was no longer any need of a north-coast capital; Pedrarias
would make Panamá his metropolis. Before introducing further changes,
however, it was necessary that his residencia should be taken. But this,
with his experience, need be nothing more than an arraignment and trial
of himself. At his request the licentiate Alarconcillo published the
residencia for thirty days, during which time the governor continued
to exercise the functions of office; no one appeared against him, and
a certificate of the proceeding was sent to Spain. Pedrarias then took
up his permanent abode at Panamá.
Not long afterward the veedor and contador were obliged to visit Panamá
to weigh some gold and receive the royal share, since the governor would
no longer send the metal to Antigua. The contador took up his residence
there, but Oviedo returned to Antigua, more than ever determined to
stand by that city. Seeing which Pedrarias was satisfied he could no
more effectually ruin his adversary than by permitting him to have his
own way. Besides, it were as well to stop the tongue and pen of one
who could make and unmake governors. So when next Oviedo complained
Pedrarias answered, "Señor Veedor, since you know so well how to achieve
such desirable results, accept from me what power I possess, and govern
Antigua according to your pleasure."
[Sidenote: OVIEDO AS RULER.]
After some hesitation Oviedo accepted the proposal, and presented his
credentials to the municipal council in November, 1521. Opening his
administration with the enthusiasm of a novice, he straightway set
about correcting abuses. He forbade blasphemy, keeping mistresses, and
selling or eating meat on Saturday. He prohibited gambling, and burned
all the cards in the public square. A dishonest notary was required to
make restitution fourfold and be suspended from office for one year.
Indian women must no longer be employed as beasts of burden, and Indian
children must not be sold and bought as slaves. Certain more practicable
provisions, however, saved Antigua, for a time, from the effects of
a morality which standing alone would have killed any colony in the
Indies. The new ruler bought for small sums the houses of those leaving,
and sold them to new-comers at cost. He erected a market, opened mines,
built ships, and sent out expeditions to smooth the ruffled plumage
of the savage. He made of old iron five hundred hatchets, which were
sold to the Indians; and when they became dulled, their owners not
knowing how to sharpen them, he placed on board a vessel three large
grindstones, covered so that the uncivilized might not steal the
secret, and proceeded along the coast grinding such implements as the
Indians brought, and charging therefor a sum equal to the original cost,
which was cheerfully paid. It is claimed that more than seven thousand
castellanos were thus secured during one voyage.
A greater prosperity followed these measures than pleased Pedrarias.
But by revoking the many decisions of his deputy that came up on appeal
from dissatisfied colonists, the governor was enabled to render Oviedo's
position one of little power.
The staff of officials was increased by yet another alcalde mayor, the
licentiate Sancho de Salaya, for the South Sea government particularly,
who arrived at Antigua in a caravel from Spain, the 1st of July, 1522.
With him came Rodrigo Perez, the friend of Vasco Nuñez, vicar when sent
in chains to Spain, but returned arch-deacon.[XIII-13]
About this time a rebellion broke out on the Rio Grande San Juan, caused
by outrages perpetrated by the bachiller Corral and Martin Estete during
a foraging expedition. Heedless of the warning of Oviedo, Martin de
Murga, visitador of the Indians, in company with three Spaniards and ten
friendly Indians, paid a visit to Bea, the cacique of this province, who
slew the entire party. Juan de Escaray with forty men was sent against
the revolted chieftain.
Soon after some christianized Indians came down from the mountains,
eight leagues distant, and reported outrages on them by the cacique
Corobari. Thirty-five men were sent to capture him, and when brought in,
Salaya sentenced him to be burned; after which the licentiate proceeded
to Panamá. Several spies caught near Antigua about the same time
confessed under torture to an insurrection contemplated by the cacique
Guaturo, who had joined Bea. It was his plan to fire the town and slay
the inhabitants. Oviedo in person, with forty men, proceeded against
the new rebel, who, with several of the conspirators, was captured and
hanged. This was the last of the wars of Antigua.
[Sidenote: OVIEDO RETIRES.]
At length it pleased Pedrarias to depose Oviedo, and appoint in his
place the bachiller Corral, who had shortly before incurred the anger
of the chronicler, and had by him been sent in chains to Spain, on
the charge of having there a wife while living himself in the Indies.
The ubiquitous bachiller re-appeared at Antigua, however, almost in a
twinkling. Of course, the chronicler was very indignant. The revocation
was read in council; whereupon Oviedo laid his staff of office on the
chair which he had occupied as president, and took his seat among the
members, saying, "This is my place, given me by the emperor; here will
I henceforth serve their Majesties, as in duty bound, and here only."
Accompanying the revocation was a decree from Pedrarias, authorizing
the city of Antigua to elect a representative to a general assembly, to
be convened at Panamá for the purpose of providing measures important
to the province, and to elect _procuradores de córtes_, or members of
Congress to send to Spain. Pedrarias preferred Espinosa to represent
Antigua, for obvious reasons; but instead of sending a delegate to the
junta at Panamá, the people of Antigua chose their own representative in
the person of Oviedo. While waiting for a vessel Oviedo occupied himself
by presenting charges against Pedrarias before the new alcalde mayor,
Alarconcillo, who had ordered a second residencia of the governor, and
also one of Espinosa. For this pastime he not only narrowly escaped
paying with his life, at the hand of an assassin, but Pedrarias ordered
his late lieutenant's own residencia to be taken, and even placed him in
irons until bonds should be given. The trial was passed without further
damage than a fine of twenty castellanos for sending Corral to Spain.
Another attempt being made at murder, Oviedo on the 3d of July, 1523,
stole away, embarking ostensibly for Nombre de Dios, but bearing off,
he directed his course toward Cuba and Jamaica, and thence sailed to
Spain. Verily, these were the days of dissimulation.
CHAPTER XIV.
GIL GONZALEZ IN COSTA RICA AND NICARAGUA.
1519-1523.
ANDRÉS NIÑO AND HIS SPICE ISLANDS—FAILS TO OBTAIN AUTHORITY
TO DISCOVER—APPLIES TO GIL GONZALEZ DÁVILA—AGREEMENT WITH
THE KING—ROYAL ORDER FOR THE SHIPS OF VASCO NUÑEZ—PEDRARIAS
REFUSES TO DELIVER THEM—GIL GONZALEZ TRANSPORTS SHIPS ACROSS
THE MOUNTAINS—EMBARKS FROM THE PEARL ISLANDS—GIL GONZALEZ
PROCEEDS BY LAND AND NIÑO BY SEA—VISIT TO NICOYA—AND TO
NICARAGUA—THE CAPTAIN-GENERAL CONVERTS MANY SOULS—AND GATHERS
MUCH GOLD—FIGHT WITH DIRIANGEN—NICARAGUA APOSTATIZES—THE
SPANIARDS TERMINATE THE DISCOVERY AND HASTEN TO THEIR
SHIPS—NIÑO'S VOYAGE TO FONSECA BAY—RETURN TO PANAMÁ.
The pilot Andrés Niño was an enterprising fellow, not to be put down
by any slight frown of fortune. He had lately seen service with Vasco
Nuñez, and would, God willing, follow the fantasy thence engendered.
If two thousand castellanos could not buy a small slice of dominion
on the North Sea, he would try the South. And in the mind of Niño,
as with other navigators of that day, the undiscovered South assumed
fantastic shape. There was the originally created strait, actual though
invisible, leading to the Spice Islands hard by. Why should not one
pilot as well as another sail through that strait to those fragrant
shores, even though the voyage must be begun by crossing a little strip
of cordillera?
Such was New World geography in 1519, when the inspired pilot found
himself in Spain, soliciting the Council of the Indies for the ships of
Vasco Nuñez, in which to make his voyage to the Moluccas; for, if so
be he might get there for the asking, it would save him much trouble.
Niño had come under the patronage of Alonso de la Puente, the royal
treasurer, and accompanied by Andrés de Cereceda; but the persuasive
eloquence of the worthy pilot was wanting in the soft, seductive
tones that come from the ring of precious metals, and a second time
Bellerophon fell to earth.
[Sidenote: CHARACTER OF GIL GONZALEZ.]
It happened that the contador of Española, Gil Gonzalez Dávila,[XIV-1]
was then at the court of Spain; and it was suggested to Niño, who
seemed to have exhausted all his resources, that if he could engage
that gentleman's interest in the enterprise, it would be equivalent to
its accomplishment. For he was a man of no small influence, springing
from a good family of Ávila, and having been formerly attached to
the household of the all-potential bishop of Búrgos. Possessed of
exceptional ability and integrity, he had been sometimes sent by the
government on missions of importance and trust, and was engaged in
one of them when first we met him at Santo Domingo, investigating the
affairs of the defaulting treasurer, Santa Clara. His energy was of
the substantial cast, authoritative, robust, and direct. He seldom
made mistakes, either in men or measures; and seemingly was strongest
when standing at ease. Neither so bold as Vasco Nuñez, nor so cunning
as Pedrarias, nor so cruel as Pizarro, nor so learned as Espinosa, he
was a man of deeper and broader experience than any one of them, with
a more evenly balanced mind, a cooler, sounder judgment, not always a
warrant for greater success than with a more senseless recklessness, but
on the whole much safer as a colleague, and more reliable as a friend.
He was not a man easily diverted by hollow schemes, however brilliant
or high-soaring; but when Niño laid before him his plans, he saw at
once that they were eminently practical. There were the ships, and
there the undiscovered sea, of which was already known that its shores
abounded in gold and pearls, guarded by naked and almost weaponless
men—this, and little more. What more was wanted? It did not require a
Periander to tell the accomplished contador that this was no ordinary
opportunity. Fonseca, who had always retained a warm interest in his
protégé, heartily approved the plan, and the details were soon arranged
with Niño. Gil Gonzalez was to be captain-general of the expedition;
to him was given the habit of Santiago, and he was recommended to the
newly appointed governor of Castilla del Oro, Lope de Sosa. Niño was
to be a partner in the enterprise, with the position of pilot. Cereceda
was chosen contador of the discovery.[XIV-2]
A royal order[XIV-3] was issued at Barcelona the 18th of June, 1519,
directing the governor of Castilla del Oro to deliver to Gil Gonzalez
the vessels built by Vasco Nuñez, and authorizing an expedition for
South Sea discovery, the expense of which was to be borne largely by
the crown. With this cédula Lope de Sosa promised faithfully to comply.
During the year following the execution of these documents Andrés Niño
so bestirred himself, that his captain-general was enabled to land at
Acla with two hundred men, prior to the arrival at Antigua of Lope de
Sosa. Pedrarias was incensed that any one should presume to intermeddle
in Tierra Firme affairs. Gil Gonzalez nevertheless despatched to
him with the royal order Juan de Sauce, who duly delivered it in the
presence of the notary Martin Estete.[XIV-4]
[Sidenote: RECEPTION OF A CÉDULA.]
It is worth witnessing the reception by this arch-hypocrite of a royal
command. "And forthwith the said lieutenant-general," writes the notary,
"took the said cédula of his Highness in his hands, and kissed it, and
placed it on his head, and said that he would obey it, and that he did
obey it with the utmost reverence he could and ought, as a letter and
commandment of his king and natural lord, whom may it please God our
Lord to let live and reign during many and long years, with increase
of kingdoms and seignories; and, as to the fulfilment thereof, that his
lordship would see to it, and answer and provide thereupon as might be
conducive to his Highness' service."
In which pathetic demonstration no one who knew Pedrarias could doubt
that he never for a moment intended to do as he had said. Rather than
tamely admit a new and dangerous rival, high in reputation and royal
favor, some risk might be run. And so he at first agreed, then delayed,
interposing technicalities and pretexts, and finally refused to deliver
the ships, alleging as an excuse that they were private property, and
claimed as such by individuals. In vain the captain-general urged that
this was not a question of rights of property, but of royal command,
which to disobey was dangerous. Pedrarias stood his ground; and fortune
sustained him in the death of Sosa, who, had he lived, would have made
all well for the expedition. But in Gil Gonzalez the old governor found
his match; for the captain-general was no less decided than he, and far
quicker in resources.
What Gil Gonzalez did was to copy the magnificent performance of Vasco
Nuñez, under the circumstances scarcely less creditable in the imitation
than in the original. After strengthening his command by recruits from
the officers and men of the Pedrarias government, among whom were the
treasurer Puente and the contador Diego Marquez, he dismantled his
ships, packed up the sails and cordage, and taking from the hulls the
iron, and such of the timbers as better suited the purpose than those
freshly cut, which were also necessary, he secured the services of some
Indians, and transported his vessels across the sierra to the same Rio
Balsas used by Balboa. There he constructed and launched four vessels,
but lost them all before reaching the mouth of the river.[XIV-5] The
party, reduced in number more than one half since leaving Acla,[XIV-6]
now crossed in canoes to the Pearl Islands.
A letter directed to Pedrarias in this emergency was productive of no
results. Gil Gonzalez again requested possession of the vessels of
Vasco Nuñez; his messenger brought back a surly verbal refusal. The
captain-general then presented himself in person before the governor
and demanded at least men for the building of new ships. Pedrarias
dared not offer further opposition; and in time four small and poorly
equipped vessels lay at the Pearl Islands ready for sea.[XIV-7] "In all
my experience while in the service of your Majesty," writes Gil Gonzalez
to the king, "I have nowhere been handled so roughly as in crossing
Tierra Firme with the men I had brought from Castile, having to support
them for two years, and spend my goods and jewels on them, and build
the ships twice over."[XIV-8]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: THE VOYAGE NORTH-WESTWARD.]
Embarking the 21st of January, 1522, having on board a few horses,
with arms and articles for traffic, Gil Gonzalez struck westward, and
after sailing one hundred leagues he was obliged to beach three of his
vessels to save them from the worms, while the fourth returned to Panamá
for pitch and other articles for repairs. New water-casks had likewise
to be made, as those on board were failing through the rotting of the
hoops.[XIV-9] Leaving the ships in charge of Andrés Niño, with orders to
follow the coast for eighty or a hundred leagues, and there in some safe
harbor to await him, Gil Gonzalez with one hundred men and four horses
continued his way by land. Poor food, a hot sun, with heavy rains and
softened ground, made the journey excessively irksome. The wading of
rivers while the body was heated brought upon the commander a cramp, so
that he had to be carried. Thus they trudged for many days, gathering
gold, and christianizing the country, meeting no resistance.
Presently they came to what they called an island, ten leagues in length
by six in breadth, "formed by the branches of a river," which was no
island, however, but the peninsula which forms the western side of the
Golfo Dulce.[XIV-10] Here in a huge wooden shed, as high as a tower,
which the chroniclers please to call a palace, dwelt the ruler of that
land, who was invited to retire while the strangers took possession in
the upper part, the lower being flooded. For a fortnight they sheltered
themselves from the falling waters. One night the palace posts began
slowly to sink into the softened earth. The outlook was not encouraging.
Their only shelter was sinking, and with it they were being submerged.
They saved themselves, however, by cutting through the roof, and thus
made their way out, bearing the commander on their shoulders. They were
then obliged to take to trees, and to dwell in them for several days,
the commander's quarters being a blanket stretched between two branches.
During the flood were lost many weapons and much plunder.
After this they proceeded, sometimes going inland for food, but groping
along the shore as best they might. Once when obliged to seek the ocean
ten leagues away, they descended a river on rafts, one of which floated
out to sea in the dark, but was brought to shore next morning by a lucky
breeze and some expert swimming. Finally, after visiting and robbing
a number of petty chieftains, and securing gold to the value of forty
thousand pesos, they came to a gulf[XIV-11] which Gil Gonzalez called
San Vicente, and where to his great joy he found Andrés Niño with the
ships.
Owing to his lameness Gil Gonzalez would have embarked by sea, sending
Niño with the land party; but the men lost courage at the prospect
of remaining on shore without their leader, because the caciques were
becoming more powerful. He accordingly bound Niño by oath to explore the
coast with two ships, slowly and by day only, and reckon the distance
sailed, leaving the other two vessels with the gold in San Vicente Gulf,
while he himself plunged boldly inland, determined to subjugate the
people, peaceably, if possible, otherwise by force.
[Sidenote: NICOYA.]
Among the caciques whom Gil Gonzalez met was one most powerful living
near the northern end of the gulf, named Nicoya, who gave a friendly
reception as a friend, and presented him with gold to the value of
fourteen thousand castellanos. When told of God, and of the bliss of
heaven and the pains of hell, Nicoya very sensibly preferred the former
place, and permitted himself, his wives and subjects, to the number of
over six thousand souls, to be baptized. Furthermore he gave up six
golden idols, each of a span in length, "For being now a Christian,"
said he, "I shall have nothing more to do with them." Which emblems of
perdition the Spaniards did by no means scruple to take.
Nicoya was a great chief, but there was a mightier than he, fifty
leagues to the northward, whose name was Nicaragua, of whom Nicoya said:
"He is wise as well as valiant, and your little army will quickly melt
before his warrior host."
It will be observed that the peaceful policy adopted in this expedition
had thus far proved successful beyond that of any other similar attempt
in the Indies. The sword remained sheathed, and it was found profitable
as well as humane to keep it so. Hence these gentle robbers walked
the land triumphant. The truth is, for the times Gil Gonzalez was an
honest man. He tells large stories about baptizing, as we shall see;
but we are accustomed to some degree of exaggeration where proselyting
is concerned, and Gil Gonzalez really believed that the Christianity
he gave Nicoya paid him well for his gold. Beside being honest, Gil
Gonzalez was humane; he did not delight in blood. Let us doublemark
these traits, for they are rare hereabouts.
How different was this from the usual form with which the captains of
Pedrarias introduced themselves to savagism, may be seen in the approach
by Gil Gonzalez to a people of doubtful temper. When within one day's
march of Nicaragua's town he despatched to that chieftain an embassy
of six Indians and two interpreters to notify him of his proximity
and character. "Tell him," said Gonzalez, "that a captain cometh,
commissioned to these parts by the great king of the Christians, to tell
all the lords of these lands that there is in the heavens, higher than
the sun, one lord, maker of all things, and that those believing and
obeying him shall at death ascend to that loftiness, while disbelievers
shall be driven into the fire beneath the earth. Tell him to be ready
to hear and accept these truths, or else to prepare for battle."
[Sidenote: NICARAGUA.]
Nicoya spoke the truth when he pronounced Nicaragua a wise man. There
is great advantage in possessing an intellect unclouded by learning. He
was both wise and honest enough to manifest amazement when messengers
brought to him things amazing. "Tell those who sent you," said
Nicaragua, "that I know not their king and therefore cannot do him
homage; that I fear not their sharp swords, but love peace rather than
war; gold has little value, they are welcome to what I have. In regard
to the religion they teach I will talk with them, and if I like it I
will adopt it." Of the two messages, that of the savage was far the more
logical and sensible.
Next day when within one league of the town the Spaniards were met by
four of Nicaragua's principal men, who told them that the king awaited
their coming in peace. On entering the town they were received by
Nicaragua, who assigned them lodgings in the public square, and placed
all the surrounding houses at their disposal.
After the presentation of gifts, which, voluntary or forced, was always
first in order, and which in this instance consisted on one side of
gold to the value of fifteen thousand castellanos, and on the other of a
shirt, a red cap, and a silken dress, attention was turned to spiritual
affairs. To a lengthy harangue on what the savage must do and not do in
order to attain Christian salvation, Nicaragua replied: "I see no harm
in it. We cannot, however, give up our war-paint and weapons, our gay
decorations and dances, and become women!"
Before accepting baptism[XIV-12] Nicaragua desired to ask Gil Gonzalez
a few questions. "You who know so much of the maker and of the making
of this world, tell me," said he, "of the great flood; and will there
be another? In the universal end, will the earth be overturned, or will
the sky fall and destroy us? Whence do the sun and moon obtain their
light, and how will they lose it? How large are the stars; how are they
held in the sky, and moved about? Why are the nights made dark, and
the winters cold; why did not the Christian's God make a better world;
what honor is due him; and what rights and duties has man, under whose
dominion are the beasts? Whither goes the soul which you hold to be
immortal when it leaves the body? Does the Pope never die; and is the
great king of Spain a mortal; and why do the Christians so love gold?"
These and other questions of like import the savage asked, and Gil
Gonzalez answered them. There was no question that brave and pious Gil
Gonzalez could not answer. And Peter Martyr says that "Cereceda, the
king's treasurer, witnessed the manner in which Gonzalez answered the
questions of Nicaragua." Strange to say, the savage was not satisfied.
Doubtless Gil Gonzalez could have made himself better understood by
a Christian. "Came these men hither from heaven?" whispered Nicaragua
to the interpreter. "They came from heaven," was the reply. "But how?"
asked Nicaragua, "directly down, like the flight of an arrow, or riding
a cloud, or in a circuit like a bent bow?" The interpreter could not
tell.
Nicaragua finally consented to have the idols in his temple removed, and
the Christian's cross placed in their stead. A specimen of the worship
they had adopted was then given them with great solemnity. Upon a high
mound, whose summit was reached by steps, Gil Gonzalez had planted the
cross on first entering the town. A procession headed by the Spanish
and the native leaders now marched solemnly about the town, and ascended
the steps of the mound[XIV-13] on their knees, chanting their hymns of
praise the while. Proceeding to the temple, they erected there an altar,
and jointly placed upon it the sacred emblem, in token the one of giving
and the other of receiving the true faith. Such was the conquest and
conversion of Nicaragua, unique and spiritual.
[Sidenote: THE FRESHWATER SEA.]
Nicaragua's town stood on a large fresh-water sea,[XIV-14] into which
Gil Gonzalez rode his horse and took possession, drinking of the
water. It was barely three leagues from the South Sea; but there was
no connection, and a canoe sent out upon it could discover no current.
"The pilots I had with me," writes the commander in his narrative of the
expedition, "certify that it opens into the North Sea; and if so it is
a great discovery, as the distance from one sea to the other is but two
or three leagues of very level road."[XIV-15] One other matter claimed
the attention of the discoverer at this juncture; which was to ascertain
whether the invaders of Mexico, whose conquest was known at Panamá prior
to the sailing of this expedition, had carried their operations so far
south as this point. After close inquiry among the natives Gil Gonzalez
was satisfied that they had not.[XIV-16]
April of this year, 1522, was now at hand, and Gil Gonzalez, well
satisfied thus far, must determine what next to do. Before he was aware
of it, baptism had become the rage in all that region. His stay at
Nicaragua had been for eight days. Then he went forward north-westwardly
six leagues into the next province, and found there a cluster of six
towns, of two thousand inhabitants each, all the towns being less than
two leagues apart. These people, jealous lest Nicaragua should secure
to himself all the efficacies of the mysterious rite, came forward in
multitudes to receive it, freely giving the Spaniards gold and food and
slaves.
[Sidenote: DIRIANGEN.]
Yet farther before the visitors spread their fame, until a powerful
cacique, called Diriangen, came in great state from some distance to
meet them. To make the most imposing appearance possible, when within
a short distance of the Spaniards Diriangen halted, and arranged his
train. Five hundred unarmed men advanced, each carrying one or two
turkeys, whose gay plumage made brilliant the spectacle. After them came
ten banner-men, their flags yet furled. Then followed seventeen women
nearly covered with plates of gold; after which were five trumpeters;
and lastly, the chief men of the nation, bearing on their shoulders a
palanquin richly adorned with colored cloths and feathers, in which sat
the potentate. The cortége then moved forward and entered the village
where the Spaniards were encamped, drawing up in perfect order before
the commander's quarters. The litter was placed on the ground, the ten
white banners were unfurled, and the trumpeters blew a shrill melody.
Presently Diriangen ordered the musicians to cease, and approaching
Gil Gonzalez he touched his hand. Then turning to the women, he ordered
the gold to be presented, including two hundred golden hatchets, which
amounted altogether in value to eighteen thousand castellanos. The
five hundred Indians now came forward, and after severally touching the
hand of the commander, presented the fowls to him. "For what purpose,"
asked Gil Gonzalez of the chieftain, "have you come so far to meet me?"
Diriangen answered: "Having learned that a wonderful people, bearded
and riding upon beasts, had arrived in this land, I come that with
my own eyes I may behold them, and offer such hospitality as is in my
power." Gil Gonzalez thanked the chieftain courteously, presented him
some European articles, and after further conversation asked him if he
did not wish to become a Christian, and a subject of the king of Spain.
Diriangen intimated that it would give him great pleasure to accept both
of these flattering proposals, but that he first desired to confer with
his women and priests; he would return answer within three days.
Now Diriangen was a wily lord, who cared not a jot for the king of
Spain, or for his religion. He wished to see this spectacle, and he
was willing to pay royally for admission to it. The faith his fathers
had held was sufficient for him, and he preferred ruling himself rather
than being subject to another. He believed he could vanquish that little
company; at all events he would try. With these reflections he bid the
Spaniards a warm adieu, mounted his litter, and was carried away. This
was on the 14th of April.
Three days after, while the clergyman of the expedition was absent
at a neighboring town whither he had gone mounted on the best horse
and attended by two valiant men, to preach, and the Spaniards were
taking their mid-day siesta, Diriangen came down upon them with three
thousand[XIV-17] men, armed with flint-toothed swords, lances, and
arrows, and mailed in coats of wadded cotton, and was within a cross-bow
shot of them before the alarm was given. Gil Gonzalez sprang upon one
of the three remaining horses, and shouted to his men to rally in front
of his dwelling, which faced the square. He then placed one third of
his force in the rear of the house, fearful lest the enemy should fire
it, for it contained all their gold. By this time the square was filled
with Diriangen's warriors, who gave immediate battle, hand to hand. The
swift death-blows of the Spaniards seemed to carry no special terror
with them, and for a time it was extremely doubtful how the fight would
turn. The Indians brought six Spaniards to the ground, and captured
one, whom, however, they manifested no disposition to kill. Finally,
upon a charge of the commander and the two other horsemen with their
lances, the enemy gave way and were driven out of the town. Gil Gonzalez
recklessly pursued, until wearied with killing, and alone, he turned,
when there fell on him a shower of stones and darts which hurried him
back to his people. Diriangen had kept in the background during the
battle, and disappeared immediately it was over. None of the Spaniards
were lost. The captive was recovered; the priest returned in safety, and
the Indians were finally permitted to carry off their dead. Luckily Gil
Gonzalez had taken the precaution to increase the number of bearded men
by cutting hair from the heads of Spaniards and fixing it to the chins
of twenty-five young natives of his company.
[Sidenote: RESULTS OF THE EXPEDITION.]
After due consultation it was decided to terminate the exploration at
this point and return to Panamá. They had obtained a large amount of
gold, and had baptized many. The results from the conversions, however,
would have been far more pleasing to the Spaniards had not so many
of the Indians apostatized before their back was fairly turned. As
the Spaniards entered the province of Nicaragua, on the way to their
ships, a plan of that sapient ruler was revealed to Gil Gonzalez, none
other than to repeat the experiment of Diriangen. Immediately sixty
Spaniards, all who were at present sound, formed into a hollow square,
so as to act defensively and offensively while marching, having the
invalids and treasure in the centre, and at each corner a horseman and
an arquebusier. As they passed by Nicaragua's town the natives cried
out to the carriers, who had been lent the Spaniards by Nicaragua,
to throw down their loads. To this the Spaniards made no reply; but
when the natives attempted by force to accomplish their purpose, Gil
Gonzalez hurried forward the weakest of his force, and placed himself
with seventeen men in the rear. A desultory fight was kept up for
some distance, during which the cargo-bearers managed to throw down
their loads and escape, to the unutterable disgust of the Spaniards,
who were thus obliged to carry them. Gaining nothing by this, but
rather losing, the natives made peace. Nicaragua, by his messengers,
disclaimed any agency in the attack, but the Spaniards had recognized
some of his principal men among the assailants. At length they reached
the gulf of San Vicente in safety, eight days after the return of the
party discovering by sea. Niño had coasted three hundred and fifty
leagues north-westerly, reaching, according to some estimates, the very
southern limit of Cortés' conquests. Hardly any details, however, are
given beyond the statement that he discovered a large bay which Gil
Gonzalez named Fonseca, in honor of his friend and patron the bishop
of Búrgos. To an island within this bay he gave the name of his own
niece, Petronila.[XIV-18] Returning, the expedition reached Panamá, June
25, 1523, with gold in value to 112,000 pesos, half of which was of
inferior quality. According to his reckoning Gil Gonzalez had coasted
six hundred and fifty leagues, travelling by land three hundred and
twenty-four leagues, and converting to Christianity thirty-two thousand
souls.[XIV-19]
CHAPTER XV.
SPANISH DEPREDATIONS ROUND PANAMÁ BAY.
1521-1526.
EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT ON THE WEST COAST OF AMERICA—PROGRESS OF
PANAMÁ—LAWS RESPECTING SPANISH SETTLEMENTS IN AMERICA—FINAL
ABANDONMENT OF ANTIGUA—ADMINISTRATION OF THE SOUTH SEA
GOVERNMENT—PIRACY UPON PRINCIPLE—PASCUAL DE ANDAGOYA EXPLORES
SOUTHWARD—CONQUERS BIRÚ—RETURN TO PANAMÁ—COLONIES OF VERAGUA
AND CHIRIQUÍ—THE CHIEFTAIN URRACÁ TAKES UP HIS ABODE IN
THE MOUNTAINS AND DEFIES THE SPANIARDS—PIZARRO, ESPINOSA,
PEDRARIAS, AND COMPAÑON IN VAIN ATTEMPT HIS OVERTHROW—BUILDING
OF NATÁ—COMPAÑON AS GOVERNOR—HURTADO COLONIZES
CHIRIQUÍ—CONSPIRACY—CAPTURE AND ESCAPE OF URRACÁ—SEVERAL YEARS
MORE OF WAR.
At length we find on the Pacific seaboard a European settlement, in
the aboriginal fishing-station of Panamá the germ of a Spanish city,
the first on the western side of the American continent from Patagonia
to Alaska, the first on the Isthmus which remains to the present day.
And there was much about it which the befogged but in many respects
far-seeing adventurers of the time could foretell. There was wealth
on this shore, but to what extent they knew not, as Peru stood yet
unrevealed. Unless some strait should be found, or some narrower thread
of Tierra Firme offering superior advantages, Panamá would become the
great entrepôt of South Sea traffic; but wild as were their speculations
in some respects, in others the imagination was as far behind the
facts. Even in their wildest dreams they had not seen resting on their
broad-stretching beach ships from the north and the south, and the far
western east, laden with the wealth of half a world, and in the streets
of their sun-beaten city gold and silver stacked in bricks; and spices,
and precious merchandise waiting transportation over the cordillera to
Nombre de Dios, where cargoes of European goods in like manner waited
carriage southward.
[Sidenote: THE SOUTH SEA METROPOLIS.]
To the importance of this city, even at this early day, the Council of
the Indies was by no means blind; and beside the regulations[XV-1] of
a general nature regarding settlement and city-building which began now
to be enacted, Panamá was the recipient of special royal favors.
We have seen how Pedrarias, by fair means and foul, labored to
depopulate Antigua; and it was a good work, though at the time he
was not fully aware of it. Fortune had favored him in many ways of
late, and the rewards of his rascalities were truly gratifying. Not
to mention the deaths of Vasco Nuñez and Lope de Sosa, the successes
of Espinosa and other gold-hunting captains, or the discomfiture of
Gil Gonzalez, it was a fine stroke of policy making the licenciado
Alarconcillo his lieutenant at Antigua; for the fraudulent residencias
taken by him, under the artful management of the governor's wife
in Spain, did Pedrarias and Espinosa good service at court. Nor was
there any practical inconvenience to the governor in the royal orders
prohibiting complex legal proceedings, that the truth might be simply
and inexpensively arrived at in cases of dispute, and permitting appeals
from Castilla del Oro to the audiencia of Santo Domingo; for the one
gave his power a wider range, while the other could be easily regulated
so as to work him no prejudice. Las Casas likewise had failed in his
effort to displace Pedrarias, the privileges granted in Tierra Firme
limiting him to territory outside of the jurisdiction of this governor.
[Sidenote: ABANDONMENT OF ANTIGUA.]
The abandonment of Antigua began in 1521, and was consummated in
September, 1524, Diego Ribero, the last survivor, being massacred
with his entire family by his own Indians, who afterward burned the
town. Thus the streets wherein had been acted so many stirring scenes
were vacant, and the country, after a struggle of fifteen years and
the loss of thousands of lives, lapsed into its original savagism.
By royal decree issued at Búrgos September 15, 1521, Panamá was
made a city, and received royal privileges and a coat of arms, in
further ennoblement.[XV-2] The regidores should enjoy the title of
_veinticuatros_, as in Seville and Córdova. For the first ten years the
city had to pay only a tithe on gold; the eleventh year, one ninth; the
twelfth, one eighth, and so on to the fifteenth when the usual fifth
would be due. Hitherto the currency consisted of pieces of gold cut into
various weights; now silver and copper money were employed.
[Sidenote: GOVERNMENT.]
The first regidores of Panamá were Gonzalo de Badajoz, Rodrigo Enriquez
de Colmenares, Rogel de Loris, Pascual de Andagoya, Martin Estete,
Benito Hurtado, Luis de la Rocha, and Francisco Gonzalez. The alcalde
mayor, Hernando de Salaya, was made lieutenant of Pedrarias in Panamá,
with a salary of 150,000 maravedís, Espinosa having turned his attention
almost exclusively to military matters. The royal officers formerly
at Antigua as a rule held their places in Panamá. These were Alonso
de la Puente, the treasurer; Diego Marquez, the contador; Miguel
Juan de Ribas, factor. To some of these Pedrarias was obliged to give
repartimientos as an inducement to move.
More difficulty was experienced in having the episcopal see transferred
to Panamá, but it was finally accomplished; the royal order to move it,
with the clergy and paraphernalia of the church as well as the vecinos
and the hospital, bearing date the same as the order making Panamá a
city, namely, September 15, 1521. On the death of the first bishop of
Darien, Juan de Quevedo, a successor was appointed in the person of Fray
Vicente de Peraza. Salaya and the Archdeacon Perez came out together
in 1522; Peraza came later, Salaya being commissioned to superintend
ecclesiastical affairs until the bishop's arrival. And when he did
arrive he appeared in no haste to move, and was still at Antigua in
1524. There, finally, Pedrarias went and exercised upon him his softest
blandishments. The governor could make himself quite pleasing to one
who did not know him. The bishop had not been long in Panamá before his
eyes were opened, and then, indeed, forever closed; for one day, while
the bishop and the governor were at cards, they had a quarrel, during
which the latter was treated badly with words, and soon after the bishop
died. Then with Salaya the governor employed sharp words, saying, if
he did not mind he would cut off his head. "More than one head you have
wrongfully cut off," Salaya retorted, "but he who cuts off my head must
have a better head than mine, and that you have not." Then they were
friends again. Nevertheless Salaya died. Both these men were poisoned;
suspicion pointed to Pedrarias, though he was never formally charged
with the crime.
For the building of churches in Castilla del Oro, the king gave large
alms; his annual donation to the hospital was three hundred pesos,[XV-3]
while the royal treasury covered the cost of an organ and a clock for
the Panamá cathedral. About the time of the removal, Francisco de
Lizaur, procurador of the new settlement for providing the Indians
as well as the Spaniards with food, procured an order requiring the
governor to attend to planting; likewise barter must be opened with the
natives, and negro slaves were not allowed to accompany expeditions.
The boundaries of the municipality extended about forty-five leagues in
every direction from the three leagues of city lands in the centre.
* * * * *
The natives of the New World, and they alone, were expected to support
the new city, and through Panamá to send great wealth to Spain. The
object of the Spaniards was not agriculture, except to save themselves
from hunger; nor even mining, except as they could force the natives
to dig; it was unadulterated robbery, with only the lame excuses of
civilization and Christianity, and Panamá was but a pirates' nest.
By no means the worst of the band was Pascual de Andagoya, who but for
the bad company he kept might have been pronounced an honest man. He
assisted Pedrarias, and acted as the forerunner of Pizarro, but when it
came to wholesale infamies he had no zeal for them.
[Sidenote: EXPEDITION OF ANDAGOYA.]
A faithful retainer of the governor, he was in 1522 sent by him to
explore the southern coast beyond the limits of the discovery of Vasco
Nuñez. Landing at the gulf of San Miguel, Andagoya visited a province
called Chochama, where he was informed that during the periods of the
full moon, a fierce people infested its shore, driving the inhabitants
from their fisheries, slaying them if they resisted, and spreading
terror generally. This people came from a province called Birú, which
name was corrupted by the Spaniards into Pirú, and finally into the
Peru of Francisco Pizarro. Chochama begged Andagoya to protect his
subjects from this scourge, and having obtained reinforcements from
Panamá, Andagoya set out in company with his host and his warriors for
the dreaded region. Ascending a large river for twenty leagues, the
Spaniards found a number of villages and caciques, and on the outskirts
of the province, near the junction of two rivers, they discovered a
strong native fortress, well garrisoned, which on being attacked was
defended with skill and bravery. But superior tactics soon prevailed,
and after a struggle the stronghold was reduced and the inmates were
brought to terms.
The subjugation of Birú being thus effected, Andagoya continued
his voyage, the ships keeping well off shore, while the commander
reconnoitred the coast in canoes navigated by friendly Indians. It
happened one day, while thus employed, that his boat was caught in
the surf and overturned. He was saved by the brave efforts of one of
the natives whose cause he had espoused; but a rheumatic fever which
followed determined him to abandon the discovery, and on the following
day he turned his face toward Panamá, where he arrived in safety with
a few captives.[XV-4]
Permission was then given to Juan Basurto to continue the discovery of
Andagoya; but his sudden death cut short the preparations, and there
the matter rested until taken up by Francisco Pizarro.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: BRAVERY OF URRACÁ.]
Leaving for the moment affairs to the southward, let us return to the
western side of Panamá Bay. There was a cacique named Urracá, whom the
Spaniards sought to kill, whose domain was the sierra of Veragua, and
whose crime was the love of liberty. Indeed so villainously depraved was
this savage that he would not accept Spanish salvation and domination
when offered him in return for his gold; he even thought to kill the
good men who invaded his territory to kill him. Urracá was fierce and
strong; his mountains were rugged, and his home almost inaccessible
to the hostile invader. Therefore he must be approached with caution,
and his capture intrusted only to picked men. As he was reported rich,
and worth the trouble, two companies were fitted out against him, one
by water under Espinosa, and one by land under Francisco Pizarro. The
former embarked at Panamá in two vessels, and, after touching at the
island of Cebaco, passed over to the mainland of Veragua and began his
march on the redoubtable mountaineer. Urracá was not afraid of him,
and after placing the women, the children, and the aged of his people
in safety, with his warriors he marched boldly out against the enemy.
He first encountered the Indian vanguard of Espinosa, and falling on
them slew them to a man. Then he fiercely attacked the horsemen, of
whom there were two or three, and the foot-soldiers, fighting with such
determination that but for Hernando de Soto, who with thirty men had
been sent forward by Pizarro to seek a pass, the licentiate would have
been cut to pieces. Pizarro, who was near at hand, had not reached the
place without hard fighting. And now Urracá defied them all. With every
advantage of a rugged and well-known country on his side, he rallied his
men and attacked the combined force with such desperate energy that when
night came the Spaniards endeavored to withdraw secretly to the open
plain. To this Urracá objected. He permitted them to break up camp, it
is true, and to begin their march; but, when within the darkest pass,
he was on them again like a trap, and from the black craggy defile they
could not move, except against the lances and war-clubs that hemmed
them in. With morning the question faced them, whether they should die
there or escape? And thus the captains placed the matter before the men.
Summoning all their strength, they threw their united force against the
living obstructions at the opening toward the sea, and, treading down
the enemy, escaped to their ships, and spreading sail directed their
course toward Panamá. But it would not do to return empty-handed. So
landing at Borrica they plundered the town, and took the inhabitants
captive, though the licentiate finally released the women. While
Espinosa with the main body of his troops proceeded to Natá, Francisco
Compañon with fifty men surprised by night a peaceful village in the
neighborhood. It was palisaded, and the Spaniards were repulsed. Hiding
themselves, they waited until the inhabitants had come forth in the
morning, and had scattered themselves about the fields. At a signal they
sprang upon them. The poor natives ran for shelter from the merciless
steel, and arriving at the gateway in a body they so blocked it as to
be easily butchered. Those not killed were carried captives to Natá.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: NATÁ AND CHIRIQUÍ.]
The native village of Natá was situated on an open plain, most
beautiful, with a fertile soil and wholesome air. We have seen how
on former occasions it had attracted the attention of the Spaniards.
They had long desired to found there a settlement, and, the present
expedition having proved a failure, Espinosa sent messengers to
Pedrarias asking permission to remain and form a colony. The governor
acquiesced, but ordered Espinosa with the ships to Panamá, leaving at
Natá only fifty men under Compañon.
The new seaport lay nearer to Urracá than the island of Cebaco, although
Espinosa began his march against this province at a point on Azuero
Peninsula, opposite the island, more than thirty leagues from Natá, by
sea.
It was near enough, at all events, for the wary Urracá to follow the
Spaniards with his vindictive eye. The chieftain, by his emissaries,
knew when Espinosa landed there, what he and the others did, when they
went away, and how many remained. Peeping in on Compañon he thought
he could manage fifty men. He would try it. Collecting his forces he
made preparations to attack the Spaniards by night. On approaching
their quarters he came to a house at some distance from the others, in
which three men were sleeping. One of them the savages killed with a
spear; one they captured; the third eluded them until he had secured
his arms, when he sprang up and shouted as if to some companions near.
Single-handed he then attacked them and put them to flight; after which
he released his captive comrade, and the two sought their commander.
Compañon immediately sent messengers to Pedrarias, informing him of the
attack.
It was not praiseworthy on the part of Urracá to allow his multitude of
brave warriors to be defeated by a single Spaniard; probably he never
knew how easily he was beaten; and now confederating with his neighbors
he confined the Spaniards so closely in their quarters that they began
to suffer for food. The opportune arrival of Hernando Ponce de Leon
with forty men, and shortly afterward of the governor himself with one
hundred and fifty men, placed Compañon at ease again.
It is true; the old governor is in the field again! War, at home or
abroad, is his natural element. This bold mountain chieftain must be
put down; and who so fitting to do it, who so capable, as the governor?
Appointing Francisco Pizarro as second in command, with his entire
available force, among which are some horses and small cannon, Pedrarias
sallies forth.
Urracá is ready to receive him. He has joined forces with a neighbor
named Exquegua, and awaits the Spanish governor just beyond the
strongest pass. He hopes a second time to entangle the enemy amongst the
craggy steeps to him so familiar. The fox enters the trap. The governor
must choose either to fight at great disadvantage, or retire and leave
the country to its aboriginal lord. Urracá is powerful, sagacious, and
brave. Occupying in his retreat the most elevated part of the cordillera
where it cuts Veragua, and being about midway between the two oceans, he
can draw supplies and reinforcements from either side. So pernicious is
the influence he exerts that he can prevent the pacification of western
Castilla del Oro: hence the importance of his extermination.
The old governor harangues his army. After the stale fashion of Xerxes
and the Scipios he sneers at the enemy, and praises his own men. It is
not common to hear Pedrarias praise any one. "You see the necessity
of this chieftain's death," he concludes; "let it never be said of
Spaniards that they left alive a rich heathen." A charge is then
ordered. The battle lasts till nightfall. It is renewed the next day
and the day following. Before such unparalleled obstinacy the Spaniards
grow faint. Even the fire-belching cannon, with its reverberating
roar and its balls sweeping down men, splitting rocks and trees, and
tearing up the earth, confounds them but for a moment. For five days
the engagement continues, much of the time in a desultory manner, the
Spaniards fighting from under cover like the Indians.
Urracá at length resorts to stratagem. Withdrawing his forces as if
in abandonment of the fight, he retires toward the river Atra, the
rendezvous of the confederates from both sides of the cordillera.
Pedrarias follows, thinking in some open spot to scatter the foe and
kill them. Seeing which, Urracá calls to him several wise warriors, and
instructs them to play the part of men of the country, and when captured
by the Spaniards to direct them to their ruin. Through this ruse Diego
de Albites falls into ambush, at one time with forty men, at another
with sixty, narrowly escaping destruction.
Determined never to abandon the country until his purpose is
accomplished, Pedrarias sends out parties against the villages of the
confederates individually. Two caciques, Bulaba and Musa, are captured,
but on accepting terms of peace are set at liberty. Urracá avoids
another general engagement, and Pedrarias returns to Natá. The lands and
captives are divided among such soldiers as are willing to remain as
colonists under Diego de Albites, who is left there as the governor's
lieutenant. Sixty elect to remain, who begin to build and plant. Thus
is established the town and settlement suggested by Espinosa, which
is called Natá after the cacique, and which name it still retains, and
next after Panamá on the Pacific seaboard, Natá assumes importance as
a Spanish settlement.
All the same it is exceedingly hard on the poor aboriginal, drudgery or
death. Those enslaved under the fatherly-protection system endeavor by
every means to escape; failing in which, if they do not kill themselves,
they soon die from hard treatment. Urracá never ceases narrowly to watch
the Spaniards, attacking them as opportunity offers. Albites retaliates
with frequent incursions; but unable to overthrow Urracá he finally
makes peace with him. This displeases Pedrarias, who thereupon recalls
Albites and appoints Francisco Compañon governor of Natá. Under the new
regime hostilities are yet more vigorously pressed, but in almost every
instance to the discomfiture of the Spaniards.
* * * * *
Beyond the domain of Urracá, toward the west, in Veragua, was the
province of Chiriquí. Thither Pedrarias sent Benito Hurtado to establish
a colony. The country being thinly populated was easily taken and
held. Indeed, the caciques of Chiriquí, Vareclas, and Burica, the
chief rulers within an area of one hundred leagues, obeyed without
resistance, and for two years the colony of Chiriquí was unmolested.
But the more submissive the people, the more exacting the conquering
race. The crushing weight of servitude becoming unbearable, the men of
Chiriquí at length rose to arms. They were joined in a general revolt
by Urracá. Unable to vanquish this chieftain, Compañon determined to
capture him by fair means or foul. Overtures were begun by presents
and fair promises, and at length, under the most solemn assurances of
liberty and safety, Urracá was induced to visit the governor at Natá.
No sooner had he entered the town than he was seized and ironed. I am
disposed to praise the perfidious Compañon for not burning his captive,
or giving him to the dogs; he only sent him, in violation of his sacred
pledge, a prisoner to Nombre de Dios, with the intention of shipping
him off to Spain. Before the sailing of a ship, however, the brave
cacique managed to burst his fetters and escape. Breathing vengeance he
roused the mountains, organized a yet more powerful confederation, and
marched against Natá. Long and bloody warfare ensued, with alternate
success. One of the most disastrous conflicts occurred early in 1527,
in an expedition against a rebel chief named Trota, under Captain
Alonso de Vargas, with forty soldiers, principally men newly arrived
from Spain. The protestations of some of Trota's adherents, who entered
the camp with humble mien but active eyes, induced the captain, at the
recommendation of a veteran comrade, to send Pocoa, an allied chief
and guide, with offers of peace. The fellow was no sooner out of sight
than he cast the olive branch to the winds, and joining cause with
Trota, advised him to seize so advantageous an opportunity for glory
and revenge, when the force before him was weak and inexperienced and
the commander ailing. Four days later five hundred warriors fell upon
the camp, led by Pocoa in a glittering breastplate of gold. Although
taken by surprise, the soldiers fought desperately, but the numbers were
overwhelming, and Vargas succumbed with half his men. This blow was one
more incentive for the Spaniards to exert themselves in retaliation and
conquest. The country adjacent to the settlement being open and level,
horses and cannon could be used with advantage; while on the other hand,
to make up for lack of skill, were numbers, drawn from a great distance
around, with the protecting mountains in which to nurse declining
energies. Thus for nine years the war continued, until the chieftain
Urracá, yielded up his life, though not, after all, to arquebuse or
bloodhound: he died in bed, among his own people, but lamenting, with
the last breath, his inability to drive out the detested Christians.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE WARS OF THE SPANIARDS.
1523-1524.
OVIEDO IN SPAIN—HE SECURES THE APPOINTMENT OF PEDRO DE LOS
RIOS AS GOVERNOR OF CASTILLA DEL ORO—PEDRARIAS DETERMINES
TO POSSESS NICARAGUA—HE SENDS THITHER CÓRDOBA, WHO FOUNDS
BRUSÉLAS, GRANADA, AND LEON—AND CARRIES A SHIP ACROSS THE
LAND FROM THE PACIFIC TO LAKE NICARAGUA—HE MAKES A SURVEY OF
THE LAKE—INFORMED OF SPANIARDS LURKING THEREABOUT—DEVELOPMENT
OF THE SPANISH COLONIAL SYSTEM—GIL GONZALEZ ESCAPES WITH
HIS TREASURE TO ESPAÑOLA—DESPATCHES CERECEDA TO SPAIN WITH
INTELLIGENCE OF HIS DISCOVERY—SAILS FROM SANTO DOMINGO TO THE
COAST OF HONDURAS—ARRIVES AT PUERTO CABALLOS—FOUNDS SAN GIL
DE BUENAVISTA—ENCOUNTERS HERNANDO DE SOTO—BATTLE—CRISTÓBAL DE
OLID APPEARS—FOUNDS TRIUNFO DE LA CRUZ.
Scarcely were the fair provinces of the Southern Sea brought under
the yoke of the Spaniards, when the conquerors began contending among
themselves. For it must be confessed that neither their culture nor
their religion prevented them from behaving very much like the wild
beasts and the wild men to whom they regarded themselves superior.
In following these disputes we will now accompany, in a second visit
to Spain, the author and veedor, and withal the maker of governors,
Fernandez de Oviedo, whom we left in July, 1523, fleeing the wrath of
Pedrarias.
At Cuba the veedor was entertained by Diego Velazquez, the governor;
at Española he was invited by Diego Colon to take passage with him for
Seville, where he arrived in November. After presenting himself to the
Council of the Indies, at Búrgos, he went to Vitoria, where the court
was residing. Vested with full power to act for the city of Antigua,
Oviedo set forth the affairs of the colony, entered his complaints
against Pedrarias, and urged the appointment of a new governor. In this
measure he was opposed by the bachiller Corral, whom he had made an
effort to send in chains to Spain, and by Isabel, wife of Pedrarias.
Through their influence he was involved in litigation which lasted
two years; and for his treatment of the bachiller he was fined one
hundred thousand maravedís, which he was obliged to pay. But in the
end the veedor triumphed in displacing Pedrarias, and in securing the
appointment of Pedro de los Rios, of Córdova, as governor of Castilla
del Oro, and of the licenciado Juan de Salmeron as alcalde mayor and
judge of residencia.
The prospect of speedy displacement in office, no less than the success
of Gil Gonzalez at the freshwater sea, determined Pedrarias to secure
a footing in Nicaragua before the arrival of the new governor of
Castilla del Oro. No one knew better than himself that by the customs
of discovery and occupation, which were now fast becoming laws, he
had not the slightest right there, having neither contributed to the
discovery of Gil Gonzalez, nor even sanctioned it. As an act preliminary
to taking possession of this discovery, Pedrarias despatched thither
his lieutenant, Francisco Hernandez de Córdoba—not he who discovered
Yucatan, though of the same name—and captains Gabriel de Rojas,
Francisco Compañon, and Hernando de Soto, who embarked from Panamá in
1524.
[Illustration]
[Sidenote: CÓRDOBA IN NICARAGUA.]
Landing at the gulf of Nicoya Córdoba founded a settlement at Urutina,
on the east side, which he called Brusélas, but which existed only three
years, being dismantled by order of Diego Lopez Salcedo in 1527. Thence
Córdoba proceeded northward thirty leagues, to Nequecheri, on the shore
of Lake Nicaragua, where he founded a city to which he gave the name
Granada, building there a fortress and a church. In the province of
Nagrando[XVI-1] he established another city which he called Leon. While
at Granada Córdoba drew one of his brigantines ashore, and taking it
apart conveyed the pieces overland to Nicaragua Lake. After rebuilding
he made a circuit round the shore of the Freshwater Sea, and discovered
its outlet in the Rio San Juan, though he did not descend the stream,
on account of the rocks and rapids. With this leader had come many
friars and religious men, some of whom were quite expert in performing
miracles, and by this means was excited among the natives a furor for
baptism scarcely inferior to the lively manifestation under the swift
instructions of Captain Gil Gonzalez. Córdoba sent Pedrarias a full
account of his proceedings thus far. He also informed him that a band of
Spaniards was lurking thereabout, though as yet he had not encountered
them, but he had sent Hernando de Soto to learn who they were.
[Sidenote: SPANISH COLONIAL SYSTEM.]
The colonial system of Spain as it unfolded in the New World seemed at
this time to assume the form of a political tripod whose three props
were the subjugator, the sovereign, and the executive vicegerent, each
contributing to the support of the others, though in a manner oppugnant
and contradictory. It was something wholly new in the polities of
nations for royalty thus to delegate so much and so varied power at
such a distance; and royalty was troubled for itself in consequence,
and regarded with jealousy and mistrust such of its servants as it
was obliged to confide in. Ashamed of his suspicions, the sovereign
attempted to cover them by the application of chicane to a system of
balancing, placing one agent to watch another, and counteracting the
power of one deputy by the power of another deputy. The discoverer
on returning from his perilous voyage must wear away the remainder
of his life importuning for the promised recompense; and often he was
compelled to lose beside his services the costs advanced by himself.
The conqueror must be frowned upon in the moment of his triumph, lest
he should forget himself, or rather forget his master. He, without
whose adventurings the monarch's realm could scarcely find enlargement,
must immediately on the attainment of new territory be diverted by the
intrusion of some professional governor, who between law, selfishness,
and despotism usually managed to defeat the aims of both king and
conqueror, and attain his own end in ruin and disgrace. Thus it was on
Española, and thus it is again on Tierra Firme. Had Columbus been less
incompetent as the beginner in this colonization, and as governor; had
he with wise statesmanship founded one New World colony on firm and
liberal principles, the whole Spanish-American colonial system during
the following three centuries might have been something quite different.
Had the monarch found on trial that his deputies were trustworthy, he
would have trusted them. Had he not, they would have compelled him. As
it was they compelled him to treat them as unreliable and unjust, as
indeed they were, that is to say such of them as were competent. While
the monarch was far less blamable than his representatives, while as
a rule he sought with honest and pious purpose the best welfare of his
subjects, civilized and savage, it seemed his fate thus far to keep the
colonies always in a ferment, every man's hand against his neighbor, and
under such poisonous and perverting stimulus, that the vilest elements
attained success, while the noblest were consumed to cinders. Witness
Christopher Columbus and Bartolomé his brother as against Bobadilla
and Ovando; Vasco Nuñez beside Pedrarias; and now Pedrarias and Gil
Gonzalez.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: GIL GONZALEZ AGAIN.]
Upon the return to Panamá in June, 1523, of Andrés Niño and Gil
Gonzalez, from their discovery of Nicaragua, Pedrarias undertook, as
we have seen, at once to secure for himself every benefit of their
adventure. And this without a shadow of right or reason. The pilot
and the contador had acted under authority direct from the king; they
had imperilled their lives and had exhausted their private fortunes;
while the governor had not only contributed nothing, but actually
disobeyed the king in refusing to deliver the ships of Vasco Nuñez, and
in withholding men and means for the expedition. A grand achievement
had been consummated by a handful of men, poorly equipped and in small
unseaworthy vessels, whose consequent sufferings were in a measure
caused by the inherent wickedness of the governor, now the first of all
to clutch at the gold. He would have the honor of paying the king's
fifth into the royal treasury, for he could make it advantageous for
himself.
Gil Gonzalez would cheerfully have turned over the treasure to
the king's officers, for his blood was up, and he wished to return
immediately and chastise the impudent caciques, Diriangen and Nicaragua.
But, when under his letters patent he demanded aid for that purpose, the
governor promised it only on condition that he went as his lieutenant,
and that the war should be conducted in his name. This the contador
refused to do. Pedrarias then said that he would undertake the further
pacification of Nicaragua on his own account, and plant a colony,
perhaps, at the gulf of Fonseca; that a southern expedition which he
had planned would be directed north, in view of the superior attractions
appearing in the reports of the late discoveries. Upon this Gil Gonzalez
determined to hasten from Panamá with the king's gold, which had been
melted down by the assayer, and lay the matter before the audiencia at
Santo Domingo, thence going to Spain if necessary.
There was a caravel lying at Nombre de Dios, which Gil Gonzalez
purchased for one thousand castellanos, and stealing from Panamá he
escaped with the gold, and set sail for Española just as Pedrarias in
hot pursuit appeared upon the shore with a requisition and order of
arrest.
The royal authorities at Santo Domingo listened with favor to their
former contador; on comparing his actions with his instructions
they found that he had acquitted himself creditably. They deemed it
unnecessary for him to go to Spain, and thought he could better serve
the king by continuing his important discovery. He might proceed at
once to the eastern shore of Tierra Firme, and search for the strait
communicating with the Freshwater Sea, or its outlet, which was sure
to exist; or, failing in that, enter the territory, pass over to the
Freshwater Sea by land, found there a colony and build a town. To this
end the audiencia promised to aid him in raising three hundred men and
fifty horses, which, with the ship he had brought from Nombre de Dios,
would give him a fair equipment. Distributing, therefore, the royal
share of the treasure[XVI-2] among five ships lying at Santo Domingo,
according to the royal regulations, Gil Gonzalez despatched by Antonio
de Cereceda, treasurer of the Nicaraguan expedition, the famous letter
which I have so frequently quoted, and a map of the coast from Panamá
to the Gulf of Fonseca, made with great care by the pilots of the
expedition. In this letter, after giving an account of the discovery
and presenting his plans, the writer begs the sovereign that his pay
as captain be made over to his wife at Seville, for the support and
education of his children; that the limits of his discovery may speedily
be defined, and other conquerors and rulers forbidden to intrude; that
letters patent may be granted him with the title of Admiral of the
Freshwater Sea, together with a tenth of the king's revenue within the
territory. Were it not that his majesty might deem it a desire on the
part of the discoverer to call attention to himself he could tell much
more; but this he would say of five things done by him, namely—no other
Spaniard ever before discovered so many leagues on foot with so few men
so poorly equipped; no man ever converted so many souls to Christ in so
short a time; no discoverer as yet had brought so much gold; none had
fought so many Indians without the loss of a man; and, finally, no one
before him had ever returned from a voyage of discovery without having
lost to the adventurers the cost of the outfit. Cereceda and the letter
were graciously received by the emperor, who ordered Gil Gonzalez to
continue his discoveries.
[Illustration]
[Sidenote: ADMIRAL OF THE FRESHWATER SEA.]
But without waiting instructions from Spain Gil Gonzalez had hastened to
occupy what he had discovered, before others should arrive to dispute
possession with him. He sailed from Santo Domingo in the spring of
1524[XVI-3] for the eastern coast of Nicaragua, intending to cross to
the Freshwater Sea, by way of its outlet, and thereby avoid collision
with the governor at Panamá; but he steered too far to the right, and
struck the continent on the north side of Honduras, about twenty leagues
east of Golfo Dulce. Obliged by a storm to throw overboard some horses
to save his ship, he gave the name of Caballos[XVI-4] to the port from
which he had under the circumstances to turn away. From this point he
was driven by the wind westward to Golfo Dulce. Finding himself in a
strange mountainous country, and at a loss whither to proceed, he deemed
it safe in any event to take possession and plant there a colony, and
to this he gave the name San Gil de Buenavista. Leaving there a portion
of his men he coasted eastward, to a point between capes Honduras and
Camarones, and although still far from his destination he disembarked
the troops and marched southward in search of his Freshwater Sea.
Continuing on this course Gil Gonzalez in due time approached the
territory of Nicaragua, but only to encounter Hernando de Soto, sent
by Córdoba to ascertain who were the rival settlers. Gil Gonzalez first
learned of the presence of Córdoba in that quarter while passing through
the valley of Olancho. There was but one way to settle rival claims
under such circumstances, the old brutal way, practised by both savage
and civilized from the beginning, and in vogue to-day among our most
Christian and cultured nations—the weaker must give way to the stronger.
The two companies met at a place called Toreba. The savage method of
warfare was adopted. Just before dawn, as Soto lay wrapped in slumber,
Gil Gonzalez, with a portion only of his command, crept into the enemy's
camp, and raising the war-cry, "San Gil! kill the traitors!" began
a furious onslaught upon his countrymen. Soto commanded the superior
force, and although taken at a disadvantage he was soon disputing for
the victory with every prospect of success. The engagement lasted some
time, and several Spaniards on both sides were killed. At length Gil
Gonzalez, fearing defeat, cried out, "Peace! peace, Señor capitan,
in the emperor's name!" And although Soto was urged by his associates
to follow up the advantage, he ceased hostilities and prepared for an
amicable adjustment of differences.
Thus matters remained for several days. But Gil Gonzalez had no
intention of abandoning the field, as his actions and words implied. He
only wished to gain time and bring up the remainder of his force. This
effected, he again suddenly sprang upon the enemy, and after a short
but severe engagement drove him from the field, securing his treasure,
to the value of one hundred and thirty thousand castellanos.[XVI-5]
Satisfied with this success, and unprepared to meet a superior force
under Córdoba, Gil Gonzalez disarmed the enemy, and retired to Puerto
Caballos, where he was informed that a fleet had arrived from Mexico in
command of Cristóbal de Olid, one of the captains of Hernan Cortés.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: HONDURAS AND NICARAGUA.]
After the defeat of Soto, Córdoba took measures to strengthen his
position at Leon, building there a strong fortress. Cristóbal de Olid,
of whom I shall speak presently, founded a settlement on the north
coast of Honduras, fourteen leagues east of Puerto Caballos, to which
he gave the name of Triunfo de la Cruz.[XVI-6] Thus for the territory
now embraced within the boundaries of Nicaragua and Honduras, there
appeared three claimants—Gil Gonzalez, who, under the auspices of the
crown, claimed for himself as the discoverer; Francisco Hernandez de
Córdoba, who claimed for Pedrarias; and Cristóbal de Olid, who claimed
for Cortés and himself.
CHAPTER XVII.
COLONIZATION IN HONDURAS.
1524-1525.
CORTÉS IN MEXICO—EXTENSION OF HIS CONQUESTS—FEARS
OF ENCROACHMENTS ON THE PART OF SPANIARDS IN CENTRAL
AMERICA—CRISTÓBAL DE OLID SENT TO HONDURAS—TOUCHING AT
HABANA, HE IS WON FROM ALLEGIANCE TO CORTÉS—TRIUNFO DE LA
CRUZ FOUNDED—OLID AS TRAITOR—MEETING WITH GIL GONZALEZ—THE
WRATH OF CORTÉS—CASAS SENT AFTER OLID—NAVAL ENGAGEMENT IN
TRIUNFO HARBOR—CASAS FALLS INTO THE HANDS OF OLID, WHO IS
SOON CAPTURED BY THE CAPTIVE—DEATH OF OLID—RETURN OF CASAS
TO MEXICO—TRUJILLO FOUNDED—INTERFERENCE OF THE AUDIENCIA OF
SANTO DOMINGO.
While certain of the Spaniards were settling themselves in possession of
the Isthmus and parts of Central America, others were engaged in like
manner elsewhere. Among the latter was Hernan Cortés, who sailed from
Cuba, in 1519, for the conquest of Mexico, which was accomplished in
1521. So great was the glory of this achievement, complete details of
which will be given in a later volume of this work, that fresh hordes
flocked to the banner of its hero, whose further efforts toward conquest
in different directions were little more than triumphal marches.
On nearly every side his captains found rich provinces and populous
settlements which promised flattering rewards in tributes, plantations,
and submissive slaves; or their ears were filled with reports of
still greater cities, still richer territories, further on. From such
substance rumor blew its gaudy bubbles, which danced in iridescent hues
and ever increasing size before the eyes of the conquerors, luring them
on into the depths of mysterious regions beyond. Insatiate, a world
apiece would scarcely satisfy them now.
[Sidenote: OUTLOOK FROM MEXICO.]
Of the several points toward which expeditions were sent out from the
Mexican capital by its conqueror, the southern regions seemed in some
respects the most alluring. Information came to Cortés of the high
culture of the inhabitants in that quarter, of their manifold wealth,
their palaces and great cities, all magnified by mystery and distance.
Further than this, the possibility, nay, the certainty that Spaniards
moving northward from the Panamá region would soon be in possession
there if not forestalled, made delay seem dangerous. Hence it was that
Oajaca and Chiapas were quickly made to open their portals; and now
the redoubtable Pedro de Alvarado, second only to Cortés himself, was
entering Tehuantepec to rend the veil which enfolded the Quiché kingdom,
and to disclose the splendor of Utatlan.
Likewise the northern seaboard to the south of Yucatan claimed
attention. This could scarcely now be called an undiscovered country,
for Spaniards as well as natives poured into the conqueror's ears the
sure truth of what might be expected. There were pilots whose course
had led them along the coast of Hibueras, or Honduras,[XVII-1] and who
charmed their hearers with tales of gold so abundant that fishermen used
nuggets for sinkers. In this there was nothing startling to Cortés,
however, for since his first entry into Mexico he had received such
information touching this Honduras country, particularly two provinces,
that were but one third true, "they would far exceed Mexico in wealth,
and equal her in the size of towns, in the number of inhabitants, and
in culture."[XVII-2]
These reports could not be disregarded. An expedition to this region
would also be able to meet that of Alvarado, and crowned with success
the two could then carry conquest onward, till sullen ocean, east, and
west, and south, alone might bar the progress of their arms. Great would
be also the reward in wealth and souls. Another wish, the discovery of
a strait, ruled Cortés with equal strength. It was now known how short
a distance lay between the two oceans, and this long narrow strip of
intervening land might in some one of its many inlets hide the passage,
though it was toward the north that the conquistador looked chiefly
for it. The subject had been specially commended to him by the emperor.
"Knowing the desire of your Majesty," writes Cortés, "to discover the
secret of this strait, and the great benefit which your royal crown will
derive therefrom, I shall leave all other interests and gains to follow
this course."[XVII-3] As an earnest of his intention Cortés had begun to
build vessels at Zacatula, on the South Sea, as early as 1522, and with
these he would explore the coast northward till the passage was found,
or proved not to exist. In the North Sea also fleets were prepared to
coast northward to Newfoundland, and southward to the Isthmus.
The expeditions were all delayed, the first by conflagration, the others
by incidents at Pánuco which for a time diverted all available forces.
The latter difficulty over, Cortés reverted to his pet project, and
the Atlantic fleet, which had been for several months at considerable
expense waiting orders for sailing south, was now reinforced to muster
six vessels fully equipped, with nearly four hundred Spaniards and
thirty horses.[XVII-4]
* * * * *
So important an expedition called for a lieutenant not only brave and
able, but trustworthy. Amongst the three or four thus esteemed by the
great conqueror was Cristóbal de Olid,[XVII-5] before mentioned, who,
owing to his prominent position under Governor Velazquez of Cuba, had
been appointed captain under Cortés when he set out for the subjugation
of Montezuma's empire. His devotion, courage, and ability had made
him a favorite, and at the fall of Mexico he had been rewarded with an
ample share of the treasures and encomiendas. While lacking in sincerity
and depth of thought, and being less fit for the council, he possessed
qualities which made him an admirable executive officer. He was at this
time about thirty-seven, of powerful physique and stentorian voice,
which contributed not a little to his success as a leader.[XVII-6]
Several of the old campaigners, but lately ensconced in snug plantations
where they were enjoying a post-bellum repose, were called to aid Olid.
This they did, though not always consenting with cheerful faces. Among
the number was Captain Briones, a turbulent fellow, who had brought some
scars from the wars in Italy, and, after airing his profane vocabulary
as commander of brigantines during the siege of Mexico, had nursed a
hatred against Cortés for services that he fancied to have been ill
paid.[XVII-7] Two priests were added to the expedition.
[Sidenote: DEPARTURE OF OLID.]
Olid was instructed to direct his course to Cape Hibueras, and after
founding a fortified settlement to despatch the three largest vessels
to Cuba for supplies, while the three smaller, under command of Hurtado
de Mendoza, the cousin of Cortés, were to search for a strait as far as
Darien, exploring first the gulf thereabout, that is the Bahía de la
Ascension, as the instructions read, from which "many pilots believe
a strait to lead into the other sea." The fleet left San Juan de
Chalchiuhcuecan, the present Vera Cruz, January 11, 1524, for Habana,
where an agent of Cortés was then purchasing additional arms, horses,
and stores for Olid.[XVII-8]
* * * * *
Let traitors beware of treachery. Cortés had been untrue to Governor
Velazquez: by what law of compensation could he expect subordinates
to be true to him? Scarcely was the fleet adrift before Briones was
whispering his commander treason. And when on landing at Habana the
Cuban governor, with all the hatred of foiled ambition, joined the foes
of Cortés to work upon the fidelity of his captain, Olid was shaken.
"Mexico by right is mine," argued the governor. "It is I who am your
rightful chief, and I absolve you from the miscreant you follow. Strike
out from him, as did he from me; I will furnish men and money, and the
king shall know of your conduct and reward it."[XVII-9]
Ere the fleet left Cuba Olid had decided on his course. He had learned
prudence, however, under his wily chief, and resolved to do nothing
decisive, until he found himself strong enough, and had learned whether
the country was worth the risk.[XVII-10] On landing, therefore, some
fourteen leagues east of Caballos, the 3d of May, he not only took
possession in the name of Cortés, but appointed the officials named by
him. The papers of possession, however, bore Olid's name.[XVII-11] To
the town here founded was given the name of Triunfo de la Cruz, from
the day of landing.[XVII-12]
Olid was not long in openly declaring his intentions. Most of his
company acquiesced; a few did not. These latter to the number of three
score, under an officer named Valenzuela, after robbing the town during
the absence of the men in the interior, seized one of the vessels
and set sail for Mexico, but only to meet shipwreck and starvation at
Cozumel Island.[XVII-13] All thoughts of searching for a strait had
been abandoned, and Olid determined to hasten forward, make himself
acquainted with the country, and secure possession. It was not many
days before he came upon the bands of Spaniards whom we have seen there
fighting each other, and Olid's presence among them tended in no wise
to lessen complications.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: GIL GONZALEZ AND OLID.]
Gil Gonzalez was not in condition to meet so powerful an opponent as
Olid, especially with a threatening avenger in the near west; and so he
thought it prudent to retire until he might secure to his own interests
at least one side by an alliance. Nor was Olid just then strong enough
openly to brave a well known Spanish leader. He therefore met the
advances made him by Gil Gonzalez in a friendly spirit, and sought by
artful letters to lull suspicions regarding his true motives.
Surely they were not in vain, the lessons he had learned under
the astute Cortés. Watching an opportunity, when Gil Gonzalez had
confidingly divided his forces, he sent Briones, his maestre de campo,
to surprise them in detail, while he himself prepared with another
body to descend in two caravels on the coast settlements. Early next
morning, as Olid awoke pluming himself over his well laid plans, a
page rushed in, announcing, "Two sails in the offing, señor capitan!"
Olid hastened to the shore not without misgivings that this might be a
Mexican expedition, bearing perhaps his injured chief.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: CASAS SENT AFTER OLID.]
It so happened that while the renegade Olid was at Habana, the royal
factor, Salazar, had arrived there en route for Mexico to assume office,
and learned only too clearly what was brewing. Nor was he the only one
to carry the news. Cortés heard it with distended nostrils, and the
characteristic swelling of his veins[XVII-14] indicated the anger which
the next moment found utterance. "Villain! whom I have reared, and
honored, and trusted; by God and St Peter he shall rue it!"[XVII-15]
Unable to enter in person upon the determined chastisement, the general
sent Francisco de las Casas, a resolute man of no mean ability, married
to a cousin-german[XVII-16] of his, and therefore regarded with greater
confidence. He relied also on the many warm adherents in the rebel camp
who could require no very strong appeal to return to their leader. For
this reason four vessels, two of them quite small,[XVII-17] and one
hundred and fifty men were deemed a sufficient force to subjugate the
usurper.
As the fleet approached Triunfo a boatman was captured who gave
information of the state of affairs, and on entering the harbor Casas
hoisted a flag of peace with the hope that friendly overtures might
bring about a revolution of sentiment, among a portion of the rebels,
in favor of his chief. Olid, however, who had at once suspected the
character of the arrival, knew the danger of a parley, particularly
since the greater part of his force was absent. Brave and resolute,
he ordered his two caravels to be manned, and opened fire to prevent
a landing. Finding his overtures disregarded Casas replied with equal
spirit, covering at the same time the operations of the boats which
he sent off. It was an original spectacle in these parts, Spaniards
fighting Spaniards, in regular naval engagement; and as the hissing
projectiles flew out from the smoke over the still waters, followed
now and then by a crash, the noise of battle reverberating over the
forest-clad hills, the dusky spectators who lined the shore should have
been exceedingly grateful for this free exhibition of the wisdom and
power of European civilization that had come so far to instruct them
in such a fashion.[XVII-18] Presently, amidst the boom of cannon and
dimly belching flames, cries of distress were heard, followed not long
after by shouts of victory. Olid's gunners had found their match. One
of his caravels was sinking, and the attacking boats were approaching
the second. Hurriedly sounding the recall he sought the shore, with the
loss of a few men,[XVII-19] sending meanwhile a boat to the victor with
a proposal for truce, on condition that no landing should be effected
till the negotiations for surrender were completed. Casas consents;
and Ares dons the mask of Pallas. The first act of Olid on sighting
the fleet had been to despatch a messenger to his lieutenant Briones,
summoning him in all haste to his assistance. Time might now be gained
by parley. But to the same lieutenant went another messenger from Casas
with the most alluring promises for active or passive aid. And in this
Casas was so far successful that Olid waited in vain for succor, while
his opponent, under further prospect of support in the camp itself, lay
confidently at anchor waiting the dawn.[XVII-20]
[Sidenote: OLID CAPTURES HIS ENEMIES.]
It was a golden chain of treachery thus lengthening itself from the
capital of the Indies through Mexico and into the wilderness of Central
America; Velazquez revolts from Diego Colon, Cortés from Velazquez,
Olid from Cortés, and Briones from Olid. But what avails the cunning
of man against the gods! That night a storm burst upon the harbor,
and within an hour the late victor found himself, with the loss of his
vessels and some forty men, upon the shore swearing allegiance to the
enemy.[XVII-21] Buffeted to exhaustion by the waves, and without arms,
Casas was thus fished in by the exultant Olid.
The next step was to secure the fleeing Gil Gonzalez, who was surprised
at Choloma and brought to headquarters,[XVII-22] which had meanwhile
been removed to Naco, a fertile and salubrious valley about twenty
leagues from Caballos, occupying a central position and abundantly
supplied with means of subsistence.
Olid was a generous jailer. He was haunted by none of the suspicious
fear which resorted to manacles and shackles. Casas and Gil Gonzalez
were treated rather as guests than as prisoners; they were given seats
at Olid's own table, and allowed to share in every conviviality. They
enjoyed in fact every liberty, except that of crossing the limit fixed
for their movements. Finding the host so lenient Casas began to plead
also for release. He wished to present himself before Cortés and justify
his conduct. Olid of course would not consent. "You are too pleasant
a companion for me to lose," he smilingly said to his captive. "Ah,
well! your worship," Casas replied, "pray God I prove not so pleasant
as some day to kill you." The prisoners had not failed to improve the
opportunities which their trusting host provided, and finding that
Briones held out as a rebel, they gained sufficient confidence to form
a conspiracy. On a certain evening seats at table were secured for
two accomplices, while near at hand were others awaiting the appointed
signal. Ever a most agreeable companion, on this occasion Casas outdid
himself; and had not Olid been of so unsuspecting a nature he would have
seen through the veil of affectation that enveloped the conversation.
When the table was cleared and the attendants had withdrawn, the
conspirators exchanged glances; whereupon one of them, Juan Nuñez de
Mercado, passed behind Olid, and seizing his head pulled it back, while
Casas, who was seated beside him, rose and grasping him by the beard,
began to slash at his throat with a pocket knife,[XVII-23] crying,
"Tyrant! the earth shall no longer endure thee." Gil Gonzalez was
instantly on the other side of Olid stabbing him in the breast. Yet with
all their advantage they made slovenly work of it, cutting up the old
hero. He was a powerful man, and in a moment had recovered himself and
was hurling his assailants right and left. He called to his guard, but
these were quickly secured by the conspirators. Olid made his escape,
however, and sought a thicket where he fell, fainting from loss of
blood. The conspirators shouted lustily, affirming that he was dead,
and called on all present, in the name of the emperor and of Cortés, to
rally round Casas.[XVII-24] None cared to refuse.
[Sidenote: THE DEATH OF OLID.]
Meanwhile Cristóbal de Olid, one of the proudest of Mexico's proud
conquerors, felt that the knives of these assassins had been too much
for him. He who had so many times faced death for mighty cause must now
die of dastardly blows inflicted by countrymen. True, he was a rebel.
But so was his master. And who of those present would not cast off
any allegiance the moment their interests demanded it? The cold grasp
of death was on him. Of what avail at this moment were the hardships
endured, and the infamies so lately inflicted in the crushing of
Montezuma and his people? Crawling to an Indian hut he begged shelter
and secrecy, offering all his wealth for these favors, and for yet
another, that a priest should be summoned. How many of this race had
begged of him, and begged in vain! The owner of the hut went out upon
his mission. It was almost impossible that the dying conquistador should
not thereby be discovered, but to die unshriven was death thrice over.
Closely upon the priest's heels like thirsting bloodhounds followed the
assassins, who, now that their noble quarry was stricken, plucked up
the courage to cut off his head by law. Dragging forth the dying man, a
court was formed, which that night declared him traitor, and doomed him
to death. As if to favor them, life lingered with the prisoner until
morning, when he was brought into the plaza, his eyes half closed in
death, to receive his sentence. There and then the hideous mockery was
completed; and as the head was severed not one voice was heard, not one
hand moved in sympathy for the gallant soldier who had so often led his
men to victory, and whose hand had been as free to give as was his voice
to cheer.[XVII-25]
Being now master of the situation, Casas made some necessary changes
among the officials to insure the fruits of victory. Triunfo having
proved unsafe, it was decided to form a settlement in a more secure
harbor. Nearly four score enrolled themselves as settlers and a
municipality was appointed, with the recommendation to select a site at
Puerto de Caballos, if found suitable, and to name the town Trujillo,
after the native town of Casas.[XVII-26] Eager to relieve the anxiety of
Cortés and to consult with him, Casas did not stay to see this carried
out, but selecting Juan Lopez de Aguirre, originally treasurer, as his
lieutenant, aided by the new alcaldes, Mendoza and Medina, the latter
also contador, he set out on his return to Mexico. A large number
accompanied him, leaving but a little more than a hundred adherents of
Cortés in the province.[XVII-27] Among those who went was Gil Gonzalez,
too dangerous a man to leave behind, who must appear before Cortés
and arrange with him as to what share in the province he might keep,
if any. Meanwhile his men appear to have been left in possession of
the Nito district.[XVII-28] The route taken led through Guatemala, the
later highway to Mexico. On the road they came upon Briones, who fancied
that his desertion of Olid entitled him to consideration on the part of
Olid's enemy. But nobody liked the man, and regarding him, furthermore,
as dangerous to the peace of Honduras, they took the precaution of
hanging him.
* * * * *
Lieutenant Aguirre conducted his party to Caballos, as instructed, but
the site did not meet with general approval, and a vessel arriving with
a glowing description of Puerto de Honduras, it was decided to go there.
The vessel was chartered and Aguirre went on board with nearly forty
men, a number of native servants, and the stores and other articles
which the party proceeding by land could not conveniently carry. When
the land expedition reached the port no vessel was there. An anxious
search being instituted for the possible evidence of a shipwreck,
an inscription by Aguirre was found bidding the men not to grieve;
he had sailed on for supplies and would soon return. The mockery of
this message was only too apparent, and bitterly did they denounce
the deserters who had carried off not only treasure and effects, but
abandoned them on a strange shore with but scanty armament. The horses
were now their main reliance. Although poorly provided they remained,
and electing Alcalde Medina to the captaincy, proceeded on May 18, 1525,
to found Trujillo and install officers.[XVII-29]
[Sidenote: THE SANTO DOMINGO AUTHORITIES.]
One morning, not long after, a caravel was seen approaching, and eagerly
the officials set out to meet her. But it was not theirs. The audiencia
of Santo Domingo had heard of the threatened collision of rival factions
in Honduras, and of the fuel Casas was bringing to the flame. They
were desirous that their authority should be felt in these parts. They
would bend the spirit of these turbulent governors. On this occasion
Fiscal Pedro Moreno, a better trader than judge, had been sent by the
grand tribunal to Honduras to order away Casas, to enjoin Córdoba and
Alvarado not to meddle, to impose on Olid and Gil Gonzalez the authority
of the audiencia, with injunctions to peaceably occupy only that part
of which they had been the first to take possession, and to surrender
to the fiscal the royal fifth. To cover the expenses of the commission
the chartered caravel had been loaded, for account of the crown, with
arms and stores, which were to be distributed among the needy colonists
at a profit. If the adventure proved successful the judges might make
a part of the profit their own; if unfortunate, who so well fitted to
bear the loss as the sovereign!
Medina related to Moreno the troubles of the colonists, including the
desertion of Aguirre, and appealed to him for redress. He also asked
for arms. Moreno offered to relieve the wants of the colony only
on condition that it should transfer allegiance from Cortés to the
audiencia, as agents for the emperor, and accept for captain Juan Ruano,
one of Olid's officers, as had been done by Gil Gonzalez' men.[XVII-30]
Pressed by necessity the colonists acquiesced. One of the first acts
in connection with the transfer was to change the name Trujillo to
Ascension. After a kidnapping raid on a neighboring pueblo, Moreno
departed with about forty slaves, promising soon to return with a
force strong enough to hold the province.[XVII-31] Hardly had his sails
disappeared when the colonists restored the standard of Cortés, and sent
Ruano to follow his patron, with the reminder that his moderation and
efforts in their behalf had alone saved his neck.
CHAPTER XVIII.
MARCH OF CORTÉS TO HONDURAS.
1524-1525.
DOUBTS CONCERNING CASAS—CORTÉS TIRED OF INACTION—DETERMINES TO
GO IN PERSON TO HONDURAS—SETS OUT WITH A LARGE PARTY—ARRIVES
AT GOAZACOALCO—THE GAY ARMY SOON COMES TO GRIEF—THE WAY
BARRED BY LARGE RIVERS AND DEEP MORASSES—SCARCITY OF
PROVISIONS—SUFFERINGS OF THE SOLDIERS—THE TRICK OF THE
MERCHANT-CACIQUE—KILLING OF THE CAPTIVE KINGS—APOTHEOSIS OF
A CHARGER—FEARS OF REBELLIOUS SPANIARDS DISSIPATED ON NEARING
NITO.
Inordinate covetings had never been characteristic of Cortés; but when
a man attains eminence in wealth, power, or fame, it seems natural, it
is rather expected, that he should become sordid, grasping, callous to
human sympathy, indifferent to noble sentiment, the slave of avarice
and ambition. Greed constitutes no small part of grandeur.
Northward from the Mexican capital were limitless lands; Cortés could
not tell how much there might be to the west; hence one would think he
might well leave to his countrymen in the south something for their
pains; that he might even give his captains independent governments
without diminution of his manliness.
But insignificant to Cortés as was this Honduras country, and petty
as were the bickerings of its occupants, they were nevertheless
objects of solicitude to the great chief. No sooner had Casas left the
Chalchiuhcuecan shore, than Cortés began to doubt the wisdom of his
course in sending one servant after another. The more he reflected on
the popularity of Olid and the number of his men, the comparatively
untried ability of his opponent, and the reputed wealth of the country,
the more he feared for the result, and wished to be present there in
person.[XVIII-1] Not to mention the itching palm for power, this desire
was increased by the petty espionage to which the imperial officers
subjected his every movement. He longed to roam with kindred spirits
in the wilds of the south, wherein native tradition located stately
cities and treasure-filled palaces. He longed to meet a worthy foe. As
he nursed the dream, the glow increased within him at the prospect of
penetrating unknown regions, overcoming toil and danger, and discovering
something new, something startling; perchance he might find the
long-sought strait.
A hint in this direction was sufficient to rouse the anxiety of friends
and enemies alike. He was the guiding spirit of all undertakings, and
the protecting shield. All would return to chaos were he to withdraw;
and the still wavering natives who respected and feared Malinche, as
Cortés was called by the Mexicans, above any host of soldiers, might
rise and overwhelm them.
So urgent and general were the representations to this effect that he
yielded, or pretended to yield.[XVIII-2] But the spirit of the Castilian
explorer once aroused could not be repressed. He felt that he had been
too long idle, so he wrote his sovereign, and must do something in the
service of his Majesty.[XVIII-3] Preparations were accordingly resumed
under pretence that a disaffection in the Goazacoalco region required
his personal attention.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: PERSONNEL OF THE ARMY.]
He set out from Mexico in the latter part of October, 1524,[XVIII-4]
leaving the government in charge of men whose flattery had blinded him
to their insidious designs. The party consisted of about one hundred
horsemen, half of them with extra animals, some forty archers and
arquebusiers, and three thousand native warriors and servants,[XVIII-5]
the latter chiefly under the leadership of the three deposed sovereigns,
Quauhtemotzin the last emperor of Mexico, Tetlepanquetzal king of
Tlacopan, and Cohuanococh king of Tezcuco, and five or six captive
caciques, whom it was regarded unsafe to leave behind.[XVIII-6]
Among the leading officers in the train were the alguacil mayor,
Sandoval, Ocampo, Ircio, Saavedra, Grado, and a number who acted as
household officials and gentlemen in waiting to the leader. There
were also a retinue of pages, youths of good family, among them
young Montejo, later conqueror of Yucatan, and a number of musicians,
jugglers, tumblers, and clowns.[XVIII-7] Cortés had a natural bent for
pomp, the pomp that gracefully adorns the truly great. The church was
represented by a clergyman and three friars; chief among interpreters
was Marina, the Mexican maiden, whose clear head and devoted heart had
more than once saved the Castilian invaders, and preserved their leader
to her love.
The march was directed to Espíritu Santo, the place of review, not far
above the mouth of the Goazacoalco. On the way the party was made the
object of a series of demonstrations, and the settlers of Goazacoalco,
including the 'true historian,' Bernal Diaz, came forth in procession,
with fireworks and masquerade, to conduct the mighty conqueror under
triumphal arches and amid salvos to his quarters. The joy was mingled
with misgivings, however, for the small force and still smaller
equipment awakened a fear that a levy might be made. This proved only
too true, and while some joined of their own will, dazzled by the lustre
of the leader's name, others, happy with a repartimiento of Indians,
who existed only to attend their wants, were not so quick to fall into
line.[XVIII-8] The chiefs of the neighborhood were summoned to give
information, and showed a surprising acquaintance with the country as
far south even as the domain of Pedrarias. They also prepared a map on
cloth, depicting minutely the different rivers, mountains, and pueblos
on the route to Nito,[XVIII-9] some of them ravaged by Spaniards, and
now deserted. The manuscript representation of this vast region, filled
with great cities and rich provinces, determined Cortés to advance
toward Honduras direct, and abandon the idea once entertained of going
through Guatemala.[XVIII-10] Both the map and the imagination failed,
however, adequately to picture the vast morasses and miry sloughs
alternating with and bordering the countless rivers which served for
highways to the natives. The lithe, unencumbered Indian could not
clearly grasp the difficulties herein presented to the heavy cavalry,
for in his light canoe he could speed along the mighty streams, pass up
the tributary branches, and penetrate far and wide by means of the more
shallow creeks into the primeval forests.
[Sidenote: A GAY COMPANY.]
After a week's stay the expedition advanced. Tumbler and fiddler led
in the van a merry dance, perhaps to death; in the rear was a herd of
swine, kept at a safe distance, however, lest its presence should too
greatly tempt the appetite of the hungry soldiers. The artillery of
four guns, a quantity of small arms, ammunition, and stores were sent
by a vessel to Rio Tabasco, to be followed by two small caravels from
Medellin laden with provisions. From this point it was intended to let
one of them follow the coast, west of Yucatan, still regarded as an
island, so as to be able to furnish supplies when called upon by the
land force which also expected to follow the shore. The rainy season
was not yet over, and the very brooks had swollen into rushing rivers.
Two streams, nine and eighteen leagues respectively from Espíritu Santo,
had to be crossed in canoes, the horses swimming,[XVIII-11] and beyond
flowed a still wider watercourse which required a bridge of nine hundred
and thirty-four paces in length. The difficulties of the march may be
understood from the statement that while traversing Copilco province,
fully fifty bridges had to be constructed within a distance of twenty
leagues.[XVIII-12] It was a rich department with half a score of head
pueblos, and having an abundance of provisions they were ordered to send
tribute in kind to Espíritu Santo. After crossing a steep range a wide
tributary of Rio Tabasco was reached,[XVIII-13] where the troops were
cheered by the arrival of a score of canoes laden with provisions from
one of the vessels. Natives of the province also appeared in obedience
to a summons, and assisted in crossing the river and in opening a path
along the thickly wooded bank to the capital of Cihuatlan[XVIII-14]
province, twelve leagues up the river. As they approached it the guides
and sappers suddenly disappeared in the close-knit jungle. A few steps
further the path opened at the junction of a tributary river, and on
the several banks was disclosed a large pueblo, silent as the grave;
but the smoke yet curling from the ruins showed that it had only
recently been abandoned. In the nearest suburb, which contained some
two hundred houses, they remained for nearly three weeks. Meanwhile a
bridge of three hundred paces was built across a marsh, and expeditions
were sent out in vain search for reliable guides, and to explore the
neighborhood.[XVIII-15]
The next objective point was Chilapan, capital of a province bearing the
same name; this they also found burned and deserted, but well provided
with food. The crossing of the river here, which detained the army
for over a week, was effected on rafts, but despite the care taken the
rushing torrent played havoc with the baggage. Beyond this lay a marshy
tract only six leagues in extent, but so troublesome as to detain them
two days. The horses suffered severely, sinking many times up to the
ears, as Cortés expresses it, and endangering the safety of the men
in their struggles, so much so that three Spaniards were lost, beside
a number of Indians.[XVIII-16] After a week's rest at the ruined yet
well-stocked Tamacaztepec, they made another marshy journey of three
days before reaching Iztapan, a fine large pueblo on the banks of the
Usumacinta, burned and deserted like the preceding. The Cihuatlatecs
had, it seems, in their wild scamper spread the most blood-curdling
stories of the fierceness and cruelty of the Spaniards. The timidity of
the natives was proving inconvenient, and guides were sent out to assure
the inhabitants of the peaceful intent of the invaders. The caciques
were encouraged to tender submission in person, and were rewarded with
presents, accompanied by a grandiloquent discourse about "the greatest
prince on earth," and the mission he had given Cortés to remedy evils,
bestow benefits, and point the way to salvation.[XVIII-17]
[Sidenote: CONQUERING AND TO CONQUER.]
A week's rest was taken, during which half a dozen Spaniards were sent
up the river in canoes to receive the submission of chiefs, not to
mention the accompanying presents that were to indicate the wealth of
the district. Three soldiers were also sent down the stream, to Tabasco,
with orders for the fleet to sail to Ascension Bay,[XVIII-18] after
sending boats with provisions and stores to Acalan. It was to follow
the shore so as to be near the army, if possible, for "it is believed,"
writes Cortés, "though not for certain, that the natives pass through
the Bay of Términos to the other sea, leaving Yucatan an island." One
of the three soldiers bearing the instructions was Francisco de Medina,
an ill-tempered, violent, but able man, with some knowledge of the
country and the language, who had managed to ingratiate himself with his
chief so far as to be commissioned to share the command of the fleet
with the actual captain, Simon de Cuenca, one of Cortés' mayordomos.
On reaching the vessels at Xicalanco he assumed an overbearing manner,
and quarrelled with Cuenca about the command till it came to blows.
Perceiving the state of affairs the natives watched their opportunity,
attacked and killed the crew, pillaged the vessels, and burned them
to remove the evidence. The news spread until it reached the capital,
although in a distorted form, which gave the impression that Cortés and
all his force had perished. The anxiety became so great that Ordaz, one
of the favorite officers of Cortés, set out among others to ascertain
the truth of the report. Following the coast by water, he reached the
scene of the slaughter, and received such evidence as to lead him to
declare that the great leader must indeed be dead. Obsequies in his
honor were accordingly held at Mexico, after which but a trusting few
entertained hopes of ever seeing him again.[XVIII-19]
* * * * *
Proceeding to Tatahuitlapan Cortés found the place partly burned, and
deserted by all save a score of native priests, who inspired by duty had
resolved to stay and die with the idols as ordained by the oracle. To
show their impotence the images were destroyed, while the keepers were
exhorted to devote themselves to the veneration of the cross, to whose
merciful inspiration they owed their safety. It was a sacred duty with
Cortés to erect the Christian emblem in all pueblos and camping-places,
and where ceiba-trees grew they were fashioned into crosses which,
blooming anew, stood as living symbols of the saving faith. On the
crosses were fastened notices of the expedition. In this region exists
to-day a village called Las Tres Cruces, from three crosses said to have
been left by Cortés. The place is barely thirty miles from the famous
ruins of Palenque, yet no allusion is made by the conquerors to the
stupendous structures, the matchless palaces, and the curious sculptures
there existing. Once the object of admiration and worship to countless
pilgrims from far-off districts, the city now lay wrapped within the
secure folds of dense forests, and only tradition spoke of her past
glories. Perhaps it was well for the fortune-hunters, at least, that
vegetation had obliterated the highways which in times past must have
led to the shrine of the 'tree of life' from the malarious lowlands of
the Usumacinta region, for a sight of such grandeur might have awakened
hopes never to be realized, and prompted expeditions ending only in
disaster.
[Sidenote: DARK FORESTS AND MORASSES.]
They now struck across to Huetecpan,[XVIII-20] higher up the river,
and, after wading through a slough, plunged into a forest whose close
growth shut out the very light of heaven.[XVIII-21] Here they groped
for two days along the sappers' path, till they found themselves back
on the route already traversed. Pressed by the troubled leaders the
guides cried out that they were lost. This admission was not without
danger, for the provisions were exhausted, and the men filled with
gloomy forebodings, which found vent with many in curses on their
leader for having brought them to such a pass. They demanded that
the swine be slaughtered, but the mayordomo, who had prudently let
the drove fall behind, intimated that the alligators had eaten them.
They must be content with the scanty sustenance of roots and berries.
Meanwhile Cortés had recourse to his maps and compass, and determined
on a north-east course as the most likely to lead to his destination.
This calculation proved correct, and although the place was in ruins,
there was enough of food to bury gloom in feasting. Soldiers being
sent in search of guides, found a little beyond the river a lake where
the inhabitants had taken refuge in canoes and on islands. Finding
themselves discovered the natives came fearlessly forth, stating that
the Spanish boat expedition from Iztapan had reassured them, so much
so that a brother of the cacique had joined the party with four armed
canoes for convoy. The boats being recalled, brought evidence of the
submission tendered by four or five pueblos in a cargo of honey and
other delicacies, with a little gold. Similar contributions flowed
from different pueblos whose inhabitants came to gaze at the bearded
men.[XVIII-22]
Explorers were sent forward as on previous occasions, to report on
the road, but finding it comparatively easy for some distance they
neglected to examine the remainder,[XVIII-23] and misled the army as
to the nature of the route. Beyond lay a large province bounded by the
Laguna de Términos, the broad Usumacinta, and the ranges of Vera Paz, a
low-lying country abounding in morasses, miasmatic inlets, and winding
rivers tributary to the Términos. The fertility of this naturally
irrigated tract, not inaptly known as Acalan, 'land of boats,' was
evident in the rank growth of the vegetation, and the great variety of
products. No roads existed, but the numerous streams provided a series
of highways which the enterprising natives had not failed to utilize
in carrying their surplus products to arid and less rich provinces,
especially to the north-east and south, and in bringing back slaves and
compact treasures. It was quite natural for a people engaged in traffic
to choose as ruler the richest trader, and such a one was the present,
Apochpalon[XVIII-24] by name. To him were sent a number of Spaniards and
Indians[XVIII-25] with a reassuring message and an invitation to meet
Cortés.
[Sidenote: BRIDGE-BUILDING.]
After a three days' march over a rough mountain track, the army suddenly
found the path obstructed by a deep channel five hundred paces wide,
with slimy borders. The passage was shown to be practicable only by
means of a bridge which required patient labor, since the depth of
water and mud proved to be fully six fathoms. Great was the dismay, for
there were hardly any provisions left, and to recross the mountain was
a formidable task under the circumstances. The murmurs of the worn-out
soldiers were loud enough at the first sight of the obstruction, and
when Cortés with his usual audacity gave orders to build a bridge,
they rose almost into mutiny. The leader had been in worse troubles
however. He knew every trait of a Spanish soldier's character, and he
was versed in blandishments. He showed the futility of retreat, since
apart from the mountain road, so long and severe, freshets must by this
time have washed away the means of recrossing rivers, and no provisions
were left in the deserted pueblos. Before them, on the other hand, lay
a land of plenty, seamed with gold. He would guarantee the completion
of the bridge within five days, or, this failing, he would follow their
wishes. Wily Cortés! Could he induce them to begin the work, he would
trust his wits to secure its completion. But the men remained sullen.
They would die of hunger before the bridge was finished. Hibueras would
never be reached. "Very well," said Cortés, "be spectators, I will build
the bridge with the aid of Indians alone." Brief persuasion was needed
with the latter, for the chiefs were in the tyrant's hands, and their
word was law to their followers. Timber was felled, and with the aid of
rafts the piling began. Shamed by this measure the Spaniards joined in
the work, and to cheer them the solitary musician who had not fainted
beneath the hardships of the march was ordered to play some cheering
airs. But the men cried, "Peace! we want bread, not music." The gnawings
of hunger could not be appeased with empty sound.
While some thus worked diligently on the bridge, others went in search
of roots and berries, but with poor success. Overcome by famine and
fatigue numbers lay down to die, while, to add to the catalogue of
horrors, several of the Indian guides were seized by native auxiliaries
and cooked. Among the victims to the adventure thus far, says
Torquemada, was Fray Juan de Tecto, who, exhausted by hunger, leaned
his head against a tree and surrendered his spirit.[XVIII-26]
[Sidenote: MORE AND DEEPER SLOUGHS.]
Before the expiration of a week the bridge was completed, a painful
work indeed for fainting men, ill-furnished with the means, to perform
within so short a time. It was composed, says Cortés, of a thousand
trees, nine to ten fathoms long, the smallest almost as thick as a
man, besides a quantity of small timber, secured with wooden pegs
and withes. For years this and several other 'bridges of Malinche'
remained a source of utility and wonder to the natives, who declared
that nothing was impossible to the white man.[XVIII-27] Hunger and toil
were for the moment forgotten in congratulations over the completion
of the structure, but their joy was of short duration. Hardly had the
rear of the army crossed the bridge when the van came to a slough which
surpassed in difficulties any yet encountered. The horses sank almost
out of sight, and it was only by the united efforts of the army that
the beasts, on which their success so greatly depended, were finally
extricated. This trouble over they were cheered by the arrival of Bernal
Diaz, who had been absent foraging. It was not always that he returned
so well laden, for now he had one hundred and thirty loads of maize
and a quantity of fowl and other provisions. Sometimes he could find
nothing; sometimes what he found he hid, lest with the starving army he
himself should starve. He was sure it would be snatched from his hands
the moment he entered camp; and so it was on the present occasion; the
soldiers pounced upon and devoured it like famished wolves. During the
scramble were seized also the stores intended for the officers, so that
the general himself could not obtain a crumb. Fortunately Bernal Diaz
had with his usual foresight placed in cache a portion of these very
provisions, and suspecting this Cortés so petted and praised the old
soldier[XVIII-28] that he had no longer the heart to withhold the food.
With Bernal Diaz came also messengers from the cacique bringing
presents, including a little gold, and offering the hospitality of his
realm. The following day Tizapetlan was reached, where food had been
prepared. There the expedition remained a week. The attentive natives
were awed no less by the number of the invaders than by their strange
appearance. The horses were a perpetual source of wonder, and offerings
of roses were made to allay the anger displayed by their fierce pawing.
The merchant-chief had thought it prudent to be obsequious to men so
formidable; but, when he saw how food disappeared before them, and how
greedily every valuable was appropriated, he trembled with apprehension.
If they were content to stay and feast for a week in one of his
miserable border towns, how long might they not tarry in the central
cities of the richer districts? To rid the province of the cormorants,
the cacique pretended to have died, directing his son to lead them
quickly in upon the lands of a neighbor. After the funeral rites and
interchange of presents, the young man addressed the Spaniards. "You
would reach the settlements of your countrymen in Honduras. They are
quite near; hardly eight days distant is Nito, where are floating
houses, and bearded men on giant deer."
This he could affirm, for there was an Acalan factory, and at its
head Apochpalon's own brother, who had told him of these things. This
news was more to the cacique's purpose than any artifice, and eagerly
the expedition hurried to Teotilac,[XVIII-29] five or six leagues
off, guided thither by the dutiful young chief over a circuitous
route.[XVIII-30]
The ruler of Teotilac was by no means pleased to find thrown upon him
this hungry host; and he revealed to Cortés the trickery of Apochpalon.
Thereupon Cortés ordered the dead man immediately to appear. Two
days later, accordingly, the sovereign-cacique arrived, looking most
sheepish. He proffered innumerable excuses, and tendered as amends the
hospitality of the capital. The offer was too tempting not to procure
his forgiveness.
One of the two temples serving for army headquarters at Teotilac was
occupied by a goddess, whose fierce passions could be appeased only with
the blood of beautiful virgins. To insure the genuineness of the vestal
offering, so that a mistake might not render it fruitless, girls were
selected in infancy and brought up in strictest seclusion within the
temple walls, till came the time for yielding their fair forms to the
sacrifice. Cortés sought to impress on the people the absurdity of so
atrocious a superstition, and destroyed the idol.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: CONSPIRACY OF THE CAPTIVE KINGS.]
This place is remarkable for one incident which concerned the safety
of the Spaniards, according to their account, and left an indelible
impression on the natives of New Spain. Among those who followed
the expedition as hostages, as we have seen, were three deposed
kings, two of whom were now accused of treachery, Quauhtemotzin,
and Tetlepanquetzal. These patriots were criminal in the eyes of the
Spaniards; they had dared to regard the invaders as the enemies of their
country, and bitterly to oppose them. It seemed now convenient to Cortés
that they should die, and excuse was not wanting for killing them.
Suffering every hardship of the march, the royal captives had found some
consolation in observing how heavily it bore on their keepers, toiling,
starving, discontented, blundering along an unknown and dangerous route.
But this was not their only feeling. Quauhtemotzin, the sovereign,
the general, the tactician, could not fail to observe the disparity
between his followers and the hated white men. The latter were reduced
in strength by famine and hardships, in the midst of a strange country,
far from relief, while the Mexicans, if also weakened, and not so well
armed, were tenfold more numerous, and more at home in these wilds.
Inspired by a deeply rooted devotion to their traditions, to their
princes, to their country, the merest whisper of revenge, of freedom,
could not fail to find response. Yes, sweet was the thought of revenge;
equally sweet the prospect of a triumphal return to Mexico, there to
be greeted as a liberator ordained to restore the ancient grandeur of
Montezuma's court; finally, perhaps, to be exalted by a grateful people
to the pantheon of the gods, a dream so worthy the soldier and patriot,
how oft may it not have smiled upon his fancy! What more natural, what
more commendable indeed, than projects for the liberation not alone of
the auxiliary host, but of their country and kindred? Treachery had
been used to reduce them, and treachery must be met with treachery.
This was justifiable, although the Indians probably weighed not the
moral aspect of the question. As for the risk, one blow, one death,
was preferable to the daily death which they were suffering on this
journey. Yes, they must take advantage of the opportunity presented, and
while the Spaniards were engrossed by the difficulties of some mountain
pass, or engulfed in some morass, fall upon them, especially upon the
feared Cortés, and then, with the prestige of victors, return to Mexico,
where their compatriots would meanwhile, under advice, have risen
simultaneously against the now disorganized and squabbling colonists,
reduced as they were in numbers.[XVIII-31]
[Sidenote: THE KILLING OF THE KINGS.]
How long the plot had been brewing is not stated, but during
the stay at Teotilac Cortés was startled by a revelation from a
prominent Mexican,[XVIII-32] who gave him a paper with the names of
the conspirators in hieroglyphics. Several were seized, and under
separate examination confessed to the existence of the plot, although
disclaiming for themselves of course any actual participation.[XVIII-33]
Quauhtemotzin was also questioned, and admitted, says Bernal Diaz, that
the hardships and dangers had aroused rebellious sentiments among the
Indians, but claimed that he was not the author, and judging from his
own feelings he regarded the whole thing as mere talk. A quick secret
trial was held, and the sentence of death by hanging pronounced against
Quauhtemotzin and Tetlepanquetzal,[XVIII-34] who were dragged forth
during the stillness of the night to a ceiba-tree, where they met their
fate. Cortés was present at the execution, and to him Quauhtemotzin
addressed himself, writes Bernal Diaz. "Malinche, many a day have I
suspected the falsity of thy words, and that thou hadst destined this
end to my life. Why dost thou kill me without justice? God will demand
of thee thy answer!" Tetlepanquetzal calmly expressed himself content
to die with his royal companion, and together they listened to the
exhortations of the friars, dying like true Christians.[XVIII-35] The
execution took place during the carnival days preceding shrove-tide,
and appears to have created no excitement either among Indians or
Spaniards.[XVIII-36]
[Sidenote: EXCUSES FOR THE ATROCITY.]
Most Spanish authorities are of course inclined to uphold the act
as a necessary punishment for a proven crime. Yet certain men, like
Torquemada, a champion of the natives, and modern Mexican writers, side
with the Indians in stamping it as a foul murder, carried out merely
to be rid of the kings whose presence was becoming a burden to the
conquerors. Others, like Bernal Diaz, soften the deed into a mistake,
based on insufficient evidence, and prompted by a desire to smother a
conspiracy which some imaginary spirits had conjured.[XVIII-37] But
Cortés would hardly have removed so valuable a hostage without good
reason. The reason being admitted, and this to some extent even by
native records, the precarious situation of the Spaniards demanded
that Cortés should take measures commensurate with the apparent
danger.[XVIII-38]
Many of the natives, particularly those now encountering the Spaniards
for the first time, regarded the discovery of the conspiracy with
superstitious awe. The idea of treachery by an accomplice did not
seem to so occur to them, but with mysterious shaking of the head
they pointed to the compass and chart. Instruments which had so
unaccountably, and better than any guide, pointed out the road and saved
the army from destruction, could of course reveal a simple conspiracy.
Nothing could be hidden from the owner of that needle. Conscious,
perhaps, of some stray unfriendly thought, many hastened to Cortés to
protest their devotion. "Look into the mirror, and you will find it
so," they said, alluding to the compass, yet quaking the while lest a
suspicion should there stand depicted. Apochpalon was so affected that
he hastened to tender allegiance and to burn idols. So convenient a
belief was not to be disturbed, and the natives were allowed to nurse
it.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: THE ARMY AT IZANCANAC.]
The army now proceeded to Izancanac,[XVIII-39] the populous capital of
Acalan, conducted by Apochpalon in person. He was mounted on a horse,
and the first apprehensions over, he strode his steed with childish
delight. The soldiers were treated with sumptuous hospitality, and
Cortés was gratified with presents of gold and women. Meanwhile, to
facilitate the further march, the road was improved, a bridge built, and
guides were provided, besides an advance corps laden with provisions.
In return for all this Apochpalon asked merely for a letter to prove to
other white comers that he had been faithful.
There was every inducement to prolong the stay at Izancanac, served
and feasted as they were, but the nearness of the Spanish settlements,
as alluringly depicted by the calculating Apochpalon, was an incentive
for all to proceed. Laden with rations for a week, they departed on the
first Sunday in Lent from the fair province of Acalan, over which, the
protective letter notwithstanding, the withering influence of Spaniards
was soon to fall. On the third day they entered the prairie-studded
province of the Mazatecs,[XVIII-40] so called from the abundance
of deer. These animals were here regarded with veneration, and the
consequent immunity from pursuit had made them not only numerous,
but tame. The soldiers, being restrained by no scruples of native
superstition, could not resist the temptation of a chase over the
verdure-clad fields, and soon a score of deer were added to the larder.
The following day they came to a frontier fortress, built on a rock,
and bounded on one side by a lake, on the other by a river, and with
only one means of access. Besides this natural strength it was protected
by a double stockade with moats, surmounted by towers, and the houses
were also provided with shot-holes. The place was in fact impregnable,
and every precaution was taken to meet the resistance for which the
attack of some lately captured scouts had prepared them. Cautiously they
advanced toward the entrance. Not a sound, not a movement. An ambuscade
must have been formed, since no gate barred the entry. But within
reigned silence, and it was only on reaching the plaza that some chiefs
appeared with humble obeisance. This was one of the asylums erected by
the Mazatecs for refuge against the wild Lacandones. But what availed
walls and arms against the irresistible bearded men who controlled
the lightning. Them the inhabitants dared not resist. They had fled
to mountain fastnesses, leaving their wealth of provisions and arms at
the disposal of the invaders, with the sole request that the place be
not destroyed. The chiefs were reassured, and after replenishing their
stores the Spaniards proceeded for seven leagues to a larger and similar
pueblo called Tiac, situated on a plain, within a stockade, each of
its three wards being provided with separate palisades. The caciques
of this and several other pueblos of the province, each independent and
quarrelsome, sent messengers with presents and offers of allegiance, but
could not be prevailed upon to come in person with their people. The
guides here obtained gave the cheering information that the white men
were not far off, and conducted them to Ahuncahuitl, the last pueblo of
this province, also fortified, and amply provisioned, so much so that
rations were taken for the five days' march which intervened before
reaching the province of the Itzas.[XVIII-41]
[Sidenote: ARRIVAL AT THE ITZA CAPITAL.]
Four nights were spent in the mountains, in which was a bad pass, called
Alabastro from the appearance of the rock. They now came to a small
lake with an island pueblo, from which the inhabitants fled as the
soldiers waded over.[XVIII-42] The following day they were surprised to
behold the gleaming walls and lofty temples of a large pueblo, situated
on an isle several miles from shore, in a large sheet of water, which
Cortés assumed to be an arm of the sea.[XVIII-43] But his ordeal was
not yet over. It was the lake now known as Peten, and the pueblo was
Tayasal,[XVIII-44] the capital of the Itzas, which recalled in a measure
to the old conquerors the first and never to be forgotten view of the
famous queen city enthroned in the lake of Mexico.
The natives had taken to their canoes on the approach of the Spaniards,
and heeded no signs or appeals, but with the aid of a dog a solitary
boatman was captured. A friendly message was now despatched to the
canek inviting him to a conference, and offering hostages. It was not
long ere six large canoes approached the shore, and some thirty persons
stepped fearlessly forth. At their head came one whose commanding figure
and quiet dignity announced the ruler. A flowing white robe disclosed
an elaborately tattooed skin, relieved by an embroidered maxtli.
The braided hair was surmounted by a head-dress of feathers, and the
face, also tattooed with black lines, was further ornamented with gold
pendants in nose and ears. He bade Cortés welcome, and expressed himself
secure in his company without the proffered hostage.
It was the hour for mass, and with a view both to please him and to
teach a pious lesson, the ceremony was held with chant and instrumental
accompaniment. The faith was thereupon explained by a friar, with so
good an effect that the chief promised to destroy his idols and venerate
the cross till teachers should arrive to give him full instruction. As
an earnest of his intention presents were produced, consisting chiefly
of provisions, with a few strings of red shells highly valued by the
natives, and other trinkets; and though the gold was small in quantity,
yet it encouraged Cortés to give in return a shirt, a velvet cap, and
some cutlery. News had reached the island city of the doings of the
Europeans, not only at Naco and Nito, but in Tabasco, where the natives
some years before had been conquered in three battles. Cortés hastened
to assure the canek that he saw before him the hero of those famed
encounters, and finding that an impression had been produced, he warmed
with a description of the power and grandeur of the greatest prince on
earth. The canek was not merely impressed but awed, so much so that he
at once tendered allegiance.
With new guides the main body proceeded round the lake southward, while
Cortés entered the canoes with a score of archers to visit the island
city. The officers sought to dissuade him from risking his person in the
hands of a perhaps treacherous enemy, but the general did not wish to
be surpassed in fearlessness and confidence.[XVIII-45] He was greatly
admired by the islanders who thronged round his mailed followers with
mingled curiosity and awe. On leaving he commended to their care a
black horse which had been disabled by a wound in the leg. Ignorant of
the treatment required by the animal, and eager to do reverence to the
strange charge, they are said to have offered it flowers and fowl, on
which diet it died. The grief of the Itzas was equalled only by their
fear. What would the white chief say when he returned? Nothing now
remained but to do homage to the carcass. They had seen the flash of
the fire-arm as the mounted hunter chased the deer on the prairie, and
fancied that this as well as the report issued from the horse. What
more appropriate apotheosis of a charger than into a god of thunder?
As Tziminchac it was accordingly adored. The bones were kept as
sacred relics while an effigy sejant of the animal, formed of masonry,
attracted direct worship.[XVIII-46]
[Sidenote: TOILSOME ADVANCE.]
The next resting-place of the army was at Tlecan, a deserted pueblo some
seven leagues from Tayasal, where the Spaniards stayed for four days
and provided themselves with a week's rations. Six leagues further a
halt was made at a hamlet, in honor of the virgin's festival.[XVIII-47]
Nine leagues beyond, a rugged pass was entered in which the rough sharp
stones tore from the horses feet their very shoes. The next station bore
the name Ahuncapun where a two days' halt was made. Five leagues beyond
lay Tachuytel, after which began an eight league ascent of the roughest
mountains yet encountered, called de Pedernales, Mountain of Flints.
The horses could hardly move a step without slipping, and cutting their
legs and bodies most dangerously. On any other occasion the sight of
suffering among the prized animals, the chief reliance of the army,
would have touched the men deeply, but now they were too much absorbed
by their own sufferings to think of them. Many of the soldiers were also
becoming disabled, and the provisions were giving out in the midst of
the mountains, which in many places offered not even a root. Days passed
by in slow and toilsome advance; none could tell how much longer this
long journey would last. A heavy rain added to their torment, and past
sufferings were forgotten in the present. Many fell from exhaustion and
hunger, or slipped from the rocks into the abyss; and so extreme was
the need, says Herrera, that one confessed to having eaten of the brains
and entrails of three men who had died of hunger.[XVIII-48]
[Illustration]
[Sidenote: A FORMIDABLE FORD.]
Cortés did his utmost to encourage the men. With pike in hand he would
lead the march over the difficult parts of the road; he cheered and
consoled them, and divided what he had with the sick and famished.
This energy, this sympathy and generosity did wonders and animated the
men to repress their murmurs. Finally, after twelve days of toil, says
Cortés, the terrible flint road ended; but it had cost the lives of
several men, and sixty-eight horses had fallen over the cliffs, or had
been fatally disabled, while the rest did not recover from the strains
and bruises for three months.[XVIII-49] Now the men began to breathe
easier, but, as once before, the dawning joy was abruptly checked by
a formidable obstacle. They found themselves on the banks of a wide
river whose waters tore by with a rapidity that made even rafting
impracticable. While the soldiers stood gazing in mute despair at the
barriers behind and in front, praying for deliverance, Cortés sent out
parties to search for an outlet, and soon reports were brought of a
ford. It was as a reprieve from death. Te Deum was solemnly chanted, and
tough old soldiers shed tears of joy. When the nature of the passage was
observed, it seemed indeed as if heaven had decreed a miracle in their
behalf. The ford, two thirds of a league wide, consisted of a smooth
ledge stretching across the whole river, and intersected by over twenty
channels, through which the water rushed with deafening roar. But even
the channels could not be crossed without bridges, and fully two days
were spent in felling timber for the twenty passages.[XVIII-50]
It was Easter eve[XVIII-51] when the ford was crossed by the infantry,
followed by the disabled horses. Again came a check to their joy.
Tenciz, the pueblo at which they now arrived, a league beyond the
ford, had been evacuated, and nearly all the supplies carried off. For
over ten days the men had eaten hardly anything but palm-cabbage, and
very little of that, owing to the trouble in obtaining it.[XVIII-52]
Fortunately, some natives were found who guided a foraging party back
across the river a day's journey into the Tahuytal province, where an
abundance of provisions was obtained, and which furnished the army with
good cheer during the five days' stay at Tenciz, and with some rations
for the journey into Acuculin province.
The guides here obtained ran away, and the Spaniards had to advance
with the aid of native maps alone. The route was level, and eleven
leagues were easily covered in two days by crossing two rivers. This
brought them to a small settlement of Acalan traders, who had been
driven from Nito by the Spanish excesses, and found refuge here. Soon
after the capital of the province was reached, but it was deserted and
almost devoid of provisions. This was most discouraging, and to advance
without guides appeared dangerous. Notwithstanding the scanty sustenance
obtained from palm-cabbage, cooked with pork, and unsalted, a week was
spent in searching for guides. Finally a boy was found who led them a
day's journey to a river in Taniha province, evidently Rio Sarstoon.
Following the stream downward for a couple of days they came to Otulizti
pueblo, where the natives reported that Nito lay only two suns away.
In proof of this assertion two women were brought who had served the
Spaniards there. Hunger and fatigue were forgotten in the rejoicing over
this news, and the men impatiently begged to be led onward.
[Sidenote: APPROACH TO NITO.]
But there was need for prudence, since nothing was known about the
condition of affairs in Honduras, and the troops were not at present
in a position to meet a well-equipped foe, particularly if led by the
redoubtable Olid. Sandoval was accordingly sent forward with a few
chosen men to reconnoitre. It was not far to the shore of the Amatique
Bay, beyond which lay the object of their journey. The bay was skirted
till they reached the wide stream which forms the outlet of Golfo Dulce.
Here they captured a trader's canoe, and then hid themselves to see what
next should happen. It was not long before a canoe approached with four
white men, who were outflanked and secured. They proved to be soldiers
of Gil Gonzalez stationed at Nito, to which site the old settlement
at San Gil de Buenavista had been transferred.[XVIII-53] On the whole
the account of affairs was cheering to Sandoval, the main point being
that the province was quiet, and thoroughly devoted to Cortés, although
without a regular governor since the departure of Casas. A messenger
was at once despatched to relieve the anxiety of the general, and the
soldier to whom the commission was intrusted reaped a rich harvest from
his overjoyed chief and comrades.
CHAPTER XIX.
CORTÉS IN HONDURAS.
1525-1526.
HE IS MASTER OF ALL THE MISERIES THERE—MIASMA AND DEEP
DISTRESS—EXERTIONS OF CORTÉS IN BEHALF OF THE COLONISTS—A
VESSEL APPEARS WITH PROVISIONS—CORTÉS SENDS OUT FORAGERS—HE
SEEKS A BETTER LOCALITY—SANDOVAL AT NACO—OTHERS SETTLE AT
CABALLOS—CORTÉS AT TRUJILLO—VESSELS SENT TO MEXICO, CUBA,
AND JAMAICA—TROUBLES IN MEXICO—CORTÉS IRRESOLUTE—STARTS FOR
MEXICO—IS DRIVEN BACK BY A STORM—PACIFICATION OF ADJACENT
PUEBLOS—CORTÉS SENDS PRESENTS TO CÓRDOBA—SHALL CORTÉS MAKE
HIMSELF MASTER OF NICARAGUA?—ARRIVAL OF ALTAMIRANO—RETURN OF
CORTÉS TO MEXICO.
Cicero says that a man's best adviser is himself. A wise man can find
no better counsellor than his own cool, impartial judgment. Cortés was
a wise man, and he could calmly judge. Had he counselled with himself
before setting out on this adventure? He had led into Honduras, amidst
great sufferings, an army. The end of his perilous march brought to him
no great achievement, no great reward. There was no Olid to punish;
Casas was not a traitor. Might not the proud conqueror with more
advantage have remained at home? The assurance of a ready welcome,
instead of a campaign against a formidable rebel, was a relief to
the way-worn soldiers; but what thought the commander of it? It is
not satisfying to a sane man's pride to beat the air, or charge on a
windmill. A traitor to crush, or a fair city to conquer, would have been
refreshing pastime to Cortés at this juncture.
[Sidenote: DESPERATE SITUATION OF THE COLONISTS.]
In advance of the army, and almost alone, he set out for Nito. If he
entered not as a conqueror with sword in hand, he had at least the
satisfaction of being welcomed as a savior. Malaria was there, and had
so reduced the settlement that the frown of the natives loomed over
it like Erinnyan phantoms. There were but three score Spaniards with
a few women,[XIX-1] the greater number so reduced by fever and other
ailments as hardly to be able to move, and all suffering from poor and
insufficient food—zapotes, vegetables, and fish. Without sufficient arms
and without horses, they did not venture abroad to forage, and seeing
that death would surely overtake all if they remained, the able-bodied
men under the leadership of Diego Nieto were repairing a vessel in
which to depart.[XIX-2] The disappearance of the four men captured by
Sandoval created no small alarm. Were they after all to be overwhelmed
by avenging natives? Amidst such troubles no wonder that the appearance
of Cortés was greeted as a descent from heaven, and that even men wept
as they thronged round to kiss his hand.
The army was not a little surprised at the destitution of the famed
Honduras. While ministering consolation, Cortés sent out bands of
foragers. One of the parties ascended the Rio Yasa,[XIX-3] and coming
to a deserted hamlet, six leagues from the mouth, took refuge from the
rain. But it was not long before a band of Indians set upon them, and
badly wounded they were driven to the boats, glad to escape with life.
Another party found a path leading to a well-provided pueblo called
Lequela, but it was eighteen leagues away, and too far for carriers. A
third division met with better success.[XIX-4]
Meanwhile a vessel appeared in the harbor, having on board thirty
Spaniards, beside the crew, and laden with a dozen horses, over seventy
hogs, and provisions. It seemed a miracle. And the whole equipment
Cortés bought for four thousand pesos.[XIX-5] Welcome as this was to
the starving settlement, the sudden change in diet cost the lives of
several persons. The site of Nito being so unhealthy and ill-provided,
it was resolved to abandon the place, and Sandoval was sent with the
greater number of soldiers, settlers, and Indians, to the fertile valley
of Naco, Olid's abandoned headquarters, twenty leagues off, on the road
to which several well-supplied pueblos offered good halting-places.
With the newly arrived vessel, a repaired caravel and a brigantine,
built from some wrecks, Cortés prepared to take the remainder of the
party by sea to a better locality. But first he would ascend the wide
outlet lately crossed for food, for in this direction some captives
assured him he would find rich settlements.[XIX-6] Exploration also
impelled him to this quarter, for it was reported that when Gil Gonzalez
first arrived here he had detached a vessel for the examination of this
entrance; which had traversed two fresh-water gulfs; but the ascent of
a tributary beyond had been prevented by strong currents and warlike
natives.[XIX-7]
[Sidenote: CAPTURE OF PUEBLOS.]
Manning the new brigantine with forty chosen Spaniards and a number
of Indians, and attended by boats, Cortés ascended the Rio Dulce, and
speedily entered a sheet of water some twelve leagues in circumference,
without settlements. Continuing south-west, he went through a long
passage into another larger sheet of water lying amidst lofty ranges and
most bewitching scenery. Inspired by the wild grandeur around him, he
already fancied himself the laurel-crowned discoverer of the long-sought
strait. But the dream was brief, for the water proved to be a gulf, some
thirty leagues in circumference, and called Apolochic in the vernacular.
Leaving the vessel at its western end, near the mouth of a stream, he
proceeded with most of the men, under a local guide, over a rough route
intersected by innumerable creeks. After a march of twelve leagues,
during which only one village of any importance was seen, he came to a
pueblo in which loud singing with instrumental accompaniment indicated
a festival. Waiting till a late hour, when all was quiet, he fell upon
the sleeping natives, and but for the excited exclamation of a soldier
the place would have been taken without a blow. As it was, the cacique
had time to rally, and in the melée which followed he with several
others lost his life. Forty captives were here secured. Cortés was now
guided to a larger pueblo, called Chacujal, eight leagues further, and
again resorted to a night attack, but did not gain the place without
considerable resistance. By morning the Indians had fled. The buildings,
particularly the temples, resembled very much those of Mexico, but the
language differed as well from the Mexican as from that of the pueblos
hitherto met with. Among the captives was an Indian from the Pacific
slope, who reported that only three-score leagues intervened between
Nito and his country, where Alvarado was conquering.
The place was abundantly provided with cotton goods, maize, the
much-needed salt, and other articles, and since it lay near the Polochic
River, which entered the gulf twenty leagues from where the vessel lay,
messengers were sent to bring it as far up the stream as possible to
receive supplies. Meanwhile four rafts were made, and loaded each with
forty fanegas of maize, besides beans, cocoa, and other provisions.
These operations occupied nearly three weeks, during which time none
of the natives could be induced to return and aid in the work.[XIX-8]
Cortés now embarked with ten men on the rafts, sending the rest down
by land. The current carried them rapidly past the winding banks,
with their alternate forest and prairie land, relieved here and
there by hamlets and plantations, half hidden amidst cocoa groves and
fruit-trees. Nothing unusual occurred till night, when Cortés, who
occupied the last raft, was startled by cries of alarm from the one
before him, followed by Indian yells. It was too dark to distinguish
anything, but the men prepared for what might come. The next moment
the raft struck violently against a projecting rock, and a shower of
arrows fell. Several warriors now attempted to board, but they either
miscalculated the distance, or were pushed overboard by the crew. The
Indians had foreseen the opportunity which the rock would afford for
an attack, but the rafts escaped them, although most of the Spaniards
were wounded, including the general, and half a cargo was damaged. So
rapid was the current that the twenty leagues were made by morning. More
supplies were obtained from other settlements, and on returning to Nito
after an absence of five weeks, sufficient food was brought to fairly
supply the fleet.
The whole colony, including Gonzalez' men, now embarked in the three
vessels and proceeded to San Andrés Bay, or Caballos, where a number
of Sandoval's soldiers had just arrived. The site seemed to be all
that could be desired, "with the best port on the entire coast from
the Pearl Islands to Florida," with fine indications of gold in the
tributary rivers, and with a beautiful and well-settled neighborhood.
A colony was accordingly founded there under the name of Natividad de
Nuestra Señora, from the day of founding, and fifty settlers were left,
chiefly Gonzalez' men and late arrivals from Spain, Diego de Godoy
being appointed commander, with the necessary officials. A church was
also built and placed in charge of a clergyman. Soon, however, the
unhealthiness of the site became apparent, and half the settlers died.
The Indians grew insolent and refused supplies, and threatened the
destruction of the settlement. Cortés thereupon permitted the colonists
to join the prosperous establishment at Naco. Here the Indians had been
gradually reassured and conciliated by Sandoval, whose armed incursions
had already reduced a number of pueblos of considerable size and
wealth.[XIX-9]
[Sidenote: AT TRUJILLO.]
Cortés had meanwhile sailed to Trujillo, where the delighted colonists
rushed into the water to carry the renowned chief ashore. His first and
characteristic act was to enter the church and give thanks for safe
arrival.[XIX-10] Then came the exercise of clemency for which he was
humbly besought by the late adherents of Olid. Matters had been going
smoothly since Ruano was exiled, and the general was too prudent to stir
up animosity. With some slight reconstruction, therefore, the orders
and arrangements of Casas were confirmed. An impulse was given to the
town, and with the enforced aid of native laborers lots were cleared
and buildings erected.
The four vessels now in port were not allowed to lie idle. One was
despatched to Mexico with the invalids, and with letters for the
officials, wherein Cortés commended their zeal for the government,
and promised soon to return. Juan de Ávalos, his cousin, was placed in
command, and ordered to pick up at Cozumel Island the party of Spaniards
left there by Valenzuela. This was done, but on approaching Cuba the
vessel was wrecked at Cape San Antonio, with the loss of the captain,
two friars, and over thirty others. Of the rest only fifteen survived
to reach Guaniguanico.[XIX-11] Of the other vessels, the new brigantine
was sent to Española to report to the oidores concerning the overland
expedition and the state of affairs in Honduras, and to represent that
the kidnapping raid by Moreno was creating trouble among the natives.
The authorities ordered the captives to be returned.[XIX-12] The two
remaining vessels were despatched to Cuba and Jamaica with the plate
and jewels of Cortés to purchase provisions, live stock, and plants
wherewith to improve the colony.
One of these ships, in touching at Cuba, found there a vessel from Santo
Domingo, destined by the oidores for Mexico to gain positive information
about the rumored death of Cortés, and to report on measures against
the disorders that might follow. Learning that the conqueror was alive
and in Honduras, the messenger of the oidores resolved at once to change
the route to Honduras, where his cargo of horses and stores would also
find a readier market.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: BAD NEWS FROM MEXICO.]
Licenciado Zuazo, the most honorable and trusted of the administrators
appointed by Cortés over Mexico, had been arrested by his colleagues
for opposing their nefarious plans, and sent out of the way to Cuba.
These men had not only seized on the administrative power for their own
advancement, to the neglect of public welfare, but, believing the mighty
conqueror and his companions in arms to be dead, they had laid hands on
their estates, and were persecuting their friends and whosoever ventured
to protest. The country was in a most critical condition. Anarchy and
spoliation were the order of the day. The colonists were arrayed in
opposition to each other, and the Indians found every encouragement
for rising against their white oppressors and blotting them out of
existence.
All this was reported by Zuazo in a letter to Cortés, with the most
earnest pleading for his immediate return, ere it was too late.[XIX-13]
Cortés was at first furious; then he melted into tears at the thought
of the desolation wrought by his enemies and at the inhuman persecution
of his followers. "It serves me right," he said, in a calmer moment,
"to be thus treated for placing trust in strangers and ignoring tried
comrades."[XIX-14] The news reached him at an unfavorable time. The
iron will and nerve which had carried the leader through the hardships
of the march, had begun to yield to the insidious influence of the
fever-infected bottom-lands of the Amatique Bay, assisted perhaps by
disappointment at finding the first aspect of Honduras so far below his
hopes. The letter served to rouse his bodily as well as mental energies,
though not to that point of clear and prompt determination which had
hitherto characterized his acts. He was irresolute. Honduras had been
little explored, and the indication of gold near Caballos, though small,
led him still to dwell on the stories of richer districts to the south.
He feared to abandon a yet promising field, after the efforts lavished
on it, and in view of the eager advance of his southern rival, him of
Panamá.
The fortunate predictions of a soldier-astrologer in Mexico would not
have made him disinclined, in his present frame of mind, to encourage
similar counsellors; but no Sabean was at hand to interpret the
scintillating oracles. The friars were directed to appeal to the supreme
throne, and for three days services were held, with processions, and
masses, and prayers for divine direction. Already during the progress
of these appeals, Cortés felt a dawning inspiration in a renewed
courage to face the treacherous sea, and stronger inclination to
trust the development of the province to another. He would return to
Mexico. Hernando Saavedra, his cousin, was appointed captain-general of
Honduras,[XIX-15] and Sandoval was directed to proceed with his company
from Naco to Mexico, by the Guatemala route already opened by Casas.
He himself embarked on the government vessel, but at the moment of
departure the wind failed, and hearing of a tumult among the colonists
he landed to restore order. The unruly spirits appear to have been
disappointed office-seekers, to whom the obscurity of official existence
in a border province seemed a most ungracious return for their long
toil. The general calmed the leading rioters by taking them on board
to receive their reward in Mexico. Two days later he set sail, only to
meet another check in the breakage of the main lateen yard just outside
the harbor. After three days spent in repairs he again departed, with
a good wind, but this soon increased to a gale, and fifty leagues from
port the mast went overboard and obliged him to return for a third time.
[Sidenote: TIRED OF THE SEA.]
Surely, this was a warning from providence not to proceed. He must have
misunderstood the inspiration, and would seek more correct advice. Upon
one thing he was determined, not again to trust himself to the billows.
The last tossings had cured him of nautical aspirations, and threatened
indeed to cure him of all others, for his already weakened body was left
in so racked a condition as to bring him near to death. Bernal Diaz
describes him as a mere shadow of his former self, and states that a
Franciscan robe had been prepared to shroud his body, and by its saving
virtues to assist the soul through purgatory.[XIX-16] But, although the
conqueror of Mexico had filled the measure of his great achievements,
the cup of honors and of disappointments was not yet full. Masses
had again been said to sanctify as inspiration his changing resolve.
The vessel proceeded, however, bearing a trusted servant[XIX-17] with
letters for a number of friends in Mexico, and with orders revoking the
power granted to the usurping governors in favor of more reliable men.
A number of Mexican chiefs accompanied the messenger to testify that
Cortés still lived. They were to proceed to Pánuco after landing the
servant in some obscure haven above Vera Cruz, whence he was to proceed
alone and in disguise to Mexico, so as to elude any watching enemies.
Sandoval was recalled, greatly to the disappointment of his party, who
rose almost in open mutiny at being kept away from their estates in
Mexico, which were by this time exposed to ruin in hands of strangers
and usurpers.[XIX-18]
An additional excuse for the determination to remain may have been found
in the hostile attitude of two provinces, Papayeca and Chapagua, some
seven leagues from Trujillo.[XIX-19] Some time before this Saavedra had
been sent to explore the valley above, and following it for some thirty
leagues found a fertile district with a series of flourishing pueblos.
A score of caciques appeared to offer their allegiance to Cortés, and
into Trujillo flowed provisions and presents. The above-named provinces
alone held aloof, pleading not without reason former maltreatment and
the kidnapping of tribal members by Fiscal Moreno. No excuses could,
however, be regarded as valid in refusing allegiance, and Saavedra
marched against them. The people retired to the hills; but three of the
Chapagua caciques being captured and peremptorily given a fixed term
in which to repeople their towns, the submission of this province was
speedily effected. Papayeca was now entered, and Pizacura, one of the
two principal caciques, was captured. He threw the blame of resistance
on his more powerful colleague, Mazatl, offering if released to secure
and hang him, and thus bring the people over. Once free, the cacique
cast the promise to the winds as readily as any Spaniard. Mazatl was
captured, nevertheless, and given the alternative of repeopling the
towns or dying. The chief disdainfully rejected an offer to purchase
life with what he regarded as the enslavement of his people, and calmly
accepted death.
This severity was thought to be prudent, and it certainly had the
effect of bringing the inhabitants back to all the pueblos save the
capital. Here Pizacura held forth, supposing, no doubt, that since his
escapade no pardon was to be expected. He was soon captured, however,
together with over a hundred followers. The latter were enslaved for
their obstinacy, while he, with two other caciques, and a youth who
appears to have been the true chief of the province, were kept as
prisoners.[XIX-20]
[Sidenote: PACIFICATION OF THE COUNTRY.]
This success, as well as the comparatively kind treatment of the
natives, tended greatly to promote the pacification of the country, and
the name of Cortés became feared and respected far and wide.[XIX-21]
One instance of this was the arrival of a deputation from the Gulf
Islands, appealing to his power and clemency for protection against a
slaving party which was raiding Guanaja. Cortés at once despatched a
caravel which brought in the vessel with its slaves, destined for the
mines of Cuba and Jamaica. The commander, Rodrigo de Merlo, exhibited
a license for his expedition, so that severe measures could not well
be taken, but means were found to persuade the captain to settle at
Trujillo with his crew. The kidnapped islanders were restored to their
grateful friends. They sent in their allegiance and received letters
of protection, together with a number of swine which soon multiplied on
the islands.[XIX-22]
Another instance of the influence of Cortés' name was afforded by the
entry, from Nicaragua into Olancho[XIX-23] province, of an expedition
under Gabriel de Rojas, consisting of sixty men with twenty horses.
The natives resisted, no doubt, whereupon Rojas began to enslave and
pillage. A deputation arriving at Trujillo to implore protection,
Sandoval was instructed to interfere on behalf of the natives, as
subjects of Cortés.[XIX-24] His force was insufficient, it seems, to
drive out the intruders, but Rojas nevertheless retired by order of
Córdoba.[XIX-25]
One reason for this withdrawal was that Córdoba could not afford to
place himself in hostile attitude to any neighbor. One of the acts of
Moreno during his arbitrary proceeding in Honduras had been to urge
upon him to transfer his allegiance and province to the audiencia.
This prompting found a willing ear. Blind to the accumulative evidence
of failure, and untaught by disappointment, Córdoba allowed the few
instances of successful revolt to overshadow every failure. He looked
upon the force around him, and measuring the distance between himself
and the grim Pedrarias, his dread grew fainter as the leagues increased;
meanwhile hope kept whispering, might he not also become another Cortés,
borne aloft by fame, or at least a Velazquez safe upon his usurped
island? He wavered, and yielded. In maturing his plans for a step so
full of risk, he resolved to learn further from Moreno what authority
he possessed, and perfect arrangements with him. Pedro de Garro[XIX-26]
was accordingly sent with a party of forty men to Honduras, bearing
also petitions to the emperor and audiencia, and with instructions
to explore the best route to a port in that province through which
supplies and war material might be procured. Sandoval, on hearing of
their approach, captured them, together with their retinue of beautiful
women and numerous servants, but allowed a few under escort to proceed
to Trujillo. Cortés received them with good-will, and as a proof thereof
ordered four pack animals to be sent laden with horseshoes, mining
tools, and other articles, as a present to Córdoba. But he could not
countenance the overthrowal of a chief by a subordinate officer; for
had not his present expedition been made to punish a similar attempt? He
wrote him accordingly, advising fidelity to Pedrarias, and promising his
aid in procuring supplies through Honduras, since Panamá, was regarded
as too distant.[XIX-27]
[Sidenote: TEMPTATION.]
This intercourse had served to enlighten Cortés in regard to the
condition and resources of the country to the south and south-west. He
had learned that it was fertile and populous, filled with flourishing
towns, and giving great promise of mineral wealth; facts confirmed by
the splendid retinue of Garro and the demand for mining implements.
Perhaps in this very country lay the rich provinces which had stirred
his imagination, even before the fall of Mexico, and for which he had
come in search this long way. Should he allow an interloper to deprive
him of what his fancy had claimed all these years, and what had enticed
him to superhuman efforts? But a valid excuse was needed for seizing
a province already held by another, a king's lieutenant like himself.
Cortés was too astute, however, not to find a way to prevent so rich a
prize from eluding him. Was it out of friendship for a stranger that he
had sent valuable presents to Córdoba, and offered to forward supplies
through Honduras? No, he knew where to sow in order to reap. He had
also written, as he admits, to some officers in Nicaragua whom he knew,
and what subtle poison may not have been diffused by craftily worded
advice. Córdoba understood the hint for himself, and was confirmed in
his resolve. But his fellow-soldiers had also a word to say. The idea
of risking life and fortune for the ambitious plans of a captain who was
little, if anything, more than themselves, was by no means to the liking
of all the officers. Several objected, and since it was now too late to
retreat Córdoba must even persuade them by arms. Civil war threatened,
and the news was not long in reaching Trujillo. Indeed, it seems that
the rebel leader, on finding what a tempest he had invoked, sent to
tender allegiance to Cortés.[XIX-28] And then the latter reasoned
with himself. Could he, an imperial officer, stand calmly by and see
his Majesty's interests sacrificed and his subjects, his countrymen,
slaughtered? No, certainly not; and he congratulated himself upon the
success of his plans. Here was the longed-for pretence, cast in his
way by fortune. He must pounce upon the prize while the claimants were
absorbed in contention.[XIX-29] The first step was to direct a large
force of natives to open a road to Nicaragua, and Sandoval received
orders to prepare for the expedition.[XIX-30]
Again it seemed as if the great leader had misinterpreted the signs of
providence.
[Sidenote: ASSUMES GREATER POMP.]
His messenger to Mexico had safely arrived, and with prudent management
a reaction had been started in favor of Cortés; the evidence that he
was alive was half the battle; but his enemies, though checked, were not
overthrown, and believing that everything depended upon his presence it
was decided to recall him. The commission was intrusted to his cousin,
Fray Diego Altamirano, an ex-soldier who had doffed the helmet for a
Franciscan cowl, and a man of honor and business talent.[XIX-31] He
fell like a bomb-shell on the manifold projects of Cortés for conquest
and aggrandizement, which, if encouraged by one success, might have
borne the victor triumphantly southward, perhaps to the realms of the
Incas. Altamirano was not a man to let the stern present be obscured
by the glowing fancies of enthusiasm. His visions turned alone toward
Mexico, and his coloring was reserved for painting the sad condition
of its affairs. This he did, boldly, yet with loving discreetness, and
convinced his kinsman that return to Mexico was absolutely necessary to
save himself, his friends, and the country from ruin. He also insisted
that in order to succeed in controlling followers he must assert his
dignity, and impose on the vulgar by an intimidating and awe-inspiring
pomp. The familiarity grown out of the fellowship of the camp and the
toil of the march might answer in a border province, but not in the
well-settled districts of New Spain, or at the court of Mexico. More
dignity should be assumed at once; here and now must he teach his
followers the distance between the governor and the subject, and demand
reverence as his due. There was not much need for exhortation in this
respect, for pomp came naturally to Cortés. Readily, therefore, did he
mount the gubernatorial seat with its imposing dais, and receive with
a complacent smile the _señoría_[XIX-32] from the lips of the deeply
bowing suite. In church, even, he occupied the higher level of the
raised _sitial_,[XIX-33] while abroad the cannon belched forth in his
honor.[XIX-34]
His distrust of the sea remained, and he determined to return through
Guatemala. The laborers, therefore, were taken from the Nicaragua road
to prepare the way for him;[XIX-35] but finally the pilots convinced him
that at this season of the year the winds and currents were favorable,
while the land route must be long and full of obstacles. He accordingly
embarked in three vessels with twenty Spanish followers and their
horses, and some two hundred Indians under Prince Ixtlilxochitl, setting
sail April 25, 1526.[XIX-36] Sandoval joined him, but his company went
overland. Saavedra remained as his lieutenant, with instructions to
maintain native loyalty by good treatment, and to promote settlement.
The general's yet wavering confidence in the sea received another
shock off the very coast of New Spain, whence a gale drove him back
and compelled him to seek refuge in Cuba. On the 16th of May he again
set sail, and landed a week later near the present Vera Cruz. The news
of his arrival spread rapidly, and soldiers, colonists, and natives
hastened forward in throngs to bear the beloved leader, the mighty
Malinche, in triumph to the island city which he had won and refounded.
Doubts were dissipated and past disappointments forgotten as he gazed
once more on the scenes of his brilliant achievements, and drank the
plaudits of the multitude.[XIX-37]
CHAPTER XX.
PEDRARIAS REMOVES TO NICARAGUA.
1525-1527.
CÓRDOBA MEDITATES REVOLT—SOTO AND COMPAÑON OBJECT—THEIR
FLIGHT—PEDRARIAS NURSES HIS WRATH—SECRET MOTIVES FOR HIS
DEPARTURE FOR NICARAGUA—CÓRDOBA LOSES HIS HEAD—THE GOVERNOR
COVETS HONDURAS, AND COMES TO BLOWS—THE INDIANS FOLLOW
THE EXAMPLE—BLOODY SCENES—PEDRARIAS INTERRUPTED IN HIS
REVERIE—PEDRO DE LOS RIOS SUCCEEDS AS GOVERNOR AT PANAMÁ—HIS
INSTRUCTIONS AND POLICY—RESIDENCIA OF PEDRARIAS—TRIUMPHANT
RESULT.
[Sidenote: CÓRDOBA MEDITATES.]
With the departure of Cortés in drooping plumes, his pretentious
projects for dominion in the south received a check, and the portentous
clouds which had before loomed over Honduras again darkened the sky,
extending over the adjoining lake province, there to threaten Córdoba's
bright visions of independence. One can hardly blame the lieutenant for
indulging his imagination with the alluring prospects of power, wealth,
and fame, when kept in subjection on the one side by so unlovable a
master as Pedrarias, and when prompted on the other by the powerful
audiencia of Santo Domingo to cast off the unrighteous allegiance. With
his mind thus predisposed, Córdoba saw clearly that Nicaragua could not
permanently pertain to the jurisdiction of Panamá. It was a distinct
province, conquered and abandoned by Gil Gonzalez, and now brought into
resubjection by his own efforts and talents. If any one disputed his
position he could point to the authorization of the audiencia. True, the
fleet and men, the means and influence, used in effecting the reconquest
pertained to his late chief. What of that? The ships did not belong to
Pedrarias; the old governor had taken them in direct disobedience to the
orders of the king. As for the money and the men, all had been obtained
by vile indirection, and might as well be made to serve one traitor as
another. But he was no traitor to the king who responded to the will of
the king's audiencia.
There was much in common between the revolts of Olid and Córdoba, but
the motives of the leaders differed. The former, bold, brave, and in
the main true, had felt aggrieved that so broad a portion of the earth
should fall to the lot of one man, whose pretensions thereto grew out of
his accidental position as commander, while he, a captain who had shared
every danger and hardship in the grand conquest, must be content forever
to serve. The sole command of a small portion of disputed territory he
had deemed a recompense small enough beside the imperial reward of his
commander. Hernandez de Córdoba viewed matters from a somewhat different
stand-point, though with an abundance of plausible excuses. He was an
instrument chosen by Pedrarias to wrest a fair domain from the rightful
conqueror. In this selection Pedrarias had been governed by his usual
narrow policy. Throughout his whole career he could not abandon the vain
attempt to accomplish great results by small means, and noble results
by base means.
With such incentives and precepts Córdoba found little difficulty
in disposing of the moral obstacles to his scheme, and on turning
toward the material he saw nothing insurmountable, since most of the
men were favorably disposed. In this there was nothing strange, for
Córdoba was generous and confiding, and by the side of Pedrarias such
qualities shone with double lustre. As a first step he called on the
settlers, particularly of Leon and Granada, to petition the king for
his appointment as independent governor.[XX-1] None objected save a
dozen men headed by the captains Soto and Compañon. Loyalty had probably
nothing to do with their opposition, but rather jealousy. They would
not risk their liberty and prospects to raise so much above themselves a
fellow officer who could never be in their eyes more able and deserving
than themselves.
The remonstrances of these few persons were not to be regarded, however,
and retreat for Córdoba was in any case too late. Soto, the first to
object, was cast into the fortress of Granada, but Compañon, with a few
faithful comrades, broke open the prison and liberated him. The little
band, well armed and mounted, then took the field against Córdoba and
openly bade him defiance. Córdoba recognized that prompt action was
indispensable, and set forth in pursuit. Though Soto and Compañon failed
to gain more adherents, as they had expected, they nevertheless took
a stand near Granada against the usurper's formidable force, warning
him that all their efforts, in case of attack, would be concentrated on
killing him.[XX-2] The lieutenant hesitated. He well knew the determined
character of his late officers, and pictured himself the target of
their unerring missiles. The golden visions of his hopes became dimmer.
He would like to be a governor, but he did not wish to be killed; and
not possessing the spirit of greatness, he readily found an excuse
for returning whence he came, while Soto with his gallant ten thought
it profitable to acquaint Pedrarias and receive from him the reward
of loyal servants. The journey back to Panamá was not easy, with its
rugged mountains, impetuous streams, and pathless forests, while hostile
natives, venomous animals, and gnawing hunger added to the hardships
serious danger; nevertheless they would undertake it, and make a portion
of their way by sea. Soon after starting they found their horses an
encumbrance rather than an aid, and therefore they abandoned them.
Barefooted and dilapidated they reached the town of Fonseca,[XX-3] in
Chiriquí, where Hurtado, the founder, relieved them, and provided a
canoe in which to pursue the journey.
[Sidenote: SOTO AND HURTADO.]
After the departure of Soto southward, the good Hurtado pondered over
the situation. The rebel Córdoba, in common with Soto and the others,
he held in low esteem. If with his small force he could not conquer
him, he believed he could frighten the man greatly; at all events, here
was an opportunity to gain favor with Pedrarias. He accordingly armed
all the able-bodied men at his command and marched against the rebels,
leaving the sick and helpless to ward off famine and the natives as best
they might. After waiting some time in vain for the return of Hurtado,
the abandoned remnant deserted the post and set out in search of him,
directing their steps toward the gulf of Nicoya.
In the mean time Soto and his party reached Natá and sent their report
to Panamá. Rage in the breasts of some men consumes both body and soul;
but such was the nature of Pedrarias that the essence of his life
appeared to be drawn from inexhaustible wells of vindictive spleen.
Although approaching the time when most men die, the castigation of a
traitorous lieutenant was too choice a morsel to intrust to another; and
so, belting in his wrath, he prepared at once to march against him. To
this he was impelled also by a desire to forestall any attempt on the
part of the conqueror of Mexico, whose projects were even then casting a
portentous shadow over the smiling shores of the Freshwater Sea. A still
deeper impulse, however, was the looming spectre of a new governor,
with orders for a residencia, which once instituted might prevent his
departure.
To defray the expenses of the expedition Pedrarias was obliged not
only to employ his own fortune but to borrow large sums from the
house-holders and merchants. This he did, agreeing to share with them
the profits of the adventure. He was shrewd enough to conceal how much
a prospective successor and residencia had to do with his departure;
and believing that the object was solely to secure for the benefit of
Panamá, from a strange invader and rebel, the gold-seamed Nicaragua with
its budding colonies and trade, the people were quite eager to aid him
in so promising and loyal a scheme. Panamá and Natá had already been
drained of able-bodied men by the expeditions under Pizarro and Almagro
which were to yield such brilliant results, and Pedrarias was obliged
to draw upon Acla and Nombre de Dios for soldiers. This additional
levy so nearly depopulated the province that its four cities together
could hardly muster occupants enough for 'a mediocre hamlet,' as Oviedo
expresses it. A large number of Indians were also taken. The departure
of the fleet took place in January, 1526.
* * * * *
Córdoba had not been comfortable since Soto's escape. The more he
pondered the shorter to his mind grew the distance between himself and
the grim Pedrarias. In his fear he bethought himself of Cortés, and
sent to offer him the province on condition that he should retain the
command as his lieutenant; for it was far better to be subject to the
magnanimous conqueror of Anáhuac, whose name would prove a safeguard
against his old master, while his distant residence in Mexico might
leave a lieutenant almost wholly independent. This scheme received an
encouraging acceptance, as we have seen, only to be abandoned before
the urgent appeals from Mexico.
[Sidenote: EXECUTION OF CÓRDOBA.]
The more than peculiar conduct of Córdoba on meeting Soto has prepared
us for almost any pusillanimity on his part. Either a blind reliance in
Cortés made him careless, or the arrival at Leon of the hoary-headed
Pedrarias was unexpectedly sudden; it seems at any rate that he did
not even attempt to defend himself. Probably the settlers had become
disgusted with his want of courage and failed to support him. All we
learn is that he and his friends humbly met the governor and sought
to deny their guilt, pleading, as in the case of Vasco Nuñez, that had
mutinous intentions been entertained they would not thus have dared to
come forward unarmed, but would have fled or defended themselves. The
case was too clear, however, and Pedrarias never forgave: the head of
Córdoba was required as a lesson to similar aspirants.[XX-4]
Having thus removed his rebellious subordinate, Pedrarias looked about
to secure the permanent government of the province and extend his
jurisdiction as best he might. If Nicaragua belonged to Castilla del
Oro, as he of course maintained, so must the eastern and north-eastern
extension of this region, as far at least as the gulf of Honduras,
clearly the natural boundary. The efforts of Gil Gonzalez to secure
Honduras showed that he had also regarded this province as pertaining
to Nicaragua. But above all, was not the dreaded Cortés away, and was
not his lieutenant, Saavedra, in command of a mere handful of men? What
more convincing evidence of his right could there be? But even under
these circumstances caution was necessary, and he resolved to secure at
first only the adjoining border territory. With this object captains
Hurtado and Rojas were sent to occupy Olancho Valley. The natives had
too vivid a recollection of the former invasion under Rojas to feel
safe, and hastened to Trujillo with their complaints. Saavedra, who
saw the danger of countenancing encroachments from such a quarter, sent
two envoys[XX-5] to demand the immediate withdrawal of the Nicaraguan
troops. Pedrarias was not unprepared for this, and smooth and evasive
was his answer. For the sake of peace he would come to an understanding
with Cortés regarding his pretensions in that quarter, and submit the
whole matter to the decision of the audiencia. Meanwhile there must be
no fighting or attempted overreaching among countrymen.
The tone and manner of the old courtier would have convinced more
experienced men than the Honduras envoys, and with satisfied hearts they
turned to bear the peaceful message to their chief. Pedrarias gained his
point. He never entertained the idea of writing to Cortés or submitting
any question to the audiencia.
Fresh instructions were at once despatched to Hurtado and Rojas, and
while the envoys were lulling Saavedra into fancied security they fell
upon his adherents in Olancho, routed them, and secured their effects.
The victors then proceeded northward with a view to occupy Natividad
and secure for their chief a much needed port on the North Sea, through
which to receive supplies and maintain communication with Spain and the
Islands, for the Panamá route was too long and costly. Informed of their
movements Saavedra sent a force to intercept them. The captains were not
just then prepared to resist so strong a body, and like their master
they resorted to fair words, both sides promising to return peaceably
home. But neither believed in these assurances, and each resolved to
watch the other. Rojas, for that matter, proceeded on the march to
Natividad, while Hurtado returned to Olancho to protect his interests
there. The Trujillo party pursued the latter, and a fight ensued wherein
they proved victorious, after losing two men. These broils the natives
observed, and saw therein their opportunity. They attacked Natividad,
and the Spaniards, driven forth after a fight in which several fell,
took refuge in a natural stronghold, there to remain until aid could
arrive.[XX-6]
[Sidenote: HURTADO AND GRIJALVA SLAIN.]
Rojas appears to have learned of this uprising in time to retreat to
Olancho; but here also the caciques had mustered in force[XX-7] to
avenge the injuries which Pedrarias' soldiers were inflicting. Ordered
by them to bring in maize and material for houses, they seized the
opportunity to introduce within the bundles a quantity of arms. These
were to serve the natives who remained in or near the camp waiting the
approach of their regularly armed compatriots. All prepared, the word
was given, and stealthily the dusky foe crept upon the unsuspecting
Spaniards. Living in the midst of treachery, it seems impossible that
they should have allowed themselves to be thus lulled. Suddenly forest,
hill, and dale were alive with Indians, and the silence was broken by
a piercing yell as the first victim met his fate. The signal was taken
up, and from thousands came the avenging shriek, reverberating along the
wooded slopes and rolling back upon the doomed band. Resistance seemed
to avail them little. Sixteen were slain; a few escaped to a friendly
cacique, named Guatucanola; and twenty horses were lost. The settlement
was sacked and burned. Among the fallen were Captain Hurtado, who had
rendered so many eminent services as explorer, leader, and founder,
and Juan de Grijalva, a man who, as captain of a Cuban expedition,
had achieved the honor of discovering the Mexican mainland, and who
might even have gained the glory of that brilliant conquest but for
his fine sense of honor and other manly qualities. Often a too strict
integrity impedes the path to greatness. At all events, these qualities
lost him the favor of his master and governor, Velazquez, and despite
his faithful services, his courage and talent, he was sent forth in
disgrace, to die ignobly in this wilderness.[XX-8]
Rojas arrived soon after and sought to restore peace, but the natives
were too strong for him, and for years they held their ground. Saavedra
charged Pedrarias with being the cause of the disaster, and not without
reason, for the treacherous conduct of his captains had encouraged the
uprising. Quarrels and recriminations followed, but without any attempt
on the part of Saavedra to take active steps against the Nicaraguan
invaders. Finding his adversary so tame, the old governor felt
emboldened to take the step he had so long been meditating, to secure
possession of the remainder of Honduras. To this effect he despatched
Captain Diego de Albites and Sebastian de Benalcázar, regidores of
Leon, with Notary Espinosa, to demand the submission of Saavedra and
the cabildo of Trujillo to his jurisdiction. The envoys were hardly on
their way, however, before tidings came from Panamá which sent Pedrarias
in all haste back to the Isthmus, leaving the government in the joint
charge of several of his most trusted officers, among whom Martin Estete
figured as lieutenant-general.[XX-9]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: PEDRO DE LOS RIOS.]
The new governor of Castilla del Oro, Pedro de los Rios, had arrived
with his fleet at Nombre de Dios July 30, 1526,[XX-10] attended, as was
common in such cases, by many followers, among whom were Licenciado Juan
de Salmeron, alcalde mayor; Bachiller Diego de Corral; Diego Gutierrez
de los Rios, a nephew, and Egas, the half-brother of the governor.
Oviedo was also of the party, bearing as his reward for procuring the
change of rule the appointment of captain-general and governor of the
province of Cartagena. The day following the arrival the new officials
were sworn in, and within four weeks they had taken up their residence
at Panamá. The jurisdiction of Rios covered the same territory as had
that of Pedrarias, excepting Paria and Veragua. As usual, he had been
particularly enjoined to look to the good treatment of the Indians
and promote the formation of towns on healthy sites. In all matters of
importance he was to consult with the alcalde mayor, as a man learned in
the law, and a faithful servant of the king. The governor was empowered
to settle all disputes and punish all crimes according to his judgment
and the laws of the country, and with regard to thieves and robbers he
was recommended to go even somewhat beyond the law. This was a power
admirably suited for a reformer as Rios came heralded, but the rising
rejoicings of the people at the removal of the old governor began
quickly to calm on finding, as Oviedo says, that in the place of one
hydra head cut off two others had appeared.[XX-11]
Pedro de los Rios was quite a different man from Pedrarias; indeed we
shall scarcely again in this history meet the equal of the old governor
of Darien. Though possessing more bulk of body the new governor lacked
the strength of mind of the old one; he lacked the cunning, indomitable
energy, and the vindictive pertinacity of Pedrarias. He loved gold,
however, in which predilection he was joined by his wife, who even
surpassed him in this respect. In accordance with royal orders, among
his first acts were to seize the effects and estates of Pedrarias,
including his encomiendas, to secure control of the Pearl Islands and
their revenues, and to hold all until the residencia of the outgoing
governor was taken. Pedrarias knew that his authority at Panamá was
lost, but he did not like to lose his property. It was a pecuniary
disaster alone that could have taken him from Nicaragua at this critical
moment.
The news of his coming was brought by a vessel laden with kidnapped
Nicaraguans, to be sold by auction in the Panamá market. He himself
reached Natá in December, and after writing to Rios made his appearance
at the capital February 3, 1527. Three days later the residencia was
proclaimed by Salmeron.
Not knowing who the judges might be, Pedrarias had taken the precaution
to petition the India Council for power of appeal in any decision which
might be rendered against him. And this had been granted, with the order
to pay at once any judgment under ten thousand maravedís, and to make a
deposit which should cover all amounts of larger claims. Further than
this, he had taken with him to Nicaragua, and had left there, those
who might most trouble him in his residencia. The greater part of the
aggrieved were thus out of the way, and their opportunity lost.
He had also despatched Enciso to Spain, to represent his interests at
court and neutralize the machinations of his enemies. The result was
the arrival of a cédula from the king just in time to provide that no
questions were to be raised in the present residencia touching matters
disposed of by the pretended investigations under Alarconcillo. This
reduced still further the complaints against Pedrarias, and as he at
once made overtures to his judge, sparing neither money nor humility,
and as he still had influence, his feebly presented crimes were
lightly regarded. Oviedo deemed himself exceedingly ill used in these
proceedings, and loudly chronicles his complaints. After presenting a
long list of claims, which were denied, the historian was glad to escape
assassination at the hand of his ancient enemy.[XX-12] Charges of course
were sent to Spain,[XX-13] citing instances of abuse of power, and of
private frauds. Among the more serious accusations was the embezzling of
royal moneys, which had helped to swell a remittance of seventy thousand
pesos de oro, sent secretly to a safe receptacle in Spain. So pressing
and puzzling were these charges that the India Council held repeated
consultations on the case.
[Sidenote: BEFORE THE INDIA COUNCIL.]
But Pedrarias had not been idle. He had requested his powerful relatives
to hold forth to the king himself, to the best advantage, the many
valuable services he had rendered in Africa as well as in the Indies.
The words of the agent Enciso were likewise powerful, and made these
records stand out resplendent, backed as they were with the dazzling
treasures of the Pearl Islands.[XX-14] Not only was Pedrarias acquitted
and reinstated in his rights and possessions, but new favors were
showered on him. Yet the government of Panamá could not be restored
to him; indeed the crown itself had not been so blinded as some of its
satellites to the many evils that had characterized the government of
Pedrarias in Castilla del Oro. At all events it was considered timely
to allow the oppressed province to recover from the selfish tyranny of
his rule under a more fatherly supervision. His shrewd foresight and
usual good fortune were paving a new way, however. It so happened that
Gil Gonzalez, the rightful claimant to Nicaragua, died about the time
that Pedrarias sent in to the king a glowing report on the resources of
this province, together with promises of great revenues. Not only was
he now entitled to the first consideration for the post of governor,
but it was probably considered advantageous to the royal purse that a
man of such natural proclivities for extortion should be given a field
where watchful energy alone was needed to develop untold wealth. Again
was the star of Pedrarias emerging from behind the Hyperborei Montes,
but with lustre dimmed by clouds rising, this time in the direction of
Honduras.
CHAPTER XXI.
RIVAL GOVERNORS IN HONDURAS AND NICARAGUA.
1526-1530.
COLONIAL POLICY—SALCEDO DISPLACES SAAVEDRA IN THE
GOVERNMENT OF HONDURAS—SAAVEDRA'S ESCAPE—PEDRARIAS'
ENVOYS TRAPPED—SALCEDO INVADES NICARAGUA—HIS CRUELTY
AND EXTORTION—DISTRESS AMONG THE COLONISTS—RIOS
ALSO PRESENTS CLAIMS, BUT IS DISCOMFITED—PEDRARIAS
FOLLOWS TRIUMPHANT—SALCEDO'S IGNOMINIOUS FATE—ESTETE'S
EXPEDITION—SLAVE-HUNTING PROFITS AND HORRORS—GLADIATORIAL
PUNISHMENT OF REVOLTED NATIVES—PEDRARIAS' SCHEMES FOR
AGGRANDIZEMENT—HE GRASPS AT SALVADOR AND LONGS FOR PERU—BOTH
ELUDE HIM—FURTHER MORTIFICATION AND DEATH—CHARACTER OF THE
CONQUERORS.
One of the chief causes which gave rise to the disputes of rival
leaders for the occupancy of Nicaragua and Honduras was the policy which
governed the Council of the Indies in regard to the colonial possessions
of Spain. Gradually the discovery of Columbus had assumed gigantic
proportions, and the indefinite and unknown limits to the territories
which had been given to the first governors were becoming more fixed and
determined. The immense extent of the discovery and the vast dominions
which had been allotted to each colony was then first ascertained.
It was deemed wise and prudent by the court of Spain that such broad
possessions should be divided into smaller states, and governed by
many, rather than that the whole should be under the jurisdiction of
a few arrogant viceroys. Thus checks could be more easily placed on
individuals, and the distant provinces of the New World could be more
readily held in subjection. With this in view it was that Hernandez
de Córdoba had been urged by the audiencia to throw off allegiance to
Pedrarias, and that the enterprises not only of Gil Gonzalez but of Olid
had been encouraged by the Spanish government.[XXI-1]
But a resort to arms as a method for settling their differences was by
no means desired; and when the emperor became aware that hostilities had
broken out among the colonists of Honduras and Nicaragua he peremptorily
forbade any Spaniard to draw his sword against another, under penalty of
his severe displeasure. The better to curb the encroaching conquerors
on either side, and to further his policy, he resolved to appoint new
governors for these provinces; and thus it was that Pedrarias, owing in
a great measure to his wife and to family influence, had obtained the
long desired lake region, even before the result of his residencia was
known; while Honduras was given as early as 1525[XXI-2] to Diego Lopez
de Salcedo, regardless of the great efforts and means expended by Cortés
in its colonization, wholly from his own resources.[XXI-3]
[Sidenote: SAAVEDRA AND SALCEDO.]
Salcedo was at this time residing in Española, and on receiving the
appointment, together with instructions to inquire into the late
trouble and punish the guilty, he at once prepared to set out. The
audiencia also took the instructions to heart, and, regarding Cortés
as implicated, they seized one of his ships at Santo Domingo, with its
cargo of merchandise.[XXI-4] Salcedo found the settlers at peace on
reaching Trujillo. Saavedra and Alcalde Figueroa set the example to the
other officials in doing reverence to the new ruler, who was solemnly
inaugurated on the 27th of October, 1526.[XXI-5] The first act under
the new régime was to make an investigation into the late political
disturbances, and the result was the arrest of Saavedra, regidores
Garnica and Vega, and two settlers named Martin Cortés and Morales, who
were placed on a vessel for transmission to the judges in Española.
Their safe-keeping was intrusted to Diego Morillo, who was installed
with a staff of justice, to give him greater authority. But the emblem
of the law failed to impose upon the prisoners, who were in this respect
hardly less imbued with the spirit of the times than Pedrarias and
his followers. They had too wholesome a fear of the quality of mercy
dispensed by the pompous rulers at Santo Domingo, and determined to make
an effort for liberty. The mainland had barely been lost to sight when
they appealed to the master's sympathy. Their argument was sufficiently
weighted to be convincing, and the shackles were not only transferred
to Morillo, but he was relieved of all his effects. The vessel's course
was thereupon changed to Cuba, where the mutineers dispersed in search
of wider spheres of operations.[XXI-6]
Shortly after Salcedo's installation the three envoys of Pedrarias
arrived at Trujillo. Finding a royal governor instead of the intruder
Saavedra, they did not venture to present their demands for the
submission of the province, but sought instead to regain Nicaragua and
warn their master. Salcedo had them arrested, however, as concerned
in the disorders in Nicaragua and Olancho, and turned the tables by
declaring Pedrarias an arraigned culprit, answerable to the residencia
judge at Panamá, and Nicaragua as falling within the jurisdiction of
Honduras, instead of pertaining to Castilla del Oro. He intended, in
fact, to take possession at once, and in this course he was encouraged
by petitions from the anti-Pedrarias faction of that province. The
limits of Salcedo's government had not been fixed, and what more natural
than to base on the claims of Cortés and Gonzalez the pleasing illusion
that Nicaragua must belong to his jurisdiction? An additional excuse was
to be found in the late political disturbances in that province, which
it behooved him as a royal officer to stop. The captive envoys should
accompany him as guides and hostages.
Preparations were soon concluded, and Salcedo departed with nearly one
hundred and fifty horsemen, leaving the small remnant at Trujillo under
command of Francisco de Cisneros.[XXI-7] He sent forward Alonso de
Solis, one of his captains, and a priest, with instructions to report
to him the condition of the Indians throughout the district; whether
they were friendly or otherwise; and what were their feelings in regard
to the Christian faith which they had previously professed to adopt.
Solis speedily came back with the information that bands of Spaniards
were prowling about the Olancho Valley. Salcedo advanced upon them, and
a skirmish ensued in which two men were lost. Suspecting that Albites
and his companions might be connected with this untoward check, he sent
them back to Trujillo with instructions for their immediate transmission
to Santo Domingo, on the charge of inciting native revolts and other
disorders. These charges were not sustained, however, and the prisoners
soon returned fully exonerated.
[Sidenote: WOES OF THE NATIVES.]
Still another check came to dampen the ardor of the party, and Treasurer
Castillo, among others, urged the abandonment of the expedition; but
the fair shores of the Freshwater Sea had taken too deep a hold upon
Salcedo's fancy, strewn as they were by rumor with much gold. No;
he knew his duty as royal officer, and would extend his beneficent
rule to this region. As for his losses and disappointments, he would
look to that universal source of redress, the natives. Caciques were
summoned to furnish Indians for carrying burdens and gathering food, and
soldiers went forth to enforce the order. A number of those suspected
of complicity in the disturbances at Natividad were hanged and others
enslaved, to be eventually sent out of the country and sold. Great were
their woes. Those who lost their relatives or near friends fled to the
mountains, preferring starvation and death to the cruel oppression of
the strangers. This feeling extended also to the district of Comayagua,
and created a distrust which was at once magnified into revolt. The
Spaniards immediately fell upon them, and a terrible havoc ensued. The
natives resorted to the passive retaliation of withdrawing supplies, and
even of destroying the crops, so as to leave the Spaniards without food,
and compel them to devour horses and dogs. This heightened the feeling
against them, and even the carriers were made to suffer so severely that
many threw off their loads and sought to escape, only to be overtaken
and slaughtered. The panic spread, and tribes distant from the scene
burned their villages and fields to seek refuge in the mountains, lest
they should be exposed to similar outrages on Salcedo's return.
In Nicaragua the rumor of these doings had impelled the natives to
assume a threatening attitude, so that when the Spanish party finally
arrived at the city of Leon they were hailed as saviors. This helped
to pave the way for Salcedo, and when he submitted his commission to
Martin Estete, the officer in charge, and to the municipal body, they
gave one glance at the sturdy forces by his side and then recognized it
as valid. The new governor was sworn in May 7, 1527. Once in undisputed
possession the humanity of Salcedo underwent a change. He would no
longer carry panic into native villages by means of raiding parties;
nay, he would even relieve the Indians from the oppression of their
present masters, the late subjects of Pedrarias, and place them under
the experienced control of his friends and followers. Without more ado
the choice repartimientos were transferred to the hands of himself and
his adherents, with not even an attempted excuse to the late holders.
Such high-handed proceedings created general dissatisfaction, not only
among the despoiled settlers but also among the enslaved, who were
regarded as cattle, and treated with a severity paralleled only by the
Honduras atrocities. More spirited, however, than the former victims,
they retaliated with sullen stubbornness, and refused to gather gold
or perform agricultural labor. The distress increased, and many could
not procure the common necessaries of life. The rupture between the
two races developed into open warfare, in which rights, grievances, and
passion often figured only as minor impulses by the side of the cravings
of hunger.[XXI-8]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: PEDRARIAS AND RIOS.]
To these distressing straits was the country reduced when a new claimant
to the government presented himself, in the person of Pedro de los
Rios. Invested with the same power and authority over Castilla del Oro
as his predecessor, he thought himself entitled to jurisdiction also
over Nicaragua, since it had been occupied and settled under the same
auspices. He had deferred his departure from Panamá till Pedrarias
should have been securely entangled in the meshes of his residencia,
and therefore unable to object. But the latter was desirous to see him
leave, in the hope that a change in his own favor might be effected,
perhaps by some friendly ingulfing wave, some devoted assassin, or
some native treachery; for the road was new and Rios inexperienced. As
a proof of his friendly interest in the project Pedrarias counselled
him to invest heavily in merchandise, which must pay a large profit.
Such advice was not to be disregarded, and, as circumstances would
have it, the gubernatorial trader was received with open arms by the
sorely pressed settlers of Nicaragua. But Rios had not the foresight
which characterized Fiscal Moreno's proceedings in Honduras, two years
before, and on presenting his claims to the supreme office the colonists
returned a cold stare. They saw nothing in his commission which
expressly included Nicaragua within Castilla del Oro, and although much
afflicted by the avaricious and oppressive measures of Salcedo, they
determined to support a governor whom they might call their own rather
than submit to one residing at such a distance, and evidently intent on
enriching himself and Panamá at their expense.
It is not improbable that the cause for the change lay partly with
Pedrarias, whose emissaries hoped by this means to embroil the new
aspirant with his proposed subjects. Salcedo was strong enough, however,
with his own troops to dictate terms to his rival, and he peremptorily
ordered him to leave the province within three days, under a penalty of
ten thousand pesos. Rios had too much respect for his portly person to
expose it to profane usage. Still he would have lingered had not the
threatened fine urged him away. As it was, in the flurry of departure
he even forgot his gout, with which he was just then severely stricken,
and his groans were not resumed till the vessel had turned prow for
Panamá. He carried one consolation, however, to soothe his ruffled
spirit; he had made these boorish colonists pay tenfold for his cargo
of merchandise. After all, the trip had not proved unprofitable, and
he laughed within himself at the thought. On his way back he stopped at
Brusélas, in the gulf of Nicoya, where a friendly reception was accorded
him. Informed of this, Salcedo with vindictive jealousy sent a troop of
sixty horse under Garabito to destroy the hospitable town.
The rankest despot could hardly deport himself with more capricious
severity than these petty upstart lieutenants in the Indies. Salcedo
was evidently a fitting successor to Pedrarias, as far as displaying
his jealousy, greed, and cruelty; but he lacked some of the commanding
characteristics which had so often enabled the latter to weather the
storm raised by his tyrannous impulses. His rule was to be brief and
ignoble. One of his last acts, which bore the relieving stamp of a
public measure, was to order Gabriel de Rojas to explore Rio San Juan,
the outlet of the lake, and to found there a settlement.
This order was disregarded, for just then came the rumor that Pedrarias
was about to return as governor. This sufficed to bring the general
dissatisfaction with Salcedo to an issue. At first he treated the news
as absurd; but, when the report came that Pedrarias was actually on
the way with a royal commission, he resolved to collect his scattered
followers and make his escape. The step was fatal, as it encouraged
the still wavering Estete with his friends to pronounce in favor of the
expected chief. The officials of Salcedo were arrested, which rendered
the executive powerless to act, and his horses were seized, so that
he might not escape a reckoning. So ominous became the demonstration
against the deposed governor, that he abandoned the building which
had hitherto given him shelter, and sought the protecting walls of the
church. There he remained, closely guarded by the rebels, till Pedrarias
arrived. Several persons had remonstrated with Estete with regard to
these arbitrary proceedings, based as they were on a mere report from
Panamá; but this officer, who had everything to gain by the movement if
the report proved true, declared that Pedrarias should be supported even
if he came without a royal Commission. In any case it would be suicidal
now to restore the relentless Salcedo to power.[XXI-9]
All doubts were solved by the arrival of the old governor at Leon in
March, 1528, and the timely turncoats were liberally rewarded; Estete
receiving the command of Leon, and Diego de Tejorina that of Granada.
Immediately on receipt of his appointment Pedrarias had hastened to
Nicaragua, leaving an agent at Panamá to finish his residencia, and to
collect the property and effects which had been attached. In connection
with the new government the king had appointed Licenciado Castañeda
alcalde mayor, and Diego de la Tobilla treasurer, both of whom arrived
eight months later.[XXI-10]
[Sidenote: IMPRISONMENT OF SALCEDO.]
Salcedo's case claimed the first attention of the new ruler, and
claims and charges began to pour in, the chief accusation being that he
had stationed spies to watch for the arrival of Pedrarias and native
assassins to despatch him. An investigation was ordered, to embrace
also the question whether Salcedo had royal authority for his entry into
the territory. The accused denied the charges, of course, and protested
that he had come merely to pacify the country, in accordance with his
instructions. He demanded liberty to depart for Honduras, where the
king required his presence as governor. Any other person might have felt
awed by a demand coupled so plausibly with the royal name, but Pedrarias
had too often mocked even the direct commands of his sovereign to care
for indirect requirements. He flaunted in the face of the accused the
royal order lately received forbidding him to meddle in Nicaraguan
affairs, and declared that since he had done so there was every prospect
for a residencia. The order for it might arrive at any moment, and he
must give bonds to answer the claims against him. The bonds not being
forthcoming he was placed under restraint, and on his attempting to
escape, close confinement was imposed.
Ten weary months Salcedo lay in durance. Finally Treasurer Tobilla
and Osorio, afterward bishop, intervened and brought about a peaceful
settlement. But the conditions extorted from him as the price of liberty
were so humiliating that shame and vexation preyed upon his mind, and
destroyed his health, already weakened by imprisonment. He was obliged
to renounce his claims to the south, and promise to confine himself
to a triangular section of territory bounded on the east and west by
Cape Gracias á Dios and Puerto de Caballos.[XXI-11] The three envoys
of Pedrarias, whom he had sent to Española to answer false charges,
and who had returned acquitted, were to be compensated, and he must
give security for twenty thousand pesos to appear in case a residencia
should be instituted against him. On Christmas eve, 1528, the prison
doors opened before him, and the once dashing Salcedo tottered forth,
pale and emaciated, weighed down with infirmities of body and mind, an
object of pity even to the down-trodden Indians. It had been a game of
rogue against rogue, and Pedrarias as usual was the winner. Salcedo felt
that he deserved little sympathy, either from the oppressed colonists
or from the cruelly treated natives, and within ten days he set out for
the shielding precincts of his own government.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: EXPLORATION OF THE RIVER SAN JUAN.]
Pedrarias had long before this taken steps to secure for himself the
large tracts of country which he intended to extort from his prisoner,
chiefly because they were reported to be rich in gold. For this there
were also additional motives. The report of mineral wealth in the
province had induced the king to inquire regarding the desirability
of erecting smelting works, and similar measures, and although the
avaricious old governor required no incentive to gold-hunting, yet the
communication was welcomed as a good pretence for his preparations.
The already projected expedition by Rojas to the river outlet of the
lake was therefore ordered to proceed, reinforced to more than one
hundred and fifty men, but the chief command was intrusted to Estete,
with instructions to explore the country, particularly for minerals, to
take possession for Pedrarias, and to found settlements on the river
and along the sea-shore, as desired by the king. On the river, where
it receives the waters of the lake, was formed the settlement of Nueva
Jaen, flushed at first with brilliant anticipations of a vast entrepôt
trade and a flourishing colony, but doomed to speedy abandonment.
From the mouth of the San Juan the party followed the coast northward,
blazing their way with branding-iron and sword, and finding good mines
at Cape Gracias á Dios, as rumored. There they established another
colony, of which Rojas was left in charge, while Estete returned to
Leon.
Their pathway thither had been stained sanguine by the most abominable
cruelty against the natives, in the form of wholesale enslavement and
wanton bloodshed, and this in face of the repeated and stringent orders
from the king for their good treatment.[XXI-12] Of what avail were
orders which suited not the taste of Master Pedrarias! On setting out
for Cape Gracias á Dios, Estete received from the chest, in which it
was kept under three locks by order of the crown, the branding-iron,
which was intended to be used only on rebels and criminals, and pursuing
his circuitous route, he captured and branded indiscriminately all
natives who fell into his hands, and sent them as slaves to Pedrarias
at Leon. Captives were secured by iron collars around the neck, chained
together in gangs, and forced to carry heavy burdens. When one fell from
exhaustion, in order to save time and trouble, his head was severed from
the body, and this released the collar so that the others might pass
on.[XXI-13]
This and other kidnapping expeditions, made chiefly in the interest of
Pedrarias, fairly glutted Leon and Granada with captives; but if they
could not be used here there was another means of utilizing them. The
native population of the Isthmus, as we have seen, had already been so
greatly reduced by the ever dripping sword, by the hardly less speedy
measures of relentless taskmasters, and by the flight of panic-stricken
border tribes, that the settlers found it difficult to fill the
constantly occurring gaps in their labor gangs. A slave market had
accordingly been opened at Panamá, where natives were sold by auction.
Its origin was with Pedrarias, and with a fatherly regard for his former
government he felt it a duty to sustain an institution so useful to the
colonists and so comforting to his coffers. A regular trade thereupon
sprang up in Indian slaves, and several ship-loads were taken down to
Panamá about this time by different persons.[XXI-14]
[Sidenote: DEPOPULATION.]
The supply of unfortunates was drawn not only from the outlying
districts, but from the very centre of the lake settlements, and their
capture assisted the sword and lash to no small extent in decimating the
population. When Gil Gonzalez first entered the country it was densely
populated, and the city of Managua alone contained forty thousand souls,
it was said. A few years of Spanish rule sufficed to turn whole tracts
of flourishing country into uninhabited wilds, leaving here and there
only small communities of terrorized natives groaning under extortionate
and cruel masters. On appealing to their idols they were assured that a
flood could be called forth, but in it would perish Indians as well as
Spaniards. Such was the comfort derived from their religion. Although
they had not courage enough to adopt this remedy, women widely formed
the resolution not to perpetuate a race foredoomed to slavery and cruel
death.
At first, when numbers still gave self-reliance, they ventured to renew
the hostilities which under Salcedo had led to such bloody results.
Soon after Estete's departure for Cape Gracias a general revolt broke
out. In the districts of Leon and Granada bloodshed was averted, but in
the interior the slaughter of natives was great, and if the Spaniards
lost comparatively few, the loss was increased by the horrors of
cannibalism.[XXI-15] Among the victims were Alonso Peralta, the royal
treasurer, an hidalgo named Zurita, and two brothers of the name of
Ballas, who in 1528 set out from the city of Leon to visit the Indians
that had been allotted to them respectively. None ever returned; all
were slain by their vassals. Pedrarias despatched a band of soldiers,
who captured eighteen caciques supposed to be implicated in the murders.
The Indians becoming daily more bold and troublesome a new method of
striking them with terror was invented. As in the introduction of
Christianity to the natives diplomacy was frequently made to take
the place of logic, so in war and punishment a refined cruelty, in
the exercise of which the aged Pedrarias Dávila stood unexcelled,
was deemed the most effectual means of pacification. The governor
of Leon determined on a grand spectacle, modelled somewhat after the
gladiatorial exhibitions of Rome. An inclosure was made in the public
square of the town, and on a fixed day the Indian chieftains were
brought forth. One of them was led into the arena and given a stout
stick or club with which to defend his life against the dogs to be
let loose. At first five or six young and inexperienced animals were
set upon him, which he could easily keep at bay with his stick. After
witnessing this sport until it grew tame, and just as the unfortunate
captive began to rejoice in the hope that through his skill and bravery
his life was saved, two fierce bloodhounds rushed in, seized him by
the throat, brought him to the ground, tore into shreds the flesh, and
devoured the entrails, assisted by the still yelping whelps. On the
authority of Oviedo, an eye-witness, this horrible scene was repeated
seventeen times. Pedrarias ordered the dead bodies to be left on the
ground as a warning to others, but soon the stench became insupportable,
and the Indians were allowed to remove them.[XXI-16]
* * * * *
Thus did the effort to open a transcontinental route by way of San Juan
not only fail, but it carried a host of evils with it, as we have seen.
Pedrarias was not content, however, to abandon to Panamá so fruitful a
project without another struggle, and since the strip of land between
Leon and Caballos was well suited for a road, he prepared to open one.
But orders came from the king forbidding the work. The Isthmus was
regarded as sufficient for present traffic, and it was also feared that
too many lives would be lost in constructing the new road.
[Sidenote: SALVADOR.]
One of the objects of Pedrarias in connection with the undertaking was
to secure possession of the western territory wrested from Salcedo,
and in this, at any rate, he resolved not to be defeated. Estete was
accordingly despatched northward with a strong force, accompanied by
Rojas. He was first to explore the northern lakes to determine their
outlet, and then to occupy the district between Golfo Dulce and the
South Sea, north of Fonseca Bay. This province, known as Salvador,
had already been conquered by Alvarado, the lieutenant of Cortés; but
Pedrarias knew that the settlers left in possession were not numerous,
and that the king would be more apt to favor the annexation of the
province to the adjoining small government of Nicaragua than to the
distant and too extensive New Spain. Besides, Honduras had claimed it,
and that claim was now his. Estete advanced into the heart of Salvador
and occupied the town there founded by Alvarado. Few as they were the
settlers refused to recognize the authority of the Nicaraguan governor,
and his lieutenant retired to the town of Perulapan, upon which he
bestowed the high-sounding title of Ciudad de los Caballeros, together
with a batch of officials who were to aid him in the congenial task of
oppression and enslavement. His sway was not of long duration, however,
for Jorge de Alvarado, then in charge of the Guatemalan government,
receiving notice of the intrusion, came down upon his settlement and
compelled him to evacuate the province in hot haste, with the loss of
half his force, which deserted to the enemy.[XXI-17]
Pedrarias' schemes for aggrandizement were evidently not succeeding
according to his desire, and he grieved at the thought of the many heavy
ducats lost on this last expedition. It was the more deplorable in view
of the failure to direct through Nicaragua the transcontinental traffic,
which would have yielded so rich a harvest for himself. But above all
hovered a deeper grief than any of these. Peru, with its glittering
wealth, was now dawning on the world, and none would have been more
dazzled by the sight than Pedrarias, had not the agonizing fact intruded
itself that he had been tricked out of these very treasures, or at least
a large share of them.
When the first expedition was organized for this conquest by Pizarro,
Almagro, and Luque, Pedrarias, then governor at Panamá, had stipulated
for a fourth interest, in return for which he bestowed the weighty sum
of his patronage. But the opening events proved to be less flattering
than he had expected, and when demands came for pecuniary aid toward
the enterprise, he shrank from the prospect, and allowed himself to be
bought off for the paltry consideration of one thousand pesos de oro.
Soon came glowing reports, however, and bitter were his denunciations of
the folly which had permitted so rich a prize to escape him; and deep
his feeling rankled against the late partners, whom he never ceased to
suspect of duplicity and of having beguiled him with misrepresentation.
While he was thus brooding, it happened that Nicolás de Ribera arrived
in Nicaragua, commissioned by the Peruvian conquerors to procure
reinforcements. He sought in particular to win for this purpose Hernando
de Soto, Hernan Ponce, and Francisco Compañon, all men of means, who
had two vessels on the stocks, nearly finished and available for the
voyage. By revolving before their eyes, in kaleidoscopic harmony, a
few specimens of the Inca's treasures, illustrated by tales no less
alluring, he secured the active sympathy not only of these men, but of
a crowd of beggared adherents.
[Sidenote: THE PERUVIAN ADVENTURE.]
Not least dazzled was Pedrarias. Indeed, he could not sleep for the
visions that crowded upon his brain. Finally the idea struck him that
he might here retrieve his folly by securing an interest in the vessels
and reinforcements, and obtain a fair proportion of that gold-enameled
region, perhaps the whole. Pizarro and Almagro had already prepared
the way, and it might even be his fortune to secure the results of
their victories. In order to lull the Peruvian emissaries he promised
to do everything to aid Pizarro and Luque; as for Almagro, he had been
deceived by him, and deceit his confiding nature could not endure.
He thereupon entered secretly into negotiation with the owners of
the vessels, but overreached himself by demanding the lion's share in
command as well as returns. Feeling himself in duty bound to spare his
own purse, he looked about for victims to furnish means, and bethought
himself of Ribera's vessel. An alguacil was sent to seize it, but Ribera
received timely warning and escaped, after prevailing on Ponce, Soto,
and their adherents, to sail away to Panamá and there arrange with
Pizarro for a liberal share in the conquest, leaving behind the foiled
Pedrarias.[XXI-18]
The governor's mortification was increased by local troubles, as might
be expected from his arbitrary rule and irascible temper, which had
now reached octogenarian crabbedness. A most distasteful feature had
been the arrival of Alcalde Mayor Francisco de Castañeda, appointed
by the king to take charge of the judicial affairs of the province.
This division of authority was intolerable, and, on the pretence that
disorders must result where different persons exercised judicial and
gubernatorial powers, he urged his friends in Spain to obtain for
him the privilege to appoint and remove at pleasure alcaldes mayores
and lieutenants. Meanwhile he made an effort to exercise this power,
alleging the possession of a royal cédula authorizing him to do so;
but Castañeda, who was not so easily imposed upon, challenged him to
produce the document, and this not being done, he added to his chagrin
by ignoring him.
There was little likelihood of any arbitrary powers being conferred on
the governor, for complaints of abuses were fast pouring in against
him, headed by the influential ayuntamiento of Leon. A grave charge
was peculation. When Rodrigo del Castillo surrendered his office to the
formally appointed treasurer he took the opportunity to inform the king
that large sums in gold had been taken from the Indians by Córdoba. All
this the governor had laid hands upon without any accounting therefor to
the crown. He had also managed to appropriate the confiscated estate of
Córdoba, and to defraud a host of others, besides perpetrating outrages
and cruelties of every description.[XXI-19]
[Sidenote: DEATH OF PEDRARIAS.]
In the midst of the brewing troubles, in the year 1530,[XXI-20] this
Timur of the Indies died at Leon, nearly ninety years of age. His body
was buried in the same church with his victim Hernandez de Córdoba, and
his spirit went to meet the spirit of Vasco Nuñez, and the spirits of
the hundreds of thousands of slaughtered savages whose benighted souls
he had sent on before.[XXI-21] Not that he quailed at the thought. By
this time his mind had become so fixed in some incomprehensible mould
of logic that there was no disturbing it. Further than this he knew he
could not escape the inevitable.
A disposition so ready to find solace is to be envied, the more so
since it forms a redeeming feature. No man is, for that matter, wholly
depraved, nor are any faultless. In the worst there is much that is
good; in the best much evil. And the difference between the best and the
worst is, in the eye of the Creator, much less than in the eye of the
creature. For a period of sixteen years, during the most important epoch
in the history of Darien, an irascible old man, cruel and vindictive,
plays a prominent part. His name is infamous, and so it deserves to be.
Some of his misdeeds may be attributed to inherent wickedness, others
to infirmities of temper; but many to peculiar conditions incident to
the colonization of a new country, and to the teachings of the times.
Spanish colonists of the sixteenth century, reared under the influences
of excessive loyalty, and suddenly withdrawn from the presence of
their august sovereign to distant parts, were like children for the
first time freed from the arbitrary rule of injudicious parents. While
the safeguards of society were removed, and free scope thus given to
passion, there yet remained their religious belief, the fruit of early
teachings. That strange fanaticism which blended avarice and deeds
diabolical with pretended zeal for the glory of God, not only permitted
but demanded blood and vengeance. Under the circumstances, therefore,
the wonder is, not that we find so much that is wicked in these Spanish
adventurers, but that men so taught and conditioned display so many
qualities noble and magnanimous. Farewell Pedrarias! Few there are who
came to these parts of whom so much of evil, so little of good, may be
truthfully said. And thou Death, almighty leveller! who by thy speedy
compensation has brought this rusty, crusty old man, these several
centuries, and for all the centuries time shall tell, to be no better
than Vasco Nuñez, than Córdoba, than the meanest of the multitude of
savages he has vilely slain, we praise thee![XXI-22]
CHAPTER XXII.
MARCH OF ALVARADO TO GUATEMALA.
1522-1524.
RUMORS IN MEXICO CONCERNING THE COUNTRY TO THE
SOUTH-EASTWARD—PACIFICATION IN THAT QUARTER—THE CHIEFS OF
TEHUANTEPEC AND TUTUTEPEC—AT THE GATE OF GUATEMALA—SUMMARY
OF ABORIGINAL HISTORY—ALLEGIANCE AND REVOLT—PREPARING OF AN
EXPEDITION—DELAYED BY THE TROUBLES AT PÁNUCO—A SECOND ARMY
ORGANIZED—THE MARCH—SUBJUGATION OF SOCONUSCO—THE TAKING OF
ZAPOTITLAN.
Some time before Olid entered Honduras the attention of Alvarado was
directed toward Guatemala. Lying between Mexico and Nicaragua, this
country was one of the first links in Cortés' chain of projected
conquests; it was the foreground in the glowing picture which rumor had
painted of the regions to the south. Here were the greatest of cities
and the finest of palaces, maintained by a people as numerous and
cultured as any in Anáhuac. A vast table-land, with an Italian climate,
made bright with meandering streams, studded with verdure-fringed lakes,
produced in abundance the choicest of products, while the mountains and
river-beds, in the ardent imagination of the conquerors, at least, were
veined with gold. Soft sensuous pearls were distributed by an equally
lavish fancy along the shore bathed by the southern sea.
On first touching the borders of New Spain vague stories had reached
Cortés to this effect, and while captive Montezuma still held sway at
Tenochtitlan he had sought further information. The reports poured into
his ears served only to magnify the mystery and render the allurement
irresistible. As soon, therefore, as the contest with the empire was
over he despatched two small parties southward, and once again the drama
of Vasco Nuñez was performed, once more was discovered and claimed the
boundless ocean, emblem of infinity, incentive to ever greater deeds,
to ever grander discoveries, "for within it," writes Cortés to the
emperor, "must be found islands rich in gold and pearls, and precious
stones and spices, and many other secrets and wonderful things, as men
of experience and learning affirm."[XXII-1]
There was more than speculation in this statement, for the explorers
returned with native envoys bearing gold and pearls and other specimens
of riches. Nor had they failed, in accordance with the Catholic
doctrine of appropriation, as I have intimated, to take possession of
the new shores in the names of their Catholic majesties, the king and
queen of Spain, and to erect the cross, emblematic of their religion.
With doubled impulse the conquerors now advanced along the new route
opened, and speedily the vast provinces of Michoacan and Oajaca were
overrun. About the same time Pilot Andrés Niño had stretched the
limit of discovery by sea from the gulf of Nicoya to very near this
parallel,[XXII-2] disclosing to the world the vastness of the sea
baptized with the blood of Magellan, and by him endowed with a new name.
[Sidenote: TEHUANTEPEC AND TUTUTEPEC.]
Native envoys were meanwhile entering into Mexico to lay homage and rich
gifts at the feet of the bearded white chief. Made happy in return with
Castilian trumpery and the gracious condescension of the demi-gods, they
went back to pour into the ears of their princes the tales impressed
upon them by the strangers, of the power and grandeur of their king,
and of the kindness and vast benefits to be derived from a submissive
alliance with them. Among the first of the meek and friendly spirits
to act upon these reports was the lord of Tehuantepec. Less credulous
was his neighbor of Tututepec, who had great wealth, and by no means
relished the idea of throwing open his gates to rapacious invaders. He
expostulated with his neighbor, saying that the course meditated would
be ruinous to them all. The two chieftains had quarrelled before on a
less momentous issue than the present, and it was quite easy for them
to quarrel now, and fight. If the silly lord of Tehuantepec wished to
throw away himself and all his belongings, it were better they should
fall into a neighbor's hands than to strangers; so he of Tututepec
attacked him and pressed him hard, until the ruler of Tehuantepec called
to Cortés for help.
In answer to this request Pedro de Alvarado was sent to his aid.
Leaving Mexico early in 1522, with a strong force, he swept southward
like a whirlwind, and within a few weeks entered the doomed capital of
Tututepec, captured the chieftain and his heir, and held them subject
to heavy ransom. Nor was this all. There were rich mines thereabout,
so he was told; and at the sea, into which he entered with brandished
sword to take possession, his eyes feasted on lustrous pearls. This
sealed the fate of the ocean-bordered realms, and permanent footholds
were established, to serve as _nuclei_ for radiating conquest, and as
retreats for booty-laden raiders. It was on this occasion that Soconusco
was peaceably occupied by the Spaniards.[XXII-3] Still more dazzling
was the confirmation received of the wonderful kingdoms of the Quichés
and the Cakchiquels, hitherto invested by distance with the charm of
mystery, but now by proximity disclosing glimpses of no mean splendor.
He found himself, in fact, not far from the border, and guides being at
hand, he resolved to send two soldiers to investigate, with instructions
to spy out the land and speak of their king and their religion.
And thus are opened the portals of Guatemala,[XXII-4] a region within
whose parallels centuries rocked the cradle of American civilization,
now disclosed by monuments the most imposing of any on the continent.
The history of their origin is hidden in the remote past, of which
only an occasional glimpse is permitted the investigator. A mighty Maya
empire looms forth under the name of Xibalba, founded perhaps by Votan,
the culture-hero, and centring round the famous Palenque. A golden
age was followed by long struggles with a growing power, which brought
about its downfall toward the beginning of our era. The Nahuas now rise
into prominence, but some five centuries later disaster falls also on
them, and a general breaking-up ensues, leading to mighty migrations
and the formation of smaller independent nations, such as the Toltecs,
Chichimecs, and Quichés. After this even tradition ceases to speak,
save in alluding vaguely to a later foreign immigration. With this
come also certain Toltecs, who, after the downfall of their empire in
the more northerly Anáhuac, seek here an asylum where once again may
bloom the culture that, cradled in this very region, now returns with
invigorating elements. Mingling with the natives, they stir anew the
progress paralyzed by civil wars, infuse fresh spirit into tottering
institutions, and, combining with the aboriginal culture, develop the
new era apparent in the art relics of this western plateau.
A series of struggles soon ensues, out of which rises in the twelfth
or thirteenth century the Quiché empire. Subordinate tribes gradually
acquire sufficient strength, however, to cast off a yoke which has grown
burdensome, and foremost among the new nations figure the Cakchiquels,
who in the early part of the fifteenth century are dividing domination
with the Quichés. The Cakchiquels themselves divide soon after, the
northern and weaker branch forming the Zutugils, their respective
capitals being Patinamit and Atitlan. These, with their former masters,
are the three rival monarchies of Guatemala in the beginning of the
sixteenth century. The Quichés, who govern at Utatlan, nevertheless
maintain a certain preëminence, both in political standing and culture.
There are, besides, a number of minor independent peoples only too
eager to stimulate enmity between the leading powers, and to ally
themselves with that which is likely to favor their own interests. This
condition of things, so favorable to foreign intrigue, has not escaped
the attention of the ambitious Aztecs, who are already masters of the
Soconusco border province. Their agents are in fact scattered throughout
the country, laying plans for further conquests, when the Spaniards step
in to lay their iron hand upon the country, which here as in other parts
they find too well prepared for them by ambition and misrule.
[Sidenote: SIGNS AND OMENS.]
Nor do we fail to find foreshadowed here, as elsewhere upon the pages
of history, the momentous event. There were startling occurrences,
such as conflagrations and locust ravages; there was a ball of fire,
which for many evenings rose in the east and followed the path of the
sun; and there were other like omens. When the troubled priests went
to seek an explanation from the oracular black stone at Cahbaha, their
awe was increased by finding it broken in twain. In 1520 cholera swept
the Cakchiquel country, followed in 1521 by the small-pox, which, after
desolating Mexico, fell upon these southern provinces and carried off
half the population, including the two kings and the flower of the
nobility, leaving gaunt famine in its trail by way of remembrance.
Amid such presages it was that the news came of the achievements of
the white men in Montezuma's realms, of their wonderful war enginery
and invincible prowess. Less awed by these reports, the Quichés, who
had probably suffered less from epidemics, prepared to resist the
prospective invasion with the same determination that they had formerly
shown against the Aztecs; but the Cakchiquels were more broken in power
and spirit, and more inclined to welcome the new-comers, particularly
since the Quichés were again becoming dangerous.[XXII-5]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: KING BELEHE QAT.]
Thus stood affairs when the two messengers of Alvarado appeared at
Patinamit. On their arrival at the capital they were peaceably received.
When admitted into the presence of King Belehe Qat[XXII-6] they were
asked if they had been sent by Malinche,[XXII-7] and whether they had
come on great sea monsters similar to those that had been seen off
the coast the year before,[XXII-8] and whether they were accustomed to
tell the truth; whereupon they made answer that they had come from the
emperor of the world, and from his invincible captain, who, though no
god,[XXII-9] had found his way hither to show them the path to paradise.
Their journey had been by land, they said, and they would by no means
lie, their truthfulness being as unvarying as the polar star. Then
one of them[XXII-10] drew an enormous carac with six masts, and, Peter
Martyr adds, as many decks, which was indeed a fair specimen of Spanish
veracity. The Indian nobles gazed in wonder at the enormous vessel, with
its sails, and spars, and countless ropes, and thought it must indeed
be a true representation, since there were so many adjuncts.
At length the king spoke. "How is it that the Spaniards are so
invincible, being no larger than other men?" "In the God of heaven our
strength lies!" came the answer; "He whose holy law we proclaim, he
gives us victories, lending us courage sharp like iron, and intelligence
powerful like caged thunder, and beasts withal, which are in themselves
a host." And the diplomatic Apelles drew a colossal horse, of fierce
aspect, mounted by a man. The spectators were awe-stricken. Right
willingly now would the king enter into an alliance with these wonderful
beings. He would supply them with fifty thousand warriors if they would
overthrow the neighboring foes who were devastating his land. Alas!
for ready friendship, the humble offer of vassalage, and open hand;
peaceful policy or bold defiance alike led to the oppressor's yoke.
The embassadors were dismissed, promising to report the ruler's wishes
to their commander, and gayly they went their way, accompanied by five
thousand slaves, laden with the products and manufactures of the land,
with cacao, maize, and poultry, besides raiment, and vases, and jewelry
to the value of twenty thousand pesos de oro.[XXII-11]
On receiving this earnest of advantage Alvarado hastened back to impart
the news to his chief and to assist him in plans for conquest. It
was determined to advance at once by sea and land. A force of forty
Spaniards, mostly carpenters and seamen, was despatched to Zacatula, on
the Pacific coast, to engage in ship-building, as an aid to proposed
conquest and colonization. We find, moreover, that during this same
year, 1522, two Spanish envoys, with certain natives of Mexico and of
the province of Soconusco, were sent to Utatlan and Guatemala,[XXII-12]
and on their return they met Cortés at Tuxpan,[XXII-13] on his way
back from Pánuco, where he had been engaged in pacification. About
one hundred[XXII-14] embassadors accompanied these messengers, sent
by the rulers of those cities to tender friendship and service to the
king of Spain. Nothing could be more courteous and dignified than the
bearing of Cortés while accepting this allegiance, as he terms it, and
the costly offerings of gold ware, rare plumes, and feathered tapestry
brought by the Indian envoys; and again were produced and presented with
imposing mien the gewgaws of Spain. Especial favor and kind treatment,
the embassadors were assured, should be extended to these princes and
their subjects, inasmuch as this tender of friendship was voluntary and
in good faith. An appropriate display of warlike power was made before
the visitors, who were then dismissed.[XXII-15]
About the beginning of 1523, however, rumors reached Cortés that these
allies were scarcely to be relied on, and that the settlers in Soconusco
were molested by inroads from the southern provinces.[XXII-16] Although
the truth of the reports was doubtful, Cortés deemed it not adverse
to his interests to regard them as true, for there were advantages
in the conquest of rich provinces which peaceful possession could not
give.[XXII-17].
The subjugation of the districts being thus resolved on, naturally the
leadership fell to Alvarado, who had already taken some steps in that
direction, as we have seen. He had probably stronger claims upon Cortés
than any captain in the Mexican conquest, having shared with him, as
second in command, many desperate battles and many brilliant triumphs.
Perhaps more so than with any of the others, his character was apparent
on the surface: reckless, impetuous, merciless, lacking in veracity if
not in common honesty, he was still zealous and courageous; and with
his native dexterity, and past experiences under Grijalva and Cortés,
he may now be called an able commander. If less staid and regular than
Olid, his loyalty was regarded as above suspicion. At all events, the
general could not himself undertake the work, and the best proxy was
this captain.[XXII-18]
[Sidenote: PERSONNEL OF THE EXPEDITION.]
Preparations were begun early in 1523. A force was quickly organized,
but operations were diverted by the inopportune arrival at Pánuco of
the adelantado Francisco de Garay, who endeavored to supplant Cortés in
that quarter. Alvarado was therefore despatched against the interloper,
and it was not until the 6th of December that the expedition set out
for Guatemala. It was a gallant array, as finally formed, the very
flower of New Spain chivalry, one hundred and twenty horsemen, three
hundred infantry, of whom one hundred and thirty were cross-bowmen and
arquebusiers, and over twenty thousand picked native warriors.[XXII-19]
Spiritual guides were present in the persons of two friars and two
army chaplains.[XXII-20] And it was a proud moment for Alvarado as he
marched out of the Mexican capital the chief commander of that brilliant
company, the panoplies of the cavalry glittering high above the flashing
helmets of the infantry, while the long sombre line of swarthy allies
was broken here and there by the colored insignia and gaudy plumes of
some great chieftain. For a little way Cortés himself rode beside his
subordinate and friend, reiterating his instructions, charging him
specially to render punctually his report, and such a one as would be
acceptable to his majesty. Nor was the parting devoid of pleasure, for
one would be rid of sometimes unpleasant interference in affairs at the
capital, while the other would be independent of any superior.[XXII-21]
[Sidenote: AT TEHUANTEPEC.]
It was about the middle of the dry season; and the time of year, the
weather, and the condition of the roads all were favorable, so that
the southward march promised to be an easy one. After turning aside to
quell an insurrection in the mountains of Tehuantepec[XXII-22] Alvarado
continued his course, and on the 12th of January, 1524, wrote to Cortés
from Tehuantepec city, where he had been received in all friendship and
with reiterated expressions of allegiance. He then entered the province
of Soconusco, upon whose people the Spanish yoke seemed to rest a little
heavy.
The shadows which flit behind substantial record in Soconusco's history
represent the people as independent for ages and in the usual state
of chronic warfare with their neighbors,[XXII-23] by reason whereof
they became so weakened as to fall under the sway of the Olmecs, who
oppressed them almost beyond endurance. Numbers indeed abandoned their
homes, leaving many tracts nearly depopulated. Under Aztec domination,
however, they regained somewhat their strength, and when the Europeans
came the district was quite populous and advanced in civilization. And
now, when the purposes of the Spaniards were made known to them, they
turned and joined the nations of Guatemala confederated for resistance.
At no great distance from the Tehuantepec border Alvarado first
encountered serious opposition, and before the Guatemalan border was
reached many patriots had been punished and many freemen made slaves.
The subjugation of the Soconuscans was decided by a pitched battle at
Tonalá a town of fifty thousand inhabitants,[XXII-24] where a large
army under a Quiché prince was defeated.[XXII-25] At the border of
Guatemala proper the army entered, early in February, the dense forests
of Zapotitlan,[XXII-26] now Costa Cuca and Costa Grande. For three days
they marched in the shadow of lofty evergreens, through uninhabited
wilds, skirting pestiferous swamps or plunging into snake-infested
canebrakes; now hacking their way through thickets, now fording
high-banked streams or scaling rugged hill-sides, while painted macaws
screamed at them, and poisonous insects left their sting. Amidst the
customary prayings and cursings they struggled forward, and finally
emerged from the forest and entered cultivated lands.
[Illustration]
[Sidenote: APPROACH TO ZAPOTITLAN.]
Messengers had been sent forward summoning the provinces in due form to
allegiance. And now were captured three natives, believed to be spies
from the city of Zapotitlan,[XXII-27] who were despatched with a second
requirement, to which there was no response. The Spaniards then advanced
along a broad open highway, and soon after entered a narrower road,
which they found barricaded; whereupon they pitched camp in an open
plain near by. On a height beyond a deep ravine, through which flowed a
river,[XXII-28] stood the city, bathed in the bright rays of the setting
sun, like a beautiful maiden arrayed for the sacrifice. Between the
plain and the city the ground was thickly covered with plantations of
cacao, which would materially impede the action of cavalry.
[Sidenote: RESULT OF BATTLE.]
The Spaniards had not long to wait attack. In the dusk of evening
a small band sprang from cover and slew a number of the allies. The
cavalry were thereupon ordered to sweep the plain. They came upon a
large force, and a skirmish ensued in which some of the horses were
injured. Alvarado's blood was now up, and he ordered an immediate
march on the city. No serious opposition was encountered until the
army came to the ravine, spanned by a narrow, rudely built wooden
bridge, the crossing of which was fiercely contested by a large body
of warriors. The artillery was accordingly brought into action and did
efficient service. The doomed natives fought well, rallying again and
again under the frightful havoc of the guns, until a great breastwork
was formed of their slain. At length the cavalry, under cover of a
heavy fire, succeeded in forcing a way across the stream and began
to climb the height to a bench overlooking the ravine. The infantry
followed. The passage was made in the midst of the fiercest attacks;
but Alvarado protected his rear with consummate skill, and soon he had
the satisfaction of drawing up his troops on the open ground above,
safe from molestation. In the streets of the city, which the army now
entered, the natives made another desperate effort to save themselves;
but without avail. Those terrible guns! those terrible horses! that
life-compelling steel, falling with a force and precision worthy the
death-dealing enginery of the gods! For half a league beyond the town
the allies were permitted to pursue and slay, after which the victors
took up their quarters in the abandoned market-place, where for two days
they rested and reconnoitred.[XXII-29]
CHAPTER XXIII.
CONQUEST OF GUATEMALA BEGUN.
FEBRUARY-MARCH, 1524.
OVERTURES OF KICAB TANUB TO THE LORDS OF THE ZUTUGILS
AND CAKCHIQUELS—DEATH OF THE QUICHÉ KING—TECUM UMAM HIS
SUCCESSOR—GATHERS A GREAT ARMY—INTRENCHES HIMSELF AT
ZACAHA—PASSAGE OF PALAHUNOH BY THE SPANIARDS—A SKIRMISH—A
BLOODY ENGAGEMENT—QUEZALTENANGO ESTABLISHED—THE ARMY
ADVANCES ON XELAHUH—THE CITY—BATTLE OF XELAHUH—TECUM UMAM
SLAIN—FORCIBLE PROSELYTING.
[Sidenote: DEATH OF KICAB TANTUB.]
As we may well imagine, the presence of the conquering army created
a profound sensation throughout the whole Quiché dominion. They
were a warlike people, rulers and subjects, and proud withal. It is
stated that while Alvarado was yet in Soconusco, Kicab Tanub, king
of Utatlan, had endeavored to bring the lord of the Zutugils and the
lord of the Cakchiquels into a combination which he was forming for
purposes of defence against the approaching army. But they haughtily
declined the overtures; one because the Quiché king had secretly aided
a rebellious vassal of his, and the other because he felt sufficiently
powerful to defend his gates against all comers. The ruler of the
Cakchiquels,[XXIII-1] indeed, declared openly for the Spaniards, while
the king of the Zutugils was so insulting in his rejection of the
proposed confederation that King Kicab Tanub was deeply humiliated.
His chagrin, added to the anxieties attending preparations for defence,
brought on a fever, from which he died in a few days. He was succeeded
by his son, Tecum Umam.
Meanwhile all the forces of the kingdom were placed under arms, and a
general muster of allies and tributaries was appointed to be held at
Totonicapan. Thither marched Tecum Umam at the head of sixty thousand
warriors, and he was soon joined by a still larger force. With this
army he occupied the table-land on which stood the strong city of
Xelahuh,[XXIII-2] and which overlooked the ravines of the Tziha and
the Olintepec. Ten lords governed this city, and with all their armies
brilliantly equipped they went to the assistance of the Quiché monarch.
Never since the days of the great Kicab[XXIII-3] had there been seen on
the Central American plateau a military display so imposing. Redoubtable
warriors were there, made fierce of aspect by the skins of wild beasts,
the lion, the jaguar, and the bear, and a vast array of fighting men,
two hundred thousand and more,[XXIII-4] while conspicuous above them
all in military splendor was the Quiché king and the royal retinue.
On one side of the elevated plain was Zacaha, a line of fortifications
commanding the defile through the mountains by which the invading army
had to enter. The place was now strengthened by throwing up round
many of the hills stone walls, along the sides of which a ditch was
carried, set with poisonous stakes. A number of military machines
were constructed, such as towers on wheels, and catapults for hurling
missiles, which would have done honor to the man-killing profession
of any European nation of that day. There King Tecum Umam intrenched
himself and awaited the incoming army.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: PALAHUNOH PASS.]
And to this inland plateau, in the very heart of the Quiché country,
Alvarado was now with difficulty making his way through a narrow gorge
of the sierra, leaving the people of Zapotitlan quite subdued. After
crossing two rapid rivers a steep ascent six leagues in length was
begun, leading to Palahunoh, as the pass was called. It was indeed a
rugged way, more in the nature of a height to be scaled than an opening
in a chain of mountains. So severe were the struggles with nature and
Satan, to whom these stubborn soldiers ascribed most ills, that their
former troubles seemed to them as pastime now. The place was so steep
and rough that it was with the utmost difficulty the horses, plunging
and struggling, could make their way up. It was impossible to accomplish
the whole distance in one day, and the panting and foot-sore army, too
exhausted to proceed farther,[XXIII-5] was ordered to encamp when half
the ascent had been made. The next day through similar efforts they
reached the summit, where a woman and a dog were found sacrificed, in
token of defiance and challenge to war, as the interpreters explained.
During the descent to the plain, at no great distance, in a narrow part
of the pass, a strong breastwork of undefended palisades was discovered,
quite incomprehensible to the Spaniards, as a few men properly disposed
could have held the place against any invading army.
The nature of the ground was still so unfavorable for cavalry that
Alvarado sent forward the infantry, and presently the enemy was
encountered. A body of three or four thousand fell upon the allies and
threw them into confusion. The cross-bowmen, however, came to their
support, and soon the entire infantry were engaged in the contest,
which was carried on along the hill-tops and down the slopes until
the ravine of Olintepec River was reached. There the Spaniards were
drawn into an ambuscade, formed by over six thousand warriors from
Utatlan, from whom they received some wounds.[XXIII-6] The troops were
soon collected on the other side of the ravine, however; but none too
soon, for presently was seen advancing with bold front a detachment
of the grand army, thirty thousand strong, as if to annihilate them at
one blow. Fortunately the ground here was level and favorable for the
cavalry. The horses being greatly fatigued, Alvarado determined to wait
till the last moment before charging. After permitting the enemy to
amuse themselves with the allies during a brief breathing space, their
confidence momentarily increasing, the commander at length gave the
order to the impatient horsemen, who swept forward instantly like an
avalanche, and as if the hills indeed had fallen on them the affrighted
Quichés scattered. Mad Ajax among the defenceless sheep took not more
lives than did each Spaniard on that day. Like sheep the poor natives
scattered, and like sheep they were pursued and slaughtered.[XXIII-7]
A league farther brought the thirsty troops to some springs, but the
period of refreshment was short. At hand was a yet more formidable
native force, led by Prince Ahzumanche, one of the highest among the
relatives and officers of the king.
The engagement which followed was exceptionably bloody. The Quichés
approached over the extensive plains, and when they had arrived at a
position favorable for the Spaniards to make the attack the horsemen
charged upon them. But the Quichés were better on their guard than
before. Recovered from their panic, and animated by the example of their
leader, they displayed greater bravery this time, standing the shock
unflinchingly,[XXIII-8] fighting foot to foot, or banded two and three
together, endeavoring by their own strength to overthrow the horses,
seizing them by mane and tail, and trying to pull them down, and laying
hold of the riders to unhorse them. The Spaniards were indeed closely
beset, and for a time it seemed by no means certain that victory would
finally declare for them. But what naked power could long withstand the
steady fire of arquebuse and cross-bow, the steady fall of sword-blow
and lance-thrust!
Relaxing their efforts for a moment, the natives were charged by the
cavalry with deadly result, and were trampled under foot by hundreds,
and speedily routed. For a league they were followed with great havoc,
till they took refuge in a stronghold of the sierra. By pretending
flight, however, Alvarado drew them from their position to the open
plain, and then wheeled and fell upon them. The carnage for a time was
dreadful; the ground was covered with the mangled bodies of the dead
and dying, and the waters of the Olintepec ran crimson with blood. And
henceforth the stream was called Xequiqel, that is to say, River of
Blood.[XXIII-9]
Among the fallen was Prince Ahzumanche, and a number of the nobility
and chiefs. The contest being over, the army encamped for the night at
the springs before mentioned. The loss to the Spaniards, as usual, was
insignificant.[XXIII-10]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: A MAGNIFICENT PRIZE.]
Let us pause for a moment to review the position of the invaders. They
had surmounted with irresistible progress the coast range, had crossed
the summit, fought their way down the corresponding slopes, and were
within a league of Xelahuh, the great stronghold of the Quichés, on
their western confines. All the defences to it had been won, the Zacaha
fortifications had been carried, passive nature's majestic guardianship
had been overcome, and human opposition had proved futile. Far behind
them stood the deadly forest through which they had struggled; over the
golden-edged hills, the rugged steep by which they had made their way
hither. Around them now were open pine woods,[XXIII-11] and at their
feet the wide cultivated plains of the table-lands on which the sun
shed its uninterrupted rays. Dotted with towns and parti-colored with
maize-fields and orchards, silver-threaded by streams, the landscape
displayed before the Spaniards the picture of a paradise. And this
beautiful realm now lay helpless in the conqueror's grasp, its very
air[XXIII-12] becoming traitorous by refreshing and invigorating
the invaders, bracing their nerves and inspiring their hearts to new
enterprise.
* * * * *
At dawn the Spanish camp was astir; and while the voices of Christian
priests chanting praises to God for past victories floated over the
hideous battle-field, Christian soldiers were buckling on their armor
for the further butchering of helpless human beings who had done them
no harm. A hermitage and a town were established at Zacaha, the former
under the charge of Friar Francisco Martinez de Pontaza,[XXIII-13]
whose memory was ever after fragrant in those parts, the latter under
the direction of Juan de Leon Cardona.[XXIII-14] The natives of the
subjugated neighborhood finally came in and helped to swell the numbers
of the town, which was called Quezaltenango.[XXIII-15]
These measures taken,[XXIII-16] the army advanced on Xelahuh,[XXIII-17]
only to find it abandoned. The inhabitants, terror-stricken at the
success of the invaders, had fled to the mountains. Alvarado took up his
quarters in the deserted city, where for six days he remained, resting
and reconnoitring.[XXIII-18]
[Sidenote: THE GRAND ARMY.]
Tecum Umam was an ambitious prince and a brave commander. With no small
concern he had seen defeated one after another the forces sent against
the foe, and he now resolved to take the field in person. About noon on
the seventh day of their sojourn at Xelahuh the Spaniards saw converging
to that point from every quarter dense masses of warriors.[XXIII-19]
Well aware that his great strength lay in the cavalry, Alvarado with
a large part of his force[XXIII-20] hastened to occupy an open plain,
three leagues in length, at no great distance from the city. Tecum
Umam was shrewd enough to comprehend the manœuvre, and before the last
Spaniard was a bow-shot from camp the Quiché army in two principal
divisions was upon them. Alvarado had divided his cavalry into two
bodies, commanded respectively by Pedro Puertocarrero and Hernando
de Chaves, who were directed to assail at different points one of the
opposing bodies when well in position, while the infantry, commanded by
himself, were to engage with the other. The onset was terrible. Through
and through the dense columns rush the horsemen, heedless alike of
the flint-tipped arrow, the javelin with fire-hardened point, and the
slung pebble. Resistance was not possible. Plunged through and hurled
to earth, crushed beneath the horses' hoofs, the broken ranks of this
division sought the protection of the other. Thus half of Tecum's last
hope was lost, while the other half was fast dwindling. Early in the
combat the Quiché king had recognized the conspicuous figure of the
mounted Spanish commander, and as Tecum now saw his forces broken by the
cavalry, he determined upon one last desperate effort. Gathering around
him a few chosen warriors, he threw himself in person upon Alvarado,
and with his own hand so wounded his horse that the Spaniard was obliged
to fall back and mount another. A second and a third time the undaunted
warrior assailed his superior foe, till pierced by Alvarado's lance he
fell, staining with his life-blood the ground he had fought so bravely
to defend.
It was not often that the heavenly powers deigned to help the poor
natives in their dire struggle with the steel-clad Europeans, as was
so frequently the case with the Spaniards. The gods usually prefer
fighting on the strongest side; but here we find an exception. It is my
duty to relate, as a truthful historian, that during the mortal combat
between these two leaders an eagle with great pinions was observed by
the Quiché army circling round and round the Spanish commander, ever and
anon swooping down upon him, and with beak and claw attacking him about
the head. It was the _nagual_, the guardian spirit of Tecum Umam. But
less strong than Alvarado's lance, it was discomfited at the moment of
the monarch's death, and disappeared from the sight of the vanquished
Quichés.[XXIII-21]
Contrary to the usual course pursued by natives in warfare, the fall of
their commander did not immediately disperse the Quiché warriors, but
seemed rather to enrage them; for the moment after there fell upon the
Spaniards such a blinding tempest of javelins as would have delighted
the Spartan Dieneces. It was but for a moment, however; it was their
last expiring effort, for soon the cavalry came thundering on their
flanks, dispersing and slaying after the usual fashion. For two leagues
along the plain they were pursued by the horsemen, who then turned and
rode back, repeating the carnage over the same field. The slaughter
was particularly bloody at a stream on one side of the plain, and the
commander proudly refers to it in his despatch.[XXIII-22] The infantry
captured a vast multitude which had taken refuge from the insatiate
horsemen on a hill near by.
Thus ended another day in the annals of the grand extermination, a day
dark indeed for the noble Quiché nation, but of which European progress
and propagandizing might well be proud.[XXIII-23]
[Sidenote: PERSUASIVE PROSELYTING.]
By this crushing defeat the Quichés were humbled and their confidence
in their deities, not to say themselves, was weakened. Though in great
grief at the loss of their chief and the triumph of the Spaniards, an
opportunity was given them through the preaching of the priests Torres
and Pontaza to embrace the religion of their conquerors. Four captive
chieftains[XXIII-24] of Xelahuh were baptized and received their
liberty. Christian raiment with swords was then given them and they
were entertained at the table of Alvarado.[XXIII-25] After this they
were sent out as missionaries to their affrighted brethren, bringing
quite a number to a knowledge of the Savior. They also aided in erecting
a more suitable hermitage at Zacaha, and in building houses for the
Donatís.[XXIII-26] Nay more; in their growing enthusiasm they suggested
that the place where Tonatiuh had gained his crowning victory, and over
which still hung the odor of corruption and blood, the blood of their
slain countrymen, should be called by the name of Espíritu Santo.
CHAPTER XXIV.
DOWNFALL OF THE QUICHÉ NATION.
APRIL, 1524.
UTATLAN, CAPITAL OF THE QUICHÉS—ITS MAGNIFICENCE—THE ROYAL
PALACE AND PYRAMIDAL FORTIFICATIONS—PRIVATE APARTMENTS AND
GARDENS—PLAN TO ENTRAP THE SPANIARDS—A FEAST PREPARED—THE
ENEMY INVITED—THE TREACHERY DISCOVERED—MASTERLY RETREAT OF
ALVARADO—THE QUICHÉ KING AND NOBLES ENTRAPPED—THEY ARE MADE
TO GATHER GOLD—AND ARE THEN DESTROYED—UTATLAN BURNED AND THE
COUNTRY DEVASTATED—SUBJUGATION OF THE QUICHÉS COMPLETE.
Upon the central plateau, near the present town of Santa Cruz del
Quiché, stood Utatlan,[XXIV-1] the ancient capital of the Quiché
nation. It was surrounded by a deep ravine, and could be entered only
at two points. To one of these entrances over thirty stone steps led
up an almost perpendicular cliff; to the other a narrow artificial
causeway, connected at one point by a bridge which could be easily
destroyed. The city was further strengthened by the grim fortress of
Atalaya, four stories in height, and the pyramidal fortification of
El Resguardo,[XXIV-2] one hundred and twenty feet high. In wealth and
splendor Utatlan, in which twenty generations of the present dynasty had
reigned, vied with the city of the Aztec kings and the gardened capital
of the Incas. In its centre stood the royal palace, surrounded by the
imposing residences of the nobles, and beyond, the humbler dwellings of
the common people. The palace was one of the most magnificent structures
of Central America. It was built of hewn stone of various colors, mosaic
in appearance, and its colossal dimensions, and elegant and stately
architectural form, excited mingled awe and admiration.[XXIV-3]
Within the lofty portals the quarters of the household guards,
surrounding a spacious barrack yard, were first presented to view.
Dusky warriors, lancers, and archers, clad in wildly picturesque garbs
of dappled tiger-skins or sombre bear-hides, in brilliant plumes and
polished arms, with silent tread measured the well paved court. In the
principal apartments near at hand the various arms and paraphernalia of
battle lay ready for immediate use, while on the walls hung hard-won
trophies of war. Next lay the residence of the unmarried princes, and
beyond this the palace proper, containing besides the apartments of
the monarch the council-chamber, with the gorgeous throne canopied with
costly tapestry of feather work of rare designs and wrought with cunning
skill; also the royal treasury, the hall of justice, and the armory.
Three separate suites of rooms, for morning, afternoon, and night, were
each day occupied by the monarch, and all these more private apartments
looked out upon delightful gardens, with trees, and flowers, and fruits,
and in their midst menageries and aviaries, with rare and curious
collections. Beyond lay the separate palaces of the monarch's queens
and concubines, with their baths, and gardens, and miniature lakes;
and lastly the maidens' college, in which were reared and educated the
female offspring of royal blood.
And all this was but one pile of buildings, the largest, it is true; but
there were others of no mean pretensions, the residences of the nobles
and of the wealthy trading class. Of a truth Utatlan was a fine city,
and a strong and noble one. And must it now be yielded to the spoiler?
Is there no hope? None. Then perish all, for who would live with king
and country gone; and with its occupants, also this fair capital which
so long has harbored kings. Ah! if this strong trap could but be baited,
and the white foxes enticed thereto and strangled. Rare thought! It were
worth dying a dozen times to see these braggarts but once die. And so
the Quiché cunning ones determined. In general council it was agreed
that the Spaniards should be invited to a feast, and while there the
city should be burned and brought down upon their heads!
[Sidenote: OXIB QUIEH SUCCEEDS TECUM UMAM.]
By the death of Tecum Umam his son Oxib Quieh[XXIV-4] succeeded to the
throne. His situation was not an enviable one. The best troops, in fact
the very flower of the nation, had been destroyed or scattered. His
father, with numbers of the first men of the land, had fallen, without
having in a single instance gained a battle or baffled the foe. Their
puny efforts were as gnats stinging or destroying a band of wild boars.
Yet the grandson of the great Kicab Tanub would not abandon the field
without a struggle. The council might burn the city if they chose. And
though their hopes and the prospects of success were great, the king and
his nobles relaxed none the less their efforts to raise fresh troops.
Should the plan fail, they would again take the field. Not only did
Oxib Quieh draw all the forces possible from his own provinces, but
he adopted every means to smooth the differences that existed between
himself and the neighboring provinces. By these exertions at length a
strong league was formed, and again the natives in formidable numbers
were ready to do battle for their gods and their country at the proper
moment.
These preparations completed, an embassy with presents of gold was
despatched to greet the conqueror, to sue for peace, and to tender
their king's submission as vassal to the king of Spain. Alvarado was
also invited to the court of Utatlan, where the king was waiting to
offer in person his allegiance and entertain with all due honor the
redoubtable Spaniard. Alvarado graciously accepted both the presents and
the invitation, and made presents in return, and on the following day
set out with his army to pay the promised visit. It was quite natural
on both sides, the invitation and the acceptance. Here were war and a
conquered country; here the conquered with overtures of peace; and so
the Spaniards marched into the trap without suspicion.
[Sidenote: THE PLOT DISCOVERED.]
But as they passed along the narrow causeway and came to the bridge,
certain soldiers[XXIV-5] fancied they saw where it had been recently
weakened. When the attention of Alvarado was called to it he made no
alarm, nor did he turn a moment from his course. He relished the flavor
of such an adventure, and grasping his sword the tighter he commanded
the strictest caution and the closest observation. On entering the city
the suspicions of the Spaniards were confirmed. The men were armed; the
women and children had been withdrawn; there were few provisions at hand
and little valuable merchandise in the storehouses; in many buildings
throughout the city brush and firewood had been deposited, while the
anxiety displayed in the uneasy deportment of the natives themselves
could not be disguised. It was observed, too, that the streets were so
narrow and the houses so compact that it would be impossible for the
cavalry to move; and lastly, the Quezaltenango allies who accompanied
the Spaniards obtained and brought to Alvarado positive information of
the intentions of the Quiché chiefs.[XXIV-6]
Not only are prompt measures now necessary, but they must be such as
will not arouse the suspicions of a most suspicious foe, whose keen
eyes are watching every movement. Without formally summoning a council
Alvarado moves in holiday mien among his officers, dropping here a hint
and laying there a stern command; meanwhile, outwardly undisturbed, he
rides forward into the nest of nobles awaiting him and greets them with
a frank smile amid renewed protestations of friendship. This done he
looks about for the disposal of the horses. They are worshipful brutes,
in some respects the equals and even the superiors of men; they are
not given to feasting like men, but they must not be forgotten at the
feast. Their greatest delight will be to feed upon the open plain; he
will conduct them there and return without delay. Greatly disconcerted
the nobles press the Tonatiuh to immediate entertainment, which even
now awaits him; under the direction of the soldiers they will provide
the best care for the noble animals. By no means, Alvarado intimates;
the horses will never forgive him if he neglects them on so important
an occasion. Thus all the Spaniards return over the causeway, and the
weakened bridge, and with a feeling of intense relief reach the plain
in safety.
Now for a sweet morsel of revenge. While gathering grass for the
horses the soldiers are fired on from the ravines and thickets, and
one Spaniard, a servant of the commander, is killed. The king and his
nobles, who remain near the city entrance, on witnessing the outrage
from this distance are distressed, and take measures to prevent hostile
demonstrations on the part of their people. Alvarado pretends to regard
it all as of no moment, and continues his attitude of confidence and
cordiality with the chiefs. It is unfortunate, this accident of the
servant; but after what has happened probably the feast had better be
postponed. As a further mark of friendship and esteem, will Oxib Quieh
and his companions look in upon the camp of the Spaniards? Poor boy!
So easily caught, and in a trap, a steel one, quite different from the
bungling bridge-drop at Utatlan. Now may all men open their eyes and
judge as gods, for these present must die!
The mask is thrown aside, and the avenger in his wrath stands
revealed. Oxib Quieh and his caciques are seized and charged with their
treacherous intentions. Their condemnation is a matter predetermined,
but execution is delayed a little that the tiger may sport with his
prey. Little gold has been gathered on this expedition, and it may be
well to put upon the scene in Guatemala the grand drama of Montezuma not
long since performed at the Mexican capital. The prisoners shall have
their lives if they gather much gold. This done, they shall have their
lives if they gather more gold. And when the kingdom is stripped of its
gold and the Spaniards become impatient, a great fire is built, into
which those of the prisoners who are not hanged are thrown alive; and
the smoke ascends to heaven as grateful incense to their god.[XXIV-7]
[Sidenote: COURAGE OF THE QUICHÉS.]
Notwithstanding these merciless lessons, during which three of the
Quiché kings, of three several generations in direct line of succession,
had been sacrificed, hostilities were speedily renewed. A fierce attack
was made on all sides, the natives issuing in great numbers from the
many ravines which intersected the neighboring ground, and the assault
was obstinately maintained for some time; but the artillery[XXIV-8]
committed such dreadful destruction, opening through their dense
masses lanes strewn with mutilated bodies and torn-off limbs, that they
speedily recognized the futility of their attempts, and fled back to
the gulches. Keeping ever to inaccessible ground, and avoiding open
engagement,[XXIV-9] they harassed the army incessantly, by cutting off
stragglers and inflicting harm in any way that they were able. At length
Alvarado determined upon the plan of burning their city and devastating
the country; and he sent to the friendly king of the Cakchiquels,
requesting a contingent of troops to assist him in dislodging the
Quichés from their fastnesses. Four thousand warriors were at once
sent[XXIV-10] by the submissive lord, with which additional force, and
the energetic measures he pursued, Alvarado carried on the process of
subjection with effect. The warlike Quichés, their city burned,[XXIV-11]
their crops destroyed, hunted from one retreat to another, driven from
their lands, at length were forced to yield. Alvarado received their
overtures with generosity. He pardoned the repentant in his great mercy,
and promised them their lives, at the same time ordering them to return
and occupy their lands. He moreover released two captive sons of the
royal line and put them in possession of their father's realm, the
leading monarch being named Sequechul.[XXIV-12]
[Sidenote: ENSLAVEMENT.]
Thus was terminated for a time the struggle of the Quichés for
independence—a struggle that ceased only with the destruction of their
principal nobility and all the bravest warriors of the nation. To their
obstinate valor the conqueror himself bears testimony,[XXIV-13] and
recognizing the difficulties of his position, and how man of himself
can do so little, he begs Cortés to order in the Mexican capital
a procession of all the clergy, so that the virgin might help him.
And further, would he "please take care to inform his Majesty how we
are serving him with our persons and means, and at our own cost, in
order that his Majesty may reward us?" Nor did the lieutenant fail
to report that his majesty's interests had been carefully attended
to, all captives taken in the war having been branded and reduced to
slavery.[XXIV-14] The royal fifth of these captive Quichés had been
delivered to the treasurer, Baltasar de Mendoza, who sold them at
auction for the better security of the revenue.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE CAKCHIQUELS AND ZUTUGILS MADE SUBJECTS OF SPAIN.
APRIL-MAY, 1524.
MARCH TO THE CAKCHIQUEL CAPITAL—WITH A BRILLIANT RETINUE
KING SINACAM COMES FORTH TO MEET THE SPANIARDS—DESCRIPTION
OF PATINAMIT—OCCUPATION OF THE CAKCHIQUEL CAPITAL—EXPEDITION
AGAINST TEPEPUL, KING OF THE ZUTUGILS—THE CLIFF CITY OF
ATITLAN—A WARM BATTLE—ENTRY INTO THE STRONGHOLD—RECONCILIATION
AND RETURN TO PATINAMIT—LOVE EPISODE OF ALVARADO.
[Sidenote: SINACAM GREETS THE SPANIARDS.]
The lieutenant-general was now ready to advance, and on the 11th
of April, 1524, he left Utatlan for Patinamit, the capital of the
Cakchiquels.[XXV-1] The weak and yielding Sinacam,[XXV-2] king of the
Cakchiquels, had already sent with his troops a present of gold to
Alvarado, and renewed his assurances of allegiance. He now prepared to
meet him with such stately pomp as would be sure to gratify his future
master. By this means he hoped his tottering throne might be secured to
him. Servility and profuse hospitality would surely win their hearts,
he thought; and then, with the powerful strangers on his side, he might
laugh at his enemies. As the Spanish army approached his capital he
issued forth with native pageantry to meet it. He was borne aloft by
his nobles on a litter, beneath a canopy which dazzled the eye with
blazing ornaments of gold and changing hues of quetzal feathers, and
round him were the members of the royal family in litters scarcely less
conspicuous than his own, while a large body of warriors, with their
plumed head-dresses and warlike apparel, marched in the rear and on
either side. Alvarado's greeting was not of that unalloyed cordiality
which Sinacam had hoped. The Spaniard was suspicious. He had but just
escaped destruction, and the late danger had taught him discretion. What
he had observed on the march had not tended to inspire confidence or
promote peace of mind. All along the route despoiled corpses of slain
Indians had met his sight, and the ground was discolored with human
blood. Large bands of armed warriors were everywhere seen, and it was
evident that the whole country was in arms. But fear was no part of
Alvarado's character; therefore, when the king came near, he calmly
dismounted, approached him with courteous mien, and with expressions
of esteem placed in his hands a rare and curious piece of silver
jewelry; then he asked with sombre brow, "Why dost thou seek to do
me harm, when I come to do thee good?" Informed of the meaning of the
words so seriously addressed to him, and conscious of his own faithful
intentions, Sinacam, with calm yet somewhat severe dignity thanked him
first for the present, replying, "Quiet thy heart, great captain, scion
of the sun, and trust in my love." It was then explained to Alvarado
that the warlike demonstrations he had discovered were directed against
a rebellious vassal, who, with the aid of the kings of the Quichés and
the Zutugils, had revolted and attempted to make himself a ruler.[XXV-3]
[Sidenote: PATINAMIT.]
Alvarado professed to be satisfied, and permitted himself to be escorted
by the monarch to the capital.[XXV-4] Patinamit,[XXV-5] like Utatlan,
was situated in a naturally impregnable position. It occupied an
elevated plain, surrounded by ravines, the side of which nearest the
city was perpendicular to a depth of five or six hundred feet. Across
this chasm, at one point only, could entrance into the capital be
gained, by means of a narrow causeway, which was closed by two gateways
of stone,[XXV-6] one on each side of the city wall. This isolated
plateau was about three miles long and two broad. The chronicler Fuentes
describes the remains of this city with much minuteness, leaving vivid
impressions of its former grandeur. On one edge of the natural platform,
according to that writer, were the ruins of a magnificent building
one hundred paces square, of extremely well hewn stone. In front of
this edifice extended a plaza, on one side of which were the remains
of a splendid palace, and in close proximity the foundations of many
residences. The city was divided by a ditch running north and south,
more than eight feet deep, and surmounted by concrete breastworks three
feet high. This was the dividing line between the dwellings of the
nobles and those of the commoners. The streets were straight and wide,
and extended in the direction of the four cardinal points. To the west
was a mound dominating the city, on the summit of which stood a round
building five to six feet high, resembling the breastwork of a well.
Around this the judges held courts; but before their sentences could be
executed they had to be confirmed by the sacred oracular stone, which
was preserved in a shrine in a deep gulch. It is described as of a black
diaphanous material, more precious than the ordinary building material.
In its gloomy transparency the demon made visible the judgments that
were to be passed. If no manifestation occurred, the accused was
released; otherwise the sentence was carried into effect on the same
mound where the judges sat in deliberation. This oracle was consulted
also in matters of war.[XXV-7]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: ATITLAN.]
King Sinacam's reception of the guests in this his capital and court
fully equalled his promises. Sumptuously lodged, and bountifully
supplied with all the luxuries the land could produce, Alvarado himself
admits that they could not have met kinder treatment in their own
land.[XXV-8] For eight days the Spaniards feasted,[XXV-9] and in return
Sinacam succeeded in obtaining the aid of his powerful friends against
his hostile neighbors. Frequent conversations were held relative to
the subjugation of the Zutugils, and to insure this happy consummation
Sinacam expatiated on the contemptuous pride of Tepepul, king of
Atitlan,[XXV-10] and his further wickedness in not tendering allegiance
to the Teules.[XXV-11] It seems that the Zutugil ruler had incurred
the hatred of Sinacam by giving assistance to his rebellious vassal,
Acpocaquil,[XXV-12] and making nocturnal incursions into the Cakchiquel
territory by means of canoes. These outrages were prompted partly
by his reliance on the impregnable position of his city, situated on
the hanging cliffs above Lake Atitlan, seven leagues from Patinamit.
Alvarado required little persuasion to engage in his favorite pastime of
gold-hunting and blood-letting. He was well aware of the supercilious
nature of Tepepul, and had already determined to visit him in person.
While at Utatlan he had sent four messengers to the court of Atitlan,
bearing the usual requirement; but the haughty monarch, instead of
paying the respect due to so important a demand, put the messengers
to death. This ruffled Alvarado, though it did not dishearten him. "I
think," he writes to Cortés respecting this city, "that with the help of
our Lord we shall soon bring it to the service of his Majesty."[XXV-13]
Alvarado would help King Sinacam, but first he would like some money
for travelling expenses. This reasonable request could not be refused;
not only was the treasure house of Patinamit emptied, but the entire
district, so far as possible, was stripped of its gold, jewels, and
whatever the Spaniards regarded as desirable.[XXV-14] After this the
Spaniards were ready to pass into the next district and levy like
tribute, with or without bloodshed.
[Sidenote: THE CITY TAKEN.]
In order to proceed with regularity, Alvarado again sent envoys to
Atitlan, demanding that Tepepul should cease hostilities against the
Cakchiquels, who were the allies of the Teules, and again the ruler
displayed his contempt by putting to death the messengers.[XXV-15]
Thereupon Alvarado set out with sixty cavalry, one hundred and
fifty infantry, and a large body of Cakchiquels, commanded by their
chiefs.[XXV-16] Meeting no opposition he advanced with thirty horse
to the height above the lake, and descended over difficult ground
to a level plain that lay in front of a fortified rock in the water.
This was approachable only by means of a narrow causeway, intersected
at different points by wooden bridges. Near by the enemy were now
discovered drawn up in two bodies, each eight thousand strong. They
advanced at once to the attack, armed with lances, bows and arrows,
and other weapons, protected, moreover, by cotton corselets.[XXV-17] As
the rest of his forces were not far behind, Alvarado did not hesitate
to charge, and when the infantry soon came up the engagement became
general. For some time it was most obstinately maintained, and numbers
of the Spanish soldiers were wounded. The cavalry, however, succeeded
as ever in breaking the enemy's lines, relieving the hard-pressed
foot-soldiers, who thereupon rallied and renewed their efforts so
vigorously as soon to send the enemy rushing for the stronghold. The
pursuing horsemen arrived at the causeway as soon as the fugitives;
here they were obliged to dismount, as the place was impassable for
horses; yet they followed the Indians so closely that no time was given
to destroy the bridges, and the Spaniards entered the fort with them.
The infantry soon came up, and though the Zutugils struggled desperately
to maintain their position, the volleys of the arquebusiers made such
havoc in their ranks that at last they plunged into the lake and swam
to a neighboring island, whence many of them escaped before the tardy
arrival of three hundred Cakchiquel canoes.
That evening, after sacking all the houses on the rock, Alvarado
pitched his camp in a field of maize. On the following morning he
implored divine protection and marched against Atitlan. He found the
city abandoned, his capture of what they regarded as an impregnable
stronghold in the lake having so discomfited the Zutugils that they
dared not contend with him for their city. At mid-day he took up
position in the capital, and at once set about to overrun and devastate
the country; but it was so rugged that the men could with difficulty
move, and he was obliged to content himself with destroying some
plantations of maize and cacao.[XXV-18] He succeeded in making a few
captives, three of whom were despatched to King Tepepul with the usual
demand of submission, accompanied by threats in case of refusal.
Perceiving the necessity, the Zutugil monarch gracefully yielded,
whereupon the conqueror became gracious. He complimented the Zutugils
for their bravery, pardoned their offences, and exhorted them to remain
faithful, and to make no more war on such of their neighbors as were
the recognized subjects of the king of Spain. To give efficacy to his
words he built a strong fort in a suitable position, and left in it
four hundred and eighteen men, Spaniards and Mexican allies, under the
command of Héctor de Chaves and Alonso del Pulgar. Then he returned to
Patinamit.[XXV-19]
Within three days the lords of the lake district presented themselves,
with presents of gold and raiment. They expressed joy at becoming
vassals of his majesty of Spain, for wars and woes should thenceforth
be unknown among them. The Spanish commander was extremely affable as he
presented his visitors with some glass trinkets, of great value in their
eyes, and dismissed them with every demonstration of affection.[XXV-20]
* * * * *
Perhaps one reason why the play of Helen of Troy was not oftener
performed by the Spanish conquerors in America was on account of the
cheapness of women there. There might be lacking gold, or pearls, or
provender, but seldom was a people found so poor that they could not
furnish the army a liberal supply of pretty slave girls. Less is found
in the chronicles of this kind of traffic than of the traffic in gold
and the traffic in pearls. The merchandise of morality, or rather of
immorality, was less portable than the other kinds. Women were to use
and throw away; gold would keep; while pearls were usually a staple
article in the Spanish nation.
[Sidenote: ALVARADO IN LOVE.]
Now the pious Alvarado, next to his delectable master Cortés the most
pious pirate in all the Indies, had tasted every iniquity condemned in
his most holy scriptures except that invented and acted by the sweet
psalmist of Israel. He had severally broken every commandment of the
decalogue, then he had put them together and had broken them in every
conceivable combination. But while maidens were so plump and plenty he
had never felt the desire, like good King David, to go after the wife
of any Uriah the Hittite. But while enjoying the luxurious hospitality
of the Cakchiquel capital, with a world to give for a new sensation,
Alvarado's eye fell on the beautiful Suchil,[XXV-21] wife of King
Sinacam. In some respects it was the Israelitish tale reversed, for
Sinacam was by no means a poor man in respect of women, nor was Suchil
his only ewe lamb. The susceptible heart of the dashing commander was
smitten by the graces of this queen, and he resolved to possess her.
Being a conqueror, with a king for a slave, he might have obtained
his desire by the simple demand; but in those days there was something
sacred in royalty, even in heathen and captive royalty. Sinacam was now
an acknowledged subject of Spain, and as such possessed rights; besides,
that was not the way set forth by the bright exemplar of his faith.
Upon some pretext, therefore, Sinacam was arrested and put in irons.
Gold was then demanded, and yet more gold. It was the old method of
making the penalty supply the place of guilt and condemnation. Then
Suchil was seized, I do not say unwillingly, for the Spanish commander
was fair and fascinating, and the Cakchiquel queen was after all but a
woman. Above all things on earth, or beyond the earth, Sinacam regarded
her—and for her restoration he offered more jewels, and pretty maidens,
ay, the daughters of chieftains, by the hundred. Alvarado refused the
prayer but not the offering. When love had cooled he released the king
and went his way.[XXV-22]
CHAPTER XXVI.
EXPEDITION TO SALVADOR.
1524.
CAMPAIGN AGAINST ITZCUINTLAN—A ROUGH MARCH—THE TOWN
SURPRISED—DESPERATE DEFENCE—ALVARADO DETERMINES TO EXPLORE
STILL FARTHER SOUTH—CROSSING THE RIVER MICHATOYAT—THE
SPANIARDS COME TO ATIQUIPAC, TACUYLULA, TAXISCO,
NANCINTLAN, AND PAZACO—THE TOWNS DESERTED—POISONED
STAKES AND CANINE SACRIFICE—ENTER SALVADOR—MOQUIZALCO AND
ACATEPEC—BATTLES OF ACAJUTLA AND TACUXCALCO—BLOOD-THIRSTINESS
OF THIS CONQUEROR—ENTRY INTO CUZCATLAN—FLIGHT OF THE
INHABITANTS—RETURN TO PATINAMIT.
[Sidenote: CONQUEST OF ITZCUINTLAN.]
While receiving at Patinamit, after the Zutugil campaign, the fealty
of numerous chieftains of the southern coast provinces, Alvarado was
told that the district of Itzcuintlan[XXVI-1] defied him. And with
their refusal to accept the benefits of Christian civilization certain
irritating expressions of contempt were reported to have been uttered
by the ruler of the province. Chiefs of other tribes who wished to
pass through it, in order to tender allegiance to the Spaniards,
were deterred and insulted, and the conqueror was challenged to
enter the land.[XXVI-2] Somewhat ruffled by these bold proceedings,
the impetuous commander marched against Itzcuintlan with all his
available force, Spanish horse and foot, and a large body of Quichés
and Cakchiquels.[XXVI-3] It was a very rough country through which he
had to pass. Roads there were none, other than mere tracks through
the thick woods, for intercourse with Itzcuintlan had been almost
entirely closed, owing to incessant war; but these circumstances
favored a secret entrance into the hostile territory. For three days
they forced their way through an uninhabitable tract almost closed to
man by tropical undergrowth, which required constant application of
axe and knife, so that one day they were unable to proceed more than
two leagues. On reaching the province it was found covered with thick
plantations alternating with swamps. Such ground being no place for
horses, the arquebusiers took the front, and advanced upon the town from
three different quarters. It was raining heavily at the time, a shower
preliminary to the season of rain, and the sentinels had retired, so
that the surprise was complete.[XXVI-4] Unable to arm or unite, the
inhabitants fled to the woods to escape the swords of the conquerors.
In the fort, however, which commanded the town, a considerable body of
warriors had gathered, who offered a determined resistance, wounding
many Spaniards and causing great loss to the Indian auxiliaries. After
five hours of unavailing attempts to gain possession of the stronghold,
the enraged Alvarado set fire to the place. The brave defenders appear
to have escaped, thanks to the heavy rain and the proximity of the
surrounding woods. Indeed, according to Alvarado's own statement, he
did no harm beyond burning the town.[XXVI-5] The subjection of the
district was not yet accomplished, however, and messengers were sent
to the ruler with the usual summons and threats. If they persisted in
keeping aloof and refusing to submit, their lands and cornfields would
be devastated, and they and their children made slaves. This menace
had the desired effect; the cacique and his chiefs submitted and swore
obedience, and during the eight days Alvarado remained in this place
a number of the surrounding towns sent in their allegiance. But the
restless spirit of both leader and men was not to be satisfied with
the subjugation of one province only. The lieutenant-general had heard
exciting accounts of immense cities and wonderful palaces, and discovery
was almost as attractive to him as pacification. He had already informed
Cortés that it was his intention to winter fifty or one hundred leagues
beyond Guatemala. As an additional incentive he had received positive
information that a march of twenty-five days from Guatemala would
bring him to the end of the land: if that should prove to be the case
he was confident of finding soon the famous strait, for which so many
were searching.[XXVI-6] Besides the strait he desired also to find a
harbor where he could construct vessels for exploring the coast at a
later date. Already a great soldier, he desired to become also a great
discoverer. Even the rainy season, which has just set in, should not
deter him, though his difficulties would be greatly increased thereby.
[Sidenote: TOWNS TAKEN.]
Starting southward, then, from Itzcuintlan, the first difficulty
encountered by the army was the River Michatoyat,[XXVI-7] which could be
crossed only by bridging. The first town reached was Atiquipac,[XXVI-8]
where the Spaniards were amicably received, but at sunset the people
abandoned their homes and fled to the mountains.[XXVI-9] There was
no time to be wasted with them, for the roads might at any time be
rendered impassable by the rains, and so the army pushed forward after
branding a few unfortunates as slaves,[XXVI-10] the commander taking
every precaution in the disposition of his forces for the security of
baggage and the protection of the auxiliaries. The next town reached was
Tacuylula, standing to-day under the same name. The reception here was
similar to the former, except, perhaps, that the natives detected the
quality of their visitors more quickly than did the people of Atiquipac.
Within an hour they had all fled.[XXVI-11]
From Tacuylula they advanced to Taxisco, where, according to Alvarado's
report, the inhabitants appeared friendly.[XXVI-12] They passed the
night in the town, with every precaution against attack, for it was
strong and populous, and the Spaniards were under no little apprehension
of an assault. They were unmolested, however, and left on the following
morning for the town of Nancintlan.[XXVI-13] For better security the
commander placed ten horsemen in the rear and an equal number in the
centre with his baggage, while with the remainder of the cavalry he led
the van. He had advanced between two and three leagues when a fierce
assault was made upon his rear, wherein a number of his Indian allies
were killed, and, what he deplored still more, a great quantity of his
baggage, stores, and material was carried off.[XXVI-14]
This was a grave loss, and the commander immediately sent his brother,
Jorge Alvarado, with forty or fifty of the cavalry to attempt a
recapture. On arriving at the scene of the late disaster this officer
fell in with a large body of warriors[XXVI-15] and put them to flight,
but recovered none of the lost effects. In the mean time the army
arrived at Nancintlan, and Jorge Alvarado having returned with little
or nothing accomplished, Puertocarrero[XXVI-16] was sent back with a
detachment of foot-soldiers. The second attempt was as unsuccessful
as the first. The fact is, the country was all in arms; the natives
had retired to mountain fastnesses, whence they issued forth to attack
as occasion offered. Nancintlan had also been abandoned, save by the
principal men who were detained as prisoners. During the eight days'
stay[XXVI-17] here, Alvarado sought in vain to induce the people to
return, and, as he could delay his march no longer, out of pure spite
the dastardly commander burned the town and his prisoners.[XXVI-18]
The Spaniards now advanced to the neighboring town of Pazaco.[XXVI-19]
The lieutenant-general had already received an invitation from the
chiefs, with protestations of friendship, which could hardly have
been sincere, for as the Spaniards approached the town their advance
was interrupted by short poisoned stakes, ingeniously hidden in the
ground.[XXVI-20] The roads, also, were found to be closed near the
town, with all possible impediments to an advance. As they entered the
place, the spectacle of a canine sacrifice, a ceremonial significant
of hatred and defiance, met their gaze.[XXVI-21] Nor were hostilities
long delayed. At a signal the natives suddenly appeared, shouting their
shrill war-cries, and threw upon the Spaniards so heavy a discharge of
arrows, lances, and stones, that it was with difficulty they held their
ground. Slowly but surely, however, Spanish weapons and coats of mail
prevailed, and the Indians, unable to stand before them, fled to the
surrounding heights, amidst the attendant horrors of pursuit.[XXVI-22]
[Sidenote: ACROSS LA PAZA INTO SALVADOR.]
The army thereupon passed across the La Paz River[XXVI-23] into what
is now the state of Salvador, first entering Moquizalco,[XXVI-24] and
then they went to Acatepec. Both of these towns received the strangers
hospitably, but the inhabitants soon fled, overcome by terror at the
cruelties committed. Angered by this continual desertion, Alvarado
ordered the Indians to be pursued, and as many of them as could be
seized were branded as slaves. He then hastened forward, directing his
march to Acajutla.[XXVI-25] On arriving within half a league of the
town he encountered a mighty host drawn up in battle array to oppose
him, their ranks extending over a wide plain that lay before the city.
It was indeed an inspiriting sight for an Indian fighter. Times had
been somewhat tame for the last few days, but here was the promise
of rare sport, indeed. Alvarado, who was in advance with the cavalry,
approached to within a cross-bow shot, and then halted for his infantry
to come up. As he ran his experienced eye over the forests of spears,
and marked the magnitude of the hostile array, he felt that all his
coolness and all his skill would be required to save his army that day.
War plumes waved from the heads of thousands, and battle devices were
scattered as far as the eye could reach, while the feathered banners
floating above the parti-colored bands threw over all an air of peculiar
brilliance.[XXVI-26] The foe had chosen, too, an advantageous position.
In their rear thick woods offered easy refuge in case of need. Yet
already, before they were his own, Alvarado began to plan that none
should escape him. He stood there like a hunter overlooking a band
of antelope, and thinking how he could best secure them all. Of what
advantage was it to Charles, or Cortés, or even to these panting wolves
themselves, that this ill fated multitude to the last man should die?
[Illustration]
[Sidenote: NOBLE GAME.]
As the remainder of his forces[XXVI-27] came up, Alvarado advanced a
little nearer to the enemy. The Indians manifested no inclination to
leave their position; they appeared to be awaiting attack. Alvarado
then feigned retreat, which the army performed in perfect order, though
in apparent haste,[XXVI-28] the commander himself having charge of
the rear. The result was as he anticipated. The duped natives eagerly
pursued; at last, they thought, these beings maledict are afraid. And
they flew at them with wild demonstrations of joy at the expected
victory, making in their onset such a roar as would have appalled
any but veteran troops. In their blind enthusiasm they grappled and
struggled with the retiring cavalry, seizing the horses' tails and the
riders' stirrups. Their arrows rattled thick like hailstones against
the metal armor of the soldiers, or with angry hiss passed them by,
reaching to the farthest end of the Spanish army. For some time this
movement continued over the level plain, on which no obstacle interposed
to prevent its successful achievement.[XXVI-29] After thus drawing the
enemy away from the friendly wood, and to such ground as best suited
the purpose, the order was given; the Spanish army wheeled and fell on
the unprepared foe like a storm of Sodom. Sennacherib's hosts before
Jerusalem met no more complete destruction than the army of warriors
before Acajutla that day. Incased in cumbersome cotton armor, they
could not flee, and when overthrown by the charging horsemen they
could not rise again.[XXVI-30] As they lay helpless on the ground the
infantry and auxiliaries would cut and pierce them as if they had been
swine, following as zealously as possible the example of Alvarado, who,
severely wounded[XXVI-31] and out of humor, vented his malignant spleen
upon these home-defenders. Ah! war is a glorious thing; and grand that
civilization which refines and ennobles war!
[Sidenote: ANOTHER GREAT BATTLE.]
The revenge of the chivalrous commander was ample; not one of all that
multitude of warriors was left alive upon the field.[XXVI-32] When
the extermination was finished the victorious army entered Acajutla,
and remained there five days caring for their wounded, of whom there
was a great number; then they passed on to Tacuxcalco.[XXVI-33] Pedro
Puertocarrero had been sent forward to reconnoitre, and succeeded in
capturing two spies, who reported that the warriors of this town and its
dependencies were assembled in large numbers to oppose their advance,
whereupon the scouting party proceeded until they arrived within sight
of the enemy. Gonzalo de Alvarado, who led the van, his brother being
ill of his wound, presently came up with forty of the cavalry, and
drew up in order, waiting for the main body to arrive. The commander,
though still suffering severely, mounted a horse as best he could and
issued his orders. The Indians were drawn up in one solid phalanx;
he would assail them on three sides at once. Thirty of the cavalry,
under the command of Gonzalo de Alvarado, were to attack the right, his
brother Gomez was ordered to lead twenty more against the left, while
Jorge[XXVI-34] was to charge the front with the rest of the forces.
These arrangements made, he took his post on elevated ground above
the battle field. Even his stout heart sank somewhat within him as he
viewed the scene. One portion of the plain was covered with a forest
of tall spears,[XXVI-35] and the compact body of foemen told him that
they were even more numerous than the army he had defeated a few days
before.[XXVI-36] His apprehensions were in no wise lessened as he
watched his forces draw near the enemy and observed how immovable they
stood, and without sign of fear. But what seemed to him most strange
was that his own men hesitated to charge. He afterward ascertained that
between the opposing lines lay a narrow meadow which the Spaniards
mistook for a swamp, and delayed their onset until they had assured
themselves of the firmness of the ground. Presently the stirring cry
of Santiago! was heard, and Alvarado's heart swelled within him: his
passion for human blood appears to increase with the slaughter of his
tens of thousands, and the lately gay and gallant cavalier is becoming
a monster delighting in carnage and butchery, killing men for the mere
pleasure of it. With a feeling of fierce delight the wounded man now
watched his army break into the Indian columns. He marked the rout
and bloody pursuit, and noticed with satisfaction how the plain became
streaked with dead bodies in the track of the fugitives and pursuers,
which ghastly line was soon over a league in length.
[Sidenote: MARCH ON CUZCATLAN.]
Taking possession of the town, the Spaniards remained in it for
two days, and then moved on to Mihuatlan.[XXVI-37] All the towns
and villages hereabout were found deserted; the natives seemed to
have discovered that there was no chance of success in the field,
and no escape from oppression when once their liberty was lost. At
Atecuan[XXVI-38] the commander was met by envoys from Atlacatl, the
king of Cuzcatlan, bearing proffers of friendship, which were received
with satisfaction, for the delay and fatigue of battle with the reward
of empty towns, however pleasurable, seemed profitless.[XXVI-39]
So far, indeed, Alvarado seems to have effected little with respect
to the actual conquest of the country. His line of march was marked
by heaps of slain, by burned cities and deserted villages,[XXVI-40]
but as for native subjects of his Majesty, or Christian converts, or
colonies, or any permanent advantages, they were few. If, now in the
very heart of the country, he could gain a faithful ally, a second
Sinacam, pacification might become more permanent and profitable. To
this end he directed his march toward Cuzcatlan,[XXVI-41] the capital of
that country, a large and beautiful city, inhabited by a considerable
population, and, according to the report of the conquerors, hardly
second to Patinamit.
Although the Indians along the road manifested their friendliness by
supplying the Spaniards with fruits and fresh provisions in abundance,
and although they were cordially welcomed into the city by the chiefs,
yet on taking up their quarters the whole population rushed to arms,
and a few hours after the city was deserted.[XXVI-42] All efforts at
reconciliation on the part of Alvarado were unavailing. Summons to
obedience and menaces were equally disregarded, and a formal requirement
was sent, coupled with the usual conditions; but no reply came. Then
the invaders tried force, but for once they were baffled. For fully
seventeen days the most strenuous exertions were made to subdue them,
during which time several sanguinary encounters occurred, wherein
a number of Spaniards were wounded and eleven horses killed, the
auxiliaries suffering severely. Thus even the occupation of the capital
failed to secure the primary object of the invasion.
Alvarado now perceived that with the present force he never would be
able to subjugate these Cuzcatecs, and he saw that his position was
becoming critical. The rainy season was now well upon him, the roads
were becoming bad, and every day would render retreat more difficult.
The return march extended over several hundred miles, and he could
not expect to meet with much hospitality or assistance. He decided,
therefore, to return to Guatemala. But before he set out he would make
legally secure his claim upon the vassalage of the Cuzcatecs. With this
view he instituted a process against them in the form prescribed by
law, and summoned them to surrender. As no attention was paid to his
proclamation, proceedings were closed after the legal time had expired
and sentence was passed. They were pronounced traitors and their chiefs
condemned to death.[XXVI-43]
[Sidenote: CHRISTIANIZING AND BRANDING.]
This solemn ceremony ended,[XXVI-44] Alvarado was ready to depart from
the country, though not till he had branded all he could lay hands
upon. He was somewhat chagrined at his failure to draw the Cuzcatecs
into the fold; but he would return again. Indeed, this was imperative,
for the Cuzcatlan campaign had been quite unproductive[XXVI-45] in
securing either wealth or dominion. From Itzcuintlan to Cuzcatlan
there was scarcely a town that would not require a second subjugation.
An additional cause of vexation lay in the statement of natives that
no strait existed toward the south.[XXVI-46] On the other hand he
was gratified to learn of great cities beyond, built of stone and
lime, and inhabited by dense populations, and he promised himself due
compensation from them for his present disappointment. Of his homeward
march particulars are unnecessary. That the way was difficult and that
the soldiers suffered much we may be sure.[XXVI-47] Pinched by hunger,
drenched by rain, midst the lightning and the thunder, they beat their
way back over the soft soaked ground, braving the heavens and the earth
which seemed to have risen against them. At night, if no deserted town
afforded shelter, the worn-out men, after partaking of scanty fare and
shivering in wet clothes round feeble camp fires, threw themselves upon
the swampy ground to sleep. Yet with all their sufferings they did not
scruple to destroy fields, burn such villages as fell in their way, and
so reduce others to the same sad plight as themselves. Sweet to us are
the misfortunes of others!
CHAPTER XXVII.
REVOLT OF THE CAKCHIQUELS.
1524-1525.
RETURN OF THE ALLIES TO MEXICO—FOUNDING OF THE CITY OF
SANTIAGO—THE CAKCHIQUELS OPPRESSED BEYOND ENDURANCE—THEY
FLEE FROM THE CITY—DIFFICULTY IN AGAIN REDUCING THEM
TO SUBJECTION—REINFORCEMENTS FROM MEXICO—CAMPAIGN
AGAINST MIXCO—CAPTURE OF THAT STRONGHOLD—FIGHT WITH THE
CHIGNAUTECS—SUPERHUMAN VALOR OF A CAVALRYMAN—CONQUEST OF THE
ZACATEPEC VALLEY—EXPEDITION AGAINST THE MAMES—DEFEAT OF CAN
ILOCAB—ENTRY INTO HUEHUETENANGO—SIEGE OF ZAKULÉU—SURRENDER OF
CAIBIL BALAM.
Pedro de Alvarado with his army arrived at Patinamit from his southern
campaign some days previous to the 28th of July, 1524.[XXVII-1] The
Mexican allies were soon dismissed and returned to their homes, bearing
despatches to Cortés. The general was greatly pleased with the tidings
from his lieutenant, and sent him two hundred more Spanish soldiers, to
aid in the colonization of those parts.
[Sidenote: FOUNDING OF THE CITY OF SANTIAGO.]
Almost immediately after their return to the capital of the Cakchiquels
the Spaniards proceeded to appropriate the territory and make
preparations for its government. A Spanish city was founded at Patinamit
under the name of Ciudad del Señor de Santiago.[XXVII-2]
The ceremonies were conducted with great pomp. According to Remesal, on
the 25th of July, St James' day, the army was drawn up in battle-array
to the sound of fife and drum. The morning was unusually fine, and the
sun flashing its rays upon burnished armor added splendor to the scene.
The cavalry were specially conspicuous for the brilliancy of their
dress and ornaments. After repeated volleys by the arquebusiers mass
was celebrated by Juan Godinez, the chaplain, and all joined devoutly
in the service. With due ceremony the new town was dedicated to their
patron Santiago.
The municipal officers were then appointed by Alvarado. The first
alcaldes were Diego de Rojas and Baltasar de Mendoza. Four regidores
were nominated, whose names were Pedro Puertocarrero, Hernan Carrillo,
Juan Perez Dardon, and Domingo de Zubiarreta,[XXVII-3] while Gonzalo de
Alvarado was elected alguacil mayor.[XXVII-4]
The municipality having thus been formed,[XXVII-5] the Spaniards for the
next three days devoted themselves to festivities and rejoicing. On the
12th of August[XXVII-6] there was an enrolment of colonists, of whom a
list of one hundred has been preserved.[XXVII-7] To the sacred patron
was also built and dedicated a church, of which Juan Godinez was left in
charge, and one Reynosa sacristan with a salary of sixty dollars a year.
The surrounding lands were then distributed in encomiendas. In making
these grants Alvarado must have entertained some misgivings as to their
validity and as to his future position and authority in the conquered
provinces, for in a despatch to Cortés he complains that according
to reports meeting him on his return from the southern campaign the
king had appointed a governor other than himself of the new territory,
and upbraids Cortés for not having duly reported his services to his
Majesty, at the same time begging him to do so.[XXVII-8]
[Sidenote: OUTRAGE UPON OUTRAGE.]
That the Cakchiquel nobles should regard with indignation this arbitrary
disposal of their lands and vassals was but natural. They had already
observed that friend and foe were much the same in the hands of
the voracious Spaniards, whose aggressive and outrageous action now
convinced them that the friendly bearing of their king had gained for
their nation no more, nay less, consideration than that vouchsafed
the conquered Quichés, who had fought manfully for independence. So
it was, in truth, with regard to all the conquerors in America, though
not so expressed in words: those who fought for their rights must die
or suffer enslavement because they offered opposition to the spoilers;
those who did not fight were contemptible things, unworthy a white
man's consideration. Believing in their promises, the Cakchiquels
had received the Spaniards and had accepted their sovereign; but they
were not prepared to go so far as to surrender themselves, their wives
and little ones, their lands and their religion. Death might be the
result of revolt; judging from what they had seen it probably would be;
nevertheless they would revolt and die. How high the high hand of the
taskmasters had been raised we know not; but we know that within a few
short months after Alvarado's return and the founding of his unstable
city[XXVII-9] the Cakchiquels rose to a man against the tyrants. The
crowning grievance also is known. Exaction after exaction had been made.
The temples and palaces of Patinamit had been forced to contribute their
gold and silver ornaments until there was nothing left. Then a large
amount of gold[XXVII-10] was demanded of the king and nobles within a
stated time, which it was out of their power to supply. In their efforts
to obtain the so much desired yellow substance from auriferous streams
they brought in glittering pyrites, mistaking them for gold.[XXVII-11]
Alvarado, furious with rage, summoned the king and his courtiers before
him. "Why," he passionately exclaimed, "have you not brought the gold
and silver that I demanded of you? If I receive not soon all the gold
and all the silver of your towns, you shall have the choice of being
hanged or burned alive!" Then with a brutality that Caligula might have
gloried in he tore with his own hand from the nostrils of Sinacam and
two princes at his side the golden ornaments they wore as badges of
their high rank.[XXVII-12] This indignity cut the unhappy natives to
the heart, and bending their disgraced heads, bitter tears mingled with
the blood which fell at the feet of the Christian. "It is my will,"
added Alvarado, "that the gold and silver be here within five days. Woe
betide you if you bring it not!" and with a coarseness that equalled
his heartlessness he dismissed them from his presence.
[Sidenote: ABANDONMENT OF THE CITY.]
Nobles, priesthood, and people were already of one mind. The priests in
particular, seeing the desecration of their temples and the threatened
suppression of their religion, put forth all their efforts to rouse the
Cakchiquels from the vile thraldom. And while the nobles and people
proceeded as best they were able to collect treasures to meet the
last demand from the neighboring towns, the priesthood succeeded in
completing plans and preparations for revolt. They spread the report
that their deity, offended at the sacrilegious actions of the Spaniards,
had appeared to his ministers, announcing the speedy destruction of the
strangers. A priest of Chamalcan now presented himself before Sinacam
and his court. "I am the lightning!" he cried, with subdued vehemence,
"and I will strike the Castilians. With fire will I destroy them! When
I shall cause the sound of the sacred drum to be heard in the city,
let the king leave it and withdraw to the other side of the river, for
on the seventh day, Ahmak, will I strike the Spaniards!" These bold
and confident words had their effect. In their deep affliction the
Cakchiquels believed their god would help them, else of what value were
gods? and they secretly made all ready for the time the signal should
be given. The Spaniards do not seem to have had any suspicion of the
intentions of the Cakchiquels. On the very evening of the uprising
Alvarado, pacified with the gold that had been brought him, entertained
Sinacam and a large number of princes and nobles at a banquet, a
splendid banquet, whereat the guests feasted on their own of which they
had been despoiled. That night, while the Spaniards were asleep, heavy
after their revelry, the signal drum was sounded. The whole population,
men, women, and children, arose and silently withdrew with their king
and nobles from the city. It is not the only time in the world's history
that a people have abandoned home and fled from persecution, trusting
in religious faith. Now may the god in whom they trust help them, for
all other hope they have left behind! Crossing the ravine they turned
and awaited the expected miracle; all through the remainder of the
night they watched for the lightning and the fire, straining their eyes
afar, to the remotest corners of the heavens, to catch the first faint
gleam of that sacred flame which should bring them deliverance. But
alas! there was no light save that of the morning sun, which came to
dispel all hope. God and priest alike had deceived them; or rather they
themselves were deceived, had not understood aright, or were not worthy
of aid, or their desire would come in some other way—so their teacher
might have said. Now it remained only for them to perish, for they would
return, never![XXVII-13]
Alvarado well knew the meaning of this action when he heard of it. And
as he walked through the city, the empty houses and deserted streets
told him plainly enough that his atrocious system of oppression had
driven to despair a nation that had welcomed him with all kindness and
hospitality. The immediate cause and incentive to revolt, the action of
the priest, being explained to him, he hoped when the Cakchiquels had
discovered how vain was the hope in their god that they would return
to their homes again, and for ten days he remained inactive. But all
attempts at reconciliation were repelled; they would rather die at war
with the Christians than live at peace with them. Ah well! then they
must be slain; and as a religious and patriotic duty Alvarado took the
field against them. It was a long and bloody war that followed. If the
Quichés and Zutugils had confederated with the Cakchiquels, it is safe
to surmise the Spaniards would have been repelled. With a scarcity of
provisions,[XXVII-14] and a reduced number of Mexican auxiliaries,
hemmed in and harassed, it is hardly possible that they could have
fought their way out of the country. But the rejection by Sinacam of the
earlier proposals of the Quichés, and his alliance with the invaders,
still rankled in their breasts, and they now cared little which of
their detested foes ate the other. As it was, the war proved not the
one-sided affair of late so common. The Cakchiquels displayed a skill
and bravery in battle such as the Spaniards had not experienced in
these parts. In front of their lines they dug deep holes in which they
planted pointed stakes, and concealing them with coverings of grass and
light earth, received behind them the charging cavalry. Many a Spaniard
and many a horse found death or frightful wounds, impaled in these
pitfalls.[XXVII-15]
[Sidenote: HATRED OF THE CAKCHIQUELS.]
On the battle-field the natives displayed a desperate courage. With
their deep hatred they would if possible envenom their arrows and darts,
and as they hurled them on the foe they shouted, "Take gold, Tonatiuh,
take gold!" Thus the contest was carried on with great animosity on both
sides, and the Cakchiquels, now more united among themselves, and joined
by many neighboring tribes, long maintained the struggle. Though their
own land suffered from the ravages of the Spaniards, they had their
revenge in devastating the territories of the Quichés and Zutugils; for
these nations had been so weakened in their contests with the Spaniards
that they could no longer meet the Cakchiquels in the field. And,
indeed, under this widely extended process of devastation the Spaniards
began to suffer hunger. Alvarado was obliged to abandon his new city at
Patinamit during the latter part of this year, 1524, and to make his
head-quarters for a time at Xepau,[XXVII-16] round which the country
was less desolate.
The Spaniards were indeed sorely pressed, and many Christians were
killed and wounded. But about the beginning of 1525 he received
reinforcements from Mexico which enabled him to proceed rapidly with
the reduction of the revolted provinces. Returning to Patinamit, he
subjected the several districts one after another to fire and sword,
till the land was one wide scene of desolation.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: CAMPAIGN AGAINST MIXCO.]
It was during, or immediately after, the suppression of this revolt that
the Spaniards accomplished perhaps their greatest achievement during
the whole Guatemalan conquest. This was the storming of the city of
Mixco, deemed impregnable.[XXVII-17] Mixco was one of the most important
strongholds in the Cakchiquel kingdom, being so fortified by nature as
to require little from art. Situated on an eminence surrounded on all
sides by precipices, it was accessible only by a steep path, wide enough
for but a single person, and interrupted here and there by places which
could only with difficulty be climbed.[XXVII-18] On the top of this
eminence was a great plain, capable of supporting a population of eight
or nine thousand.
Learning that the Mixcans had determined to resist Spanish rule,
and were encouraging other tribes to fortify themselves in similar
impregnable positions, Alvarado regarded the reduction of the place
as an absolute necessity. He therefore sent an advance force of two
companies of foot-soldiers and one of cavalry, under the command of
his brother Gonzalo, to invest Mixco until he should be able to assume
command in person. The captains commanding under Gonzalo, Alonso de
Ojeda, Luis de Vivar, and Hernando de Chaves, were men of high courage
and experience; yet they not only accomplished nothing, but suffered
so much from the stones and arrows of the enemy,[XXVII-19] provisions
likewise beginning to fail, that Gonzalo was about to raise the siege
when the lieutenant-general arrived with reinforcements.[XXVII-20]
Although fully recognizing the difficulty and danger of the undertaking
there were two incentives which urged Alvarado forward to its
achievement: he loved what was difficult and dangerous, and he well knew
that there could be no permanent subjugation of the country with this
stronghold in the hands of the enemy. A council of war was held and
the capture of Mixco resolved on. The first attempt was unsuccessful,
as were indeed the second and third, until days and weeks went by
without any seeming progress. Then the Spaniards tried stratagem, and
while feigning an assault by means of scaling-ladders at a place where
the precipice was lower than elsewhere, they suddenly made a rush up
the pathway, which they hoped to find undefended. The Mixcans were
prepared, however, and received the Spaniards with such heavy discharges
of missiles that they were forced to retire in confusion. While the
officers were in consultation shortly after, a strong body of native
warriors was reported near at hand, which proved to be Chignautecs,
allies of the Mixcans.[XXVII-21] Their intentions were evident, and soon
the two armies were engaged in hot contest. Notwithstanding that great
havoc was made by the arquebuses and cross-bows, and still more by the
cavalry, the Chignautecs maintained the fight with such stubbornness
that after the loss of a large number of Tlascaltecs and the wounding
of many Spaniards a retrograde movement was decided on.
[Sidenote: FIGHT WITH THE CHIGNAUTECS.]
Upon an occasion like the present, where the object to be gained, the
taking of a stronghold, partook more of the nature of single combat than
of general battle, here and elsewhere upon a campaign of this kind, it
was not uncommon to see feats of individual prowess cropping out on both
sides. It was the field of glory to the soldier, limited usually to the
field, as the world was the general's field of glory. I will mention one
such exhibition in connection with this fight against the Chignautecs.
In the hazardous retreat one of the cavalrymen, García de Aguilar, is
in the extreme rear, subject to the fiercest assaults of the pursuing
warriors. In truth, his body is interposed between the two contending
armies. Obviously, if the enemy cannot put him out of the way they are
unable to harm the others; every effort is therefore made to maim his
horse, or otherwise to capture him; and he is at length cut off from
his comrades and quickly surrounded by over four hundred of the dusky
foe, each eager to inflict the _coup de grace_. But Aguilar is by no
means vanquished yet. Though presently unseated, he maintains for some
time a desperate struggle, striking with deadly effect upon the enemy.
Then he loses his sword, and nothing remains to him but a dagger. It is
not in this instance the bravery of the man that astonishes so much as
his extraordinary muscular power. The horse, by kicking and plunging,
prevents capture, while Aguilar, circumscribed by threatening death,
exhibits almost superhuman strength. No blow dealt to kill or stun, no
attempt to seize him, can stop the quick stroke of that strong right
arm as it drives the keen steel straight into the assailants' vitals.
With wounds and ever increasing exertion, however, he grows weaker;
but capture signifies immolation. To be gazed at, helpless on a heathen
altar, an offering to odious gods—the thought is horrible—and the fatal
dagger is still, by swift movements, driven to the hilt. And now the
battle cry of Santiago to the rescue! rings in his ears and tells of
succor; he hears a leaden sound, as of crushed bone and flesh, and
the whistle of descending blades, and knows that help is at hand. Six
horsemen have plunged into the unequal contest, and they scatter the
swarthy foe like sheep. They gather round their countryman, support
his exhausted frame, and carry him wounded and faint to a place of
safety. The courage, strength, and skill of this single man, and the
valor displayed in his rescue, so impressed the Chignautecs that they
retired disheartened, regarding their efforts of no avail against such
beings,[XXVII-22] and they returned to their homes.
The siege had now lasted a month. On the third day after the retrograde
movement, which resulted in victory, the Spaniards determined to make
another attempt upon the place, and were on the point of assault when
an ambassador arrived from the Chignautecs tendering their submission,
and bringing the customary presents of gold, green plumes, and costly
mantles. It was, however, stipulated on their part that this act of
allegiance should be kept secret until the fall of Mixco; at the same
time the envoy intimated that their caciques would communicate privately
to Alvarado a secret that would be of service to him. Alvarado received
this message favorably, and sent back the emissary with every mark of
consideration, expressing his willingness to hear what the chiefs had
to say.
The distance from Mixco to Chignauta was nine leagues; and in three
days, during which Alvarado had refrained from active operations, the
principal caciques arrived at his camp. They were attended by a large
retinue and a number of natives bearing presents of great aboriginal
value and a large quantity of provisions. The disclosure made by the
caciques was to the effect that there existed a subterranean passage
from the stronghold, having an outlet in the woods near the river bank.
By this the Mixcans could escape, they said, even if the Spaniards
succeeded in storming the height. The outlet they were willing to
disclose, as they owed no allegiance to the Mixcans, who had incited
them to take up arms against the Spaniards. They moreover suggested that
an ambuscade should be placed near the mouth.[XXVII-23]
[Sidenote: THE FALL OF MIXCO.]
A force of forty men, cross-bowmen and cavalry, commanded by Alonso
Lopez de Loarca, was accordingly despatched to the exit of the
passage,[XXVII-24] and thereupon Alvarado determined once more to
attempt to storm the place. The front man of the storming line bore a
shield, and behind him followed a cross-bowman; then succeeded another
shield-bearer, supported by an arquebusier. This alternate order
afforded protection and at the same time admitted of assault.[XXVII-25]
The file thus formed was led by Bernardino de Arteaga, who had asked
for the dangerous post as a favor, and succeeded in covering his name
with honor. Calling on God and Santiago, they began the ascent of the
narrow ridge, which widened as it joined the cliff. While moving as
rapidly as possible, so that the showering stones and arrows might
have less effect, they nevertheless plied cross-bow and arquebuse with
deadly effect. They had almost reached a wider place in the ridge, where
four men might walk abreast, when the gallant Arteaga was felled with a
heavy stone, breaking his leg, but with indomitable will he struggled
on, supported by his comrade Diego Lopez de Villanueva.[XXVII-26]
Despite the terrible resistance they reached the broader space near
the cliff, which was packed with defenders so eager for a blow at the
assailants that many were crowded off the precipice by those behind. But
the stormers were by this time enabled to fall partially into line and
ply their blades. A hand-to-hand contest followed, and the ground soon
became thickly strewn with the bodies of slain Mixcans, among which were
heaps of lopped-off heads and limbs. More Spaniards and auxiliaries came
rapidly forward to aid in the slaughter as ground could be cleared for
them to stand on. The natives fought with desperation, but height after
height was lost to them, until their victorious foe gained at last the
plain above. There the Spaniards found fresh forces to oppose them. But
the Mixcans were by this time overawed by the extraordinary achievement
of the Spaniards; and as they marked these merciless white foemen, the
first who had ever planted foot within the precincts of their famed
and formidable stronghold, as they saw them moving onward and upward,
invincible as fate, it is no wonder that their hearts sank with despair.
Their opposition was wholly spiritless; they broke and fled at the first
charge. What followed was frightful, surpassing even the terrible scenes
to which these man-killers on both sides were accustomed. To escape the
fierce onslaught of the Spaniards some of the Mixcans plunged headlong
down the cliffs, the dull thud of their bodies, as they struck upon
the rocks, sounding ghostly echoes in the ravine below. Some attempted
escape by the now deserted path by which the assailants had come, but
these were captured by the camp guard. Some fled by the subterranean
caverns, but were pursued and many taken prisoners before they reached
the outlet, while those who had previously withdrawn thither with the
women and children, under the care of several caciques, on emerging at
the outlet were assailed by Loarca, and most of them captured.[XXVII-27]
Thus terminated this remarkable exploit of the conquerors. The city
was burned, the stronghold destroyed, and the population removed to the
site of the present town of the same name, situated in the Valle de las
Vacas.[XXVII-28]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: THE ZACATEPEC WAR.]
It was not long after the fall of Mixco that the conquest of the
Zacatepec Valley was accomplished. The towns of this district
were subject to the king of the Cakchiquels, but many of them,
especially Zacatepec, had thrown off their allegiance and declared
themselves independent, indignant at Sinacam's alliance with the
Spaniards.[XXVII-29] They had, moreover, repeatedly shown their
hostility to those towns which had submitted to Spanish rule, by making
incursions into their lands, and carrying off their women and children
to the sacrifice.[XXVII-30]
After the suppression of the revolt and the re-establishment of Spanish
power in the Patinamit district,[XXVII-31] the caciques of Xinaco and
Zumpango remonstrated with the Zacatepecs, saying that they were now
under the protection of the children of the sun, and should appeal to
them if the depredations on their lands did not cease. The unfortunate
men who carried this message were summarily sacrificed on the altar
stone, all save one, whose life was spared that he might carry back
the reply of the Zacatepecs: "Let the children of the sun bring to
life again the dead envoys. As for ourselves, we will not submit to an
unknown people, but will destroy all the villages of the caciques before
their allies can render assistance." Nor were they slow to carry out
their threat.
A large force invaded the territory of Xinaco and Zumpango, and
began to slay and lay waste. The natives sent to Guatemala to implore
assistance. Alvarado was at this time absent on his second campaign
to Salvador,[XXVII-32] carrying out his former intention to return
and bring the stubborn natives to a recognition of Spaniards' rights.
Nevertheless, one thousand Cakchiquels and ten arquebusiers, under
the command of Antonio de Salazar, a most competent captain, were at
once despatched to the scene of action, while Alvarado was advised of
what had occurred. Hostilities had already begun before these troops
arrived. For three days the Zacatepecs maintained the conflict with
great bravery, though with considerable loss. But now the Spaniards
received a reinforcement of ten arquebusiers, twenty horsemen, and two
hundred Tlascaltecs and Mexicans, commanded by Pedro Gonzalez Nájera.
The contest thereafter was not so evenly balanced, and the Zacatepecs
sustained several defeats. On the fifth day, however, they adopted
the plan of attacking in columns one thousand strong, successively
relieving each other, so that fresh men continually kept up the battle,
each column when relieved retiring to the rear.[XXVII-33] These tactics
enabled them to maintain the fight during the whole of that day, and
they inflicted no little loss on the Spanish forces. Early in the
morning the Spaniards took the field, apparently in disorder and much
reduced in numbers. Encouraged by the success of their new manœuvres,
the Zacatepecs attacked with contemptuous confidence. The Spaniards gave
way and retreated toward a thickly wooded ravine. The Zacatepecs now
felt sure of victory, and in their impetuous pursuit allowed themselves
to be drawn into the defile, where a large body of their enemies were
lying in ambush. Suddenly assailed on both sides, their disorderly ranks
were routed with great slaughter. Numbers were also taken prisoners,
among whom were many caciques. This battle terminated the war. The
whole Zacatepec valley submitted to the authority of the Spaniards;
and in order to insure future obedience a garrison of ten Spaniards
and one hundred and forty Tlascaltecs was stationed at Zacatepec,
under the command of Diego de Alvarado, the caciques being detained as
hostages.[XXVII-34]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: CONQUEST OF THE MAMES.]
About the middle of the year 1525 Sequechul, king of Utatlan,
represented to Alvarado that his father Oxib Quieh had not been so
guilty as he had supposed of the treacherous plot to destroy the
Spaniards the year previous, but that Caibil Balam,[XXVII-35] king
of the Mames,[XXVII-36] was more to blame, as the instigator of the
attempt. At the same time he offered to provide the invading forces
with guides if Alvarado would undertake the conquest of that kingdom
and punish Caibil Balam. Whether Sequechul's object was revenge for his
father's cruel death or favor with Alvarado is of little consequence;
the mention he made of the broad lands and great wealth of the province
fell pleasantly on the lieutenant-general's ear, and he willingly
acceded to the king's proposal.
The expedition was placed under the command of Gonzalo de Alvarado, and
consisted of eighty Spanish infantry, the captains being Antonio de
Salazar and Francisco de Arévalo, together with forty cavalrymen and
two thousand native auxiliaries, drawn from various districts, whose
commanders were Jorge de Acuña, Pedro de Aragon, Bernardino de Oviedo,
and Juan de Verastigui. These forces were, moreover, accompanied by
three hundred pioneers, with axes and picks, while a large number of
Indian carriers bore with them an ample supply of provisions besides the
baggage. Early in July the army marched to Totonicapan, a town on the
confines of the Mame territory, which was made the base of operations.
The usual difficulties of such undertakings here began. It took the
invaders no less than eight days to cross the mountain range between
that place and the Rio Hondo. The season rendered their labors the
greater, for the rain, day after day, poured down in torrents. Up steep
ascents, down dangerous gullies, they toiled, now winding in single
file along the edge of a precipice, now plunging over soft treacherous
ground up to the knee in mud. On reaching the Hondo[XXVII-37] they
bivouacked for two days in the dripping sunless woods on the bank of the
river, which, swollen by the ceaseless rains, for a time defied their
passage. At length they succeeded in crossing, and presently emerged
from the forests upon an open plain, and descried on an eminence the
Mame town of Mazatenango. It was a well fortified place, surrounded by
a barricade of heavy timber, behind which, on a terre-plein of mud and
straw, a great multitude of warriors were drawn up. A wide stretch of
swampy ground, not differing in appearance from the rest of the plain,
debarred approach to this side of the town. As the invading army drew
near, the Mames with hisses and shouts of defiance challenged attack,
in the hope of inducing them to charge into the swamp. Gonzalo de
Alvarado was, however, timely advised of the danger by his guides, and
making a detour he assaulted the barricade on the other side, where
the ground was firm. The assailants were received with a blinding storm
of missiles, which for a long time kept them in check. Their repeated
efforts to burst through the defences were baffled, and the auxiliaries
were becoming discouraged, when Gomez de Loarca with the cavalry plunged
through the palisade. The besiegers, pouring in through the breach,
could now fight after their own fashion; and though the Mames offered a
brave resistance, they were routed with great slaughter, and their town
taken possession of by the conquerors, who placed in it a sufficient
garrison as a protection in their rear.
[Sidenote: PRINCE CAN ILOCAB.]
Continuing their march, they encounter at no great distance from
Mazatenango an army of five thousand warriors from Malacatan, whereupon
Gonzalo takes up a favorable position on the plain.[XXVII-38] The
vanguard of the enemy is composed of slingers and archers, and the
main body of spearmen, commanded by the renowned prince Can Ilocab.
In perfect order, and with deafening sound of drums and conchs, they
approach the Spanish army. As soon as the vanguard has reached a
suitable point Gonzalo charges upon them with the cavalry. The arrows
strike thick as hail on the mailed breasts of the horsemen, drawing fire
therefrom; but the chargers dash through the ranks of the archers, who
with stubborn courage disdain to fly, while to avoid the fatal lance
thrusts they throw themselves under the horses, only to be crushed
and mangled by the iron-shod hoofs. And now the main body of the Mames
come up, and the Spanish cavalry have more difficult work. The charge
against those solid columns bristling with long spears is only partially
successful. The shock is sustained by the Mames with a firmness the
Spaniards are little accustomed to. The discomfited vanguard has time
to rally, and again the swift stone bruises, and arrows hiss and shiver
on helmet and coat of mail. All the forces on both sides are now in
action, and the slaughter of the Mames is dreadful, yet not one inch
will they yield. Rushing to close quarters, within their opponents'
breastwork of sword-points, and gliding along their lances, they so
hamper the Spaniards that they can hardly wield their arms. Bruised and
stunned, embarrassed in their movements, the blows of the Spaniards
fall more feebly, and they already begin to relax their efforts when
Salazar, one of the captains of infantry, seeing the imminent danger,
strives to rouse his men with spirit-stirring words. "Where is your
valor, Castilians?" he cries. "Does that courage sink which won the
blood-stained fields of Mexico and Utatlan? There you achieved renown;
lose it not here, nor suffer yourselves to be carried off to die on
the altars of these idolaters!" The appeal has its effect. With renewed
efforts the infantry mow their way through and through the Mame columns,
causing frightful carnage, but the warriors recede not one foot in
flight. For still waves in air their prince's banner; his plume nods
high above them all, and his voice still cheers them on. As long as he
remains they will fight, knowing no defeat. The Spanish captain is not
blind to this, for under the great Cortés he has learned that in their
leader lies the strength of the warriors, and he recognizes only too
clearly that Can Ilocab's death is their one chance of victory. For some
time the execution of Gonzalo's purpose has been delayed, but at length
by the surging ranks he is thrown near to the magic banner, and then
with desperate charge he urges his steed through the resisting guard
up to the Mame chieftain, and plunges the lance through his body. This
ends the battle, and the Mames, unconquered by sword and lance, on the
fall of their prince flee from the field and are pursued as far as their
town. The chiefs of the place at once send an embassy to sue for peace,
bringing with them a present of gold ornaments, and offering allegiance,
which is accepted. Leaving a garrison in the town, the Spaniards
continue their march in the direction of Huehuetenango.[XXVII-39]
[Sidenote: ZAKULÉU INVESTED.]
This was an important city of the Mames, where Gonzalo de Alvarado
expected warm work, judging from the late formidable resistance. On
arrival, however, he found the place abandoned, and such of the houses
as had not been destroyed stripped of furniture and utensils, without
a handful of provisions. Cavalry troops were sent out in different
directions, and one under the command of Gaspar Aleman fell in with
three hundred Indian archers, who without hesitation attacked the
horsemen, among others wounding Aleman in the face. But they were
soon routed, and in the pursuit three prisoners were taken, one of
whom was a chief named Sahquiab, a captain in Caibil Balam's army.
When brought into the presence of Gonzalo de Alvarado, he informed
him that his sovereign had retired to the almost impregnable city
of Zakuléu,[XXVII-40] where, provided with provisions and stores, he
deemed himself secure. The captive was thereupon sent by Gonzalo to
Caibil Balam with offers of peace and a charitable proposal to teach him
the doctrines of the Christian religion. But Sahquiab did not return,
nor came any answer to Gonzalo. A second embassy, composed of Indians
from Utatlan, was rudely refused audience with a shower of arrows.
This exhausted the patience of Gonzalo and he marched on Zakuléu. As
soon as his approach was observed by the Mames an army six thousand
strong sallied forth to give him battle. The engagement which followed
was maintained by the Mames with the same stubborn valor exhibited
in previous fights, and marked by similar carnage. A reserve of two
thousand, which sallied during the battle from Zakuléu to the support
of their countrymen, made an ineffectual attempt to turn the tide of
victory, only adding to the victims; and routed in all directions the
Mames fled to their stronghold in the mountains.[XXVII-41]
[Sidenote: PREPARING TO STORM ZAKULÉU.]
Owing to the impossibility of storming so impregnable a place as
Zakuléu, Gonzalo closely invested it by stationing troops at the
few points where egress seemed possible. On the third day of the
siege Diego Lopez de Villanueva, while reconnoitring with a body of
cavalry, observed smoke issuing from the woods on the other side of
the river.[XXVII-42] Having crossed with much difficulty, he fell in
with three hundred Indians in charge of a large supply of provisions,
which they intended to introduce into the beleaguered city, and which
Villanueva promptly appropriated.
The inactive warfare soon wore out the patience of the Spaniards, and
Gonzalo began to cut a road suitable for cavalry up the most practicable
part of the steep. Day by day, from morning to night, the sound of the
pick was heard, and the work continued uninterrupted with but little
loss to the besiegers, though the heights were thronged with Mames, who
used every effort to impede its progress. The cross-bow and arquebuse
were far more deadly than the sling and arm-drawn bow, and the Mames
suffered heavily.
In the midst of these operations an army of eight thousand mountaineers
appeared on the plain, presenting a most unusual spectacle—naked, and
hideous with war-paint, unrelieved by plume or ornament of any kind,
only by the glitter of their weapons. The Spanish captain immediately
made preparation for battle. Leaving a sufficient number to protect the
work and guard the camp,[XXVII-43] he advanced against them with the
remainder of his forces, and was soon engaged in a desperate struggle.
Three several times the ranks of the mountaineers were broken, and
as often did they rally and attack with ever increasing fury. Only
the steel and cotton armor of the Spanish forces saved them from
destruction. As it was, lance and sword, bullet and bolt, reaped the
usual harvest, and on the plain, saturated with blood and bespotted with
mangled bodies, the Spaniards at last stood triumphant.[XXVII-44]
Thenceforth the siege continued uninterrupted. The work of cutting the
road dragged slowly on, and by the middle of October both besiegers and
besieged were undergoing intense suffering. Within the city famine was
daily gathering its victims; every eatable substance, to the leather of
their shields, had been consumed, and the survivors were feeding on the
bodies of the dead. Scarcity of provisions, too, was felt in the Spanish
camp. But this was not the worst. The weather was unusually severe;
icy hailstorms and keen frosts caused much suffering to the invaders,
unaccustomed to the cold of that altitude. Fever and ague also attacked
them. From the rain and hail that fell the plain had become a swamp, and
day by day Gonzalo saw the number of his haggard troops' grow smaller.
A more speedy method of reducing the place must be adopted or the
attempt abandoned. Accordingly he sent off his sick to Huehuetenango,
and stopping work on the road, prepared to make the desperate attempt
to storm the place with scaling ladders.[XXVII-45] He had already
constructed a number of these ladders, huge in size and wide enough to
allow three men to ascend abreast, and was on the point of making the
attack when there appeared an envoy from Caibil Balam suing for peace.
This unfortunate ruler had previously attempted to escape by night with
his family and an escort of the principal chiefs; but having fallen in
with a patrolling party, he was wounded in the arm with a cross-bow bolt
and compelled to return. And now he had taken counsel with his chiefs
on the subject of surrender. He had represented to them that all hope
of relief was gone, while his famished subjects were dying around him.
Submission alone could save the few survivors. The chiefs had eagerly
approved his words, and the tender of submission was made. Gonzalo's
satisfaction at this unexpected termination of the siege was indeed
great. A spot midway between the gate of Zakuléu and the quarters of
the cavalry was appointed as the place of meeting for the settlement of
terms, and Gonzalo, accompanied by Loarca, Salazar, Arévalo, and twelve
others, there met the humbled Caibil Balam. The Spaniard's reception
of the native ruler was friendly in the extreme, and with an embrace,
Gonzalo assured him of his love and friendship. Under such kindly
treatment, so little expected, the stoical self-command of the weakened
warrior gave way, and he wept as he returned the victor's greeting.
[Sidenote: THE COUNTRY PACIFIED.]
The Spaniards then took formal possession of the city in the name
of the king of Spain.[XXVII-46] They destroyed the fortification at
the entrance,[XXVII-47] and made more practicable the road across
the ravine. The surrounding country was afterward explored and the
towns subjected to Spanish rule. In Huehuetenango Gonzalo de Alvarado
stationed a strong garrison, with Gonzalo de Solis as captain, and
having taken all the necessary measures for the permanent tranquillity
of his newly conquered territory, he returned to Guatemala City toward
the end of the year.
Henceforth conquest, oppression, and destruction marched hand-in-hand
over the country, and the result was a national and social eclipse of
the fallen races. Their arts and sciences were soon forgotten; their
architectural skill was lost; and from a state of happy development
their life as a nation was blotted out. To what extent the progress
of the world would have been benefited or retarded, had the aboriginal
inhabitants of the American table-lands survived as integral nations, it
is impossible to say; but we may question how much the occupation of the
country by the Spaniards contributed toward general advancement. It is
thought by some that the great Indian nations had reached the limit of
their present line of progress when the Spaniards arrived. In Guatemala
the individual kings had by long lines of succession arrived at that
stage of monarchy when power begets luxury and decay. Without European
interference there might have been a relapse and a dark age; and a later
view, had discovery been delayed to our own time for instance, might
have found Mexico and Central America overrun by savage hordes from the
north and ruined cities scattered over the land. To this fancy I am not
prepared wholly to subscribe.[XXVII-48]
FOOTNOTES
[III-1] The island known to-day as Hayti was named by Columbus
_Insula Hispaniæ_, Island of Spain. On one of his maps it is
called _Insula Hyspaniæ_, and on another _Hyspana_. By the
early navigators and chroniclers the name was turned into
Spanish and spoken and written _La Isla Española_, the Spanish
Isle, or _La Española_. _Hispaniola_, as it is called at a
later period by English authors, is neither Latin nor Spanish;
it may be a syncope of the words _Insula Hyspaniæ_, or more
likely it is a corruption of _La Española_ by foreigners to
whom the Spanish _ñ_ was not familiar. The choice lies between
the mutilation, _Hispaniola_, of English authors, and the
correct but unfamiliar _Española_, and I adopt the latter.
[III-2] Usually two royal officers went out by each departure;
a treasurer to take charge of the gold, and a notary to
watch the treasurer and write down what was seen and done.
The government was exceedingly strict in its regulations of
discoveries by sea, as well as in all matters relative to
commerce and colonization. Notice was given by Ferdinand and
Isabella September 3, 1501, by Charles V. November 17, 1526,
and by Philip II. in 1563, that no one should go to the Indies
except under express license from the king. In 1526 Charles
V. ordered that the captain of any discovering or trading
vessel should not go ashore within the limits mentioned in
his patent without the permission of the royal officers and
priests on board, under penalty of confiscation of half the
goods. The law of 1556 stipulates that ships must be properly
equipped, provisioned for one year, always sail in pairs, and
carry in each two pilots and two priests. In his _ordenanzas
de poblaciones_ of 1563 Philip II. directs that vessels
making discoveries shall carry scissors, combs, knives,
looking-glasses, rifles, axes, fishhooks, colored caps, glass
beads, and the like, as means of introduction and traffic.
_Recopilacion de Leyes de los Reynos de las Indias_, ii.
6-7. In regard to the share of the crown in the gold gathered
our popular writers seem to have found original authorities
somewhat vague. It is clearly enough stated that settlers
are to pay two thirds; the question is whether in relation to
discoverers gold is included in products of which one tenth
was to go to the crown, or whether the exception to a rule
was unintentionally omitted. Mr Irving glides gracefully over
the difficulty with the same degree of indefiniteness that
he finds in the authorities. Mr Prescott states positively,
_History of Ferdinand and Isabella_, ii. 488, that 'the ships
fitted out under the general license were required to reserve
... two thirds of all the gold' for the crown, quoting Muñoz
and Navarrete as vouchers, the words of neither justifying
the statement. Muñoz, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, i. 240, says, 'se
concedió á todos generalmente, sin mas gravamen que pagar
la décima de lo que se rescatase,' while Navarrete, _Col.
de Viages_, ii. 167, printing the _real provision_ itself,
states simply 'es nuestra merced que de lo que las dichas
personas hallaren en las dichas islas é tierra-firme hayan
para sí las nueve partes, é la otra diezma parte sea para
Nos.' The misstatement of the talented author of _Ferdinand
and Isabella_ is rendered all the more conspicuous when on the
very next page quoted by him Muñoz settles the whole matter
exactly contrary to Prescott's account. 'todos se permitió
llevar víveres y mercancías, rescatar oro de los naturales
contribuyendo al rey con la décima.' And after thus stating
distinctly that all might trade with the natives for gold
on paying one tenth to the crown, he gives the reason why
miners must pay two thirds to the crown; or if the recipient
of pecuniary aid from the crown, then four fifths; it was
because of the supposed exceeding richness of the mines, the
ease with which gold could be obtained; and, further, the
dependence of the crown on its mines, more than on anything
else for a colonial revenue. Prior to 1504 the regulation of
the royal share was not fixed, some of the traders paying one
tenth gross, some one fifth gross, and some one fourth net.
Bobadilla, in 1500, granted twenty years' licenses to settlers
in Española to work gold mines by paying only one eleventh to
the crown. Summarizing the subsequent laws upon the subject,
we find ordered by Ferdinand and Isabella, February 5, 1504,
reiterated by Philip, 1572, that all dwellers in the Indies
must pay to the crown one fifth of all gold, silver, lead,
tin, quicksilver, iron, or other metal obtained by them;
likewise traders were to pay one fifth of all gold, silver,
or other metals, pearls, precious stones, or amber obtained by
them. September 14, 1519, Charles V. declared that of all gold
received in trade from the natives one fifth must be paid to
him; and March 8, 1530, he said that where a reward has been
promised to a prospector of mines the royal treasury would pay
two thirds of that reward, and the private persons interested
one third. It was ordered September 4, 1536, and reiterated
June 19, 1540, that all persons must pay the king's fifth on
the before-mentioned articles, whether obtained in battle or
by plundering-expeditions, or by trade. Of all gold, silver,
pearls, and precious stones received as ransom of a cacique
or other principal personage the king was to have one third;
the remainder, after deducting the king's fifth, was to be
divided among the members of the expedition. Of the spoils
secured from a cacique slain in battle, or executed, one half
was the crown's, and one half, except the king's fifth, the
property of the conquerors. June 5, 1551, it was ordered,
and reiterated August 24, 1619, that beside the king's share,
there be levied a duty of 1½ per cent. to pay for smelting,
assaying, and stamping. By the _ordenanzas de poblaciones_ of
Philip II., 1563, the adelantado of a discovery by land, and
his successor, and the settlers were to pay the crown but one
tenth on metals and precious stones for the term of ten years.
_Recop. de Indias_, ii. 10, 68, 75-7, 79, and 480-1.
[III-3] The document may be seen to-day in the archives of
the Indies. Beginning: 'EL REY É LA REINA. El asiento que se
tomó por nuestro mandado con vos Rodrigo de Bastidas, vecino
de la cibdad de Sevilla, para ir á descobrir por el mar
Océano, con dos navios, es lo siguiente:'—it goes on to state,
'First, that we give license to you, the said Rodrigo de
Bastidas, that with two vessels of your own, and at your own
cost and risk, you may go by the said Ocean Sea to discover,
and you may discover islands and firm land; in the parts of
the Indies and in any other parts, provided it be not the
islands and firm land already discovered by the Admiral Don
Cristóbal Colon, our admiral of the Ocean Sea, or by Cristóbal
Guerra; nor those which have been or may be discovered by
other person or persons by our order and with our license
before you; nor the islands and firm land which belong to the
most serene prince, the king of Portugal, our very dear and
beloved son; for from them nor from any of them you shall not
take anything, save only such things as for your maintenance,
and for the provision of your ships and crew you may need.
Furthermore, that all the gold, and silver, and copper, and
lead, and tin, and quicksilver, and any other metal whatever;
and _aljofar_, and pearls, and precious stones and jewels,
and slaves and negroes, and mixed breeds, which in these our
kingdoms may be held and reputed as slaves; and monsters and
serpents, and whatever other animals and fishes and birds,
and spices and drugs, and every other thing of whatsoever
name or quality or value it may be; deducting therefrom the
freight expenses, and cost of vessels, which in said voyage
and fleet may be made; of the remainder to us will belong the
fourth part of the whole, and the other three fourths may be
freely for you the said Rodrigo de Bastidas, that you may do
therewith as you choose and may be pleased to do, as a thing
of your own, free and unincumbered. _Item_, that we will
place in each one of the said ships one or two persons, who in
our name or by our order shall be witnesses to all which may
be obtained and trafficked in said vessels of the aforesaid
things; and that they may put the same in writing and keep a
book and account thereof, so that no fraud or mistake happen.'
After stating further under whose direction the ships should
be fitted out, and what should be done on the return of the
expedition, the document is dated at Seville, June 5, 1500,
and the signatures follow: 'YO EL REY. YO LA REINA. Por
mandado del Rey é de la Reina, GASPAR DE GRIZIO.' All this
under penalty of the forfeiture of the property and life of
the captain of the expedition, Rodrigo de Bastidas. _Archivo
de Indias_, printed in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._,
ii. 362-6.
[III-4]
[Illustration: CARAVEL.]
[Illustration: GALLEY.]
[Illustration: GALEAZA.]
[Illustration: GALLEON.]
[Illustration: NAVIO.]
[Illustration: BRIGANTINE.]
It is often remarked with wonder in what small and
apparently insecure vessels the early navigators traversed
perilous seas and explored unknown coasts. That shipwreck
so often attended their ventures is less surprising than
that so many escaped destruction. Two of the three vessels
employed by Columbus were open boats, according to _March y
Labores_, _Historia de la Marina Real Española_, i. 98, of
forty tons each, and the decked _Santa María_, only sixty
tons. The term caravel was originally given to ships navigated
wholly by sails as distinguished from the galley propelled
by oars. It has been applied to a great variety of vessels
of different size and construction. The caravels of the New
World discoverers may be generally described as long, narrow
boats of from twenty to one hundred tons burden, with three
or four masts of about equal height carrying sometimes square
and sometimes lateen sails, the fourth mast set at the heel
of the bowsprit carrying square sails. They were usually
half-decked, and adorned with the lofty forecastle and loftier
poop of the day. The latter constituted over that part of
the vessel a double or treble deck, which was pierced for
cannon. A class of vessels like the _Santa María_, beside a
double stern deck, had a forward deck armed with small pieces
for throwing stones and grape. In the archives of Mallorca
is a picture of a caravel drawn in 1397, and a very fair
representation of those in use a century later may be found
on Juan de la Cosa's map. The large decked ships of from 100
to 1200 tons had two, three, or four masts, and square sails,
with high poop and sometimes high prow. In naval engagements
and in discovery the smaller vessels seemed to be preferred,
being more easily handled. Columbus, at Paria, complained of
his vessel of 100 tons as being too large. In his _ordenanzas
de poblaciones_ of 1563 Philip II. required every discoverer
to take at least two vessels of not over sixty tons each, in
order to enter inlets, cross the bars of rivers, and pass over
shoals. The larger ships, if any were of the expedition, must
remain in a safe port until another safe port was found by
the small craft. Thirty men and no more were to go in every
ship, and the pilots must write down what they encountered
for the benefit of other pilots. _Recop. de Indias_, ii. 5-6.
The _galera_ was a vessel of low bulwarks, navigated by sails
and oars, usually twenty or thirty oars on either side, four
or five oarsmen to a bench. It frequently carried a large
cannon, called _cruxia_, two of medium size, and two small
guns. The _galeaza_ was the largest class of galera, or craft
propelled wholly or in part by oars. It had three masts; it
commonly carried twenty cannon, and the poop accommodated a
small army of fusileers and sharpshooters. A _galeota_ was
a small galera, having only sixteen or twenty oarsmen on a
side, and two masts. The _galeon_ was a large armed merchant
vessel with high bulwarks, three or four decks, with two or
three masts, square-rigged spreading courses and top-sails,
and sometimes top-gallant sails. One fleet of twelve galleons,
from 1000 to 1200 tons burden, was named after the twelve
apostles. Those which plied between Acapulco and Manila were
from 1200 to 2000 tons burden. A _galeoncillo_ was a small
galeon. The _carac_ was a large carrying vessel, the one
intended for Columbus' second voyage being 1250 _toneles_,
or 1500 tons. A _nao_, or _navío_, was a large ship with high
bulwarks and three masts. A _nave_ was a vessel with deck and
sails; the former distinguishing it from the _barca_, and the
absence of oars from a galera. The _bergantin_, or brig, had
low bulwarks; the _bergantin-goleta_ was a hermaphrodite brig,
or brigantine, built for fast sailing. The name brigantine was
applied in America also to an open flat-bottomed boat which
usually carried one sail and from eight to sixteen men, with
a capacity for about 100 persons.
[III-5] The Spanish league varies with time and place. It was
not until 1801 that the diverse measurements of the several
original kingdoms were by royal order made uniform, the legal
league then becoming throughout all Spain 20,000 Spanish feet.
Of these leagues there are twenty to the degree, making each
three geographical miles, being, as specified by the law, the
distance travelled on foot at a steady gait in one hour. The
land league was, by law of Alfonso the Wise, 3000 paces, as
specified by the _Siete Partidas_. The discoverers roughly
estimated a league at from two and a half to three and a
half English miles. A marine or geographical league at that
time was about 7500 varas, or little less than four English
miles, there being nearly 17½ to a degree of latitude. In
different parts of Spanish America the league is different,
being sometimes quite short. In Cuba a league consists of 5078
varas, and in Mexico of 5000 varas. The vara is the Spanish
yard, comprising three Spanish feet of eleven English inches
each. Since the decline of Roman influence, the Spaniards have
had no equivalent for the English mile.
[III-6] See next chapter, note 18.
[III-7] Called by the Venetians _bissas_, and by the Spaniards
_broma_; a terrible pest to tropical navigators before the
days of copper-bottoming. This, and another tropical marine
worm, the _Simnoria terebrans_, brought hither by ships,
play havoc with the wharf-piling of San Francisco and other
west-coast harbors.
[III-8] The early chroniclers make their reckonings of
values under different names at different times. Thus during
the discoveries of Columbus we hear of little else but
_maravedís_; then the _peso de oro_ takes the lead, together
with the _castellano_; all along _marco_ and _ducado_ being
occasionally used. At the beginning of the sixteenth century,
and before and after, Spanish values were reckoned from a
mark of silver, which was the standard. A mark was half a
pound either of gold or silver. The gold mark was divided into
fifty castellanos; the silver mark into eight ounces. In the
reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the mark was divided by law
into 65 _reales de vellon_ of 34 maravedís each, making 2210
maravedís in a mark. To show how changeable were the values
of subsidiary Spanish coins, and how utterly impossible it
is accurately and at all times to determine by their names
the amount of metal they represent, it is only necessary to
state that in the reign of Alfonso XI., 1312-1350, there were
125 maravedís to the mark, while in the reign of Ferdinand
VII., 1808-1833, a mark was divided into 5440 maravedís.
In Spanish America a _real_ is one eighth of a _peso_, and
equal to 2½ reales de vellon. The peso contains one ounce
of silver; it was formerly called _peso de ocho reales de
plata_, whence came the term _pieces of eight_, a vulgarism
at one time in vogue among the merchants and buccaneers in
the West Indies. This coin is designated more particularly
as _peso fuerte_, or _peso duro_, to distinguish it from
_peso sencillo_, equivalent in value to four fifths of the
former. The mutilator of Herrera translates _pesos de oro_
as pieces of eight, in which as in other things he is about
as far as possible wrong. The castellano, the one fiftieth
of the golden mark, in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella,
was equivalent to 490 maravedís of that day. The _peso de
oro_, according to Oviedo, was exactly equivalent to the
castellano, and either was one third greater than the ducado,
or ducat. The _doblon_, the popular name for the _excelente_,
was first struck by Ferdinand and Isabella as a gold coin
of the weight of two castellanos. The modern doubloon is an
ounce of coined gold, and is worth 16 pesos fuertes. Reduced
to United States currency the peso fuerte, as slightly alloyed
bullion, is in weight nearly enough equivalent to one dollar.
Therefore a mark of silver is equal to eight dollars; a
piece of eight, equal to one peso, which equals one dollar;
a real de vellon, five cents; a Spanish-American real, 12½
cents; a maravedí, 100/276 of a cent; a castellano, or peso
de oro, $2.56; a doubloon, $5.14; a ducat, $1.92; a mark of
gold, $128, assuming the United States alloy. The fact that
a castellano was equivalent to only 490 maravedís shows the
exceedingly high value of silver as compared with gold at
the period in question. The modern ounce, or doubloon, is
valued at about $16. As to the relative purchasing power
of the precious metals at different times during the past
four centuries economists differ. The returns brought by the
first discoverers began the depreciation, which was rapidly
accelerated by the successive conquests, notably of Mexico
and Peru. Any one may estimate; no one can determine with
exactness. Robertson, Prescott, and other writers make but
guess-work of it (see _Hist. America_, and _Conq. Mexico_,
passim) when they attempt to measure the uncertain and widely
diversified denominations of centuries ago by the current coin
of to-day.
[III-9] Las Casas, who was at Santo Domingo when the
shipwrecked mariners arrived, saw Bastidas, and part of his
gold, and the natives of Darien whom he had brought, and who
in place of the Adamic fig-leaf wore a funnel-shaped covering
of gold. There were great riches, it was said; three chests
full of gold and pearls, which on reaching Spain were ordered
to be publicly displayed in all the towns through which the
notary passed on his way to court. This, as an advertisement
of the Indies, was done to kindle the fires of avarice and
discontent in sluggish breasts, that therefrom others might
be induced to go and gather gold and pay the king his fifth.
Afterward Bastidas returned with his wife and children to
Santo Domingo, and became rich in horned cattle, having at one
time 8000 head; and that when a cow in Española was worth 50
pesos de oro. In 1504 he again visited Urabá, in two ships,
and brought thence 600 natives, whom he enslaved in Española.
In 1520 the emperor gave him the pacification of Trinidad
with the title of adelantado; which grant being opposed by
Diego Colon, on the ground that the island was of his father's
discovering, Bastidas waived his claim, and accepted the
governorship of Santa Marta, where he went with 450 men, and
was assassinated by his lieutenant, Villafuerte, who thought
to succeed him, and to silence the governor's interposed
objections to the maltreatment of the natives. Thus if the
humane Bastidas, in accordance with the custom of the day, did
inhumanly enslave his fellow-creatures, he gave his life at
last to save them from other cruelties; which act, standing
as it does luminous and alone in a century of continuous
outrage, entitles him to the honorable distinction of Spain's
best and noblest _conquistador_. As the eloquent Quintana
says: 'Bastidas no se hizo célebre ni como descubridor ni
como conquistador; pero su memoria debe ser grata á todos
los amantes de la justicia y de la humanidad, por haber sido
uno de los pocos que trataron á los indios con equidad y
mansedumbre, considerando aquel pais mas bien como un objeto
de especulaciones mercantiles con iguales, que como campo de
gloria y de conquistas.'
Among the standard authorities mention is made of Bastidas
and his voyage by Las Casas, _Hist. Ind._, iii. 10-12,
who refutes certain of Oviedo's unimportant statements in
_Historia General y Natural de las Indias_, i. 76-7; ii.
334-5; by Herrera, i. 148-9; Gomara, _Hist. Ind._, fol. 67;
and in _Galvano's Discov._, 99-100, and 102-3. But before
these I should place original documents found in _Navarrete_,
_Col. de Viages_, iii. 25-28, 545-6, and 591-3, and in the
_Coleccion_ of Pacheco and Cárdenas, of both of which works
I shall presently speak more fully. In tom. ii. pp. 362-6 of
this latter collection is given the _Asiento que hizo con sus
Majestades Católicas Rodrigo de Bastidas_, before mentioned;
and on pp. 366-467, same volume, is _Informacion de los
servicios del adelantado Rodrigo de Bastidas, conquistador
y pacificador de Santa Marta_. Next in importance to the
chroniclers are, _Historia de la Marina Real Española_, i.
284; _Morelli_, _Fasti Novi Orbis_, 11; _Robertson's Hist.
Am._, i. 159; _Help's Spanish Conquest_, i. 294; _Acosta_,
_Compend. Hist. Nueva Granada_, 21; _Irving's Columbus_, iii.
53-6, and _Quintana_, _Vidas de Españoles Célebres_, 'Vasco
Nuñez de Balboa,' 1. _Robinson's Acct. Discov. in West_,
105; _Lardner's Maritime Discovery_, ii. 32; _Holmes' Annals
of America_, i. 20; _Lerdo de Tejada_, _Apuntes Hist._, 89;
_Harris' Voy._, i. 270; _Major's Prince Henry_, 369, and like
allusions are worthless. In _Kerr's Col. Voy._, ii. 58-63,
is given a translation of Galvano. In Aa's collection the
narrative is substantially the same as in Gottfried's.
[IV-1] His nephew, Fernando, in his _Hist. Almirante_, in
_Barcia_, passim, and those who follow this author closely,
as Napione and De Conti, call him El Prefecto; Herrera, Diego
Mendez, Diego de Porras, Robertson, Navarrete, and others,
employ the title adelantado. Herrera says he was captain of
one of the ships.
[IV-2] Ferdinand Columbus, or as he is more commonly called
Fernando Colon, was an illegitimate son of Christopher
Columbus, by a lady of respectable family. He was born at
Córdova, and in 1494, after his father became famous, was
brought with his elder brother to court, where he was placed
as page to Prince Juan. Upon the death of the heir apparent
young Fernando served Queen Isabella in the same capacity,
thereby securing an excellent education. During this perilous
voyage he was an object no less of comfort than of anxiety
to his father, now infirm and troubled in spirit, and his
conduct throughout merited and received paternal commendation.
'El ha salido y sale de muy buen saber,' writes the fond
father, 'bien que él sea niño en dias, no es assi en el
entendimiento.' _Cartas de Colon_, in _Navarrete_, _Col.
de Viages_, i. 341 and 344. See also _Zúñiga_, _Anales de
Sevilla_. His manhood fulfilled the promise of his youth.
He cultivated literature with considerable success, and
became, as Muñoz, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, i. viii., expresses
it, 'doctísimo para su siglo, y de grandes pensamientos
en materias literarias, segun demostraré á su tiempo.' He
travelled extensively in Europe, in the train of Charles V.,
probably visited Africa and Asia, and is said to have made
two voyages to America after his father's death. He formed
a collection of over 20,000 printed books and manuscripts,
which went to the cathedral of Seville. He neither married,
nor left any recognized progeny. He was the author of several
works which have not been preserved, the inscription on
his tomb mentioning one in four divisions relating partly
to the New World and his father's voyages. Antonio de Leon
Pinelo, _Epitome_, 565, 633 and 711, speaks of a work,
_Apuntamientos sobre la Demarcacion del Maluco_, preserved
in manuscript at Simancas. The only printed book of Fernando
Colon is a history of the admiral, his father. The original
title is not known, the manuscript disappearing before its
publication in Spanish. Luis Colon, duke of Veraguas, and
grandson of the admiral, brought the manuscript to Genoa
about 1568, and delivered it to one Fornari, an old man who,
according to Barcia, began to print it in Spanish, Italian,
and Latin. Others assert that it passed into the hands of
Marini, who caused it to be translated into Italian by Alfonso
de Ulloa. _Spotorno_, _Codice Diplomatico_, 1823, lxiii.
Ulloa's translation, badly made from a bad copy—'sans doute
d'après un texte assez fautif,' _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._,
i. 13,—was printed in Venice, in 1571, under the title,
_Historie del Fernando Colombo; Nelle quali s'ha particolare,
& vera relatione della vita, & de' fatti dell' Ammiraglio
D. Christoforo Colombo, suo padre_, etc. It was reprinted
in Italian some six or eight times. A French translation was
published in 1680-1, and an English translation has gone the
rounds, appearing in _Churchill's Col. Voy._, ii. 480-604;
_Kerr's Col. Voy._, iii. 1-242; and _Pinkerton's Col. Voy._,
xii. 1-155. It was carelessly retranslated from the Italian
into Spanish by Andrés Gonzalez de Barcia, and printed in
his _Historiadores Primitivos de las Indias Occidentales_, 3
vols., Madrid, 1749, comprising pp. 1-128, tom. i., of that
series, and entitled, _La Historia de D. Fernando Colon, en
la qual se da Particular, y verdadera relacion de la vida, y
hechos de el Almirante D. Christoval Colon, su Padre_, etc.
This is the edition most commonly used, and to this I refer,
although I have before me an Italian copy of the edition of
1709. Fernando Colon had peculiar advantages for writing his
father's history. Himself an actor in the events described,
he was moreover personally acquainted with his father's
friends, and held possession of his father's papers. All
agree that he made good use of his opportunity, and that he
has given a clear statement of events which even in his own
time began to be distorted. If he was silent touching his
father's family, country, and birth, we must remember that
poverty and obscurity were a disgrace in those days, and that
the son Fernando was a Spaniard. Those who should best know
the merits of this author pay him the highest tribute. Of
his work says Muñoz, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, i. viii., 'Confieso
deberle mucho;' and the author Navarrete, _Col. de Viages_, i.
lxx., remarks, 'habló siempre con verdad y exactitud, salvo
alguna equivocacion fácil de discernir en buena crítica ...
y por tanto pueden aun estas leves faltas ser efecto de la
incuria ó poca inteligencia de ambos traductores.' Attempts
have been made to deny to Fernando the authorship, but this,
if correct, does not materially affect its value, since it
is allowed to have been written from his documents and under
his supervision. The vicissitudes to which the work has been
subjected and the mutilation it has suffered afford grounds
for caution not to be disregarded by the historian. Still, the
general tenor and details of the narrative, and the literary
bent of the reputed author, present in themselves sufficient
evidence of its authenticity.
With regard to the use of certain proper names encountered
thus far in this history I would say a word. The question
presents difficulties in whatsoever aspect viewed. There
are Spanish names of places and persons which custom has
so anglicized as to give to their use in the original the
appearance of affectation—instance Castilla, for Castile;
Sevilla, Seville; Fernando and Isabel, Ferdinand and Isabella;
Cárlos V., Charles V.; Felipe II., Philip II. On the other
hand, in writing in English of Spanish affairs, the attempt to
continue indefinitely the anglicizing of Spanish names would
be as impossible as absurd. The two chief objects with me have
been to adopt the best forms, and to preserve consistency; I
do not claim eminent success in either attempt. The result,
however, has been the adoption of the following method, if it
may be called a method: The prominent places and persons of
Spain, whose names are invariably given in their anglicized
form in current English literature, I write in the same way;
but those same names, as well as all others, appearing in
the New World, where no prominent English writers have made
them familiar in an English form, I present in the original
as written by the best Spanish scholars. Thus the name of the
great Genoese I give in its common latinized form, Christopher
Columbus, while in the use of those of his less eminent
brothers and sons, who soon became almost or altogether
Spaniards, I adopt the forms employed by Spaniards.
[IV-3] Instance the title-page of the first work published
on the New World, in 1493:—_Epistola Christofori Colom: cui
etas nostra multũ a debet: de Insulis Indie supra Gangem nuper
inuentis. Ad quas perquirendas octauo antea mense auspiciis
et ere inuictissimi Fernandi Hispaniarum Regis missus fuerat:
ad Magnificum dum Raphaelem Sanxis: eiusdem serenissimi Regis
Tesaurariũ missa: quam nobilis ac litteratus vir Aliander
de Cosco ab Hispano ideomate in latinum conuertit: tertio
kal's Maij. M.cccc.xciij. Pontificatus Alexandri Sexti Anno
Primo._ Letter of Christopher Colom, to whom our age is
greatly indebted, respecting the Islands of India beyond the
Ganges, lately discovered. In search of which he was sent
eight months since, under the auspices and at the expense of
the most invincible Ferdinand, king of the Spains. Sent to the
magnificent lord Raphael Sanxis, treasurer of the same most
serene king, and which the noble and learned man, Aliander de
Cosco, translated from the Spanish idiom into Latin. The third
day of the Calends of May, 1493. Pontificate of Alexander VI.,
Year One.
[IV-4] Guanaja is the most easterly of a group called the Bay
Islands. To the west of Guanaja, in the order here named, lie
Barbaretta, Helena, Morat, Ruatan, the largest, and Utila. On
Peter Martyr's map, _India beyond the Ganges_, 1510, Guanaja
is written _guanasa_. On map iv., _Munich Atlas_, supposed
to have been drawn by Salvat Pilestrina in 1515, Guanaja is
called _sam fir.co_, San Francisco; Ruatan, _todo samto_;
and Utila, _I:lhana_. Fernando Colon locates on his map,
1527, _y:llana_, _s:francisco_, and _todos sanctos_, and
between the last two, _sancta ffe._ On the map of Diego de
Ribera, 1529, are _s:franco_, _to stõs_, _la llana_, and
_s∴ fe._ Vaz Dourado, 1571, map x., _Munich Atlas_, calls
Guanaja, _lla ganaxa_; Ruatan, _aguba_; and Utila, _dotila_.
_Mercator's Atlas_, 1574, gives _Guanaxos_; _Ogilby's Map_,
1671, _Guanaja_, _Guajama_, _Roatan_, and _Vtila_; _Laet_,
_Novvs Orbis_, 1633, the same; _Jefferys' Voyages_, 1776,
_Guanaja_ or _Bonaka_, _Guajama_ or _Rattan_, and _Utila_.
Of Guanaja, Diego de Porras in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_,
i. 283, remarks:—'es pequeña, bojará veinte leguas, no tiene
cosa de provecho.' Utila is low and level; hence the name,
La Llana. In his remarks on the two oldest maps of America,
Kohl says of Guanaja:—'Das Columbus sie schon gesehen hat,
ist zu bezweifeln, da er wohl nicht so weit westwärts segelte
oder blickte. Vielleicht sahen sie jedoch Pinzon und Solis
1508. Gewiss ist es, dass sie schon 1516 von einer spanischen
Expedition, die zum Menschenraub von Cuba nach Süden
ausgelaufen war, besucht wurde.' Fernando Colon complains that
Solis and Pinzon, visiting these regions in 1508, re-named
many localities, claiming to be the first discoverers, and
thus causing much confusion in the charts of the times.
And here as well as elsewhere I may speak of a work from
which I have derived no inconsiderable advantage in tracing
the metamorphoses of names from those originally given
to those finally established. Believing that much curious
and valuable historical information might be obtained by
instituting a close comparison of the nomenclature employed
by the earlier makers of charts at their respective dates,
in 1873 I directed Mr Goldschmidt to bring out and arrange
for convenient reference all such relevant maps as my library
contained. Beginning then with the earliest, we entered on
paper prepared for the purpose the names of all the principal
places contained within our territory. And so with the next,
and the next, through the successive periods of discovery,
following the coast on one side from Darien to Texas, and
on the other from Panamá to Alaska, and along the Arctic
seaboard to the Mackenzie River. Inland names were included,
but their number was small as compared with those along the
ocean. Some 200 maps, each original authority for its time
and place, were thus examined, and the names which had been
applied at various times and by various persons to the several
important geographical points along this vast shore line,
and throughout the inland area, were brought together so that
comparisons might be made, and the nomenclatural history of
the several places be quickly and correctly traced. All of the
authorities I cannot mention here, but they will severally be
referred to in their proper places during the course of this
history. The result of this labor at the end of six months, Mr
Goldschmidt working alone after the first fortnight, was three
folio manuscript volumes, entitled _Cartography of the Pacific
Coast of North America, and of the Eastern Coasts of Mexico
and Central America_. The maps more particularly examined in
writing this volume are as follows. Passing the sea charts
of Nicolo and Antonio Zeno, made about 1390, and used by
Frobisher; the ocean and islands between western Europe and
eastern Asia from the globe of Martin Behaim, 1492; the chart
of Juan de la Cosa, 1500, showing the West India Islands, but
omitting the coast of Central America; and the map of Johann
Ruysch, 1508,—we have, in part most important, the following:
Map of _India beyond the Ganges_, drawn by Peter Martyr in
1511, and showing a coast line from Brazil to the middle of
Yucatan. Along this line, in the order here given, from east
to west, are _vraba_, _tariene_, _el mamol_, _beragua_, _c
gra de dios_, _guanasa_, _b de lagartos_. North of Cuba is
a section of the continental shore line lettered _isla de
beimini, parte_. In Ptolemy's Cosmography, 1513, the coast
between Brazil and Florida is given, but without names. The
Atlantic is called _Oceanus Occidentalis_; and South America,
_Terra Incognita_. By Reisch, in _Margaritha Philosophica_,
1515, the map is called _Typvs Vniversalis Terre Ivxta_. Two
only of the islands are given and both called _Isabella_.
South of _Oceanus Occidentalis_ is a large continent called
_Paria sev Prisilia_, Paria or Brazil. There are no names on
the line of Central America, and the only lettering on the
small portion of the northern continent are the mysterious
words _Zoana Mela_, which have given rise to much discussion.
In 1859 was published at Munich, by the Royal Bavarian Academy
of Sciences, from manuscripts in the university library and
army archives, under the auspices of Friedrich Kunstmann, Karl
von Spruner, and Georg M. Thomas, and as supplementary to the
text of Kunstmann's _Die Entdeckung Amerikas_, a collection of
fac-similes of thirteen early maps of America, entitled _Atlas
zur Entdeckungsgeschichte Amerikas_. This work I shall cite
briefly as the _Munich Atlas_. Parts of the Pacific States
are shown on maps numbers iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. x. xii.
and xiii., which will be further mentioned in their several
places. Map iv. was drawn by Salvat de Pilestrina probably in
1515. It shows none of the main-land above Yucatan, which is
a peninsula. The northern coast of Central America is given,
and the southern seaboard only of the Isthmus. No names are
written on the southern coast. The South Sea is called _Mar
Visto pelos castelhanos_, Sea seen by the Spaniards. Map
v. is supposed to be by Visconte de Maiollo, 1519. It shows
the northern coast of the continent only from Cape Camaron
to about 30° south latitude. In a book entitled _Apiano,
Cosmographia_, 1575, a copy of a map supposed to have been
drawn by Peter Apianus in 1520, and the first upon which I
have seen the name 'America.' The northern part is long and
narrow, of a horseshoe shape, and lettered _Baccalearum_.
A large continent is placed north of a strait running round
the northern end of North America. Evidently Master Apianus
was determined no one during his time should out-north him
in map-delineation of a region of which absolutely nothing
was known, either then or for a long time after. On a map
of North America from the globe of Johann Schöner, 1520, the
name 'America' likewise appears, the lettering on the globe
being placed in Brazil, and being in these words:—_America
Vel Brasilia Sive Papagalli Terra_. The northern and southern
continents are separated by a strait at the Isthmus. It is
to be regretted that Master Schöner had not the making of
the world, so that it should agree with his map, and save
canal-cutting. The western line of the northern continent runs
north and south; the western line of the southern continent
north-west and south-east. The extreme northern end of the
northern continent is called _Terra de Cuba_. Along the
western shore are the words _Ultra mondv lustratum_. West of
the northern continent lie the large island of _Zipangri_ and
a multitude of islets. The north Pacific is called _Orientalis
Oceanus_. Cortés' chart of the Gulf of Mexico, 1520, is a
rough draft of oval shape with several names along the coast,
many of which are obsolete. Yucatan is represented as an
island. In 1860 J. G. Kohl published at Weimar a dissertation
on two of the oldest general maps of America, with the origin
of the names on each. The maps were those of Fernando Colon,
1527, and Diego Ribero, 1529, then in the grand-ducal library
at Weimar. The text accompanying these fac-similes is entitled
_Die Beiden Ältesten General-Karten von Amerika_. _Ausgeführt
in den Jahren 1527 und 1529, auf Befehl Kaiser Karl's V._ The
maps being full of names, concerning many of which there has
been much discussion, 185 royal folio pages are devoted to
their explanation. Beside a critical review of nomenclature
is given much information, both geographical and historical.
Colon's map shows the eastern coasts of North and South
America, and the southern shores of the Isthmus and Central
America to about Nicaragua. Ribero's map contains more names
than Colon's, and a section of the Peruvian coast; otherwise
they are not unlike. Continuing the present list we have all
of South America, and part of North America, given in 1527
by Robert Thorne; and the western side of the New World in
1528 by Bordone. Ptolemy, in _Munster_, _Cosmography_, 1530,
gives the two Americas entirely surrounded by water, with
Yucatan an island; in the interior of Mexico _Chamaho_, and
_Temistitan_; and near Zipangu _Archipelagus 7448 insularum_,
counted in all probability specially for this map. Orontius
Fine's globe, 1531, unites the southern continent, which it
calls America, by the isthmus _dariena_ to the northern,
which extends toward the north-west across the ocean and
forms part of Asia, with a continuous coast line to Japan.
The Atlantic is _Alanticum_, and the Pacific _Mar del Sur_.
Yucatan is an island. It is difficult to tell where Mexico
ends and Asia begins. _Temistitan_ is just south of _Catay_,
and Mexican and Asiatic names promiscuously occur. Grynæus,
in 1532, gives America in two parts, divided by a strait at
the Isthmus; the western end of the northern continent is
called _Terra de Cuba_. Map vi., _Munich Atlas_, 1532-40,
shows the Pacific coast from Peru to California, which is
represented as a peninsula. The gulf of California is called
the Red Sea. Yucatan is an island. Baptista Agnese, 1536,
gives North America in the shape of a horseshoe, with Yucatan
an island. Map vii., _Munich Atlas_, is supposed to be by
Baptista Agnese, 1540-50. It shows the whole of the Atlantic
coast, and the Pacific coast from Peru to Mexico. Ramusio,
_Viaggi_, iii. fol. 455-56, 1565, lays down about half the
Pacific coast. Maps ix. x. and xii., _Munich Atlas_, are
supposed to have been drawn by Vaz Dourado in 1571. The first
delineates South America, and a small part of the Isthmus;
the second both shores of Central America, and the Gulf
of Mexico; the third the Pacific coast only from Mexico to
Anian Strait. On map x. is a large lake north of Mexico, in
latitude 40° to 43°, and under it in large letters, _Bimenii
Regio_. Gerard Mercator, _Atlas sive cosmographicæ_, 1569, and
another edition 1574, represents the world on two globes, and
surrounds the two Americas with water, beside capping either
pole with a huge continent. In the north-eastern corner of
Asia, map iv., is _Americæ pars_. There are also _Anian reg_,
_Quiuira reg_, _Tuchano_, a city, and _El freto de Anian_.
On map v. the strait of Magellan separates the southern
continent from another large continent to the south of it,
on which is placed _Terra del fuego_. Luckily this antarctic
polar continent is labeled _Terra Avstralis nondvm cognita_,
lest the author be embarrassed by questions about it. After
well passing the strait of Magellan, _El Mar Pacifico_ is
entered, though as the tropics are reached it becomes _Mar
del Zur_. The northern part of this map v., the two Americas,
is quite interesting, and will be explained elsewhere. This
cartographical monstrosity Michael Lock, _Hakluyt's Divers
Voy._, 1582, endeavored, and with very fair success, to
exceed. Map xiii., _Munich Atlas_, by Thomas Hood, 1592, gives
the Gulf of Mexico, the Islands, and the eastern coast of
North America. In _Drake's World Encompassed_, 1595, another
source of information not remarkable for reliability, Hondius
traces the western coast to Bering Strait. Hondius' map, 1625,
in _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, iv. 857, gives North America to
the mythical strait of Anian. Ioanne de Laet, _Novvs Orbis_,
1633, has at p. 220 a map of _Nveva España_, _Nveva Galicia_,
and _Gvatimala_, and at p. 346 a map of _Tierra Firma_. A
map of the world in the atlas of Jacob Colom, 1663, will
require mention hereafter. _Ogilby's America_, 1671, gives
the northern continent to Anian Strait with _Nova Albion_ in
the northern part, and California as an island; and a map at
p. 222 shows parts of Mexico and Central America. There is
a map of the middle part of America in _Dampier's Voyages_,
i. 44, 1699. Beside these, I shall have occasion to mention
others, such as the maps in the _Buccaniers of America_, 1704;
_Funnell's Voyage_, 1707; the Dutch collection of voyages
by Pieter Van der Aa; the German collection of Gottfried;
_Voyages de François Coreal_, 1722; _Anson's Voyage_, 1756;
_Morden's Geography Rectified_, 1693; Harris, Harleian,
Oxford, Rogers, Shelvocke, Jefferys, and other collections
of voyages. I may also mention incidentally in this volume
maps and charts relating more especially to another part of
the Pacific States and described more fully in a succeeding
volume.
[IV-5] Cacique, lord of vassals, was the name by which the
natives of Cuba designated their chiefs. Learning this, the
conquerors applied the name generally to the rulers of wild
tribes, although in none of the dialects of the continent is
the word found. Peter Martyr says that 'in some places they
call a king Cacicus, in other places they call him Quebi, and
somewhere Tiba.'
[IV-6] 'Porque,' says Herrera, 'auia muchos arboles, cuya
fruta es vnas mançanillas buenas de comer.' Navarrete calls
the place _Punta Castilla y Puerto de Trujillo_, and the coast
_La Costa de Trujillo_. The name Honduras was applied first to
the cape and afterward to a long stretch of shore. Fernando
Colon, _Hist. Almirante_, 103, _Barcia_, i., gives 'Cabo de
Onduras.' In _Oviedo_, lib. iii. cap. ix., is written 'el cabo
de Higueras;' this chronicler also employs the word Honduras;
_Galvano's Discov._, 100, 'the Cape of Higueras, and vnto the
Islands Gamares, and to the Cape of Honduras, that is to say,
the Cape of the Depthes;' _Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 28,
'Prouincia grande, che da' paesani è nominata Iguera, è da'
Spagnuoli Capo di Fonduri;' _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, 31, 'cabo
de Higueras.'
[IV-7] Named by Columbus Rio de la Posesion, now known as Rio
Tinto.
[IV-8] For full descriptions of the several peoples inhabiting
this region at the coming of the Europeans, their physique,
character, customs, myths, and languages, I must refer the
reader to my _Native Races of the Pacific States_, 5 vols.,
passim.
[IV-9] This name has never changed. On Peter Martyr's _India
beyond the Ganges_, 1510, it is put down as _c. gr̃a de dios_;
Maiollo, 1519, writes _C de gratia dios_; Fernando Colon,
1527, _C. de gracias, á dios_; Ribero, 1529, _C∴ de grãc a
dios_; Maps vi. and vii., _Munich Atlas_, 1532-50, _C. de
gracia dios_; Vaz Dourado, _C∴ de grasias adios_; Mercator,
_C. de Gracias á Dios_; Dampier, _C. Gratia Dios_, etc.
[IV-10] Rio Escondido, or Bluefields, sometimes spelt
Blewfields, but erroneously. The name originated from the
Dutch pirate Bleeveldt. On map iv., _Munich Atlas_, in this
vicinity are found the words _R∴ del su._
[IV-11] Mercator places half-way between Cape Gracias á Dios
and Laguna de Chiriqui, _Quicuri_, designating a town. Peter
Martyr, dec. iii. cap. iv., says: 'He came to a region which
the inhabitants call Quicuris, in which is the hauen called
Cariari, named Mirobalanus by the Admirall, because the
Mirobalane trees are natiue in the regions thereabout.'
[IV-12] The name of the province also. Diego de Porras calls
it _Cariay_; Herrera and those who follow him write _Cariari_.
On the maps of Colon and Ribero, and also in Mercator's
atlas, the word is _Cariay_. On the map of Vaz Dourado in
this locality is written _masnoro_. 'Einige Geographen haben
geglaubt, dass unsere heutige "Blewfields-Lagune" dieser
Ankerplatz des Columbus sei. Andere haben dafür die Mündung
des grossen Flusses von Nicaragua den Rio San Juan genommen.'
_Kohl_, _Beiden ältesten Karten_, 114-15.
[IV-13] 'En _Cariay_, y en esas tierras de su comarca,
son grandes fechiceros y muy medrosos.' _Carta de
Colon_, _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, i. 307. 'Nos parecian
à nosotros grandes hechiceros, i no sin alguna raçon, pues
quando se acercaban à los Christianos, esparcian, por el
aire cierto polvo à su buelta, i con perfumes, que hechaban
del polvo, hacian, que el humo fuese acía los Christianos.'
_Colon_, _Hist. Almirante_, 107, in _Barcia_, i.
[IV-14] Says Fernando Colon, _Hist. Almirante_, 108, in
_Barcia_, i., of this place:—'arribò al Canal de Zerabora, que
son 6 leguas de largo, i mas de tres de ancho, en el qual, ai
muchas Isletas, i tres, ò quatro Bocas mui à proposito para
entrar.' And Mr Kohl remarks, _Beiden ältesten Karten_, 115,
'Diese Schilderung passt auf kein anderes Gewässer südlich vom
San Juan 'Cariay,' als auf unsere 'Laguna de Chiriqui,' die
auch wohl noch heutiges Tages besonders in ihrer westlichen
Abtheilung 'Baia del Almirante' ... genannt wird.' Ribero
places _ysa de cerebaro_ in the laguna. Vaz Dourado writes
_Carabare_; Maiollo puts here somewhere _la casera bruxada_,
and near by _oro boro_. Mercator makes _Cerebaro_ a town.
Hondius, in _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, places in this
vicinity the town, _Quicari_. _West-Indische Spieghel_, 1624,
gives _Carabaro_, and a little to the north a town, _Quicura_.
[IV-15] Aboriginally the name of a town, province, and
river famous for gold. Later the name became historically
celebrated, being applied by the Spaniards to that whole
region, and given as a title to the descendants of Columbus,
who were called dukes of Veraguas. Peter Martyr, Colon, and
Ribero, all write _beragua_; Vaz Dourado, _baraga_; Ptolemy,
_Beragua_, as a province; Laet and Jefferys, _Veragua_. Porras
calls the province Cobraba.
[IV-16] Off Nombre de Dios on Vaz Dourado's map, is a group
called _I∴ de bastimẽtos_; in the _Novvs Orbis_ of Laet
they are _Yas de Bastimentos_; Jefferys calls them _los
Bastimentos_; Navarrete, _Col. de Viages_, i. 285, gives
_Puerto del Retrete_ in the text, and _Puerto Escribanos_ in
a note.
[IV-17] The locality of this little harbor was soon lost.
Herrera affirms that in his time its situation was uncertain,
some believing Nombre de Dios to be the place mentioned.
Peschel locates it near the town of Colon; Humboldt at Puerto
de Escribanos. Ribero places fifteen leagues west of Nombre de
Dios, _po retre_. Kohl says, _Beiden ältesten Karten_, 116:
'Er findet sich nicht auf N. Vallard (1547), nicht auf Dourado
(1580) und nicht auf den Karten vom Isthmus von Darien in
Herrera.' But it would seem from the description of Fernando
Colon, _Hist. Almirante_, 110, in _Barcia_, i., that the
place should be easily enough found. He says:—'entramos en vn
Puertecillo, que se llamò el _Retrete_, porque no cabian en èl
mas de 5 ò 6 Navios; su entrada era por vna boca de quince, ò
veinte pasos de ancho, i ambos lados eran Rocas, que salian del
Agua, como punta de Diamante, i era tan profundo de Canal,
por enmedio, que acercandose à la orilla, vn poco, se podia
saltar desde el Navio en Tierra.'
[IV-18] Although the authorities are somewhat vague and
conflicting as to the terminal point of the main-land
coastings of Bastidas, there is no doubt that the two
discoveries here united. Oviedo, ii. 334-36, and those copying
his errors, take Bastidas direct from Urabá to Jamaica; but
Las Casas, _Hist. Ind._, iii. 11, states:—'Salieron del golfo
de Urabá, y fueron la costa del Poniente abajo, y llegaron
al puerto que llamaron del Retrete, donde agora está la
ciudad y puerto que nombramos del Nombre de Dios.' Later,
in chapter xxiii. 123, he corrects himself in regard to El
Retrete and Nombre de Dios being the same place:—'Por esto
parece que el puerto del Retrete no es el que agora llamamos
del Nombre de Dios, como arriba dijimos por relacion de
otros, sino más adelante, hácia el Oriente.' Speaking of El
Retrete, Diego de Porras, _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, i.
285, remarks:—'En algunas cartas de navegar de algunos de los
marineros juntaba esta tierra con la que habian descubierto
Hojeda y Bastidas.' Navarrete himself, _Col. de Viages_, iii.
26, says of Bastidas, 'terminó su descubrimiento por los diez
grados de altura en el puerto del Retrete ó de Escribanos y
del nombre de Dios;' and again in a note concerning Nombre
de Dios:—'En este puerto entró posteriormente el Almirante
Colon el dia 26 de Noviembre de 1502 con noticia que ya tenia
de los descubrimientos de Bastidas.' Gomara, _Hist. Ind._,
67, accredits Bastidas with the new discovery of 170 leagues
of coast, 'que ay del cabo de la Vela al golfo de Vraua, y
Farallones del Darien,' resting with Oviedo at that point.
From the evidence Humboldt, _Exam. Crit._, i. 360, infers
that Bastidas continued 'vers l'ouest jusqu'au Puerto de
Retrete.' Loose statements are quite the habit now as of old;
instance that of Lerdo de Tejada, who says, _Apuntes Hist._,
89, referring to Bastidas, 'Y siguió hasta el puerto llamado
despues el _Retiro_, donde se fundó posteriormente el del
_Nombre de Dios_.'
[IV-19] That is to say, Bethlehem. Porras enters it _Y. n.
ebra_; Herrera, _Yebra_; and Fernando Colon, _Kiebra_. On
Ribero's map the name _bele_ is given to a lagoon; Vaz Dourado
writes _belen_; and Jacob Colom, _Belem_.
[IV-20] Although used by most Spanish and English writers
as a proper name, the word _quibian_ is an appellative, and
signifies the chief of a nation, or the ruler of a dynasty, as
the _cacique_ of the Cubans, the _inca_ of the Peruvians, the
_ahau_ of the Quichés, etc. Columbus, writing from Jamaica,
employs the term _el Quibian de Veragua_; and again, _Carta
de Colon_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, i. 302, 'Asenté
pueblo, y dí muchas dádivas al _Quibian_, que así llaman al
Señor de la tierra.' Napione and De Conti write _il Quibio o
cacico di Beragua_. See their _Biog. di Colombo_, 388:—"Il
Prefetto andò colle barche al mare per entrare nel fiume e
portarsi alla popolazione del Quibio, cosi chiamato da quei
popoli il loro Re.'
[IV-21] Rio de la Concepcion.
[IV-22] Irving, _Columbus_, ii. 402, carelessly calls him 'the
chief notary,' confounding him with Diego de Porras, who was
notary of the expedition. The notary was not a fighting man,
but rather must withhold himself from action that he might
write down what was done by others.
[IV-23] 'Y como luego mandó prender al Cacique do se le fizo
mucho daño que le quemaron su poblacion, que era la mejor que
habia en la costa é de mejores casas, de muy buena madera,
todas cubiertas de fojas de palmas, é prendieron á sus fijos,
é aquí traen algunos dellos de que quedó toda aquella tierra
escandalizada, desto no sé dar cuenta sino que lo mandó
facer é aun apregonar escala franca.' _Diego de Porras_, in
_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, i. 286-7.
[IV-24] There are two accounts of this affair; one by Fernando
Colon, and one by Diego Mendez. Both are biased; the former
in favor of Bartolomé, the latter in favor of the writer.
Fernando tells how, when the settlement was taken by surprise,
his uncle seized a lance, and supported by seven men fought
with desperate valor until the main body of the Spaniards came
to his relief, when the enemy was routed. The other states,
_Relacion hecha por Diego Mendez_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de
Viages_, i. 317, that the admiral had just left the harbor,
accompanied by the larger part of the Spaniards, who had gone
to say farewell. Mendez, newly appointed contador, held the
town of Belen with twenty men. Suddenly four hundred Indians
appeared on the hill above, and sent upon the Spaniards a
shower of darts and arrows. Fortunately the yells were in
advance of the weapons, and thus time was given Mendez to
arm. The fight was desperate, and lasted three hours. Ten
natives who ventured to close with their war clubs were slain
by the sword. Seven of the twenty Christians were killed;
but a miracle at last gave victory to the remainder. During
the next four days, by the ingenuity of Mendez, and under his
direction, the effects of the colony were placed on shipboard,
and in return for his invaluable services he was made captain
of Tristan's ship.
[IV-25] The final burial-place, not only of Columbus, but of
his son Diego, and of his grandson Luis, was the cathedral
of Santo Domingo. For seven years after his death the
remains of Columbus lay in the convent of San Francisco at
Valladolid. Then they were removed to Seville and placed in
the monastery of Las Cuevas; and in 1536 were transferred to
Santo Domingo. When Española was ceded to France in 1795,
the Spanish naval commander asked permission to remove the
remains to Cuba, which was granted; and what were supposed
to be the remains were so removed midst pomp and ceremony in
December-January following. But later investigations, the
result of long-standing suspicions, satisfied many that a
blunder had been committed; and that the bones of Columbus
still rest at Santo Domingo. This has been proved beyond a
doubt by the recent researches of the distinguished French
savant and Americaniste A. Pinart.
[IV-26] I have remarked at some length on Fernando Colon's
life of his father, and on the letters of the admiral, and
other documents in Navarrete, Salvá and Baranda, Pacheco and
Cárdenas, and Mendoza, and elsewhere. The standard historians,
Las Casas, Oviedo, Peter Martyr, Gomara, and Herrera, I
will pass for the present, only remarking that each in his
own way tells the story of the admiral, and all must be
carefully considered in a study of his life and achievements.
Other early or important authorities are _Zorzi_, _Paesi
Nouamente retrouati_, Vicentia, 1507; _Ruchamer_, _Newe
unbekanthe landte_, Nuremberg, 1508; _Stamler_, _Dyalogvs_,
Augsburg, 1508; _Marineo_, _Obra Compuesta de las Cosas
Memorables e Claros Varones de España_, Alcala, 1530;
_Geraldini_, _Itinerarivm ad Regiones svb Æqvinoctiali_,
Rome, 1631; _Grynævs_, _Novvs Orbis Regionvm ac Insularvm
veteribvs incognitarvm_, Basle, 1532; _Maffei_, _Historiarum
indicarum_, Florence, 1588; _Gambaræ_, _De navigatione
Christophori Columbi_, Rome, 1585; _Charlevoix_, _Histoire de
l'Isle-Espagnole_, Paris, 1730; _Cladera_, _Investigaciones
historicas_, Madrid, 1794; _Bossi_, _Vita di Colombo_, Milan,
1818. _Die vierdte Reise so vollenbracht hat Christoffel
Columb_, at page 6 of _Löw_, _Meer oder Seehanen Buch_,
Cologne, 1598, should be read in reference with the maps,
to be appreciated. See also _Ramusio_, _Viaggi_, iii. 16-18
and 98-9; _Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 27-30; _Galvano's
Discov._, 100-1; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, passim; _Major's
Select Letters of Columbus_, _Hakluyt Soc._, London, 1847;
_Castellanos_, _Elegías de Varones ilustres de Indias_, 42-3;
_Acosta_, _Compend. Hist Nueva Granada_, 1-17; _Repertorio
Americano_, iii. 186-225; _Vetancvrt_, _Teatro Mex._, 3-6 and
101-6; _Lerdo de Tejada_, _Apuntes Hist._, 77-80; _Remesal_,
_Hist. Chyapa_, 162-3; _Gordon's Hist. Am._, i. 247-64;
_Lardner's Hist. Discov._, ii. 16; _Payno_, _Cronología
Mex._, in _Soc. Mex. Geog._; _Robertson's Hist. Am._, i.
59-175; _Corradi_, _Descub. de la Am._, i. 6-312; _Simon_,
_Conq. tierra firme_, 44-50; _Mesa y Leompart_, _Hist. Am._,
i. 1-64; _Torquemada_, i. 20-1, and iii. 283-94; _Vega_,
_Comentarios Reales_, ii. 7; _Acosta_, _Hist. Ind._, passim;
_Villagvtierre_, _Hist. Conq. Itza_, 5-19; _Mendieta_, _Hist.
Ecles._, 13-39; _Cavanilles_, _Hist. España_, v. 27-55
and 104-9; _Nueva España, Breve Resumen_, MS., i. 1-14;
_Maglianos_, _St Francis and Franciscans_, 521-32; _Aa_,
_Naaukeurige Versameling_, ii. and iii. passim; _Holmes'
Annals Am._, i. 1-16; _Puga_, _Cedulario_, 4-5; _Gonzalez
Dávila_, _Teatro Ecles._, i. 255-6; _Burke's Europ. Set._, i.
1-45; _Major's Prince Henry_, 347-67; _Help's Span. Conq._,
passim; _Heylyn's Cosmog._, 1083; _Ogilby's Am._, 55-6; _Ens_,
_West- und Ost-Indischer Lustgart_, 178-84 and 408-9; _Campe_,
_Hist. Descub. Am._, 1-133; _Poussin_, _De la Puissance
Américaine_, passim; _Hist. Mag._, Aug. and Sept. 1864, and
Feb. 1868; _Mariana_, _Hist. España_, vi. 307 etc. and vii.
80; _Muñoz_, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, i. 27-312; _Morelli_, _Fasti
Novi Orbis_, 11-12; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, v. 801-4;
_Pizarro y Orellana_, _Varones Ilvstres del Nvevo Mvndo_,
1-53; _Montanus_, _De Nieuwe en Onbekende Weereld_, 1-43; and
_Laet_, _Nov. Orb._, 345-6. The first work to throw a clear
light on the question of birthplace was the _Della patria di
Cristoforo Colombo_, by Conte Napione di Coconato, Florence,
1808, a dissertation published by the Academy of Sciences,
of Turin. In this and supplementary works the ability and
zeal of the author are manifest. In 1853, at Rome, was issued
a new edition of Napione and de Conti, entitled _Patria e
Biografia Del Grande Ammíraglio D. Cristóforo Colombo ...
rischiarita e comprovata dai celebri scrittori Gio. Francesco
Conte Napione di Coconato e Vincenzo de Conti_, the latter
author of _Storia del Monferrato_, in which appears a wealth
of new information second only to the original narratives
and documents themselves. The _Dissertazioni epistolari
bibliografiche_, Rome, 1809, of Francesco Cancellieri,
which Leclerc calls 'savante et fort curieuse,' should not
be overlooked. John S. C. Abbott throws together a _Life of
Christopher Columbus_, New York, 1875, in popular form, in
which extracts are conspicuous, the author having made quite
free with the writings of his predecessors.
[V-1] Chief judge, or highest judicial officer in the colony,
to take the place of Roldan, who was to be returned to Spain.
Irving, _Columbus_, ii. 331, writes erroneously _alguazil
mayor_, evidently confounding the two offices. For Las Casas,
_Hist. Ind._, iii. 18, says plainly enough:—'Trujo consigo por
Alcalde mayor un caballero de Salamanca y licenciado, llamado
Alonso Maldonado.' An alguacil mayor was a chief constable,
or high sheriff, a very different person from a chief judge.
These terms, and the offices represented by them, will be
fully explained in another place.
[V-2] As this word will often occur in these pages, and as
neither the term nor the institution it symbolizes has any
equivalent in English, I will enter here a full explanation.
_Residencia_ was the examination or account taken of the
official acts of an executive or judicial officer during
the term of his _residence_ within the province of his
jurisdiction, and while in the exercise of the functions of
his office. This was done at the expiration of the term of
office, or at stated periods, or in case of malefeasance at
any time. The person making the examination was appointed by
the king, or in New World affairs by the _Consejo de Indias_,
or by a viceroy, and was called a _juez de residencia_.
Before this judge, within a given time, any one might appear
and make complaint, and offer evidence against the retiring
or suspended official, who might refute and rebut as in an
ordinary tribunal. The residencia of any officer appointed by
the crown must be taken by a judge appointed by the crown; the
residencia of officers appointed in the Indies by viceroys,
audiencias, or president-governors, was taken by a judge
appointed by the same authority. Following are some of the
changes rung upon the subject by royal decrees, the better
to make it fit the government of the Indies. The 10th of
June, 1523, and again the 17th of November, 1526, Charles V.
decreed that appeal might be made from the judge of residencia
to the Council of the Indies, except in private demands not
exceeding 600 pesos de oro, when appeal was to the audiencia.
In 1530 viceroys and president-governors were directed to take
the residencia of _visitadores de Indios_ that wrong-doing
to the natives might not escape punishment; and by a later
law proclamations of residencias must be made in such manner
that the Indians might know thereof. The _Ordenanzas de
Audiencias_ of Philip II. of 1563 and 1567, state that in
some cities of the Indies it was customary to appoint at
certain seasons two regidores, who, with an alcalde, acted
as _fieles ejecutores_. At the beginning of every year the
viceroy, or the president, in a city which was the residence
of an audiencia, had to appoint an _oidor_ to take the
residencia of the fieles ejecutores of the previous year.
The same was to be done if those offices had been sold to
the city, _villa_, or _lugar_; but in such cases it was left
to the discretion of the viceroy or president to cause them
to be taken when necessary, not allowing them to become too
commonplace. Philip II. in 1573, and his successors as late
as 1680, directed that in residencias of governors and their
subordinates, when the fine did not exceed 20,000 maravedís,
execution should issue immediately; in damages granted from
private demands to the amount of 200 ducats, the condemned
was to give bonds to respond. While an official was undergoing
his residencia it was equivalent to his being under arrest, as
he could neither exercise office nor, except in certain cases
specified, leave the place. Thus the law of 1530, reiterated
in 1581, stated that from the time of the proclamation of a
residencia till its conclusion _alguaciles mayores_ and their
_tenientes_ should be suspended from carrying the _varas_,
or from exercising any of the functions of office. In 1583,
in 1620, and in 1680, it was ordered that such judges of
residencia as were appointed in the Indies should be selected
by a viceroy and audiencia, or by a president and audiencia,
acting in accord. Salaries of jueces de residencia were
ordered by Felipe III. in 1618 to be paid by the official
tried if found guilty, if not by the audiencia appointing.
Before this, in 1610, the same sovereign had ordered notaries
employed in residencias taken by _corregidores_ to be paid in
like manner. The next monarch directed that ships' officers
should be subject to residencia in the form of a _visita_;
and in visitas to _galeones_ and _flotas_ none but common
sailors, artillerymen, and soldiers should be exempt. Cárlos
II. in 1667 decreed that the residencia of a viceroy must
be terminated within six months from the publication of the
notice of the judge taking it. Felipe III. in 1619, and Cárlos
II. in 1680, ordered that viceroys and presidents should send
annually to the crown lists of persons suitable for conducting
residencias, so that no one might be chosen to act upon the
official under whose jurisdiction he resided. See _Recop.
de Indias_, ii. 176-89. Of the report of the residencia the
original was sent to the Council of the Indies, and a copy
deposited in the archives of the audiencia. So burdensome
were these trials, so corrupt became the judges, that later,
in America, the residencia seemed rather to defeat than to
promote justice, and in 1799 it was abolished so far as the
subordinate officers were concerned.
[V-3] Originally written _fijodalgo_, son of something.
Later applied to gentlemen, country gentlemen perhaps more
particularly. Oviedo, ii. 466, calls Diego de Nicuesa 'hombre
de limpia sangre de hijosdalgo,' a man of pure gentle blood.
Concerning the origin of the word _hidalgo_, Juan de la Puente
states that during the Moorish wars, whenever a large town was
captured the king kept it; the villages he gave to captains
who had distinguished themselves, and who were called at first
_ricos homes_, and afterward _grandes_. To minor meritorious
persons something less was given, a portion of the spoils or
a grant of land, but always something; hence their descendants
were called _fijosdalgos_, _hijosdalgos_, or _hidalgos_, sons
of something. In the _Dic. Univ._ authorities are quoted
showing that the word _hidalgo_ originated with the Roman
colonists of Spain, called _Itálicos_, who were exempt from
imposts. Hence those enjoying similar benefits were called
_Itálicos_, which word in lapse of time became _hidalgo_.
[V-4] 'Por justas causas, y consideraciones conviene, que
en todas las capitulaciones que se hicieron para nuevos
descubrimientos, se excuse esta palabra conquista, y en
su lugar se use de las de pacificacion y poblacion, pues
habiéndose de hacer con toda paz y caridad, es nuestra
voluntad, que aun este nombre interpretado contra nuestra
intencion, no ocasione, ni dé color á lo capitulado, para que
se pueda hacer fuerza ni agravio á los Indios.' _Recop. de
Indias_, ii. 2.
[V-5] The best proof of the policy of Spain in regard to
the natives of the New World is found in her laws upon the
subject. Writers may possibly color their assertions, but
by following the royal decrees through successive reigns
we have what cannot be controverted. The subject of the
treatment of the Indians occupies no inconsiderable space in
the _Recopilacion de Leyes de las Indias_. At the beginning
of tit. x. lib. vi. is placed a clause of Isabella's will,
solemnly enjoining her successors to see that the Indians were
always equitably and kindly treated; and this was the text
for future legislation. And now let us glance at the laws; I
cannot give them all; but I can assure the reader they are of
one tenor. First of all the natives were to be protected by
the ecclesiastical and civil authorities. They might marry
freely, but always in accordance with Christian usage; must
not be taken to Spain; must be civilized, Christianized,
taught to speak Spanish, and to love labor, if possible; they
might sow seed, breed stock, keep their ancient market-days,
buy and sell at pleasure, and even dispose of their lands,
only the Spaniards were not allowed to sell them arms or
alcoholic liquors. The Inquisition could not touch them,
for in religious matters they were subject to the bishop's
jurisdiction, and in cases of witchcraft to the civil power.
They might have their municipal organizations in imitation of
the Spanish town government, with their alcaldes, fiscales,
and regidores, elected from among themselves to serve for one
year, elections to be held in the presence of the priest. It
was made the duty of priests, prelates, all officers of the
government, and in fact every Spanish subject, to watch over
and protect the Indians. Governors and judges were charged
under the severest penalties to see justice done them. Two
officers were created at an early day for this purpose, those
of _protector_ and _defensor_, the former having general
oversight of the natives and their interests, and the latter
appearing in their behalf in court. After a time, when it was
thought the aborigines could stand alone, the offices were
abolished. But the action was premature, and in 1589 Philip
II. ordered them revived. These officers were appointed by
the viceroys and president-governors. Indians might appear
in courts of law and have counsel assigned them free of any
cost; and even in suits between the natives themselves there
was to be no expense, the fiscal appearing on one side, and
the protector on the other. Philip also gave notice in 1593
that Spaniards who maltreated Indians were to be punished
with greater rigor than for badly treating a Spaniard. This
was a remarkable law; it is a pity the Puritans and their
descendants lacked such a one. Indians might be hired, but
they must be paid promptly. They might work in the mines, or
carry burdens if they chose, but it must be done voluntarily.
Enforced personal service, or any approach to it, was
jealously and repeatedly prohibited. Indians under eighteen
must not be employed to carry burdens. Let those who sneer
at Philip and Spain remember that two centuries after this
England could calmly look on and see her own little children,
six years of age, working with their mothers in coal-pits.
There were many ways the Spaniards had of evading the just and
humane laws of their monarchs—instance the trick of employers
of getting miners or other laborers in debt to them, and
keeping them so, and if they attempted to run away interpose
the law for their restraint. It was equivalent to slavery.
A native might even sell his labor for an indefinite time,
until Felipe III. in 1618 decreed that no Indian could bind
himself to work for more than one year. The law endeavored
to throw all severe labor upon the negro, who was supposed
to be better able to endure it. The black man was likewise
placed far below the red in the social scale. It was criminal
for a negro or mixed-breed to have an Indian work for him,
although voluntarily and for pay; nor might an African even
go to the house of an American. The law endeavored to guard
the Indian in his privacy, as well as in his rights. It
studied to make the lot of the aboriginal as peaceful and
comfortable under Christian civilization as under heathen
barbarism. More it could not do; it could not do this much;
after the pacifying raid through the primeval garden, all
Europe could not restore it. But Spain's monarchs did their
best to mitigate the sufferings caused by Spain's unruly
sons. The cacique might hold his place among his people,
and follow ancient usage in regard to his succession, but he
must not enslave them, or inflict upon them the ancient cruel
customs, such as giving Indian girls in lieu of tribute, or
burying servants with their dead masters. And these petty
rulers must stay at home and attend to their affairs; Indians
could not leave one pueblo to take up their residence in
another, and caciques could not go to Spain without special
license from the king. The natives were ordered to live in
communities, and have a fixed residence, and their lands were
not in consequence to be taken from them. They must not ride
on horseback, for that would make them too nearly equal to
the cavalier in battle; they must not hold dances without
permission, for then they might plot conspiracies, or give
themselves up to serve heathen gods as of old; they must not
work in gold or silver, an illiberal restriction which lost to
the world the finest of America's arts. Spaniards could not
place a cattle rancho within 1½ leagues of a native pueblo;
or swine, sheep, or goats within half a league; the Indians
might lawfully kill cattle trespassing on their lands. In a
pueblo of Indians neither Spaniard, nor mulatto, nor negro
should live. No traveller might spend the night at the house
of a native if an inn was at hand. No Spanish or mestizo
merchant might remain in an Indian pueblo more than three
days, nor another white man more than two days. Beside the
property of individuals each Indian pueblo had some common
property, and a strong-box in which the community money and
title-deeds were kept. Caciques must not call themselves lords
of pueblos, as that detracted from royal preëminence; they
must be called caciques simply. The cacique must not attempt
feudal fashions; he must not oppress his people, or take
more than the stipulated tribute; and he who worked for the
cacique must be paid by the cacique. In criminal matters the
jurisdiction of caciques over their people could not extend to
death or mutilation. On the other hand a cacique could not be
tried by the ordinary Spanish justice of the peace, but only
by the judge of a district. The last four laws were made by
Charles V. in 1538. And beside these were many other edicts
promulgated by the Spanish monarchs during two and a half
centuries, notable for their wisdom, energy, and humanity. By
the continued outrages and excesses of their subjects in the
New World the temper of the crown was often severely tried.
Thus was found written by Felipe IV. with his own hand, on a
decree of the council ordering the immediate suppression of
all those infamous evils practised in spite of laws against
them, a sentiment which was fully reiterated by his son Cárlos
II. in 1680:—'I will that you give satisfaction to me and to
the world concerning the manner of treating those my vassals,'
so reads the writing; 'and if this be not done, so that as in
response to this letter I may see exemplary punishment meted
offenders, I shall hold myself disobeyed; and be assured that
if you do not remedy it, I will. The least omissions I shall
consider grave crimes against God and against me; the evil
conduct tending as it does to the total ruin and destruction
of those realms whose natives I hold in estimation; and I will
that they be treated as is merited by vassals who serve the
monarchy so well, and have so contributed to its grandeur and
enlightenment.' See further, _Tapia_, _Hist. Civ. Española_,
passim; _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yucathan_, 71-3; _Ramirez_, _Vida
Motolinia_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. Doc._, i. lxvi.; _Las
Casas_, _Carta_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._,
vii. 290-338.
[V-6] Twenty-five pounds. The Spanish pound is a little more
than the English pound. There are four arrobas in a quintal.
[V-7] _Repartimiento_, a distribution; _repartir_, to divide;
_encomienda_, a charge, a commandery; _encomendar_, to give in
charge; _encomendero_, he who holds an encomienda. In Spain
an encomienda, as here understood, was a dignity in the four
military orders, endowed with a rental, and held by certain
members of the order. It was acquired through the liberality
of the crown as a reward for services in the wars against
the Moors. The lands taken from the Infidels were divided
among Christian commanders; the inhabitants of those lands
were crown tenants, and life-rights to their services were
given these commanders. In the legislation of the Indies,
encomienda was the patronage conferred by royal favor over
a portion of the natives, coupled with the obligation to
teach them the doctrines of the Church, and to defend their
persons and property. It was originally intended that the
recipients of these favors were to be the discoverers,
conquerors, meritorious settlers, and their descendants; but
in this as in many other respects the wishes of the monarchs
and their advisers did not always reach the mark. The system
begun in the New World by Columbus, Bobadilla, and Ovando was
continued by Vasco Nuñez, Pedrarias, Cortés, and Pizarro, and
finally became general. Royal decrees upon the subject, which
seemed to grow more and more intricate as new possessions
were pacified, began with a law by Ferdinand the Catholic in
1509, reiterated by Philip II. in 1580, to the effect that
immediately upon the pacification of a province the governor
should divide the natives among the settlers. The natives thus
distributed were held for a term of years, or during the life
of the holder, or for two or more lives—that is, during the
life of the first holder, and that of his heir, and perhaps
that of his heir's heir, or until the king should otherwise
decree. _Solorzano_, _De Indiarum Jure_, ii. lib. ii. cap. i.;
_Acosta_, _De Procur. Ind._, iii. cap. x. When by this course
three fourths of certain populations had been 'recommended' to
their death, at the representation of Las Casas, the king in
1523 decreed that 'as God our lord had made the Indians free,'
they must not be enslaved on this or any other pretext; 'and
therefore we command that it be done no more, and that those
already distributed be set at liberty.' _Remesal_, _Hist.
Chyapa_, 10. But by this abolition the destruction of the
colonies was threatened. Petition followed petition for the
restoration of the system, until the king finally yielded.
_Solorzano_, _Política Indiana_, i. 225. In 1542 encomiendas
were again abolished, and again the king was obliged to
restore them. Meanwhile every effort possible was made by the
crown to prevent abuses. The encomendero must fulfil in person
the intention of the law. He must not leave without permission
from the governor, and then his duties must be delegated to a
responsible agent. If away for four months without permission,
his encomienda was to be declared vacant. The encomendero must
not hire out any natives, or pledge them to creditors, under
penalty of loss of Indians and a fine of 50,000 maravedís.
No one could appropriate any natives except those legally
assigned. When it was seen how those in office misused their
power, in 1530, in 1532, in 1542, in 1551, and in 1563 all
civil and ecclesiastical functionaries were forbidden to
hold encomiendas; but in 1544 Philip II. excepted from this
prohibition _tenientes de gobernadores_, _corregidores_, and
_alcaldes mayores de pueblos_. Indians should not be given in
encomienda to the daughters of royal officials, or to sons
unless married. It was just and reasonable that the savages
should pay the Spaniards tribute, for so God had appointed, so
the pope had ordained, and the king had commanded; but it was
the collection of this tribute only, and not the deprivation
of liberty, or of any personal rights, that the encomienda
was intended to cover. And for this tax, which whosoever
enjoys the boon of civilization must surely pay, the vassal
was to receive protection, and the still more blessed boon of
Christianity. Nor must this impost under any consideration be
made burdensome.
The manner of making assessments was minutely defined by
edicts of Charles V. at divers dates from 1528 to 1555, and
of Philip II. from the beginning to the end of his reign.
In substance they were as follows. The king made responsible
to him the viceroys, and the presidents and audiencias, who,
by the aid of a commissioner and assessors, fixed the rates
in their respective districts. The assessors having first
heard a solemn mass of the Holy Ghost, in order to enlighten
their understanding that they might justly regard the value
of the rental and equitably determine the rate, they were to
swear with all solemnity before the priest this to do without
bias. They were personally to inspect all the pueblos of the
province, noting the number of settlers and natives in each
pueblo, and the quality of the land. They were to ascertain
what the natives had originally paid to their caciques as
tribute, and never make the new rate higher, but always lower,
than the old one. For surely they should not be worse off in
serving Spain than in serving their heathen lords. After thus
carefully examining the resources and capabilities of the
tributaries, and never infringing on the comfort of the women
and children, the assessors should fix the rate according to
God and their conscience. The natives might pay in money if
they preferred, but payment should be required only in kind,
in whatever produce grew on their lands. They must not be
required to raise anything specially for this purpose; and
from not over two or three kinds of produce should tribute be
taken; a few chickens, or a pig or two, need not be counted
at all. It was the intention of the monarchs that from a tenth
to a fifth might in this way be taken, though the encomendero
too often managed to get twice or thrice as much, or all
the natives had. The Indians must be made to understand how
the appraisement was made, and that it was not done in the
interests of the Spaniards alone. Then the assessor must put
in writing what each had to pay, and leave the original with
the cacique, giving one copy to the encomendero, and sending
one to the Council of the Indies, or to the viceroy, or to
the audiencia. For the encomendero to practise extortion,
or demand more than the schedule called for, there were
pronounced the severest penalties, even to the loss of the
encomienda and half his goods. Natives voluntarily coming
forward and entering in encomienda were excused from paying
tribute for ten years; and, in any event, for the first two
years after congregating in pueblos but one half the usual
tribute could be legally exacted. Males were taxed after the
eighteenth year; caciques, elder sons, women, and alcaldes
in office were exempt. After the gift, the encomienda was the
property of the encomendero, not to be taken from him before
the expiration of his term without cause. In every encomienda
there must be a church, and where there was none, the natives
must be stimulated to build one, the priest to be paid out
of the rental. In every pueblo of 100 or more natives, two
or three must be taught to sing, so that they might act as
choristers; also a native sacristan—these to be exempt from
tribute. In 1568 Philip II. ordered that no encomendero
should receive a rental of over 2000 pesos; any excess was to
be returned to the crown and employed as pensions. The same
monarch directed in 1573 that when an encomienda fell vacant,
a viceroy or governor might, if he deemed best, appropriate
the rental to benevolent objects, and defer granting it again
till the king's pleasure should be known. And again, in 1583,
that the encomendero must have a house of his own, built of
stone for purposes of defence, in the city of his residence;
and he must keep his family there. He should maintain no house
in the town of the Indians, nor should he have any building
there except a granary. In 1592 it was decreed that Indians in
encomienda could be given to none but residents in the Indies.
When an encomienda became vacant, so it was decreed in 1594
and subsequently, the fact was advertised for from twenty to
thirty days, during which time applicants might prefer their
respective claims, and recite services rendered the crown by
themselves or their ancestors. Preference was always to be
given to the descendants of discoverers and settlers. Two or
three small encomiendas might sometimes be joined in one. And
never might religious training be forgotten; when the rental
was not sufficient for the support of the encomendero and
the instructor, the latter must have the revenue. Felipe III.
in 1602, 1611, 1616, 1618, and 1620, decreed that as a rule
but one encomienda could be held by one person; still more
seldom could one be given up and another taken. There was to
be no such thing as commerce in them. They were a trust. Much
evil had arisen from dividing encomiendas, and it should be
done no more. Felipe IV. in 1655 ordered that governors under
royal commission and those named by the viceroy _ad interim_
might give Indians in encomienda, but _alcaldes ordinarios_
holding temporarily the office of governor were not allowed
this privilege. _Recop. de Indias_, ii. 249-284 and passim.
Finally, toward the close of the seventeenth century, the
monarchs, becoming more and more straitened in their need of
money, ordered that encomenderos should pay a portion of their
revenue to the crown; then a larger portion was demanded; and
then the whole of it. In 1721 the system came to an end. But
after endeavoring for two hundred years to get back what they
had given away, the monarchs found there was nothing left
of it, the natives having by this time merged with sometimes
slightly whitened skins into the civilized pueblos.
[V-8] It was decreed by the emperor in 1555 that the _Casa de
Contratacion_ should have an _arca de tres llaves_, a chest
of three keys; after which the government strong-box became
common in Spanish America. It was usually in the form of a
sailor's chest, of heavy wood bound with brass or iron, and
having three locks fastening the lid by hasps. The strong-box
of the India House, the law goes on to say, must remain in
the custody of the treasurer, who was responsible for its
safe keeping. One of the keys was held by the _tesorero_,
one by the _contador_, and one by the _factor_. Out of the
hand of any one of these three royal officers his key could
not lawfully go; and no one but they might put into the chest
or take out of it any thing, under penalty, on the official
permitting it, of four times the value of the things so
handled. In this box were kept, temporarily, all gold, silver,
pearls, and precious stones that came from the Indies on the
king's account, or were recovered for him by suits at law
brought before the India House in Spain. _Recop. de Indias_,
iii. 17.
[V-9] Oviedo, i. 103, says that when the Jeronimite friars
arrived a few days before Christmas, 1516, the _jueces de
apelacion_ 'ya se llamaban oydores, é su auditorio ya se
deçia audiençia Real.' Herrera, ii. ii. iv., treating of
the instructions given the Jeronimites remarks, that it was
ordered also that the jueces de apelacion should be submitted
to residencia. After that he writes jueces de apelacion,
and audiencia indifferently. Las Casas, _Hist. Ind._, v. 45,
treating of events in 1518-20, says 'jueces de apelacion;'
relating the occurrences of 1521, 165, 177, he writes
'audiencia,' and 'cuatro oidores.' Writing the king August
30, 1520, _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, xiii. 332-48,
the court styles itself _Real Audiencia_, the members signing
the communication. In _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._,
xiv. 568, the presidents of this audiencia are given as Luis
de Figueroa, 1523; Sebastian Ramirez in 1527; Fuente Mayor in
1533; Maldonado in 1552; Alonso Arias de Herrera in 1560; and
in 1566 Diego de Vera, who was sent to Panamá as president
when he was succeeded by Doctor Mejía.
[V-10] The word _audiencia_, from _audire_, to hear, has a
variety of significations in Spanish; meaning, namely, the
act of hearing, the tribunal, the courtroom and building,
and finally, jurisdiction. _Oidor_, he who hears, comes from
the same root, but is now applied only to the magistrate
of an audiencia. The more important general laws governing
audiencias in the New World were the following. In 1528 the
emperor ordered, and the decree was reiterated in 1548, 1569,
1575, and 1589, that each audiencia should make a tariff of
fees of notaries and other officers, which must not exceed
five times those in Spain. In 1530 the mandates of this
tribunal were made of equal force with those of the king
himself. Should any one demand it, decisions in civil suits
were to be rendered in one case before another was begun;
suits of poor persons always to have preference in time of
hearing. Even dissenting judges must sign the decision, making
it unanimous. On the first business day of each year, all
the members and officers being present, the laws governing
audiencias should be read. In 1541 the emperor ordered that
in 'first instance' alcaldes, regidores, alguaciles mayores,
and escribanos should not be brought before the audiencia;
in each pueblo one alcalde should have cognizance of what
affected the other, and both of matters concerning its other
officers. In 1540, and many times thereafter, the audiencia
was charged to look to the welfare of the natives, to watch
narrowly the conduct of governors and other officials, and
to punish excesses. While in October, 1545, the emperor was
at Malines, hence known as the law of Malinas, directions
were given for procedure in cases of claims of Indians.
_Menor cuantía_ in suits was fixed at 300,000 maravedís; not
exceeding this amount two oidores might decide; also in suits
of _mayor cuantía_, except at Lima and Mexico where three
votes were necessary as in Spanish law. It was ordered in
1548 that audiencias must not meddle with questions of rank
and precedence. In 1551, Saturdays and two other days in the
week were set aside, there being no suits of poor persons,
for hearing disputes between Indians, and between Indians
and Spaniards. More _casos de corte_, that is important
suits taken from lower courts, were not to be admitted by an
audiencia of the Indies than was customary in Spain. This
was in 1552, and repeated in 1572. In 1553 it was ordered
that any person having a grievance against a president or
viceroy might appeal to the audiencia, the accused officer
being forbidden to preside at such times. If the president
was a bishop he was not permitted to adjudicate in matters
ecclesiastic. Six years later all petitions presented were
to be admitted. Philip II. in 1561 ordered that suits of the
royal treasury should have precedence over all others. The
year 1563 was prolific in regulations for the audiencia.
Where the president of an audiencia was governor and
captain-general, the tribunal should not meddle in matters
of war, unless the president was absent, or unless specially
directed by the crown. In the city where the audiencia is
held there must be an Audiencia House, and the president must
live there, and keep there the royal seal, the registry, the
jail, and the mint; in this house must be a striking clock;
and if there be no such building provided, the residence of
the president shall in the mean time be so used. On every day
not a feast-day the audiencia must sit at least three hours,
beginning at 7 A. M. in summer, and 8 A. M. in winter, and
at least three oidores must be present. Audiencias must not
annul sentences of exile; or, unless bonds for payment are
given, grant letters of delay to condemned treasury debtors.
The majority decide. The governor, alcalde mayor, or other
person refusing obedience to any mandate of the tribunal must
be visited by a judge and punished. In exceptional cases only
the audiencia might touch the royal treasury. Each audiencia
must keep a book in which was to be recorded—where the
amount in question was over 100,000 maravedís, or, in other
important cases—the verdict of each oidor; and the president
must swear to keep secret the contents of this book unless
ordered by the king to divulge the same. A book should also
be kept in which was to be entered anything affecting the
treasury; and another the fines imposed. Audiencias could
appoint only to certain offices. Philip II. further ordered
during the subsequent years of his reign, that audiencias must
keep secret the instructions from the crown; that they must
not interfere with the lower courts, or with the courts of
ecclesiastics, except in cases provided by law, but rather aid
them; that they should register the names of persons coming
from Spain, with their New World address; that with such
matters as residencias, compelling married men to live with
their wives, and the estates of deceased persons, presidents
and viceroys should not intermeddle, but leave them to the
other members; that they should use no funds resulting from
their judgments, but draw on the treasury for expenses; that
when an audiencia was to be closed, a governor should be
appointed with power to continue and determine pending suits,
but he should institute no new suits, and appeals lie to
the nearest audiencia; that they should not make public the
frailties of ecclesiastics, but examine charges against them
in secret; that royal despatches for the audiencia must not
be opened by the president alone, but at an _acuerdo_, and in
presence of the oidores and fiscal, and if thought necessary
the _escribano de cámara_ must be present; and that they
must not remit to the Council of the Indies trivial matters
for decision. In subsequent reigns during the seventeenth
century it was at various times decreed that a president might
impeach an oidor before the Council of the Indies, though he
could not send him to Spain, but no oidor might impeach his
president except by royal command; that audiencias should
exercise their functions in love and temperance, especially
during a vacancy in the office of president or viceroy; that
in their visits to the jail the oidores should not entertain
petitions of those condemned to death by the ordinary justices
in consultation with the criminal section of the audiencia,
nor should they on such visits take cognizance of anything not
specially confided to them; that they should not legitimize
natural children, but refer such cases to the Council of
the Indies; that each year the president should designate an
oidor to oversee the officers and attachés and punish their
faults; that no favoritism should be shown appointees of
viceroys or presidents; one oidor might transact business,
if the audiencia were reduced to that extremity; in arriving
at a decision the junior member should vote first, then the
next youngest, and so on up to the senior member. This from
the _Recopilacion de las Indias_, i. 323-70. In the _Politica
Indiana_ of Solorzano, ii. 271-82, may be found how the
audiencias of America differed from those of Spain. Larger
powers were given the former by reason of their distance from
the throne. They were given jurisdiction in the residencias of
the inferior judiciary; they could commission _pesquisidores_,
or special judges, and order execution to issue where an
inferior judge had neglected to do so. They had cognizance
in matters of tithes, of royal patronage, patrimony, treasury
matters, and jurisdiction; they could even fix the fee-bill of
the ecclesiastical tribunals, settle the estates of bishops,
retain apostolic bulls which they deemed prejudicial to the
royal patronage, and they could watch and regulate the conduct
of all ecclesiastical officials. In making appointments the
viceroy was obliged to take the opinion of the audiencia.
Persons aggrieved might appeal from the viceroy to the
audiencia. On the death, absence, or inability of the viceroy
the senior oidor stood in his place. None of these powers
were given audiencias in Spain. This and kindred subjects
are treated at great length by Solórzano y Pereira, who was
a noted Spanish jurist, born at Madrid in 1575. He studied at
Salamanca, and in 1609 was appointed by Felipe III. oidor of
the audiencia of Lima. Later he became fiscal and councillor
in the _Consejo de Hacienda_, the _Consejo de Indias_, and
the _Consejo de Castilla_. He published several works on
jurisprudence, the most conspicuous being _Disquisitiones
de Indiarum jure_, 2 vols, folio, Madrid, 1629-39. It was
reprinted in 1777, an edition meanwhile appearing in Lyons in
1672. A Spanish translation by Valenzuela was published at
Madrid in 1648, and reprinted in 1776. I have used both the
Latin edition and the Spanish, but the latter is preferable.
The work is a commentary on the laws of the Indies,
wonderfully concise for a Spanish lawyer of that period, and
was of great utility at a time when those laws were in chaotic
condition.
To conclude my remarks on audiencias in America I will only
say that ultimately their number was eleven; and one at
Manila, which, like that of Santo Domingo, had a president,
oidores, and a fiscal, and exercised executive as well as
judicial functions. The eleven, including that of Santo
Domingo, were those of Mexico and Lima, each being presided
over by a viceroy, and having 8 oidores, 4 alcaldes del
crímen, and 2 fiscales; and those of Guatemala, Guadalajara,
Panamá, Chile, La Plata, Quito, Santa Fé, and Buenos Ayres.
These several audiencias were formed at different times
soon after the establishing of government in the respective
places. See further, _Montemayor_, _Svmarios_, 110-11; _Revue
Américaine_, i. 3-32; _Zamora y Coronado_, _Biblioteca de
Legislacion Ultramarina_, passim.
[V-11] Irving says 1510. I cannot undertake to correct all the
minor errors of popular writers, having neither the space nor
the inclination. It would seem that in the present, and like
instances, of which there are many, the mistake springs from
an easy carelessness which regards the difference of a year
or two in the date of the settlement of an island as of no
consequence; for Las Casas, and other authorities who agree
better than usual in this case, were before Mr Irving at the
time he entered in his manuscript the wrong date. Important
and sometimes even unimportant discrepancies of original or
standard authorities will always be carefully noted in these
pages. What I shall endeavor to avoid is captious criticism,
and the pointing out of insignificant errors merely for the
satisfaction of proving others in the wrong.
[V-12] Maria, widow of Diego, demanded of the audiencia of
Santo Domingo for her son Luis, then six years of age, the
viceroyalty of Veragua, which was refused. She then carried
her claim to Spain, where the title of admiral was conferred
on Luis, and many other benefits were extended by the
emperor to the family, but the title of viceroy was withheld.
Subsequently Luis, having instituted court proceedings which
were referred to an arbitration, succeeded in having himself
declared captain-general of Española. Shortly before his
death he relinquished the claim to the viceroyalty of the
New World for the titles of duke of Veraguas and marquis
of Jamaica, and gave his right to a tenth of the produce of
the Indies for a pension of a thousand doubloons. Luis was
succeeded by a nephew, Diego, by whose death the legitimate
male line was extinguished. Then followed more litigation,
female claimants now being conspicuous, until in the beginning
of the seventeenth century we find in the Portuguese house
of Braganza the titles the discoverer once so coveted, they
being then conferred on Nuño Gelves, grandson of the third
daughter of Diego, son of Christopher Columbus, and who then
might write his name De Portugallo Colon, duque de Veraguas,
marqués de la Jamaica, y almirante de las Indias.
[V-13] The _Consejo Supremo de Indias_, Supreme Council of
the Indies, sometimes termed the _Consejo de Indias_, or India
Council, was a body possessing executive as well as judicial
powers, in permanent session at Madrid, and having the same
jurisdiction over Spanish colonies in America that was held in
Spain by the other supreme councils, especially the _Consejo
de Castilla_. Immediately after its discovery the American
portion of the Spanish realm was superintended by the Council
of Castile, or by councillors selected therefrom. But with
the constantly increasing burden of business the creation of a
separate supreme tribunal became necessary. Thus the machinery
set in motion by Ferdinand was augmented by Charles, and
further improved by Philip, until these vast western interests
were watched over with undeviating care. Thence all measures
for the government and commerce of Spanish America issued;
it was the tribunal likewise of ultimate resort where all
questions relating thereto were adjudicated. For many years,
however, the India Council had no formal existence. Fonseca;
Hernando de Vega, _comendador mayor_ of Leon; Mercurino
Gatinara, afterward superintendent of all the councils;
a gentleman of the emperor's bedchamber called De Lassao;
Francisco de Vargas, treasurer-general of Castile, and others,
acted specially at the request of their sovereign. This fact
gave rise to errors of date into which several historians
fell. Thus Prescott, _Ferd. and Isabella_, iii. 452, says,
copying Robertson, _Hist. Am._, ii. 358, that the Council of
the Indies was first established by Ferdinand in 1511. Helps,
_Span. Conq._, ii. 28—drawing a false inference from a false
inference drawn by Herrera, ii. ii. xx., who makes the date
1517—goes on to describe a council for Indian affairs, dating
its organization 1518, and of which Fonseca was president,
and Vega, Zapata, Peter Martyr, and Padilla were members.
It was the first of August, 1524, that the office proper
of the Council of the Indies was created. See _Solorzano_,
_Politica Indiana_, ii. 394. The decree of final organization
may be found in the _Recop. de Indias_, i. 228. It sets forth
that in view of the great benefits, under divine favor, the
crown daily receives by the enlargement of the realm, the
monarch by the grace of God feeling his obligation to govern
these kingdoms well, for the better service of God and the
well-being of those lands, it was ordered that there should
always reside at court this tribunal. It should have a
president; the grand chancellor of the Indies should also be
a councillor; its members, whose number must be eight, should
be _letrados_, men learned in the law. There were to be a
fiscal, two secretaries, and a deputy grand chancellor, all
of noble birth, upright in morals, prudent, and God-fearing
men. There must be, also, three _relatores_, or readers, and
a notary, all of experience, diligence, and fidelity; four
expert _contadores de cuentas_, accountants and auditors;
a treasurer-general; two _solicitadores fiscales_, crown
attorneys; a chief chronicler and cosmographer; a professor
of mathematics; a _tasador_ to tax costs of suits; a lawyer
and a _procurador_ for poor suitors; a chaplain to say
mass on council days; four door-keepers, and a bailiff, all
taking oath on assuming duty to keep secret the acts of the
council. The first president appointed was Fray García de
Loaysa, at the time general of the Dominicans, confessor
of the emperor, and bishop of Osma, and later cardinal and
archbishop of Seville. The first councillors were Luis Vaca,
bishop of the Canary Islands; Gonzalo Maldonado, later bishop
of Ciudad Rodrigo; Diego Beltran; the prothonotary, Pedro
Martyr de Anglería, abbot of Jamaica, and Lorenzo Galindez de
Carbajal. Prado was the first fiscal. A list of the earlier
presidents, councillors, and officials may be found at the
end of _Descripcion de las Indias Occidentales_, in vol. i.
Barcia's edition of Herrera.
The jurisdiction of the council extended to every department,
civil, military, ecclesiastical, and commercial, and no
other council in Spain might have cognizance of any affairs
appertaining to the New World. Two thirds of the members
must approve of any law or ordinance before it was presented
to the king for his signature. In the _Recopilacion de las
Indias_, i. 228-323, is given the legislation on the council
to 1680. Philip II. ordered the council to be obeyed equally
in Spain and in the Indies. Three members were to constitute
a quorum, and sit from three to five hours every day except
holidays. For purposes of temporal government the New World
was to be divided into viceroyalties, provinces of audiencias,
and _chancillerías reales_, or sovereign tribunals of lesser
weight than audiencias, and provinces of the officials of the
royal exchequer, _adelantamientos_, or the government of an
adelantado, _gobernaciones_, or governmentships, _alcaldías
mayores_, _corregimientos_, _alcaldías ordinarias_, and of
the _hermandad_, _concejos de Españoles y de Indios_; and
for spiritual government into archbishoprics and suffragan
bishoprics, abbeys, parishes, and _diezmerías_, or tithing
districts, and provinces of the religious orders. The division
for temporal matters was to conform as nearly as possible
to that for spiritual affairs. The council was commanded to
have for its chief care the conversion and good treatment
of the Indians. The laws made by the Council for the Indies
should conform as nearly as possible to the existing laws
of Spain. In selecting ecclesiastics and civil officers for
the Indies, the greatest care should be exercised that none
but good men were sent, and their final nomination must rest
with the king. Nepotism was strictly prohibited, and offices
were not to be sold. In 1600 Felipe III. ordered that twice
a week should be held a council of war, composed of eight
members, four of whom were councillors of the Indies, and
four specially selected by the king. It was decreed in 1584
that the offices of governors, corregidores, and alcaldes
mayores of the Indies, when bestowed on persons residing
in Spain, should be for five years; when residents in the
Indies were appointed, it should be for three years. Felipe
IV. in 1636 ordered that in the archives of the council,
beside records, should be kept manuscripts and printed books
treating on matters moral, religious, historical, political,
and scientific, touching the Indies, all that had been or
should be issued; and publishers of books of this class were
required by law to deposit one copy each in these archives.
Two keys were ordered kept, one by the councillor appointed by
the president, and the other by the senior secretary. And when
the archives of the council became too full, a portion might
be sent to Simancas. It was early ordered that the chronicler
of the council should write a history, natural and political,
of the Indies, every facility being afforded him; and before
drawing his last quarter's salary each year, he must present
what he had written. So it was with the cosmographer, who was
to calculate eclipses, compile guide-books, prepare tables
and descriptions, and give an annual lecture. The regulations
governing this august body were most wise, and it was the
constant aim of the Spanish monarchs to increase its power and
sustain its authority. Its jurisdiction extended over half
the world, being absolute on sea and land. By it viceroys
were made and unmade, also presidents and governors; and, in
ecclesiastical rule, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, and
lesser spiritual dignitaries. His Holiness himself was second
here. All bulls or briefs of indulgences issued by the pope
must be laid before the _Consejo de Cruzada_, and pass through
the Council of the Indies. The Consejo de Indias continued
in Spain till by a law of the Cortes, March 24, 1834, it
was abolished, as indeed was the _Consejo de Castilla_. The
judicial functions of the two were vested in the _Tribunal
Supremo de España é Indias_; their executive powers in the
_Consejo Real de España é Indias_, both being created by the
same law.
The next most important agency in the management of New
World affairs was the _Casa de Contratacion_, house or board
of trade, supreme in commercial matters, save only in its
subordination to the Consejo de Indias, in common with every
other power below absolute royalty. As before stated, on the
return of Columbus from his first voyage, Fonseca, with two or
three assistants, was appointed to take charge of the business
appertaining to the discovery, the nature or importance of
which was then but faintly conceived. This Indian office or
agency was established at Seville, with a branch office in
the form of a custom-house at Cádiz. But before the expiration
of the first decade the New World business had so increased,
and the New World dimensions were so rapidly expanding, that
it was found necessary to enlarge the capabilities and powers
of the India Office; hence by decrees of January 20, and June
5, 1503, was ordered established at Seville the _Casa de
Contratacion de las Indias_, or India house of trade, that
commerce between the mother country and the Indian colonies
might be promoted. The first cédula ordered the office
placed in the arsenal, the second in a building known as the
_alcazar viejo_, and in that part of it called the _cuarto de
los almirantes_, or admirals' quarters. The board consisted
of a president, three royal officers, or judges, to wit,
treasurer, auditor, and factor; also three judges bred to the
law; one fiscal, and other lesser officers and attendants.
Among the first to serve, beside Fonseca, were Sancho de
Matienzo, a canon of Seville, treasurer; Francisco Pinelo,
factor, or general agent; and Jimeno de Berviesca, contador,
or auditor. By law those three officers were to reside in the
building; and were to despatch all ships going to the Indies,
and receive all merchandise coming thence. In all which
they were scrupulously to respect the agreement made with
Columbus by the sovereigns. They were, moreover, to proclaim
that licenses for discovery and trade would be given, under
just conditions, to all seeking them and filing commensurate
bonds. See _Nueva España_, _Brev. Res._ MS.; _Veitia Linage_,
_Norte de la Contratacion_; _Recop. de Indias_; _Solorzano_,
_Pol. Ind._; _Zamora y Coronado_, _Bib. Leg. Ult._; _Young's
Hist. Mex._, 40-6; _Democratic Review_, i. 264-9; _Walton's
Exposé_, 24; _Niles' S. Am. and Mex._, 65-8; _Revolution in
Sp. Am._, 5-6; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, iv. 916-17. An
officer appointed by the king resided at Cádiz to despatch
vessels under the supervision of the Casa de Contratacion.
The India House was a court of judicature no less than a
board of trade; it had cognizance in all civil, criminal,
and commercial questions arising from the traffic of Spain
with the Indies, appeal being to the Council of the Indies.
I will mention a few only of the more important of the many
minor orders regulating this board. The volume and variety
of its business rapidly increased from year to year. In 1510
Diego Colon was instructed to inform its officers concerning
all that he should write to the king. The board was obliged
to possess itself of the minutest knowledge concerning
New World affairs, and of persons asking permission to go
thither, and in the execution of its duties it was not to
be interfered with even by royal officers of high rank. The
actual powers conferred on the three officials first named
by Queen Juana are not given by any of the chronicles, or
collections of laws, which I have examined. Indeed, the powers
and jurisdiction of the board were never clearly defined
until the issuing of the ordinances of the 23d of August,
1543, known as the _ordenanzas de la casa_, and which should
not be confounded with the _ordenanzas_ of other years. Every
day but feast-days the board should meet for business, and
remain in session for three hours in the forenoon, and on
the afternoons of Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for the
despatch of ships. Absence involved primarily loss of pay,
and finally loss of office. If this be not time sufficient
for the business, they must take more time. The president and
judges together should transact the business; a judge might
not act singly except upon a matter referred to him by all.
The notary should keep in his book an account of the hours of
absence among the officers. Before the platform on which sat
the judges, benches were ordered placed for the convenience
of the _visitadores_, or inspectors of ships, and such other
honorable persons having business there as should be invited
by the tribunal to sit. The authorities of Seville should not
interfere in the trial and punishment of crimes committed on
board ships sailing to and from the Indies. If the penalty
was death or mutilation, the offender was to be tried by the
three judges, members of the board, learned in the law. In the
civil suits of private persons, appertaining to the Indies,
litigants were given the option of bringing their disputes
before the judges of the India House, or before the ordinary
justice of Seville. Disputes arising from shipwreck, loss of
cargo, and frauds connected therewith, were all brought before
the India House. Traders to the Indies residing in Seville
were authorized to meet and elect a prior and consul, or
consuls, which consulate should be called the _Universidad de
los Cargadores á las Indias_, and hold their meetings in the
Casa de Contratacion. No foreigner, his son or grandson could
so hold office. This consulate had cognizance in disputes
between these merchants and factors in matters relative to
purchases, sales, freights, insurance, and bankruptcy, all
being subordinate to the regular tribunal of the India House.
Appeals were from the consulate to one of the regular judges
selected annually to that duty. The consulate could address
the king only through the Casa de Contratacion, and government
despatches from the Indies must be forwarded by the board.
As justice alone was the object of these merchants, and not
chicanery, or the distortion of evidence, parties to suits
before the consulate were not allowed lawyers. That harmony
might be maintained, the Casa de Contratacion should carry
out the orders of the _audiencia de grados_ of Seville, if
deemed conformable to law, and to existing regulations of
the board. Communications from the board to the king must be
signed by the president and judges conjointly, and no letter
must treat of more than a single subject. All gold, silver,
pearls, and precious stones coming from the Indies were first
to be deposited in the India House, and thence distributed to
the owners. The king's share was to be placed in a safe with
three keys, or if this was too small, then in a room having
three keys. Other safes were to be kept, one for each kind
of property. Accounts of receipts at the India House were
to be rendered the king every year. The board must render an
annual statement of its expenditures on _religiosos_ sent to
the Indies. Felipe IV. ordered that the board should collect
from all ships and merchandise, including a _pro rata_ on the
king's share, the cost for convoying them forth and back.
Such was the famous India House at Seville, modest in its
beginning, mighty in its accomplishments, through which passed
into Spain the almost fabulous wealth of Spanish America.
[V-14] _Recopilacion de Leyes de los Reynos de las Indias_,
of which I make general use in referring to the laws passed
in Spain for the regulation of the affairs of the New World,
is the result of several previous efforts in the direction of
compilation. It was published at Madrid, the first edition in
four volumes, by order of Cárlos II. in 1681, and the fourth
edition in three volumes, under the direction of the Royal
and Supreme Council of the Indies, in 1791. The work aimed
to embody all laws in force at the date of the respective
editions relative to the Spanish American colonies. The three
volumes are divided into nine books, and each book into from
eight to forty-six titles. The first title of the first book
is _De la Santa Fe Católica_, a subject then second to none
in grave importance. In fact the whole of the first book is
devoted to ecclesiastical and kindred matters. The second book
refers in the main to tribunals and officials; the third in
a great measure to the army; the fourth to discoveries and
settlements; the fifth to executive and judicial offices;
the sixth to Indians, including treatment, repartimientos and
encomiendas; the seventh to crimes and punishments; the eighth
to the management of the royal treasury; and the ninth to the
India House and the commerce of the Indies. By a decree of
the emperor in 1550, which was embodied in the ordinances of
audiencias in 1563, by Philip II., it was ordered that all
_cédulas_ and _provisiones_ should be copied _in extenso_
in a book set apart for that service, and of which great
care should be taken, and that the said documents were to be
filed chronologically in the archives of each audiencia. In
1571, by Philip II., it was decreed, and the decree embodied
in the _Recopilacion_ of 1680, that cédulas and provisiones
concerning the royal treasury should be kept in a separate
book.
The earliest printed collection of laws relating solely to
the Indies is that of the _ordenanzas_ for the government of
the audiencia of Mexico. This was issued in 1548. In 1552 a
similar collection was made by order of the viceroy of Peru,
Antonio de Mendoza, for the government of the audiencia of
Lima, but was not printed at that time. Later the fiscal
of Mexico, Antonio Maldonado, began a compilation to which
he gave the name _Repertorio de las Cedulas, Provisiones,
i Ordenanzas Reales_, but it does not appear that he ever
completed his task, although a royal cédula in 1556 authorized
him to do so. Upon the representation in 1552 by Francisco
Hernandez de Liébana, fiscal of the Council of the Indies,
of the urgent necessity of such a work, a royal cédula was
issued in 1560, directing the viceroy of New Spain, Luis de
Velasco, to have prepared and printed such regulations as were
in force within the jurisdiction of the audiencia of Mexico,
which was done in 1563 under the direction of Vasco de Puga,
oidor of the audiencia. Francisco de Toledo, sent from Spain
in 1569 as viceroy of Peru, was ordered to make a similar
compilation covering the limits of his viceroyalty, but it was
afterward thought better the work should be done in Spain.
Hence in 1570 Philip II. ordered made a general compilation
of laws and provisions for the government of the Indies, which
was intended as a code, obsolete laws being omitted, new ones
provided where necessary, and those in conflict reconciled.
Of this work, from some cause not satisfactorily explained,
probably from the death of the author, only the title relating
to the Consejo de Indias and its ordenanzas was printed,
although the whole of the first book had been prepared.
In 1581 some ordinances relative to the Casa de Contratacion
and its judges were printed at Madrid; and more of a
similar nature in 1585, beside the _Leyes y Ordenanzas_ for
the government of the Indies, and the ordinances of 1582
concerning the despatch of fleets for New Spain and Tierra
Firme, printed at Madrid; and in Guatemala the _ordenanzas_ of
July 14, 1556, relating to the _Universidad de los Mercaderes
de Sevilla_. In 1594 the marqués de Cañete, viceroy of Peru,
published at Lima a small volume of ordinances relative to
the good treatment of the Indians. But the want of a general
compilation becoming more and more apparent, Diego de Encinas,
a clerk in the office of the king's secretary, was ordered
to prepare a copy of all _provisiones_, _cédulas_, _cartas_,
_ordenanzas_, and _instrucciones_ despatched prior to 1596,
which work was printed at Madrid, in four folio volumes, the
same year. Harrisse is mistaken when he says these volumes
were suppressed, not having been authorized; for not only
is their authorization distinctly stated over the king's
own hand in the enacting clause of the _Recopilacion de las
Indias_, May 18, 1680, where it says that Philip II. ordered
Encinas to do this work, but that owing to their faulty
arrangement the volumes 'aun no han satisfecho el intento de
recopilar en forma conveniente,' which clearly shows them to
have been in use up to that time. Shortly after this, Alvar
Gomez de Abaunza, oidor of the audiencia of Guatemala, and
subsequently _alcalde del crímen_ of the audiencia of Mexico,
compiled two large volumes under the title of _Repertorio
de Cedulas Reales_, which were not printed. And in Spain,
Diego de Zorrilla made an attempt to revive the project
of the _recopilacion de leyes_, by making extracts from
Encinas and adding laws of later date; but having received
an appointment as oidor of the audiencia of Quito, he left
the work incomplete and in manuscript. Others made similar
attempts; I shall not be able to enumerate them all, or give
a full list even of the printed collections. For example, in
1603 was published at Valladolid a folio entitled _Ordenanças
Reales del Consejo de Indias_, and another thin folio called
_Leyes y Ordenanças Nuevamente hechas por su Magestad, para
la gouernaciõ de las Indias_; later appeared a folio entitled
_Ordenanças de la Casa de la Contratacion de Sevilla_, and
another, _Ordenanças Reales para el gobierno de los Tribunales
de Contaduría Mayor en los Reynos de las Indias_. In 1606
Hernando de Villagomez began to arrange cédulas and other laws
relating to the Indies; and two years after, the celebrated
conde de Lémos being president of the Council, Villagomez,
and Rodrigo de Aguiar y Acuña, member of the Council of
the Indies, were appointed a committee to compile the laws;
but nothing came of it, even Fernando Carrillo failing to
complete their unfinished task. Juan de Solórzano y Pereira,
oidor of the audiencia of Lima, also began a collection of
cédulas, and sent to the Council of the Indies the first book
of his contemplated work, with the titles of the other five
books which he intended to compile. In a _carta real_ he was
thanked for what he had done, and charged to continue his
labors, sending each book as prepared to the Council. I have
no evidence that he did so.
All this time our book was a-building, and indeed for 170
years more. A complete history of this one work would fill
a volume; obviously in a bibliographical note, even of undue
length, only the more prominent agencies and incidents of its
being can be touched upon.
We come now to the time when Antonio de Leon Pinelo, judge
in the India House, presented to the Council of the Indies
the first and second books, nearly complete, of his _Discurso
sobre la importancia, forma, y disposicion de la Recopilacion
de Leies de Indias_, which was printed in one volume, folio,
in 1623. This was in reality Encinas' work with some cédulas
added. Meanwhile it appears that some direct official work
was done on a compilation, for in 1624 we find the Council
instructing Pinelo to enter into relations with the custodian
of the material for the compilation. Pinelo was likewise
authorized to examine the archives of the Council; and for two
years he employed himself continuously in examining some 500
MS. volumes of cédulas, containing over 300,000 documents.
In the law authorizing the _Recopilacion de las Indias_ of
1680, it is said that in 1622 the task had been entrusted to
Rodrigo de Aguiar y Acuña, probably the custodian referred
to. In 1628 it was thought best to print for the use of the
Council an epitome of the part completed; hence appeared
the _Sumarios de la Recopilacion General de las Leies de las
Indias_. Aguiar y Acuña dying, Pinelo worked on alone until
1634, when the Council approved of what had been done; and in
the year following this indefatigable and learned man had the
satisfaction of presenting the completed _Recopilacion de las
Indias_. To one of the members, Juan de Solórzano y Pereira,
the work was referred, and received his approbation in 1636.
More than half a million of cédulas had been examined and
classified during the progress of this compilation. And yet
it was not published; and during the delay it was becoming
obsolete, and new material and partial compilations were being
made both in Spain and in America, some of which were printed
in separate pieces. In 1634 the _Ordenanzas de la Junta de
Guerra de Indias_ were published; in 1646 Juan Diez de la
Calle compiled and published for the Council of the Indies
in small quarto a memorial containing some of the cédulas of
the _Recopilacion_. A useful aid for the study of statistic
geography in America is to be found in the exceedingly rare
_Memorial y Noticias Sacras y Reales del Imperio de las Indias
Occidentales_. By Iuan Diez de la Calle, 1646, sm. 4to, 183
folios. A register for the Spanish colonies, chiefly of state
and church officials, of towns, their wealth and notable
objects. Folios 41-132 refer to the jurisdictions of the
audiencias of Mexico, Guadalajara, and Guatemala. Calle had in
the previous year, as assistant chief clerk to the secretary
of the Royal Council of the Indies, presented the work to the
king as _Memorial Informatorio al Rey_, and in accordance with
his approval it had been reprinted with additions as above.
Encouraged hereby he wrote at greater length the _Noticias
Sacras i Reales_ in twelve libros, the publication of which
was begun, but never finished. Puga's work was continued in
the form of an _Inventario_ of the cédulas relating to New
Spain issued from 1567-1620, the manuscript being presented
to the secretary of the New Spain department of the Council
of the Indies by Francisco de Párraga, afterward forming part
of the Barcia collection. In 1647 appeared at Seville the
_Ordenanças Reales, para la Casa de Contratacion de Sevilla, y
para otras cosas de las Indias_; in 1658 Pinelo published at
Madrid the _Autos, acuerdos y decretos de gobierno del real
y supremo consejo de las Indias_. In 1661 there was printed
at Madrid a folio entitled _Ordenanzas para remedio de los
daños, é inconvenientes que se siguen de los descaminos i
arribadas maliciosas de los Navios que navegan de las Indias
Occidentales_; and in 1672 the _Norte de la Contratacion
de las Indias Occidentales_ of Ioseph de Veitia Linage was
published at Seville. J. Stevens translated this last work
into English and published it in London in 1702.
The many and long periods of suspended animation of the
_Recopilacion de Indias_, between its inception and its birth,
is no less remarkable a feature in the history of the work
than its multiplicity of origins and collateral affluents. In
1660 the case was brought before the king, and then referred
to successive committees, in each of which were several
members of the Council, the whole being under the supervision
of their successive presidents, until finally, on the 18th of
May, 1680, a royal decree made the _Recopilacion de Indias_
law, and all ordinances conflicting therewith null. Even
now printing did not seem to be at first thought of. Two
authenticated copies were ordered made, one to be kept in the
archives of the Council, and the other at Simancas. It was
soon seen, however, that this was not sufficient, and in 1681
the king ordered the book printed under the superintendence
of the Council of the Indies, which was done. Although the
_Recopilacion de Indias_ was several times revised, and well
fulfilled its mission for over a hundred years, in fact to
the end of Spain's dominion in America, several partial
collections appeared from time to time in Spain and in
America. Among these were _Sumarios de las Cédulas ... que
se han despachado ... desde el año 1628 ... hasta ... 1677_,
printed in Mexico in 1678; _Ordenanzas del Perù_, Lima,
1685; also the _Ordenanhas de Cruçada, para los Subdelegados
del Perù_; _Reglamento y Aranceles Reales para el Comercio
Libre de España à Indias_, 1778; _Teatro de la legislacion
universal de España e Indias_, by Antonio Javier Perez y
Lopez, 28 vols. 4to, Madrid, 1791-8. In the various public and
private archives of Spain and Spanish America are manuscript
collections of cédulas and compilations on special subjects.
[VI-1] The world was at a loss at first what to call the
newly found region to the westward. It was easy enough to
name the islands, one after another, as they were discovered,
but when the Spaniards reached the continent they were
backward about giving it a general name. Everything was so
dark and uncertain; islands were mistaken for continent, and
continent for islands. The simple expression New World that
fell with the first exclamations of wonder from the lips of
Europeans on learning of the success of Columbus sufficed
for a time as a general appellation. More general and more
permanent was the name India, arising from the mistake that
this was the farther side or eastern shore of India, applied
at first to the continent as well as to the islands, and
which fastened itself permanently on the people as well as
on the country. 'Segun la opinion mas probable, que penetró
hasta aquellos parages, y tambien mas comunmente se da à este
nuevo mundo descubierto, el nombre de Indias Occidentales,
para distinguirlas de las verdaderas que están situadas en la
Asia à nuestro Oriente entre el Indo, y el Ganges.' _Nueva
España, Brev. Res._, MS. i. 3. As the coast line of the
continent extended itself and became known as such it was very
naturally called by navigators _tierra firme_, firm land, in
contradistinction to the islands which were supposed to be
less firm. And, indeed, not the islands only, but the people
of the islands are inconstant, the moon being mistress of
the waters. As Las Casas, _Hist. Indias_, iii. 395, puts it,
'La naturaleza dellos no les consiente tener perseverancia en
la virtud, quier por ser insulares, que naturalmente tienen
ménos constancia, por ser la luna señora de las aguas.' The
name Tierra Firme, thus general at first, in time became
particular. As a designation for an unknown shore it at first
implied only the Continent. As discovery unfolded, and the
magnitude of this Firm Land became better known, new parts
of it were designated by new names, and Tierra Firme became
a local appellation in place of a general term. Paria being
first discovered, it fastened itself there; also along the
shore to Darien, Veragua, and on to Costa Rica, where at no
well defined point it stopped, so far as the northern seaboard
was concerned, and in due time struck across to the South
Sea, where the name marked off an equivalent coast line. Lopez
Vaz, in _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, iv. 1433, says, 'From this
Land of Veragua vnto the Iland of Margereta, the Coast along
is called the _firme Land_, not for that the other places
are not of the firme Land, but because it was the first firme
Land that the Spaniards did conquer after they had past the
Ilands.' In the _Recop. de Indias_, i. 324, is a law dated
1535, and repeated 1537, 1538, 1563, 1570, 1571, and 1588,
which places within the limits of the kingdom of Tierra Firme
the province of Castilla del Oro. As a political division
Tierra Firme had existence for a long time. It comprised the
provinces of Darien, Veragua, and Panamá, which last bore
also the name of Tierra Firme as a province. The extent of
the kingdom was 65 leagues in length by 18 at its greatest
breadth, and nine leagues at its smallest width. It was
bounded on the east by Cartagena, and the gulf of Urabá and
its river; on the west by Costa Rica, including a portion
of what is now Costa Rica; and on the north and south by the
two seas. On the maps of _Novvs Orbis seu descriptionis Indiæ
Occidentalis_ by De Laet, 1633, and of _Ogilby's America_,
1671, the Isthmus is called Tierra Firme. Villagutierre
writes in 1701, _Hist. Conq. Itza_, 12, 'Tierra-Firme de la
Costa de Paria, ò Provincia, que llamò de Veragua; principio
de los dilatados Reynos de aquel Nuevo, y Grande Emisferio.'
Neither Guatemala, Mexico, nor any of the lands to the north
were ever included in Tierra Firme. English authors often
apply the Latin form, Terra Firma, to this division, which is
misleading.
The early Spanish writers were filled with disgust by the
misnomer America. Pizarro y Orellana, _Varones Ilvstres_,
in his preface speaks of the 'Nueva, y riquissima Parte
del Mundo, que se llama vulgarmẽte _America_, y nosotros
llamamos _Fer-Isabelica_;' and throughout his book the
author persists, where 'Nuovo Mundo' is not employed, in
calling America Fer-Isabelica, that is to say Ferdinand and
Isabella, an attempt at name-changing no less futile than
bungling. This was in 1639. If with these seventeenth-century
writers the name Columbia, the only appropriate one for the
New World, smacked too strongly of Genoa, they might have
called it Pinzonia, which would have been in better taste, at
least, than in bestowing the honor on the cold and haggling
sovereigns. Jules Marcou, like thousands of his class who
seek fame through foolishness, writes in the _Atlantic
Monthly_, March, 1875, to prove that the name America came
from a mountain range in Nicaragua, called by the natives
Americ, which became a synonym for the golden mainland, first
at the islands and then in Europe, until it finally reached
the foot of the Vosges, where Waldsee-Müller, or Hylacomylus
of Saint Dié, confuses it with the name of Vespucci, and is
led to print in the preface of Vespucci's Voyages:—'And the
fourth part of the world having been discovered by Americus
may well be called Amerige, which is as much as to say, the
land of Americus, or America.' Had the name been so early
and so commonly applied to Tierra Firme, it is strange that
some one of the many Spanish writers in the Indies or in
Spain had not employed it or mentioned it. Villagutierre in
1701 endorses the effort made by Pizarro y Orellana in 1639,
saying, _Hist. Conq. Itza_, 13, that the New World should have
been called after the Catholic sovereigns, 'de cuya orden,
y à cuyas expensas se descubrian.' He states further, on the
authority of Simon, that the Council of the Indies as late as
1620 talked of changing the name, but were deterred by the
inconvenience involved. Likewise Vetancurt, _Teatro Mex._,
13-15, in 1698 says that the name America should be erased
from history, calling attention to the bull of partition
issued by Pope Adrian VI., which alludes to the new lands
as the Western Part—only it was not Adrian but Alexander
VI. who perpetrated the bull, in which moreover there is no
such term as Western Part used—arguing therefrom that Indias
Occidentales was the most proper term. On the application
and origin of the name America see cap. i. p. 123-5 of this
volume.
[VI-2] Now gulf of Darién. The name Urabá was first applied to
the gulf by Bastidas, or by navigators immediately following
him. Subsequently the territory on the eastern side of the
gulf was called Urabá, and that on the western side Darien. On
Peter Martyr's map, _India beyond the Ganges_, 1510, is the
word _vraba_; on the globe of Orontius, 1531, _Sinus vraba_
is applied to the gulf, and _vrabe_ to the river Atrato.
Pilestrina, _Munich Atlas_, no. iv., 1515, places _G: d
epimeg_ at the southern end of the gulf, which is represented
as very wide. Maiollo, _Munich Atlas_, no. v., 1519, writes
_Vraba_ in small letters at the southern end; also the words
_aldea_, _tera plana_, and _Rio basso_.
[VI-3] Castilla del Oro was for the time but another name
for this part of Tierra Firme. Then Castilla del Oro became
a province of Tierra Firme; for in the _Recop. de Indias_,
ii. 110, we find ordered by the emperor in 1550, 'que la
Provincia de Tierrafirme, llamada Castilla del Oro, sea de
las Provincial del Perú, y no de las de Nueva España.' The
province of Veragua, and the territory 'back of the gulf of
Urabá, where dwelt the cacique Cimaco,' were declared within
the limits of the government of Tierra Firme. Helps, _Span.
Conq._, i. 400, calls a map of that portion of South America
extending from the gulf of Maracaibo to the gulf of Urabá
by the name Castilla del Oro. I have noticed in several
of the early maps the same mistake. Colon and Ribero call
only the Pearl Coast Castilla del Oro. In _West-Indische
Spieghel_, 1624, 64, the country between the Atrato and a
river flowing into the gulf of Venezuela is called Castilla
del Oro. Humboldt, _Exam. Crit._, i. 320, erroneously narrows
the limits of Nicuesa's government to that 'partie de la
Terre-Ferme placée entre le Veragua et le golfe d'Uraba,
où commençait la governacion de Hojeda;' for Navarrete says
distinctly in his _Noticias biográficas del capitan Alonso
Hojeda_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 170, 'Los límites de la
gobernacion de Hojeda eran desde el cabo de la Vela hasta la
mitad del golfo de Urabá, que llamaron _nueva Andalucía_; y
los de la gobernacion de Diego de Nicuesa, que se le concedió
al mismo tiempo, desde la otra mitad del golfo hasta el cabo
de _Gracias á Dios_, que se denominó _Castilla del Oro_.' He
who some time after drew the commission of Pedrarias Dávila as
'Gobernador de la provincia de Castilla del Oro en el Darien,'
is sadly confused in his New World geography when he writes,
_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 337, 'Una muy grand
parte de tierra que fasta aquí se ha llamado Tierra-firme,
é agora mandamos que se llame Castilla del Oro, y en ella
ha hecho nuestra gente un asiento en el golfo de Urabá, que
es en la provincia del Darien, que al presente se llama la
provincia de Andalucía la Nueva, é el pueblo se dice Santa
Maria del Antigua del Darien;' and again on the following
page:—'Castilla del Oro, con tanto que no se entienda ni
comprenda en ella la provincia de Verágua, cuya gobernacion
pertenece al Almirante D. Diego Colon por le haber descubierto
el Almirante su padre por su persona, ni la tierra que
descubrieron Vicente Yañez Pinzon é Juan Diaz de Solis, ni la
provincia de Pária.' Oviedo marks the limits plainly enough,
iv. 116, 'Por la costa del Norte tiene hasta Veragua, que lo
que con aquel corresponde en la costa del Sur puede ser la
punta de Chame, que está quince leguas al Poniente de Panamá,
é desde allí para arriba seria Castilla del Oro hasta lo que
respondiesse ó responde de Norte á Sur.' The _Descripcion
Panamá_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ix. 82,
says the official name was _Provincia de Castilla del Oro y
reino de Tierra Firme_, and so remained till the beginning of
the 17th century, and afterward _Bética áurea_, or _Castilla
del oro_, is written in _Décadas_, _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_,
_Col. Doc._, viii. 14.
[VI-4] And no wonder misunderstandings should arise over a
cédula dividing territory in such words as, 'á vos el dicho
Diego de Nicuesa en el parte de Veragua y el dicho Alonso de
Hojeda en el parte de Urabá.' _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_,
iii. 116.
[VI-5] Peter Martyr, dec. ii. cap. i., gives Nicuesa 795, and
Ojeda 300 men. Herrera, dec. i. lib. vii. cap. xi., says that
700 sailed from Española with Nicuesa and 300 with Ojeda. 'No
pudiendo Hojeda por su pobreza aprestar la expedicion, la Cosa
y otros amigos le fletaron una nao, y uno ó dos bergantines,
que con doscientos hombres.' _Noticias biográficas del capitan
Alonso Hojeda_, _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 170.
Benzoni, who pays little heed to numbers or dates, says,
_Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 37, 'Hoieda comprò quattro naui e fece
più di quattrocento soldati alle fue spese, e cosi partì san
Domenico.'
[VI-6] 'Bachiller,' says the English translator of Benzoni,
'has a wider meaning than our word bachelor, signifying also
an inferior order of knighthood.' This is a mistake. The word
has the same corresponding significance in both languages.
It is true that the degree exempts the possessor from certain
obligations, such as personal service, military and municipal,
imprisonment for debt, etc., and grants him certain privileges
enjoyed by noblemen. But this does not make him noble. The
next degree, which is that of licentiate, carries with it
still further privileges, but even this does not constitute
knighthood. The degree of doctor, which follows that of
licentiate and is the highest conferred by the university,
gives the possessor the right to prefix Don to his name, and
places him in nearly every respect on a par with noblemen.
[VI-7] The word _alcalde_ is from the Arabic _al cadi_,
the judge or governor. _Alcalde ordinario_ used formerly to
designate the officer having the immediate superintendency
of a town or city, with cognizance of judicial matters except
those of persons enjoying some privilege (_fuero_). _Alcalde
mayor_ signifies a judge, learned in the law, who exercises
ordinary jurisdiction, civil and criminal, in a town or
district. The office is equivalent to that of district judge
in the United States, the audiencia standing for the supreme
court. There were, however, in the early years, alcaldes
mayores who were not law judges, or men learned in the law;
they governed for the king a town or city not the capital of
a province.
_Corregidor_, a magistrate having civil and criminal
jurisdiction in the first instance (_nisi prius_) and
gubernatorial inspection in the political and economical
government in all the towns of the district assigned to him.
There were _corregidores letrados_ (learned in the law),
_políticos_ (political), _de capa y espada_ (cloak and sword),
and _políticos y militares_ (holding civil and military
authority). All had equal jurisdiction. When the corregidor
or mayor was not by profession a lawyer, unless he had an
_asesor_ of his own, the alcalde mayor, if possessed of legal
knowledge, became his adviser, which greatly increased the
importance of the latter. The alcalde mayor was appointed by
the king. He must be by profession a lawyer, twenty-six years
of age, and of good character. He could neither be a native
of the district in which he was to exercise his functions,
nor could he marry a wife in his district. _Recop. de Indias_,
ii. 113-27 and note. So much for the law. Practically in cases
of this kind, where the governor was not learned in the law,
civil, criminal, and some phases even of military authority
devolved on the alcalde mayor, the two first _ex officio_, and
the last as the legal adviser of the military chief. In new
colonies this officer was invested with powers almost equal
to those of the governor, though of a different kind.
[VI-8] A document prepared by the united wisdom of church
and state, for general use in the Indies, setting forth the
obligations of all good savages to their dual head of Spain
and Rome, with a list of punishments which were to follow
disobedience. Of which more hereafter.
[VI-9] To this day there are tribes in the vicinity of the
Atrato River which have never been subjugated.
[VI-10] I am unable to find this place on any map. Gomara,
_Hist. Ind._, 68, says: 'Començo luego vna fortaleza, y
pueblo, donde se recoger, y assegurar en el mismo lugar que
quatro años antes lo auia comẽçado Iuan dela Cosa. Este fue el
primer pueblo de Españoles en la tierra firme de Indias.' If
the author refers his first town to the former visit of Juan
de la Cosa four years before, I should say that could scarcely
be called an attempted settlement, still less an established
town. If he intimates that this fort of Ojeda's was the first
settlement, then is he wrong, for Belen, in Veragua, was
before this. Whatever he means, and that often is impossible
to determine, in this instance it is safe to say that he is
in error, as San Sebastian can by no possibility have been
the first settlement in Tierra Firme. Herrera writes, i.
vii. xvi.: 'Entrò en el golfo de Vrabà, y buscò el rio del
Darien, que entre los Indios era muy celebrado de oro, y de
gente belicosa, y no le hallando, sobre vnos cerros assentó
vn pueblo, al qual llamò la villa de san Sebastian, tomandole
por abogado contra las flechas de la yerua mortifera: y esta
fue la segunda villa de Castellanos que se poblò, en todo la
tierra firme, auiendo sido la primera la que començò a poblar
el Almirante viejo, en Veragua.' Words to the same effect are
in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 172. It seems rather
premature to call these futile attempts establishing towns.
[VI-11] The first in Tierra Firme, Oviedo says, but he forgets
the landing, for the same purpose, of Bartolomé Colon at Cape
Honduras, Sunday, August 14, 1502.
[VI-12] When Oviedo gravely asserts that Ribero intended
desertion, and was stealing by Belen when he was captured by
Olano, he goes out of his way to make palpable nonsense appear
as truth. Admit them inhuman monsters, which they were not,
whither would four starved helpless wretches desert on this
deadly shore?
[VI-13] Chagre, not Chagres, was the name of the native
province through which this river flows. Near its mouth empty
several small streams, and it was only below the confluence of
these that the term Lagartos for any length of time applied.
Says Alcedo, _Dic._, i., of the River Chagre:—'Lo descubrió
el de 1527 Hernando de la Serna llamándole rio de Lagartos,
y antes su boca Lope de Olano el de 1510.' Oviedo remarks
upon it:—'Algunos han querido deçir que los de aquesta armada
le dieron este nombre, porque ninguna cosa viva saltaba de
los navíos que en pressençia de la gente no se la comiessen
luego muy grandes lagartos, lo qual se experimentó en algunos
perros. Este rio es la boca del rio Chagre.' _Hist. Gen._,
ii. 467. Acosta is somewhat loose in the statement, _Compend.
Hist. Nueva Granada_, 34, 'En la boca del rio Chagres, que
entonces llamaban de los Lagartos por la multitud de caimanes
que Colon habia visto en él.' Vaz Dourado places, on _Munich
Atlas_, no. x., 1571, in this vicinity a river with the word
_chi_. _Munich Atlas_ no. ix. has it _Chiche_. De Laet writes
_R. de Chagre_; Dampier, _R. Chagre_; Jefferys, _R. Chagre_
and _Ft. Chagre_.
[VI-14] The name familiar to cartographers often assumed in
those days peculiar orthography on the maps. Thus Fernando
Colon writes this name _nõbre_; Ribero, _nõb_; Agnese, _nõmbre
de dio_; Vaz Dourado, _nöbre de dios_; Ramusio, _Nome de
dio_; Hondius, in Purchas, _Nom de Dios_; Mercator, Dampier,
Ogilby, the author of _West-Indische Spieghel_, Jefferys, and
their successors, contrary to their frequent custom, all write
the words correctly. This place, as we shall hereafter see,
was for a long time famous as the chief post on the northern
coast of Tierra Firme through which passed the merchandise
from Spain and the gold from Peru. Says Benzoni, _Hist. Mondo
Nvovo_, 79: 'Questa Città stà situata nel mare di Tramontana.
Sogliono adunque communemente ogn'anno andare di Spagna al
Nome di Dio, da quattordici, ò quindici naui, fra piccole,
e grande, e la maggior porterà mille, e ottocento salme;
cariche di robbe diuerse.' Dampier about a century later found
the spot where the city had stood overgrown with trees. Its
abandonment was owing to poisoned air, the same unwholesome
climate that broke up all the early settlements on this coast,
the last being always regarded as the worst.
[VI-15] The original authorities for this chapter are: _Real
Cédula_, etc., in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 116;
_Memorial presentado al Rey por Rodrigo de Colmenares_, in
_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 387; _Las Casas_, _Hist.
Ind._, ii. 61; _Oviedo_, ii. 465-78; _Noticias biográficas
del capitan Alonso Hojeda_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_,
iii. 163; _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, 69; _Peter Martyr_, dec.
ii. 2; _Herrera_, dec. i. lib. vii. cap. vii. Reference,
mostly unimportant, to the doings of Ojeda and Nicuesa may
be found in _Ramusio_, _Viaggi_, iii. 18-22; _Roberts' Nar.
Voy._, xviii.-xix.; _Dalton's Conq. Mex. and Peru_, 37-38;
_Montanus_, _Nieuwe Weereld_, 62-65; _Morelet_, _Voy. dans
l'Amérique Cent._, ii. 300-1; _Laharpe_, _Abrégé_, ix. 160-84;
_Ogilby's Am._, 66-67, 397; _March y Labores_, _Marina
Española_, i. 391-402; _Juan_ and _Ulloa_, _Voy._, i. 94;
_Acosta_, _Compend. Hist. Nueva Granada_, 26-36; _Remesal_,
_Hist. Chyapa_, 163; _Andagoya_, _Nar._, 4-5; _Nouvelle An.
des Voy._, cxlviii. 7-10; _Dufey_, _Résumé Hist. Am._, i.
66-71, 371-75; _Helps' Span. Conq._, i. 295-334; _Gordon's
Hist. Am._, ii. 62-72; _Holmes' Annals Am._, i. 29-30;
_Lardner's Hist. Discov._, ii. 37-40; _Gonzalez Dávila_,
_Teatro Ecles._, ii. 57; _Quintana_, _Vidas_, 'Vasco Nuñez,'
1-10, and 'Pizarro,' 42-43; _Robinson's Acct. Discov. in
West_, 171-95; _S. Am. and Mex._, i. 12-14; _Snowden's Am._,
70-1; _Robertson's Hist. Am._, i. 191-95; _Irving's Col._,
iii. 66-31; _Russell's Hist. Am._, i. 43-8; _Drake's Voy._,
155-58; _London Geog. Soc., Jour._, xxiii. 179; _Du Perier_,
_Gen. Hist. Voy._, 110-13; _Pizarro y Orellana_, _Varones
Ilvstres_, 53-61; _Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 36-47;
_Morelli_, _Fasti Novi Orbis_, 14; _Bastidas_, _Informacion_,
in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ii. 439; _Décadas_,
in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, viii. 14; _Mesa y
Leompart_, _Hist. Am._, i. 85-86; _Touron_, _Hist. Gen. Am._,
i. 275-87; _Lallement_, _Geschichte_, i. 22.
[VII-1] So named by the early settlers of Antigua, probably
because of its being on the other side of the gulf from them,
toward the Carib country. It is now known as Punta Arenas.
Some maps make two points, and give one of the names to each.
[VII-2] Oviedo, ii. 426, says that, with the assistance of
one Hurtado, Vasco Nuñez was hidden in a ship's sail.
[VII-3] 'Der Name _Darien_ (_Dariena_, oder _Tarena_) scheint
zunächst mit dem indianischen Namen des grossen Flusses
Atrato, welcher sich in den Golf von Uraba ausgiesst, seinen
Anfang genommen zu haben. Der erste Eroberer, der in diesen
Golf einsegelte, war Bastidas 1501. Ob er schon den Fluss
Darien gesehen und den Namen nach Europa gebracht hat, ist
ungewiss. Gewiss ist es, das der Name des Flusses Darien
bereits in den Dokumenten und Theilungspakten zwischen Nicuesa
und Ojeda in Jahre 1509 genannt wird.' _Kohl_, _Die Beiden
ältesten General-karten von Amerika_, 116. On Peter Martyr's
map, _India beyond the Ganges_, 1510, is _tariene_; on the
globe of Orontius, 1531, the gulf is called _Sinus vraba_,
the river _vrabe_, and the Isthmus _furna dariena_. Salvat de
Pilestrina, _Munich Atlas_, no. iv., 1515, places on the west
side of the gulf of Urabá the word _dariem_. Maiollo, _Munich
Atlas_, no. v., 1519, calls the place _daryen_; Fernando
Colon, 1527, writes _darien_; Diego de Ribero, 1529, _dariẽ_;
_Munich Atlas_, no. vi., 1532-40, _dariem_; Vaz Dourado,
1571, _dariem_; Robert Thorne, in _Hakluyt's Voy._, _Darion_;
_Mercator's Atlas_, 1569; _West-Indische Spieghel_, 1624;
_Ogilby's Map of America_, 1671; Dampier, 1699, and subsequent
cartographers give the present form.
[VII-4] Ogilby, _Am._, 66, entertains a dim conception of the
fact when he says, 'Ancisus pursuing, found in a Thicket of
Canes, or Reeds a great Treasure of Gold.'
[VII-5] 'De que hoy no quedan ni vestigios,' says Acosta.
Nor do I find laid down on any map in my possession the town
of Santa María, or Antigua, or Darien, by which names this
place has been severally designated. Puerto Hermoso, placed
by Colon at the south-western extremity of the gulf of Urabá,
_p: hermosso_, and also by Ribero, _po hmoso_, is supposed to
have been the anchorage of Enciso and the harbor of Antigua.
Oviedo, i. 4, in endeavoring to fasten upon the place the
name _La Guardia_, confuses himself beyond extrication. 'En
la cibdad del Darien (que tambien se llamó antes la Guardia)
é despues santa Maria del Antigua.'
[VII-6] _Carta dirigida al Rey por Vasco Nuñez de Balboa desde
Santa María del Darien, 20 de Enero de 1513_, in _Navarrete_,
_Col. de Viages_, iii. 358. That Enciso has been properly
represented as a vain and shallow man is proved by a reference
to his book, _Suma de Geographia_, 2, wherein he does not
hesitate to patronize the boy-emperor 'whose youth had not
permitted him to read much of geography.' 'Por tanto yo Martin
Fernandez de Enciso alguazil mayor dela tierra firme delas
Indias ocidentales llamada castilla dl oro. Desseando hazer
algun seruicio a vuestra. s. c. c. m. que le fuesse agradable
y no menos prouechoso, cõsiderando que la poca edad de vuestra
real alteza no ha dado lugar a que pudiesse leer los libros
que dela geographia hablan.' And that he was as beastly in
his bigotry and cruelty as his less learned companions we
may know from what he himself wrote the king, _Pacheco_ and
_Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, i. 449, about the caciques who kept
men dressed as women, and used as such, 'and when I took
Darien, we seized and burned them, and when the women saw
them burning they manifested joy.' Compare _Oviedo_, ii.
425-27, 472-76; and iii. 7; _Herrera_, dec. i. lib. viii.
cap. v.-vii.; and lib. ix. cap. l; or, if one will have it in
Dutch, _Ezquebel_, _Aankomst_, 30-8, in _Gottfried_, _Reysen_,
i.; _Acosta_, _Compend. Hist. Nueva Granada_, 33-8; _Drake's
Voy._, 157-58; _Norman's Hist. Cal._, 10; _Patton's Hist.
U. S._, 11; _Ogilby's Am._, 399; _March y Labores_, _Marina
Española_, i. 413-23; _Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 41-5;
_Harper's Mag._, xviii. 468; _Bidwell's Panamá_, 27-28; and
_Heylyn's Cosmog._, 1087.
[VII-7] As I have before observed, there were alcaldes
of various denominations, duties, and jurisdictions. In
new discoveries, when the chief of the expedition had not
contracted with the king for the appointing of authorities,
the settlers met and elected one or more alcaldes and
regidores. The alcalde, in the absence of the governor or
military chief, presided over the municipal council, composed
of regidores who governed the municipality, or _regimiento_,
as it was then called. The alcalde was also the executive
power, exercising the functions of judge, with original
jurisdiction in all matters civil and criminal, those relating
to the natives excepted. In the absence of the adelantado he
was therefore chief in authority, and when the governor was
present, the alcalde was second. Alcaldes in new settlements,
and in early times, were different from those created later.
Their duties covered the emergency. In the present instance,
had Enciso continued to exercise the office of alcalde mayor,
regidores might still have been elected to attend to the
affairs of the municipality, in which case no alcaldes would
have been elected, for Enciso himself would have presided.
[VII-8] Regidores, or members of the municipal council,
were elected by the residents of a ward or district. Cities
were entitled to twelve, towns to six, and villages or small
settlements were limited to three or even less.
[VII-9] The name of a Spanish settlement midway between
Cape de la Vela and Cartagena, and sometimes applied to the
territory in that vicinity.
[VII-10] The _procurador de la ciudad_, called afterward
_síndico procurador_, and later still _síndico_, was an
officer of the municipal council, whose duty it was to see
the city ordinances enforced, bring suit for and defend the
city in any suit, performing the functions of city attorney,
beside having a seat in the common council of the city.
[VII-11] Benzoni asserts that after leaving Antigua, Nicuesa
followed the coast for some distance, but landing one day for
water, he was seized by cannibals, who captured the vessel
and devoured the men. 'E cosi Niquesa molto dolente se ne
parti, e per quella costa andando salto in terra per piglior
acqua, e su da paesani ucciso, e poi mangiato con tutti i
suoi compagni, e questo su la fine della vita di Diego di
Niquesa, con la sua armata di Veragua.' _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_,
i. 47. A story was current for a time that they had been
thrown on Cuba, where all perished, leaving inscribed upon
a tree, 'Here ended the unfortunate Nicuesa.' Las Casas and
Herrera, however, are of opinion that his vessel foundered
at sea. 'Algunos imaginaron que aportò a Cuba, y que los
Indios le mataron, porque andando ciertos Castellanos por la
isla hallarõ escrito en un arbol: Aqui feneciò el desdichado
Nicuesa: pero esto se tuvo por los hombres mas verdaderos, por
falso, porque los primeros que entraron en Cuba, afermaron
nunca aver oydo tal nueva. Lo que se tuvo por mas cierto,
es, que como llenava tan mal navio, y las mares de aquellas
partes son ton bravas, y vehementes, la mesma mar lo tragara
facilmente, o que pereceria de hãbre, y de sed.' _Herrera_, i.
viii. viii. But his fate must forever remain a mystery; and
he one among the many whose visionary hopes have been buried
beneath these waters; one among the many who, having left home
with sanguine expectations, sailed over these seas in quest
of gold or adventure, never again to be heard from! It is
easy, after a failure, to find the mistake. Many of Nicuesa's
misfortunes sprang not from any fault, and yet faults, in
place of nobler qualities, were developed by his misfortunes.
[VIII-1] Oviedo, ii. 477, is obviously wrong in saying over
six hundred.
[VIII-2] 'Il Baccelliero non poteva mostrare le Reali sue
prouisioni per bauerle per dute nella naue, che si ruppe nel
Golfo d'Vraua.' _Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, i. 47. There
were those who told Peter Martyr that Enciso was thus punished
by providence for having advised the expulsion of Nicuesa.
[VIII-3] Martin Fernandez de Enciso first came to the Indies
with Bastidas. After practising law for a time successfully
at Santo Domingo, he was tempted to this expedition, as
we have seen, by Ojeda, upon the promise of the office of
alcalde mayor. Though a pettifogger in his profession, he
was nevertheless possessed of worth and ability in other
directions. In Darien, while in the main well meaning, he
was unable to cope successfully with shrewder intellects
sharpened by New World experiences. After his return to Spain
he published a work, entitled _Suma de geografiã q̃ trata de
todas las partidas & prouincias del mundo: en especial de las
indias, y trata largamẽte del arte del marear: Juntamete con
la esphera en romãce: con el regimiento del Sol & del norte:
nueuamente hecha_. As the title indicates, the book purports
to be a compendium of universal geography, treating of all
parts of the world, but including the little that was then
known of the Indies. That part relating to the New World was
made up in a great measure from his own observations. And
yet it resembles too nearly the usual summaries of the period
to be of much value. The first third of the work is devoted
to the science of geography, with astronomical tables and a
résumé of early Spanish history. Then the physical features of
Spain, and Europe generally, are given, and finally a rambling
account of Asia, Africa, and America. It was printed at
Seville by a German, Jakob Cromberger, in 1519. Other editions
appeared in 1530 and 1546. My edition is dated 1530, the part
relating to America occupying the last eight folios of the
book. Bibliographers believe this the first book relative to
the New World printed in the Spanish language. 'Livre curieux,
parce qu'il est le premièr traité de géographie impr. en
Espagne, où l'on trouve des détails sur l'Amérique.' _Brunet_,
_Manuel du Libraire_. 'Apparently the first book printed in
Spanish relating to America.' _Rich_, _Bibliotheca Americana
Vetus_. 'L'ouvrage rare et très remarquable.' _Humboldt_,
_Examen Critique_, iv. 306. 'A great hydrographer and
explorer, his work is invaluable for the early geographical
history of the continent.' _Harrisse_, _Bibliotheca Americana
Vetustissima_. Navarrete says: 'Escribió Enciso un papel muy
curioso sobre si los conquistadores españoles podian tener y
poseer indios encomendados, contra los frailes dominicos que
decian que no, y se opusieron al despacho de la expedicion de
Pedrarias Dávila, so pretexto de que el Rey no podia enviar
á hacer tales conquistas.' And in his _Epitome_, Pinelo
remarks: 'Trata en su _Suma Geografia_ del Arte de Navegar,
de la Esfera, y de las quatro partes del Mundo, especialmente
de las Indias, i es el primero que imprimió _Obra Geografica_
de ellas.' Indeed, this last was said in 1738, and subsequent
bibliographers have repeated it.
[VIII-4] For definition see chapter xv. note 1, this volume.
[VIII-5] It was the _cárcel_, whether jail or pen. In newly
settled towns, and in some country villages where jails were
not built, it was customary to construct a small enclosure on
the plaza near the _casa consistorial_, or municipal hall, in
which to confine prisoners till sent to the capital of the
province, or elsewhere, for trial. Those convicted of petty
municipal offences were likewise incarcerated in this pen.
Inside were stocks, the better to secure great offenders.
[VIII-6] In popular parlance, _acogerse á santuario_, or
_acogerse á sagrado_, or _tomar iglesia_, the protection
afforded criminals who sought refuge in a church or other
sacred asylum. As we shall often meet with the custom in this
history I will state briefly what it was. It is well known
that from the earliest times, in both heathen and Jewish
societies, the right of asylum, or right of sanctuary, has
existed, in degrees more or less modified by time, down to
the present day. In Spanish-America it was in vogue as late
as a quarter of a century ago. Originally the idea implied
the right of appeal from the judgment of men to the justice
of God. The Creator himself, it is said, set the example
by placing a mark on Cain, the first murderer, that none
might kill him; and Moses and Joshua, under divine sanction,
established cities of refuge, whither certain involuntary
offenders might flee and find safety. Later, the founders of
cities offered asylum to outlaws for the purpose of increasing
the population. To this custom is attributed in a measure the
existence, or at least the importance, of Athens, Thebes, and
other cities. Instead of making the whole city an asylum, a
certain locality was sometimes assigned for that purpose;
thus tradition says that one of the first acts of Romulus
preparatory to building his city was to set apart Palatine
Hill as a place of refuge. Sacred groves were asylums; also
temples to the gods, and religious houses. Notably the groves
of the Grecians, and the Erechtheium of Athens, the temple
of Artemis at Ephesus, and that of Apollon at Miletus. With
the advent of Christianity, to increase their influence, the
clergy secured this privilege for their churches. In the time
of Constantine all Christian churches afforded refuge, and
Theodosius II. included in this right all houses belonging to
the church, with their courts and gardens. In France and Spain
not only the church and its surroundings afforded protection,
but all chapels, cloisters, abbeys, monasteries, cemeteries,
tombs, crosses, and in short all religious monuments.
Frequently a stone bench, called the stone of peace, was
placed for refugees within the church near the altar. The
priests assured the people that they would be visited by
dire calamities if they violated this right. Gradually,
however, the practice diminished. Though the culprit must
not be forcibly dragged from the church, he might be enticed
thence, or starved out, or smoked out. Then the more abhorred
criminals, as heretics and murderers, were denied protection;
and the number of places was reduced. Clement XIV., in 1772,
limited the number to one or two in each town, though no one
sheltered by the roof of a church might be torn thence without
an order from the ecclesiastical judge. The right of churches
to extend protection over minor offenders was recognized long
after it became the custom for the clergy to deliver rank
offenders for punishment. The superstition was respected, as
we have seen, in the wilds of the New World by the distempered
colonists of Darien. Nor was England free from it; to this day
there are places in France, and in Scotland, Holyrood abbey
and palace, where a debtor may not be arrested. For a good
treatise on right of sanctuary, and on immunity of religious
persons and places, see _Vazquez_, _Chronica de Gvat._, 288
et seq.
[VIII-7] Peter Martyr, dec. ii. cap. iv., thinks Valdivia
carried away 300 pounds of gold. In the words of his
quaint English translator:—'This pound of eight ounces, the
Spanyardes call Marcha, whiche in weight amounteth to fiftie
pieces of golde called Castellani, but the Castilians call
a pound Pesum. We conclude therefore, that the summe hereof,
was xv. thousande of those peeces of gold called Castellani.
And thus is it apparent by this accompt, that they receiued of
the barbarous kings a thousande and fyue hundred poundes, of
eight ounces to the pounde: all the whiche they founde readie
wrought in sundry kindes of ouches, as cheynes, braselets,
tabletes, and plates, both to hang before their brestes, and
also at their eares, and nosethrils.
[VIII-8] Quintana thinks the amount was too small, or that it
never reached him; for as events unfolded Pasamonte proved
himself no less friendly to Enciso than hostile to Vasco
Nuñez. It seems never to occur to a Spaniard that a public
officer could refuse a bribe. As it was, Pasamonte did favor
Vasco Nuñez.
[VIII-9] We shall see everywhere, from Darien to Alaska,
Indian towns and provinces frequently called by the name of
the ruling chief. For instance, adventurers and geographers
who knew only the chief's name, called his village Careta's
village, or Careta; his country, Careta's country, or Careta.
Maiollo, 1519, writes on his map, where the province of Careta
should be, _aldea de machin_; and adjacent north-west, _P.
scatozes_. Vaz Dourado, _Munich Atlas_, nos. x. and xi., 1571,
labels the province _careta_; De Laet, 1633, gives _Careta_;
Jefferys, 1776, _Pta Carata_; and Kiepert, 1858, _Pto
Carreto_. Alcedo mentions the river _Careti_. 'De la Provincia
y Gobierno del Darien y Reyno de Tierra-Firme: nace en las
montañas del N. y sale al mar en la Ensenada de Mandinga.'
[VIII-10] Map-makers give—Vaz Dourado, _comogra_, De Laet,
_Comagre_, and _Pta de Comagre_, 'which according to
Keipert,' says Goldschmidt, _Cartography Pac. Coast_, MS. i.
67; 'as near as I can determine, is now _P. Mosquitos_.'
[VIII-11] Peter Martyr, dec. ii. cap. iii., says this building
measured 150 by 80 paces. See _Bancroft's Native Races_, i.
758.
[VIII-12] 'Estas palabras célebres,' says Quintana,
'conservadas en todas las memorias del tiempo, y repetidas
por todos los historiadores, fueron el primer anuncio que los
españoles tuvieron del Perú.' _Vasco Nuñez de Balboa_, 13. To
which I would remark, first, that it is not certain Panciaco
referred to Peru; and secondly, that vague allusions of a
similar kind were made to Columbus, which historians apply to
Peru.
[VIII-13] This on the authority of Herrera. Gomara places the
king's fifth at 20,000 ducats, and Bernal Diaz at 10,000 pesos
de oro.
[VIII-14] The strange story of Aguilar is given by _Gomara_,
_Hist. Mex._, 21-22; _Torquemada_, i. 371; _Cogolludo_, _Hist.
Yucathan_, 24-9; and by _Herrera_, dec. ii. lib. vii. cap. v.
He was kept seven years in this captivity.
[VIII-15] The name is variously rendered _Dabaybe_, _Dabaibe_,
_Davaive_, _Daibaba_, _Abibe_, _Abibeja_, and _d'abaibe_.
'Auch der Rio Atrato wurde nicht selten _Rio Dabeyba_ genannt.
Das 'D' im Anfang dieses Namens ist nur eine Abbreviatur
von 'de,' und das Wort sollte wohl eigentlich: _d'Abaibe_
geschrieben werden.' _Kohl_, _Beiden ältesten karten_,
125. Maps mark the region, Colon and Ribero, _dabaybe_, at
the southern extremity of the gulf, and De Laet gives the
_Montanas de Abibe_.
[VIII-16] The Atrato discharges through several channels, one
of which was called the Rio del Darien; one the Rio Grande de
San Juan; one the Rio de las Redes, from the snares or nets
found there for taking wild beasts; one the Rio Negro, from
the color of its water. Often the Spaniards had scoured these
parts in search of food and gold.
[IX-1] Galvano says 290, which for him is quite near the mark.
Oviedo places the number at 800, which probably was intended
to include the natives afterward added.
[IX-2] The Spaniards must have had quite accurate information
from the natives as to the trend of the southern coast, though
there was then little communication between the northern
and southern seaboards. But, without such knowledge, Balboa
naturally would have undertaken the ascent of the river
Atrato, which flows directly from the south, rather than have
sailed some distance to the north-west before attempting to
cross. The direct march to the gulf of San Miguel, from which
course a deviation would have almost doubled the distance,
is another evidence of his having obtained the most reliable
information before or during the march.
[IX-3] Enciso, _Suma de Geographia_, 57, calls the country
'tierra rasa y buena de muchos mãtenimientos y caças.'
'Experience had proved that moving a body of men sufficient
to act as a protecting force and to carry the necessary
provisions was attended with great risk and great delay.'
_Gisborne's Survey of Darien_, in _London Geog. Soc., Jour._,
xxvii. 193. 'Mr Hopkins was lately prevented by the Indians
from ascending the Chepo river towards Mandinga, or San Blas
Bay; and Dr Cullen was stopped likewise by the aborigines
while endeavoring to ascend the Paya river.... _Climate_ and
_natives_ are at present the only serious impediments to a
regular survey.' _Fitz-Roy's Isth. Cent. Am._, in _London
Geog. Soc., Jour._, xx. 161. 'The Panama railroad, a most
stupendous work, considering the excessively swampy nature
of the country over which it has been carried.' _Cullen's
Darien_, 95. For obstacles overcome in surveying and
constructing the Panamá railway, see _Otis' Isthmus Panama_,
15-36. The climate inclines 'to the wet extreme, for two
thirds of the year, the Rains beginning in _April_.' _Defence
of the Scots Settlement at Darien_, 64. On the Atrato 'the
trees approach to the very edge of the stream, which their
branches overhang. The trees are frequently concealed by
dense masses of vines which entirely envelope them, and in
certain lights present plays of color comparable only to
those of the richest velvet.... But like the plumes and velvet
of the funeral pageant, they serve but to conceal and adorn
corruption. Behind them stretches, far away, the pestiferous
swamp, through the dreary wilds of which even the birds refuse
to sport; and whose silence is broken only by the sighing of
the breeze, or the sullen growl of the roving tiger. Venomous
reptiles often fall into the boats from the branches overhead;
wasps' nests are frequent and troublesome; natural levees
of soft mud stretch along the banks. Floods are common, and
the houses are built on stilts.' _Trautwine_, in _Franklin
Inst., Jour._, xxvii. 220-4. In 1853, Carl Scherzer, a German
naturalist, travelling in Costa Rica with a civil engineer and
a force of thirty-two men, attempted to make a survey for a
road from Angostura to Limon Bay; but on account of scarcity
of provisions, illness, and the difficulties of the route,
they failed in their purpose; and after having penetrated to
within eight leagues of their destination, they were obliged
to return, having travelled only ten leagues in two weeks.
See _Wagner and Scherzer_, _Costa Rica_, 358-407. In December
of the same year, a party under J. C. Prevost, of H. M. S.
_Virago_, set out with fourteen days' provisions from the gulf
of San Miguel for Caledonia Bay, on the opposite side of the
Isthmus. Their route was essentially that of Vasco Nuñez on
his return. As he ascended the Sabana River, the attention of
Captain Prevost was attracted by the débris on the overhanging
branches, which marked the height of water attained during
certain seasons. The dense foliage was enlivened by birds
of gay plumage; brilliant flowers carpeted the ground; and
the chattering monkeys, which they shot in great numbers,
furnished the guides food. The country even then was as wild
as when traversed by Vasco Nuñez; the natives, however, had
exchanged their wooden weapons for fire-arms. Swamps and
hills alternate, and 'dense was the forest we had cut our way
through.' The flora then changed, and 'instead of the small
underwood, we came on almost impenetrable thickets of the
prickly palm or aloe, rather more than six feet in height,
through which we with great difficulty cut our way.' They
crossed 'deep ravines, whose steep and slippery sides caused
many a tumble.' The attempt was finally abandoned. Returning,
on arriving at one of their ranchos or encampments, where had
been left three sailors to guard the provisions, they found
the men murdered and the camp sacked. 'So toilsome was our
journey,' says Captain Prevost, 'that we spent fifteen days in
performing a distance of little more than twenty-six miles,
having to force our slow and laborious path through forests
that seemed to stretch from the Pacific to the Atlantic
shores. The trees, of stupendous size, were matted with
creepers and parasitical vines, which hung in festoons from
tree to tree, forming an almost impenetrable net-work, and
obliging us to hew open a passage with our axes every step
we advanced.' _London Geog. Soc., Jour._, xxiv. 249. Nothing
could more aptly illustrate the difficulties surmounted by the
Spaniards than this narrative of failure, by a British officer
of the nineteenth century, who operated under conditions
far more favorable than those so successfully overcome by a
company of ill-accoutred and poorly fed adventurers more than
three hundred years before. With the material before me, these
illustrations could be greatly multiplied; but I have given
enough to show that the transit of the Isthmus, by a small
party of Europeans, over an unknown or unexplored route, is
even to-day esteemed a desperate undertaking.
[IX-4] _Carta dirigida al Rey por Vasco Nuñez de Balboa desde
Santa María del Darien_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_,
iii. 368.
[IX-5] A strategy which continues through the centuries. 'The
Indians, although offering no direct hostility, abandoned
their villages at our approach.' _Gisborne's Survey of
Darien_, _London Geog. Soc., Jour._, xxvii. 193.
[IX-6] Among the dogs which accompanied the expedition
was one, the property of the commander, whose pedigree and
physical and metaphysical traits and mighty deeds are minutely
recorded by contemporary historians. His name was Leoncico,
little lion, descendant of Becerrico, of the Island of San
Juan. He was in color red with black snout, of medium size and
extraordinary strength. In their foragings Leoncico counted
as one man, and drew captain's pay and share of spoils.
Upon these conditions his master frequently loaned him; and
during the wars of Darien he gained for Vasco Nuñez more than
one thousand pesos de oro. He was considered more efficient
than the best soldier, and the savages stood in the greatest
terror of him. He readily discriminated between wild and
tame Indians. When a captive was missing from the fields, and
Leoncico was told, 'He is gone; seek him!' the dog tracked the
poor fugitive, and did not harm him if he returned quietly,
but if the Indian resisted, the dog would destroy him. The
hero of many a conflict, he was covered with wounds; but like
Cæsar he escaped the wars to meet his death by treacherous
hands. He was poisoned. See _Oviedo_, iii. 9-10.
[IX-7] Again a general difference occurs in an important date,
and, according to my custom, I am governed by the authorities
I deem most reliable. Oviedo follows the expedition from day
to day, noting places and dates; and he says, iii. 10: 'Y un
mártes, veynte é cinco de septiembre de aquel año de mill é
quinientos y trece, á las diez horas del dia,' at 10 o'clock
in the morning. So Gomara also writes, _Hist. Ind._, 77: 'Vio
Valboa ala mar del Sur a los veynte y cinco del Setiembre
del año de treze;' and Las Casas, _Hist. Ind._, iv. 109:
'Llegaron á la cumbre de las más altas sierras á 25 dias de
Setiembre de dicho año de 1513;' and Herrera, i. x. i.: 'A
veynte y cinco de Setiembre, deste año, de donde la mar se
parecia.' Careful writers following these first authorities
also name the day correctly, as Humboldt, _Exam. Crit._, i.
319, who says: 'Vasco Nuñez de Balboa vit la Mer du Sud, le 25
septembre 1513, du haut de la Sierra de Quarequa;' and Acosta,
_Compend. Hist. Nueva Granada_, 50: 'Esto pasó el dia 25 de
setiembre del año de 1513 poco antes de medio dia y forma una
de las épocas notables en el descubrimiento de la América;'
and Quintana, _Vidas de Españoles Célebres_, 'Balboa,' 20: '25
de setiembre;' and Chevalier, _L'Isthme de Panama_, 15: 'Le
vingt-cinquième jour, le 25 septembre;' and Campbell, _Hist.
Span. Am._, 23: 'the 25th of _Septembre_;' and Helps, _Span.
Conq._, i. 361: '25th of September;' etc. In the face of
which, Irving, _Columbus_, iii. 198, shows gross carelessness
when he writes 'the 26th of September.' To support him he has
Ramusio, who, _Viaggi_, iii. 29, falls into a mistake of Peter
Martyr's, 'alli ventisei adunque di Settembre,' and Du Perier,
_Cen. Hist. Voy._, 139, and, to copy his error, Dalton,
_Conq. Mex. and Peru_, 43, and a host of others. Not quite
so often mentioned as Columbus' voyages is this discovery
of Vasco Nuñez, though nearly so. After Oviedo and Las Casas
probably Peter Martyr gives the best original account. Herrera
copied from all before him. The following popular accounts
are most of them meagre and unreliable:—_Nouvelles An. des
Voy._, cxlviii. 11-12; _Goodrich's Man upon the Sea_, 201-8;
_Voyages, New Col._, i. 180-6; _World Displayed_, i. 153-9;
_Monson's Tracts_, in _Churchill's Voy._, iii. 372; _March y
Labores_, _Marina Española_, i. 413-50; _Dufey_, _Résumé Hist.
Am._, i. 75-86; _Gottfriedt_, _Newe Welt_, 239-41; _Juarros_,
_Guat._, 122; _Montanus_, _Nieuwe Weereld_, 66-72; _Ogilby's
Am._, 69-72; _Norman's Hist. Cal._, 10-11; _Patton's Hist.
U. S._, 11; _Pim's Gate of Pacific_, 99; _Hazlitt's Gold
Fields_, 3; _Roberts' Nar. Voy._, xx.; _Isth. Panama_, 5;
_Humboldt_, _Essai Pol._, i. 17; _Lallement_, _Geschichte_,
i. 25; _Bidwell's Panamá_, 23-7; _Andagoya's Nar._, 19;
_Galvano's Discov._, 123-4; _Cavanilles_, _Hist. España_, v.
290-1; _Greenhow's Mem._, 22; _Farnham's Adv._, 119; _Fédix_,
_L'Orégon_, 67-8; _Span. Emp. in Am._, 23; _Burney's Discov.
South Sea_, i. 8-9; _Niles' S. Am. and Mex._, 14-15; _Kerr's
Col. Voy._, ii. 67-8; _Colton's Jour. Geog._, no. 6, 84;
_Douglas' Hist. and Pol._, 44; _Holmes' Annals Am._, i. 32-3;
_Inter-Oceanic Canal and Monroe Doct._, 11; _Hesperian_,
ii. 27-33; _Lardner's Hist. Discov._, ii. 40-1; _Harper's
Mag._, xviii. 469-84; _Macgregor's Prog. Am._, i. 10-11;
_Mofras_, _L'Orégon_, i. 88-9; _Ovalle_, _Hist. Rel. Chile_,
in _Pinkerton's Col._, xiv. 142-4; _Mesa y Leompart_, _Hist.
Am._, i. 88-94; _Mavor's Am. Hist._, xxiv. 52-5; _Holinski_,
_Cal._, 62-4; _Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 47-8; _Morelli_,
_Fasti Novi Orbis_, 15; _Rivera_, _Hist. Jalapa_, i. 20.
[IX-8] The testimonial with the sixty-seven names attached,
as given by Oviedo, iii. 11-12, is as follows:—'Diré aqui
quién fueron los que se hallaron en este descubrimiento con el
capitan Vasco Nuñez, porque fué servicio muy señalado, y es
passo muy notable para estas historias, pues que fueron los
chripstianos que primero vieron aquella mar, segund daba fée
de ello Andrés de Valderrábano, que allí se halló, escribano
real é natural de la villa de Sanct Martin de Valdeiglesias,
el qual testimonio yo vi é lei, y el mismo escribano me lo
enseñó. Y despues quando murió Vasco Nuñez, murió aqueste con
él, y tambien vinieron sus escripturas á mi poder y aquesta
decia desta manera:' Los cavalleros é hidalgos y hombres de
bien que se hallaron en el descubrimiento de la mar del Sur,
con el magnífico y muy noble señor el capitan Vasco Nuñez de
Balboa, gobernador por Sus Altezas en la Tierra Firme, son
los siguientes: 'Primeramente el señor Vasco Nuñez, y él fué
el que primero de todos vido aquella mar é la enseñó á los
infrascriptos. Andrés de Vera, clérigo; Françisco Piçarro;
Diego Albitez; Fabian Perez; Bernardino de Morales; Diego de
Texerina; Chripstóbal de Valdebuso; Bernardino de Cienfuegos;
Sebastian de Grijalba; Françisco de Ávila; Johan de Espinosa;
Johan de Velasco; Benito Buran; Andrés de Molina; Antonio
de Baracaldo; Pedro de Escobar; Chripstóbal Daça; Françisco
Pesado; Alonso de Guadalupe; Hernando Muñoz; Hernando Hidalgo;
Johan Rubio de Malpartida; Álvaro de Bolaños; Alonso Ruiz;
Françisco de Luçena; Martin Ruiz; Pasqual Rubio de Malpartida;
Françisco Gonçalez de Guadalcama; Françisco Martin; Pedro
Martin de Palos; Hernando Diaz; Andrés Garçia de Jaen; Luis
Gutierrez; Alonso Sebastian; Johan Vegines; Rodrigo Velasquez;
Johan Camacho; Diego de Montehermoso; Johan Matheos; Maestre
Alonso de Sanctiago; Gregorio Ponçe; Françisco de la Tova;
Miguel Crespo; Miguel Sanchez; Martin Garçia; Chripstóbal
de Robledo; Chripstóbal de Leon, platero; Johan Martinez;
Valdenebro; Johan de Beas Loro; Johan Ferrol; Johan Gutierrez
de Toledo; Johan de Portillo; Johan Garçia de Jaen; Matheo
Loçano; Johan de Medellin; Alonso Martin, asturiano;
Johan Garçia Marinero; Johan Gallego; Françisco de Lentin,
siciliano; Johan del Puerto; Françisco de Arias; Pedro de
Orduña; Nuflo de Olano, de color negro; Pedro Fernandez de
Aroche.' Andrés de Valderrábano, escribano de Sus Alteças en
la su córte y en todos sus reynos é señorios, estuve pressente
é doy fée dello, é digo que son por todos sessenta y siete
hombres estos primeros chripstianos que vieron la mar del Sur,
con las quales yo me hallé é cuento por uno dellos; y este
era de Sanct Martin de Valdeiglesias.
[IX-9] Herrera calls the second Blas de Atiença, but that name
is not in Oviedo's list. Irving refers to Herrera, but fails
to reproduce him correctly in his text. Compare _Oviedo_, iii.
11-12; _Herrera_, i. x. ii.
[IX-10] The form of taking possession, or the declaration of
proprietary rights to the lands seized by Europeans, as we
have seen, differs with different discoverers, and with the
same discoverer at different times. Sometimes mass was said;
sometimes a cross was erected; sometimes prayer was offered,
of which the following is said to have been the prescribed
form used by Columbus, Vasco Nuñez, Cortés, and Pizarro:
Domine Deus æterne et omnipotens, sacro tuo verbo cœlum, et
terram, et mare creâsti; benedicatur et glorificetur nomen
tuum, laudetur tua majestas, quæ dignita est per humilem
servum tuum, ut ejus sacrum nomen agnoscatur, et prædicetur
in hac altera mundi parte. But always this seizure, whether
by Spanish, English, French, or Dutch, and by whatsoever other
formalities attended, was accompanied by a loud proclamation,
before God and man, of the deed then and there consummated.
This proclamation was made with drawn sword, by the commander
of the party taking possession, and sometimes attended by
the throwing of earth toward the four cardinal points, as
was common, and is now in Spanish America, in giving judicial
possession in granting lands, and planting the royal standard.
All present were called upon to witness the act, which was
done for and in the name of the sovereign authority recognized
by the party. Then the notary, or, if none were present, a
clerk, or a person or persons appointed to act as such, took
down in writing what had been done, and each member of the
party signed it. Examples might be multiplied indefinitely.
We have seen what Columbus did in one or two instances, and
how Vasco Nuñez conducted himself on the mountain overlooking
Panamá Bay. That which I have just given in the text is a
literal translation of Balboa's address to the four corners
of the Pacific Ocean as reported by _Oviedo_, iii. 11-12. At
the beginning the meaning of the orator is clear enough, but
toward the latter part he lapses into verbiage. It is likely
that he had in view, while taking possession of that sea or so
much of it as his sovereigns should at any future time please
to claim, the papal bull which divided the heathen world
between Spain and Portugal, and a desire to avoid all words
and acts which might prejudice the Spanish claim. A lengthy
account is given of the taking possession of the province of
Paque, on the Pacific shore of the Isthmus, west of Panamá,
in 1519, by Pedrarias Dávila. The party was standing at the
head of an inlet, two notaries, a clergyman, several captains,
soldiers, and seamen, beside the commander, being present.
First, Pedrarias called on the notaries and all present to
witness the acts he was about to perform. Then he took in
his right hand a white silk flag, on which was represented
the image of the Virgin Mary, and holding it aloft all knelt;
the trumpet sounded, and in loud tones the commander offered
the following prayer: 'Oh! mother of God, quiet the sea, and
render us worthy of being and of moving under thy protection.
May it please thee that under it we may discover these seas,
and lands of the southern sea, and convert the people thereof
to our holy Catholic faith.' Following the prayer was a long
speech by Pedrarias, declaring possession after the usual
form, similar to that employed by Vasco Nuñez, interspersed
with divers acts in consummation of what he said. He declared
the possession previously taken renewed, especially the
'possession _vel casi_ of all the coast of the new land and
of the southern sea, and of all the ports and inlets and
coves and roadsteads ... being as I am, in the name of their
highnesses and as their lieutenant-general in the said coast
of the said southern sea, from the stones of the rivers to
the leaves of the forests, eating the grass and drinking the
waters, and razing, devastating, and cutting the woods of the
said coast, upon the said site and province of Paque.' As a
token of possession and seizure thereof, civilly, naturally,
and bodily, he continued: 'I raise this royal standard of the
said Queen Doña Juana and King Don Cárlos, her son, our lords,
which is of red damask having thereon painted and stamped the
royal arms of their highnesses the said kings, our lords;' the
trumpeters were then ordered to sound; after which, in concert
with Pedrarias, all said, 'Castilla del Oro and Tierra Firme,
and new land, and southern sea, and coasts thereof, and island
and islands, and all land and provinces that may be therein,
for the most high and most illustrious Queen Doña Juana, our
lady, and the King Don Cárlos, her son, our lord; and after
them for their successors to Castile.' 'All of which new lands
and southern sea and coast thereof and the whole Tierra Firme
and kingdoms of Castilla del Oro, and all thereunto annexed
and appertaining, and all that has been or may be hereafter
discovered therein, is and must be of the royal crown of
Castile, and you must testify how I, Pedrarias Dávila, in the
name of the said kings, our lords, and of their successors
to the royal crown of Castile, cut trees, and mow the grass
in said land, and enter the water of the said southern sea,
corporeally and standing on my feet therein, and stamp the new
land and waters of the said southern sea.' Again the trumpets
were sounded, and again Pedrarias reiterated in a loud voice
his claims; and he called upon the notaries to witness as
further proof of their possession that four ships had been
built and navigated on the southern sea. Another flourish of
trumpets, and by way of doxology three times repeated, 'Viva
la muy alta é muy poderosa reyna doña Juana,' etc., concluded
the ceremony. _Testimonio de un acto de posesion que tomó el
Gobernador Pedrárias Dávila_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_,
_Col. Doc._, ii. 549-56. Although the custom was universal
from the beginning, Philip II. deemed best to decree, in
1568, that all captains or others discovering any island or
mainland should, on landing, take possession in the king's
name. _Recop. de Indias_, ii. 7.
[IX-11] Colon gives _g. de san migel_; Agnese, _G. de S.
miguell_; Vaz Dourado, _Saö migell_; Mercator, _S. Miguel_;
Hondius, in _Drake's World Encompassed_, _Michael_; _Ogilby's
Am._, _G. S. Miguel_; Jacob Colom, _G. del S. Miguel_;
Jefferys, _G. de St. Miguel_, and emptying into it _R. Canty_,
_R. Savanas_, _R. Congo_.
[IX-12] It was not for some years after this discovery that
the name Pacific was applied to any part of the ocean; and
for a long time after parts only of it were so termed, this
part of it retained the original name of South Sea, so called
because it lay to the south of its discoverer. The lettering
of the early maps is here significant. All along from this
time to the middle of the seventeenth century, the larger
part of the Pacific was labeled _Oceanus Indicus Orientalis_,
or _Mar del Sur_, the Atlantic, opposite the Isthmus, being
called _Mar del Norte_. Sometimes the reporters called the
South Sea _La Otra Mar_, in contradistinction to the _Mare
Oceanus_ of Juan de la Cosa, or the _Oceanus Occidentalis_
of Ptolemy, as the Atlantic was then called. Indeed, the
Atlantic was not generally known by that name for some time
yet. Schöner, in 1520, terms it, as does Ptolemy in 1513,
_Oceanus Occidentalis_; Grynæus, in 1532, _Oceanus Magnus_;
Apianus, appearing in the Cosmography of 1575, although
thought to have been drawn in 1520, _Mar Atlicum_. Robert
Thorne, 1527, in _Hakluyt's Voy._, writes _Oceanus Occiden._;
Bordone, 1528, _Mare Occidentale_; Ptolemy, 1530, _Occean
Occidentalis_; Ramusio, 1565, _Viaggi_, iii. 455, off Central
America, _Mar del Nort_, and in the great ocean, both north
and south, _Mar Ociano_; Mercator, 1569, north of the tropic
of cancer, _Oceanius Atlanticvs_; Hondius, 1595, _Mar del
Nort_; _West-Indische Spieghel_, 1624, _Mar del Nort_; De
Laet, 1633, _Mar del Norte_; Jacob Colon, 1663, _Mar del
Nort_; Ogilby, 1671, _Oceanus Atlanticum_, _Mar del Norte_,
and _Oceanus Æthiopicus_; Dampier, 1699, _the North or
Atlantick Sea_. The Portuguese map of 1518, _Munich Atlas_,
iv., is the first upon which I have seen a name applied
to the Pacific; and there it is given, as I have elsewhere
remarked, as _Mar visto pelos Castelhanos_, Sea seen by the
Spaniards. On the maps of Baptiste Agnese, Vallard de Dieppe,
Diego Homem, and others, is the name _Mar del Sur_, but the
lettering is small, and seems applied only to the waters
between Peru and Guatemala. We have noticed on the globe of
Martin Behaim, 1492, a multitude of islands, scattered and in
groups, situated between the coast lines of western Europe
and eastern Asia. In that part of the globe where the north
Pacific Ocean should be represented, are the words _Oceanus
orientalis Indie_. On the globe of Johann Schöner, 1520,
the two continents of America are represented with a strait
dividing them at the Isthmus. The great island of _Zipangri_,
or Japan, lies about midway between North America and Asia.
North of this island, and in about the same locality as on
the globe of Behaim, are the words _Orientalis Oceanus_, and
to the same ocean south of the equator the words _Oceanus
Orientalis Indicus_ are applied. Diego Homem, in 1558, marks
out upon his map a large body of water to the north-west of
_Terra de Florida_, and west of Canada, and labels it _Mare
leparamantium_. Neither Maiollo nor Vaz Dourado gives a name
to either ocean. Colon and Ribero call the South Sea _Mar
del Svr_. In _Hakluyt's Voy._ we find that Robert Thorne, in
1527, wrote _Mare Australe_. Ptolemy, in 1530, places near the
Straits of Magellan _Mare pacificum_. Ramusio, 1565, _Viaggi_,
iii. 455, off Central America, places _Mar del Sur_, and off
the Straits of Magellan, _Mar Oceano_. Mercator places in his
atlas of 1569 plainly, near the Straits of Magellan, _El Mar
Pacifico_, and in the great sea off Central America _Mar del
Zur_. On the map of Hondius, about 1595, in _Drake's World
Encompassed_, the general term _Mare Pacificvm_ is applied to
the Pacific Ocean, the words being in large letters extending
across the ocean opposite Central America, while under it in
smaller letters is _Mar del Sur_. This clearly restricts the
name South Sea to a narrow locality, even at this date. In
Hondius' Map, _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, iv. 857, the south
Pacific is called _Mare Pacificum_, and the central Pacific
_Mar del Sur_.
[IX-13] In his _Novus Orbis_, i., De Laet inserts a map on
which he places _Tumaco_ to the north of Chiapes. North of
Tumaco is Quareca. The northern cape of _G. de S. Miguel_ he
calls _Pta de Garachine_. Debouching here is the _R. de
Congos_. See _Goldschmidt's Cartography Pac. Coast_, MS. ii.
5.
[IX-14] Colon and Ribero mark the group _y: de perlas_ and
_y∴a de plas_; Vaz Dourado, _I∴ de perollas_; _West-Indische
Spieghel_, _I Perles_; De Laet, _Ias de Perlas_; Jacob
Colom, _I de Perlas_; Jefferys, _I del Rey or Perlas_,
_Toboga, I_. Keipert in 1858 calls the group _Archipielago
de las Perlas_, and the largest, that which Balboa called
Isla Rica, _I. S. Miguel_; others of the group he calls
_I. St. Elmo_, _I. Galera_, _I. Pajaros_, _I. Chapera_, _I.
Contradora_, _I. Pacheca_, _I. Saboga_, _I. Bayoneta_, _I.
Pedro Gonzales_, and _I. S. José_. 'Da die Haupt-Insel mehrere
guten Schutz gewährende Ankerplätze hatte, so wurde sie bald
das Rendezvous und der Ausgangs-Punkt der Flotten, die vom
Golfe von Panama zur Entdeckung des Westens (Nicaragua) und
des Südens (Peru) ausliefen. Auch war ihre Anhöhe stets für
alle von Panama auslaufenden Flotten ein Merkzeichen zur
Orientirung.' _Kohl_, _Beiden ältesten karten_, 104.
[IX-15] Sabana. See note 3, this chapter.
[IX-16] It is impossible from the rambling narratives which
constitute the groundwork of Central American history to
locate with certainty these two villages. Thus of Pocorosa
Vasco Nuñez, in a letter to the king, says, 'Está un cacique
que se dice Comogre y otro que se dice Pocorosa, estan tan
cerca de la mar el uno como el otra;' and of Tubanamá, 'Hase
de hacer otra fuerza en las minas de Tubanamá, en la provincia
de Comagre.' _Carta por Vasco Nuñez_ in _Navarrete_, _Col. de
Viages_, iii. 366, 369.
[IX-17] A hundred thousand castellanos, Gomara says. 'Passo
muchos trabajos y hambre, traxo sin las perlas, mas de cien
mil castellanos de buen oro, y esperança, tornando alla, de
auer la mayor riqueza, que nũca los nacidos vieron, y con esto
estaua tan vfano, como animoso.' _Hist. Ind._, 82.
[X-1] According to Oviedo, iii. 4, 'hermano de Johan Arias
Dávila, que despues fué el primero conde de Puñoenrostro.'
[X-2] Though it was never popularly so designated. 'Gobernar á
Castilla del Oro en la Tierre Firme,' write the chroniclers;
but in his instructions the king says, _Navarrete_, _Col.
de Viages_, iii. 343, 'é agora la mandamos llamar _Castilla
Aurifia_.' Oviedo, iii. 4, gives Pedrarias a broad domain,
from Cape de la Vela to Veragua, and from ocean to ocean;
'señalándole por gobernaçion desde el Cabo de la Vela hasta
Veragua, y desde estos limites, que son en la costa del Norte,
corriendo la tierra adentro háçia la parte austral, todo
aquello que oviesse de mar á mar, con las islas que en ello
concurriessen.'
[X-3] 'Caicedo and Colmenares reached Spain in May, 1513; the
date of Pedrarias' appointment is July 27, 1513, so that it
is very probable, especially since Enciso and his complaints
reached the court of Spain before these deputies, that the
appointment of a governor was settled before they arrived.'
_Helps' Span. Conq._, i. 373. See _Título de Capitan general
y Gobernador de la provincia del Castilla del Oro en el
Darien, expedido por el Rey-Católico á Pedrarias Dávila_, in
_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 337.
[X-4] The Licenciado Zuazo, in a letter to M. De Xevres,
_Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, i. 304-32, places the
cost of the outfit at 40,000 ducats; Las Casas, _Hist. Ind._,
iv. 138, at 54,000 ducats; 'y lo que en aquel tiempo se hizo
y suplió con 54,000 ducados es cierto que hoy no se supliera
con 158,000 castellanos.' Balboa in his letter to the king,
16th October, 1515, implies that the cost was 40,000 pesos de
oro. _Navarrete_, iii. 377.
[X-5] Herrera, i. x. vii., and Pascual de Andagoya, _Relacion
de los sucesos de Pedrarias Dávila_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de
Viages_, iii. 393, say 1,500 men and nineteen ships; Gomara,
_Hist. Ind._, 84, seventeen ships; Galvano, _Discov._, 125,
seven ships. Peter Martyr, iii. v., places the number of
ships at seventeen, with 1,200 men assigned; but affirms that
surreptitiously or otherwise 1,500 sailed, and 2,000 remained
behind pensive and sighing who gladly would have gone at their
own cost. Oviedo, who, one would think, should know, as he was
of the number, testifies in one place, iii. 22, to twenty-two,
'naos é carabelas,' and 2,000 men, and in another place, iv.
473, to seventeen or eighteen.
[X-6] Icazbalceta, in _Dic. Univ._, i. 429, says that she was
cousin-german to the marchioness, who was a great favorite
with Queen Isabella.
[X-7] Appointed to succeed Juan de Caicedo 'que iba proveido
en el oficio de Veedor de las fundiciones del oro de la
Tierra Firme.' _José Amador de los Rios_, _Vida de Oviedo_,
in _Oviedo_, i. xxii. Caicedo died in Seville before sailing.
The duties of the office were to assay and stamp the gold and
take charge of the king's fifth. Oviedo was also _escribano
general_ or chief notary of Tierra Firme.
[X-8] Or as Oviedo, iii. 22, has it, 'con título de obispo de
Sancta Maria de la Antigua é de Castilla del Oro.'
[X-9] Gonzalo Fernandez writing from Santo Domingo the 25th
of October, 1537, to the Council of the Indies, _Pacheco_
and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, i. 522-9, says that this order
proved inoperative, 'pues que los que lo habian de ejecutar
lo disimulaban,' since those who should have executed it
dissembled. For a time, however, no lawyer was allowed to
plead in the Indies, the alcalde mayor speaking on both sides,
and finally deciding according to the evidence; 'sentenciaba
por aquel por quien en el pleito habia mejor hablado.'
[X-10] _Instruccion dada por el Rey á Pedrarias Dávila para su
viage á la provincia de Castilla del Oro, que iba á poblar y
pacificar con la gente que llevaba_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de
Viages_, iii. 342-55; _Las Casas_, _Hist. Gen._, iv. 139-42;
_Herrera_, ii. i. xiii.
[X-11] Helps, _Span. Conq._, i. 385, and Irving, iii. 230,
say 12th April. Robertson, _Hist. Am._, i. 207, stigmatizes
Ferdinand for elevating Pedrarias, and abasing Vasco Nuñez;
in which the learned historian is wholly wrong. We who know
the merits of Vasco Nuñez may be disposed to excuse his
faults, but the king could not do otherwise, from a ruler's
standpoint, than depose the unknown adventurer guilty of
unlawful excesses.
[X-12] Five or six months later Pedrarias instituted formal
proceedings to prove his insubordination. The people murmured
against that hasty justice, and attributed it to some former
displeasure of the governor against the man. _Oviedo_, iii.
25. Part of the vessels returned to Spain; several of the old
and worm-eaten were sunk in Urabá Gulf; one foundered at sea,
on the voyage back, the crew escaping to Española. _Oviedo_,
iv. 471-3; _Herrera_, ii. i. vii.; _Andagoya's Nar._, 1-3;
_Ramusio_, _Viaggi_, iii. 208.
[X-13] It was a desperate game Vasco Nuñez had been playing;
and although success up to this time had been varied, it was
sure in the end to be against him. According to the Licenciado
Zuazo, _al muy ilustre señor Monsieur de Xevres_, in _Pacheco_
and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, i. 312-13, Pasamonte was guilty
of double-dealing, now receiving Balboa's presents and writing
the king in his favor, and at another time seconding the
persistent efforts of Enciso against him.
[X-14] _Capitulo de casta escrita por el Rey-Católico
á Pedrarias Dávila, sobre los medios de facilitar la
comunicacion entre la costa del Darien y la mar del sur, y que
para continuar en él los descubrimientos se hagan alli tres
ó cuatro carabelas_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii.
355-7.
[X-15] _Carta de Vasco Nuñez_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de
Viages_, iii. 375. Oviedo enumerates the following chiefs with
whom Balboa had made peace: Careta, Ponca, Careca, Chiapes,
Cuquera, Juanaga, Bonanimana, Tecra, Comagre, Pocorosa,
Buquebuca, Chuyrica, Otoque, Chorita, Pacra, Thenoca,
Tubanamá, Teaoca, Tamaca, Tamao and others. The Licenciado
Zuazo says, _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, i. 315,
that Vasco Nuñez with his judicious policy had won over about
thirty caciques.
[X-16] From the most high and mighty Catholic defender of the
Church, always triumphant and never vanquished, the great King
Don Fernando, the fifth of that name, King of the Spains, of
the two Sicilies, and of Jerusalem, and of the Indies, isles
and firm land of the ocean sea, tamer of barbarous peoples;
and from the very high and puissant lady, the Queen Doña
Juana, his dearest and most beloved daughter, our sovereigns;
I, Pedrarias Dávila, their servant, messenger, and captain,
notify and make known to you as best I can, that God, our
Lord, one and triune, created the heavens and the earth, and
one man and one woman, from whom you and we and all mankind
were and are descended and procreated, and all those who
shall come after us. But from the multitudes issuing out of
that generation during the five thousand and more years since
the world was made, it became necessary that some should go
one way and some another, dispersing over many kingdoms and
provinces, as in one alone they could not sustain nor preserve
themselves.
All these peoples God, our Lord, gave in charge to one
person, called Saint Peter, that he should be prince, lord,
and superior over all men in the world, whom all should obey,
and that he should be the head of all the human lineage,
wheresoever man might live or be, and of whatever law, sect,
or belief; and to him is given the whole world for his kingdom
and lordship and jurisdiction. And although he was ordered to
place his chair in Rome, as the most suitable spot whence to
rule the world, yet was he also permitted to be and place his
chair in any other part of the world, and judge and govern
all peoples, Christians, and Moors, and Jews, and Gentiles,
of whatever sect or belief they might be. And him they called
Pope, that is to say, Admirable, Supreme, Father, and Keeper,
because he is father and keeper of all men. And this Saint
Peter was obeyed and held in reverence as lord, and king,
supreme in the universe, by those who lived in that time,
likewise others who after him were elected to the pontificate
were so esteemed, and so it has continued until now and will
continue to the end of the world.
One of the pontiffs who succeeded as prince and lord of the
world, to the chair and dignity aforesaid, made a donation of
these isles and firm land of the ocean sea to the said King
and Queen, our sovereigns, and to their successors, with all
therein contained, as it appears in certain writings made
therefor, which you can see if desirable. So that by virtue
of said donation their highnesses are kings and lords of
these isles and firm land, and as such have been recognized,
and obeyed, and served by the inhabitants of almost all the
islands to whom notification has been made, who still obey
and serve them as subjects should; and of their free will,
without resistance, immediately, without delay, as soon as
informed of the aforesaid, they obeyed and recognized the
learned men and friars who were sent by their highnesses to
preach and teach our holy Catholic faith; doing this of their
free and spontaneous will, without pressure or condition of
any kind; and they became Christians and are now, and their
highnesses received them gladly and benignantly, and ordered
that they should be treated in every respect as their own
subjects and vassals; and you are held and obliged to do
likewise. Therefore, as best I may, I pray and require you
well to understand what I have told you; to take the time
which may be necessary to comprehend it and to deliberate
upon it; and to recognize the Church as Supreme Mistress of
the Universe, and the Supreme Pontiff, called Pope, and the
King and Queen in his place as monarchs and supreme sovereigns
of these isles and firm land, by virtue of the donation
aforesaid, and to consent and allow these religious fathers
to explain and preach to you as aforesaid. If thus you do,
you will do well, and do that which you are held and bound to
do, and their highnesses, and I in their name, will receive
you with all love and charity; and your wives, and children,
and property will be freely left to you without lien, that
you may do with them and with yourselves, whatever you may
please. You will not be compelled to turn Christians, except
when informed of the truth you desire to be converted to our
holy Catholic faith, like almost all the inhabitants of the
other isles. And besides this their highnesses will grant you
many privileges and exemptions, and do you many favors. But if
you do not thus, or maliciously delay to do it, I certify to
you that with the help of God I will invade your lands with
a powerful force, and will make war upon you in all parts,
and in every manner in my power, and will subject you to the
yoke and obedience of the Church and their highnesses; and I
will take your persons, and those of your wives and children,
and will make them slaves, and as such will sell them and
dispose of them as their highnesses shall order; and I will
take your property, and I will do you all possible harm and
evil, as to vassals who do not obey or recognize their lord,
but who resist and oppose him. And I protest that the deaths
and damage which from such conduct may result will be at your
charge and not at that of their highnesses, nor at mine, nor
at that of the gentlemen who come with me. And now to that
which I have said I require the notary here present to give
me a certificate. Episcopus Palentinus, comes; F. Bernardus,
Trinopolitanus episcopus; F. Thomas de Matienzo; F. Al.
Bustillo, magister; Licenciatus de Sanctiago; El Doctor
Palacios Rubios; Licenciatus de Sosa; Gregorius, licenciatus.
The original in _Oviedo_, iii. 28-9. To the astute Enciso
belongs the honor of first reading this _requerimiento_ to the
savages in America. The place was the port of Cenú; and when
the lawyer had finished, the chief, whose name was Catarapa,
and his people laughed at him; these benighted barbarians
laughed at the learned bachiller, and said that the Pope must
have been drunk when he did it, for he was giving what was not
his; and that the King who asked and took such a grant must be
a crazy one, since he asked for what was another's. 'Dixeron
q̃ el papa deuiera estar borracho quãdo lo hizo; pues daualo
q̃ no era suyo, y q̃ el rey q̃ pedia & tomaua tal merced
deuia ser algun loco pues pedia lo que era & de otros.' _Enciso_,
_Suma de Geografia_, 56. A copy of this precious document was
filed in the _Casa de Contratacion_, at Seville. _Memorial
que dió el bachiller Enciso_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_,
_Col. Doc._, i. 442-7. Herrera, i. vii. xiv., gives the text
of the _requerimiento_ made for Ojeda and others in 1508.
See also _Real Cédula_, in _Doc. Inéd._, i. 111-2; _Zamora
y Coronado_, _Bib. Leg. Ult._, iii. 21-31; _Juan y Ulloa_,
_Voy._, i. 114-20; _Acosta_, _Hist. Compend. Nueva Granada_,
23-6, where is also given the text of Nicuesa's requisition;
_Las Casas_, _Hist. Ind._, iv. 154-6; _Helps' Span. Conq._, i.
242; _Carta dirigida al Rey por Vasco Nuñez_, in _Navarrete_,
_Col. de Viages_, iii. 375-86.
[X-17] I follow the _Novus Orbis_ of De Laet, who places
Pocorosa and S. X. (Santa Cruz) north and west of Comagre;
although Oviedo, iii. 37, says, 'el puerto de Sancta Cruz que
es en tierra del caçique Comogre.' It is often impossible to
reconcile the self-contradictions of a writer, to say nothing
of the conflicting statements of the several chroniclers.
Oviedo usually places the native towns and provinces where
most convenient for his narrative.
[X-18] I do not know that it is necessary here to catalogue
Ayora's crimes. One which the Licenciado Zuazo mentions,
_Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, i. 315-16, if
sufficiently pluralized, will answer for all. Met one day, on
approaching a village, by natives bearing presents of venison,
fowl and fish, wine and maize, who thought the white tiba to
be their friend, Vasco Nuñez, Ayora seized the cacique and his
chief men, tortured them with fire and dogs until all their
gold was given up, and then burned them alive. 'This infernal
hunt lasted several months,' says Oviedo.
[X-19] 'Los quales luego fueron vendidos en almoneda é
herrados, é los mas dellos se sacaron de la tierra por mar,
é los llevaron á otras partes.' _Oviedo_, iii. 39. 'Poi mandò
ancora lui altri Capitani per quella Costa, come fu Bartolomeo
Vrtado in Achla, e saltato in terra, sotto colore di pace,
pigliò tutti gl'Indiani, che potè, e gli vendè per ischiaui.'
_Benzoni_, _Hist. Nvovo Mondo_, 49.
[X-20] _Carta al Rey_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii.
376. Oviedo states that Pedrarias sent a ship after Ayora
to Santo Domingo, but before it reached that port Ayora had
sailed for Spain, where, soon afterward, he died, leaving the
bishop, the alcalde mayor, and the governor responsible for
his crimes. Even if this were true, these functionaries may
have winked at Ayora's escape.
[X-21] Theodore de Bry and Benzoni give graphic engravings
of the cutting and roasting and eating of Spaniards. Says
the latter, 'Quegli, che pigliauano vini, spetialmente il
Capitani, legategli le mani e i piedi, gettatigli in terra,
colauano loro dell'oro in bocca, dicendo, mangia, mangia
oro Cristiano.' _Hist. Nvovo Mondo_, 49. Nor has Las Casas
failed to improve the subject, as may be seen in the curious
illustrations and extreme denunciations of his _Regionvm
Indicarum devastatorum_, 18-22 et seq.
[X-22] _Herrera_, ii. i. ii.; _Peter Martyr_, iii. 6. Oviedo,
iii. 46, asserts that Panciaco joined Pocorosa in the attack
on Santa Cruz, and that not a single Spaniard escaped.
Andagoya, in _Nar._, 12, says that all were killed save one
woman, whom Pocorosa kept several years as his wife. She
was finally killed through jealousy by an Indian woman who
reported her to have been eaten by a crocodile while bathing.
[X-23] Oviedo calls this place Tamao.
[X-24] This was the site of old Panamá. Aboriginally fish in
large quantities were dried there. 'Que es provincia adonde
los ayres son buenos quando vienen dela mar,' says Herrera,
ii. ii. x., 'y malos quando procedẽ de tierra.' In _Purchas_,
_His Pilgrimes_, iv. 883, is written, 'It might haue had
a better seate, and more wholesome, and to the purpose for
the trafficke of the South Sea, not going very farre from
whence the Citie now stands.' See _Juan_ and _Ulloa_, _Voy._,
i. 99; _Heylyn's Cosmog._, 1085; _Lloyd_, in _London Geog.
Soc., Jour._, i. 85; _Findlay's Direct._, i. 213; _Griswold's
Panama_, 11; _Viagero Univ._, xii. 303-30; _Andagoya's Nar._,
23. Ambiguously Gomara writes, _Hist. Ind._, 254, 'Deste golfo
a Panama ay mas de cinquenta, que descubrio Gaspar de Morales
Capitan de Pedrarias de Auila.' Still more indefinite is
Benzoni, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 81, 'Questa prouincia di Panama
soleua essere habitata da molti popoli Indiani, e per tutti
quei siu mi v'era abbondanza d'oro; ma gli Spagnuoli hanno
consumato ogni cosa.'
[X-25] It may be the same as Poncra; from the authorities it
is impossible with certainty to determine.
[X-26] Peter Martyr speaks of four attempts to gain the golden
temple. The first attained a distance up the river of forty
leagues, the second of fifty leagues, and the third of eighty
leagues. Again they crossed the river and proceeded by land,
'but oh! wonderful mischance, the unarmed and naked people
always overcame the armed and armored.' Jacobo Álvarez Osorio,
a friar of the priory of Darien, spent many years in search
of the province of Dabaiba.
[X-27] Balboa says eighty. _Carta_, in _Pacheco_ and
_Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ii. 530.
[X-28] Gomara, _Hist. Ind._, 84, gives the island or the
chieftain yet another name, 'y diose buena maña en la ysla
de Terarequi a rescatar perlas.' Oviedo, iii. 16, calls the
island Toe.
[X-29] Writing the king, Vasco Nuñez tells the tale somewhat
differently. 'No sooner had they arrived at Isla Rica,' he
says, 'than entering a village they captured all the Indians
they could. The cacique prepared for war, but retired for
several days, during which time the Christians burned half
the houses with all the provisions. Afterward the cacique
peaceably returned with fifteen or sixteen marks of pearls
and four thousand pesos in gold. Then he took the Spaniards
to the place where they obtained the pearls, and made his
people gather them, and remain at peace. Notwithstanding all
this the captain without conscience gave away as slaves all
the men and all the women whom he brought away from the Rich
Island.' The statement may be taken with allowance as from
a man smarting under wrong; and it is not a little amusing
to see how suddenly tender becomes the conscience of the
ingenuous Vasco, who never stole anything from the natives,
or burned their houses, or made them slaves!
[X-30] Erroneously supposed by some to be the origin of the
word Peru.
[X-31] Some of the pearls were of extraordinary size and
beauty. One, in particular, attained no small celebrity.
It was pear-shaped, one inch in length, and nine lines in
its largest diameter. Vasco Nuñez describes it as weighing
'ten tomines'—a _tomin_ is about one third of a drachm—'very
perfect, without a scratch or stain and of a very pretty color
and lustre and make; which, in truth,' artlessly intimating
what would be his course under the circumstances, 'is a jewel
well worthy of presentation to your Majesty, more particularly
as coming from these parts. It was put up at auction and
sold for 1,200 pesos de oro to a merchant, and finally fell
into the hands of the governor.' Oviedo, iii. 49, says it
weighed 31 carats. Subsequently it was presented through
Doña Isabel to the queen, and was valued in Spain at 4,000
ducats. Pedrarias is further charged with divers misdemeanors.
_Carta del Adelantado Vasco Nuñez de Balboa_, October 16,
1515, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ii. 526, and
_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 375; _Ovalle_, _Hist. Rel.
Chile_, in _Pinkerton's Voy._, xiv. 146-7.
[XI-1] Peter Martyr, dec. iii. cap. x., says he set out in May
with 80 men, and was afterward joined by Mercado with 50 men.
[XI-2] On Mercator's atlas there is a town and river
south-west from Panamá named _Nata_. Hondius, Dampier,
Jefferys, and De Laet give _Nata_; _West-Indische Spieghel_,
_Nato_; _Kiepert_, _Nata de los Caballeros_, and thence
eastward, _R. Aguablanca_, and opposite this river, _I Chiru_.
[XI-3] Nearly all the gold found here was wrought into plates
and various kinds of utensils.
[XI-4] It is groundless speculation on the part of Herrera
to find in this word, as many do in others, the origin of
the term Peru. 'Y prosiguiendo su descubrimiento hàzia el
Ocidente, llegaron a la tierra del Cazique dicho Birùquete,
de quien se dize que ha deriuado el nombre de Piru.' _Hist.
Ind._, ii. i. xiv.
[XI-5] Paris was an Indian province and gulf twelve leagues
from Natá. Oviedo authorizes us to write, _Pariza_ or
_Parita_. The large square peninsula which forms the western
bound to the gulf of Panamá, is sometimes called by modern
writers _Parita_, and the gulf which cuts into the peninsula
_Gulfo de Parita_. See Humboldt's _Atlas of New Spain_.
Ribero gives _G. de Paris_, Vaz Dourado, _G∴ de Paris naca_
and _b∴ de Paris naqua_; De Laet, _Golfo de Parita_, as well
as the city Parita, south of which is _Iubraua_, and north,
_Escoria_.
[XI-6] Town and province, beside being the name of the first
prominent point west of Panamá. Colon and Ribero have it, _p
de Chame_; Vaz Dourado writes it the same once, and again,
_p∴ de Cane_; Colom gives _P de Chane_; De Laet, and others
after him, _Chame_, with _Otoque_ east of it.
[XI-7] 'Donde despues Pedrarias pobló un pueblo de cristianos
que se dice Acla, y antes que hobiese esta batalla tenia otro
nombre, porque Acla en la lengua de aquella tierra quiere
decir huesos de hombres ó canillas de hombres.' _Andagoya_,
_Relacion_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 397.
See also _Carta de Alonso de la Puente y Diego Marquez_, in
_Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ii. 538-49; Robert
FitzRoy, in _London Geog. Soc., Jour._, xxiii. 179, gives
us a fair specimen of historical writing by an intelligent
gentleman, who knows nothing of what he is saying when he
describes 'Acla, or Agla,' as settled 'in 1514, a few miles
inland from that port or bay now famed in history and romance,
called by Patterson Caledonian Harbour.' Acla was on the
coast, three or four leagues north of Caledonian Bay, as we
find in _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, iv. 883, 'right against
the Iland of _Pinos_, whereof at this present there is no more
memory than that there was the death of that famous Captaine,
whose name will last eternally, the President _Basco Nunnez_
of _Balnoa_, and of his company.' Fernando Colon, 1527, calls
the town _ocara_; Diego de Ribero, _acra_; Vaz Dourado, 1571,
_Munich Atlas_, No. x., _axca_, and on No. xi., _azca_; De
Laet, Colom, and others, _Acla_.
[XI-8] _Relacion hecha por Gaspar de Espinosa, alcalde mayor
de Castilla del Oro, dada á Pedrarias de Avila, lugar teniente
general de aquellas provincias, de todo lo que le sucedió
en la entrada que hizo en ellas, de órden de Pedrarias_,
in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ii. 467-522. The
licentiate begins his verbose narrative with a flourish of
trumpets before the king and queen, in a lengthy saying of
Quintilian, and an apology, saying that had he sufficient
time he would give the particulars of his raid. The document
is signed, El Licenciado Espinosa; Gerónimo Valenzuela; Pablo
Mexia; Pedro de Gamez; Bartolomé Hurtado, capitan; Gabriel
de Roxas; Por su mandado, Martin Salcedo. The editors of the
collection in which the paper appears complain of its errors
in regard to places, which they have endeavored to rectify
whenever possible. The truth of its incidents they of course
could not dispute.
[XI-9] Probably the Rio Chepo, or Bayano.
[XI-10] The licentiate's narrative here becomes as confused
as his sense of justice. The names of towns, provinces, and
chiefs are now brought together and then scattered as if flung
at random from the hand, making it in no wise difficult to
imagine either that the licentiate never made the journey,
or that he did not write the relation. There is no doubt,
however, on either of these points. There is this to say;
language was not then what it is now, and there were men who
knew how best to use it even in those days.
[XI-11] Named by Espinosa, Puerto de las Agujas.
[XI-12] Colon and Ribero both write _ya de Cebaco_; Mercator
places a town on the mainland opposite, _Sebaco_; Ogilby, _I. de
S. Maria_; De Laet, _Isles del Zebaco_; Colom and Jefferys,
_Zebaco_; Kiepert, _I. Cebaco_, and near it _I. del Gobernador_.
[XI-13] If Coiba was meant we find connected the ancient
name of _Gatos_, _ya gatos_, _y de gatos_, etc. Then the
name changes, and we have by Vaz Dourado _I∴ de quofõque_;
Mercator, _Quicare_; Dampier, _Keys of Quicara_ or _Quibo_;
I. de Laet gives, _Cobaya_, _Quicaro_, and _La Montuosa_;
Colom, _Coyba_, _Quicaro_, and _Lamatuosa_; Jefferys, _Coyba_,
_Quicaro_, and opposite Coiba, _Pt. Bianco_, and west _Coco_,
and _Honda_. Herrera calls the island _Cobayos_.
[XI-14] Not so called at the time, however. According to
Herrera the native name was Chira. The gulf was first known
to civilization as San Lúcar, and San Lázaro; before this,
even, we have by Colon, _G. de S. Vicenite_. Vaz Dourado
gives _Sao llucar_; Mercator, in 1574, places in the interior
the town _Nicoia_, and on the eastern shore of the gulf the
town _Pari_. Ogilby gives on the _Golfo de Salinas_, as well
as on the land, perhaps town and province, _Nicoya_, and a
little to the west, _Paro_. Dampier gives _G. of Nicoya_, and
the town of _nicoya_. De Laet locates the town of _Nicoya_,
east of which is _Paro_. _West-Indische Spieghel_, _G. Goca_;
and Jefferys, _Nicova_, and near it emptying into the gulf,
_R. Dispensa_, _R. Taminsco_, _R. de Costarica_, _R. de las
Canas_, and _R. Solano_.
[XI-15] Called the bay of _Osa_ by Herrera; _baia de oqua_ by
Vaz Dourado; _Munich Atlas_, no. xi., b∴ _deoqua_; De Laet,
_Golfo de Salinas_; and by Dampier, and Jefferys, _G. Dulce_,
and _Gulfe Dulce_.
[XI-16] With singular fidelity to its original, this name has
retained its proper orthography without regard to time or
place. The chart-makers of every name and nation give only
_Panamá_. Fernando Colon applies the word as to a province,
but usually it is given as to a town. Dampier gives the _Bay
of Panama_ as well as the city. De Laet sends flowing into
this bay _R. Chiepo_, _R. Pacora_, _R. Tubanama_, _R. de la
balsa_, while to the north are _R. Pequi_, _Venta de Cruzes_,
and _Limaret_.
[XI-17] Herrera, dec. ii. lib. ii. cap. x., places Ponce
at Panamá in 1516. Although the chronicles and relations
are all exceedingly confused, yet I am satisfied that the
establishment of a post at Panamá was not effected before
January, 1517, since Espinosa was hunting for Paris in
January, during the absence of Hurtado and Ponce upon the
coast toward the north-west.
[XII-1] Authorities thus far for this chapter are for the
most part the same as those last quoted. _Las Casas_, _Hist.
Ind._, iv. 169-248, who, I think, gives the best account of
any by contemporary writers; _Herrera_, dec. ii. lib. i. cap.
iii.; _Oviedo_, iii. 6-8; _Peter Martyr_, dec. iii. cap. iii.
and dec. iv. cap. ix.; _Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 50.
For Balboa's complaints to the king, see _Carta dirigida al
Rey_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 375. Brief or
extended general accounts may be found in _Voyages, Curious
and Entertaining_, 470-1; _Panamá, Descr._, in _Pacheco_
and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ix. 80; _Morelli_, _Fasti Novi
Orbis_, 16; _Andagoya's Nar._, ii.-iii.; _Galvano's Discov._,
125-8; _Ovalle_, _Hist. Rel. Chile_, in _Pinkerton's Voy._,
xiv. 151; _Acosta_, _Hist. Compend. Nuevo Granada_, 62; _March
y Labores_, _Marina Española_, i. 400, portrait; _Du Perier_,
_Gen. Hist. Voy._, 166; _Martire_, _Summario_, in _Ramusio_,
_Viaggi_, iii. 349; _Dic. Enc. de la Lengua Esp._, i. 308;
_Carta_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, iii. 526;
_Puente_, _Carta_, in _id._, 538-49; _Maglianos_, _St. Francis
and Franciscans_, 537-8; _Pedrarias_, _Reys-Togten_, 3-175,
and _Cordua_, _Scheeps-Togt_, 26-35, in _Aa_, vii.; _Hesperian
Mag._, ii. 32-3; _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, 83-5; _Irving's
Columbus_, iii. 232-86; _Uitvoerige Reys-Togten_, 33-50, in
_Gottfried_, _Reysen_, iii.; _Remesal_, _Hist. Chyapa_, 163;
_Gonzalez Dávila_, _Carta al Rey_, _Squier's MS._, i. 16.
[XII-2] 'La llegada del obispo á Castilla no se verificó
hasta en 1518; y por cierto que no guardó aquí á su amigo los
respetos y consecuencia que le debia. En su disputa con Casas
delante del emperador aseguró que el primer gobernador del
Darien habia sido malo, y el segundo muy peor.' _Quintana_,
_Vidas_, 'Balboa,' 35. In the matter of definite dates for the
events of this chapter, authorities differ. All are more or
less vague. Most of them end the career of Vasco Nuñez with
the end of 1517; which, if correct, would fix the time of his
departure from Antigua about May, 1516, for in his agreement
with Pedrarias it was arranged that the time of absence on the
South Sea expedition should be limited to eighteen months, and
one of the principal charges of the governor was that Balboa
had failed in this. Among the collection of documents in the
royal archives of the Indies appears a petition presented by
Fernando de Argüello to Pedrarias and his council, in behalf
of Vasco Nuñez, requesting an extension of the time. At the
foot of the petition is a decree, dated January 13, 1518,
granting an extension of four months. Either the document is
fictitious, or its date erroneous, or contemporary writers
are in error. I am quite sure that Pedrarias never gave any
extension, since the authorities are clear and positive on
that point, and the incidents of the narrative hinge upon it.
Compare copy of this document in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_,
_Col. Doc._, ii. 556-8; _Carta de Alonso de la Puente y
Diego de Marquez_, in _id._, 538-49; Moreri and Miravel y
Casadevante in _El Gran. Dic._; _Burney's Discov. South Sea_,
i. 12; _Naharro_, _Relacion_, in _Doc. Inéd. para Hist. Esp._,
xxvi. 232. As to the date of Quevedo's leaving Darien and his
arrival in Spain there are grave differences. Herrera sends
the bishop to Spain in 1518, to report the misgovernment of
Pedrarias. Oviedo states that Quevedo left Darien soon after
the reconciliation of Vasco Nuñez and Pedrarias, and yet does
not speak of his being in Spain until 1519, 'era llegado.' It
is known that Quevedo spent some time in Cuba, urging Diego
Velazquez to apply for the governorship of Castilla del Oro.
The petition of Argüello for the extension of the time of
absence of Vasco Nuñez, before mentioned, contains the name of
Quevedo as one of those who acted upon it, which only the more
conclusively proves that document fictitious. Stranger than
all this, however, is the statement in the royal cédula, dated
June 18, 1519, ordering the ships of Balboa to be delivered
to Gil Gonzalez, that Vasco Nuñez was then a prisoner. So
singular is this culpable ignorance, or carelessness, or
deception, regarding the death of Vasco Nuñez, on the part
of the royal officials, as at first to raise grave doubts
regarding the date of his death, were it not proved by many
collateral incidents.
[XII-3] There are several streams of this name between the
Atrato and the Colorado, but none of them suit the occasion.
Modern maps give a Rio Balsas flowing into the gulf of San
Miguel from the south, its source turned the farthest possible
away from Acla. On a map of Joannis de Laet, 1633, _Nov.
Orb._, 347, midway between the gulf of San Miguel and Panamá,
are the words _R de la balsa_. They are placed opposite Acla;
the mouth of a river only is given, the stream not being
laid down. The same may be said of the _R. de la balse_ of
Montanus, _Nieuwe Weereld_, 1671, which is in about the same
locality. The Rio Chepo is the only stream approaching the
description in that vicinity. In my opinion both of these
map-makers were wrong; neither the Rio Chepo nor any other
stream in that neighborhood was the Rio Balsas of Vasco Nuñez.
The head-waters of the Rio Chucunaque are nearer the old site
of Acla than those of the Rio Chepo, or of any other southward
flowing stream; and yet I do not think the Chucunaque the
Balsas of Vasco Nuñez. Says Pascual de Andagoya, _Navarrete_,
_Col. de Viages_, iii. 404, 'Le envió á la provincia de Acla á
poblar un pueblo, que es el que agora está que se dice Acla, y
de allí le dió gente que fuese al rio de la Balsa, y hiciese
dos navíos para bajar por él á la mar del sur ... y bajados
al golfo de S. Miguel se anegaban,' etc.; from which, and
from the objects and incidents of the enterprise, as given
by various authors, I am inclined to believe the Rio de las
Balsas of Vasco Nuñez to be the stream now known as the Rio
Sabana. The fact of distance alone, commonly estimated at 22
leagues, but which Las Casas makes '24 y 25 leguas de sierras
altísimas,' inclines me to this opinion, not to mention
several others pointing in the same direction, which will
clearly appear in the text.
[XII-4] 'Yo ví firmado de su nombre del mismo Obispo, en una
relacion que hizo al Emperador en Barcelona el año de 1519,
cuando él de la tierra firme vino, como más largo adelante,
placiendo á Dios, será referido, que habia muerto el Vasco
Nuñez, por hacer los bergantines, 500 indios, y el secretario
del mismo Obispo me dijo que no quiso poner más número
porque no pareciese cosa increible, pero que la verdad era
que llegaban ó pasaban de 2,000.' _Las Casas_, _Hist. Ind._,
iv. 233-4. 'No se hallo que Castellano ninguno muriesse, ni
negro, aunque de los Indios fueron muchos los que perecieron.'
_Herrera_, dec. ii. lib. ii. cap. xi.
[XII-5] Pascual de Andagoya asserts that the worm-eaten timber
was put together on the Balsas and navigated, though with
great difficulty, to the gulf of San Miguel, and thence to the
Pearl Islands; and that there they soon foundered. _Relacion
de los sucesos de Pedrarias Dávila_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de
Viages_, iii. 404. This statement, though entitled to great
weight, is not sustained by the other authorities.
[XII-6] If I have applied strong terms of denunciation to
Pedrarias Dávila, it is because he unquestionably deserves
it. He is by far the worst man who came officially to the New
World during its early government. In this all authorities
agree. And all agree that Vasco Nuñez was not deserving
of death. Andagoya, _Relacion_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de
Viages_, iii. 403-5, is an excellent authority. Says Las
Casas, _Hist. Ind._, iv. 240, 'Dijeron que esta falsedad
ó testimonio falso, ó quizá verdad, escribió Garabito á
Pedrarias porque Vasco Nuñez, por una india que tenia por
amiga, le habia de palabra maltratado.' Some of the more
knowing among the chroniclers say that God punished Vasco
Nuñez with this death for his treatment of Nicuesa. Will they
at the same time tell us for what God permitted Pedrarias to
live? 'Desta manera acabó el adelantamiento de Vasco Nuñez,
descubridor de la mar del Sur, é pagó la muerte del capitan
Diego de Nicuesa; por la qual é por otras culpas permitió
Dios que oviesse tal muerte, é no por lo quel pregon deçia,
porque la que llamaban traycion, ninguno la tuvo por tal.'
_Oviedo_, iii. 60. Herrera everywhere speaks in the highest
terms of Vasco Nuñez, and pronounces the character and conduct
of Pedrarias detestable. Says Gomara, _Hist. Ind._, 85,
'Ni pareciera delante del gouernador, aunque mas su suegro
fuera. Juntosele con esto, la muerte de Diego de Nicuesa,
y sus sesenta compañeros. La prision del bachiller Enciso,
y que era vãdolero reboltoso, cruel, y malo para Indios.'
Of Balboa's denial of guilt, in _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, i. 51,
Benzoni writes, 'Valboa con giuramento negò, dicendo, che in
quanto toccaua alla informatione che contra lui s'era fatta
di solleuargli la gente che l'era à torto, e falsamente
accusato, e che considerasse bene quello che faceua, e se
lui hauesse tal cosa tentata, non saria venuto alla presentia
sua, e similmente del resto, si difese il meglio che puote ma
dove regnano le forze, poco gioua defendersi con la ragione.'
And Peter Martyr, dec. iv. cap. ix., testifies, 'Vaschum ab
Austro accersit Petrus Arias: paret dicto Vaschus, in catenas
conjicitur. Negat Vaschus tale consilium cogitasse. Testes
quæruntur malefactorum, quæ patraverat: ab initio dicta
colliguntur, morte dignus censetur, perimitur.' And 'what
stomach' he further adds, 'Pedrarias Dávila may have, should
he ever return to Spain, let good men judge.'
[XIII-1] The city or town council, composed of the alcalde,
regidores, and other officers having the administration or
economical and political management of municipal affairs.
The word _cabildo_ has essentially the same signification as
_ayuntamiento_, _regimiento_, _consejo_, _municipalidad_, and
_consejo municipal_. A _cabildo eclesiástico_ is a bishop's
council or chapter. The authority invested in this body at
Antigua at this time, to check Pedrarias, was wholly unusual
and extraordinary.
[XIII-2] First by the hand of Pedrarias de Ávila, the
governor's nephew, February 16, 1515, and again January 28,
1516. See _Puente_, _Carta_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_,
_Col. Doc._, 541-8; _Gonzalez Dávila_, _Teatro Ecles._, ii.
57.
[XIII-3] Juan de Quevedo was a friar of the order of St
Francis, a native of Bejori in Old Castile; was consecrated
bishop by Leo X., and died December 24, 1519. He was a
double-faced divine, mercenary, but with good-natured
proclivities. Gonzalez Dávila who gives his biography, _Teatro
Ecles._, ii. 58, says that he was defeated in the discussions
with Las Casas. See also _Remesal_, _Hist. Chyapa_, 73-6.
[XIII-4] Herrera, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii. lib. iii. cap.
iii., gives the erroneous impression that, when Pedrarias
retired to Panamá, Espinosa was left to govern at Antigua as
captain-general. Acosta, _Compend. Hist. Nueva Granada_, 75-6,
copies the error.
[XIII-5] In fact, neither Nombre de Dios nor Panamá, as
at this time located, remained; the former, by order of
Philip II., being removed five leagues to the westward,
to Portobello, and the city of Panamá being refounded two
leagues west of the original site, each port, at the time of
its depopulation, claiming over 40,000 Spaniards as victims
to the unwholesomeness of the climate, during a period of
twenty-eight years. It was not until after these places had
become the entrepôts for a large traffic with Peru and the
north-western coast that the changes were made.
[XIII-6] It was in the former instance that Pedrarias sought
to pluralize his ownership by taking possession, quasi
possession, and repossession, as fully related in that
curious document by Mozolay, _Testimonio_, in _Pacheco_ and
_Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ii. 549-56, of which I have made an
abstract in a previous chapter.
[XIII-7] A better anchorage, owing to the wide stretch of
shelving beach at Panamá, which was uncovered at low tide.
Herrera says that in his day vessels in summer rode in the
strand, and in the winter in the haven of Perico, two leagues
from the port of Panamá.
[XIII-8] As Pascual de Andagoya, _Relacion_, in _Navarrete_,
_Col. de Viages_, iii. 406, says, 'Panamá se fundó el año de
19, dia de Ntra. Sra. de Agosto, y en fin de aquel año pobló
al Nombre de Dios un capitan Diego Alvites por mandado de
Pedrarias.' And Herrera writes, dec. ii. lib. iii. cap. iii.,
'Concordandose todos en esto, llamò Pedrarias a un escrivano,
y le pidio por testimonio como alli de positiva una villa q̃
se llamasse Panamá en nõbre de Dios y de la Reyna doña Iuana,
y don Carlos su hijo, y protestava dela defender en el dicho
nombres a qualesquier cõtrarios.' See further _Las Casas_,
_Hist. Ind._, v. 200-20; _Morelli_, _Fasti Novi Orbis_, 17;
_Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, iii. 61-4; _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, 85;
_Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 51; _Du Perier_, _Gen. Hist.
Voy._, 167; _Panamá, Descrip._ in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_,
_Col. Doc._, ix. 89-90; _Zuazo_, _Carta_, in _id._, xi.
312-19; _Gonzalez Dávila_, _Teatro Ecles._, ii. 56; _Purchas_,
_His Pilgrimes_, iv. 882.
[XIII-9] Morelli, _Fasti Novi Orbis_, 16, states that Albites
entered the Rio Chagre in 1515. 'Didacus Albitez itidem
Hispanus Chagre fluvium subiit.' In 1516 were put forward
his pretensions to conquest in the direction of Veragua.
_Herrera_, dec. ii. lib. ii. cap. xi.; _Andagoya's Nar._, 23;
_Oviedo_, iii. 61-71; _Galvano's Discov._, 31.
[XIII-10] Peter Martyr says the road was wide enough to give
passage for two carts side by side, 'to the intent that they
might passe ouer with ease to search ye secrets of either
spacious Sea;' but at the writing of his sixth decade the road
was not completed.
[XIII-11] Lying north of Nicoya, and so called to-day, that is
to say Puerto de Culebra. South of Lake Nicaragua, on Colon's
and Ribero's maps we find _G. de S. tiago_; Vaz Dourado, _b∴
de Samtiago_. By some chart-makers the results and names of
one discovery were known, by others, those of another; the
final appellation depended on circumstances.
[XIII-12] Oviedo's statements concerning himself during this
period of angry excitement must be taken with due allowance.
The chronicler gives himself and his affairs at great length;
but I will endeavor, in my curtailment of his account, not
to forget that there were at this time, and before and after,
twenty equally important issues of which there are less full
records. See _Oviedo_, iii. 41-56 and 72-88; _José Amador
de los Rios_, _Vida y Escritos de Oviedo_, in _id._, i. pp.
ix.-cvii.; _Herrera_, dec. ii. lib. ii. cap. x.
[XIII-13] 'From which it may be seen,' says Oviedo, 'with what
justice Vasco Nuñez was condemned, when his chief accomplice
comes back not only acquitted but with honors.'
[XIV-1] There were three of this name whom we shall encounter,
the contador of Española; the licenciado, who was alcalde
mayor of the Spanish main under Diego de Ordaz, in 1530;
_Simon_, _Conq. Tierra Firme_, 106-27; and the clergyman
and chief chronicler, in 1655, of the Indies, and of both
Castiles.
[XIV-2] The royal agreement was made specially with Niño,
'piloto de su magestad para el descubrimiento,' Gil Gonzalez
being named captain-general. Niño was to explore 1,000 leagues
to the westward for spices, gold, silver, pearls, and precious
stones, in three ships, furnished half by the crown and half
by the explorers, who were to receive for the purpose 4,000
castellanos de oro, from the sums to the credit of the crown
in the hands of the factor of Castilla del Oro. One twentieth
of what God might thus give them, after the king should have
received his fifth, was to be devoted to pious purposes. The
net proceeds to be divided equally between the crown and the
discoverers, according to the amount contributed by each.
Wages paid the crew to be counted in the costs; or if they
went on shares, two thirds should go to the king and Niño, and
one third to the captain, officers, and men. Supplies were to
be exempt from duty, and the explorers should have an interest
in the lands discovered by them. The crown agreed to furnish
at Jamaica 2,000 loads of cassava-root, and 500 hogs; also ten
negro slaves, the explorer to pay the owners for ten Indian
slaves to serve as interpreters. For the faithful performance
of these and other obligations, the explorer was required to
give bonds in the sum of 2,000 ducats. Herrera, dec. ii. lib.
iv. cap. i., gives only a part of the contract; in _Squier's
MSS._, i. 12-14, is the document in full.
[XIV-3] A copy of this cédula may be found in _Squier's MSS._,
i.
[XIV-4] In the Expediente sobre el Cumplimiento de la
Cédula—see _Los Navíos de Vasco Nuñez_, in _Squier's MSS._—is
given at wearisome length the ceremony and sayings at this
delivery and the results. Briefly, on the 4th of February,
1520, Pedrarias humbled himself to the dust before the sacred
cédula; February 5th, he talked much, saying that he had
finished the ships begun by Vasco Nuñez; that they had cost
more than 50,000 ducados, beside sweat and blood; that with
them the great city of Panamá—'la cibdad de Panamá'—with its
gold mines on one side and pearl fisheries on the other, had
been founded and the country thereabout pacified, and that
if the king knew all this he would not take the ships from
those who had built them and give them to another; February
7th, Juan del Sauce declared that, unless the ships were
surrendered, all the gold, pearls, or other property taken in
them would belong, under the king's order, to the fleet of
Gil Gonzalez; February 8th, Pedrarias replied that without
the ships the city could neither be sustained nor labor
be continued, and he called on the royal officers present,
Puente, the treasurer, Marquez, the contador, and Juan de
Rivas, factor, to say that these things were so; but the
royal officers answered that Pedrarias must obey the king's
command and give Gil Gonzalez the ships, keeping one, perhaps,
with which to protect the city, and selling the others to Gil
Gonzalez on such terms as he and the owners might arrange. In
regard to withholding the ships Pedrarias was certainly in the
right, though it was dangerous, and he claimed that he would
obey and was obeying the king; but when, on February 9th, he
demanded that Gil Gonzalez should appear in person and lay
before him the instructions and plans of the expedition, he
became most coolly impudent.
[XIV-5] Squier, _Dis. Nic._, MSS., 13, says the worms
destroyed them, but Gil Gonzalez himself only remarks, _Carta
al Rey_, MSS., 1, 'Despues de hechos otros navios en la Ysla
de las perlas porque los 4 primeros que se hizieron en la
tierra firme se perdieron.'
[XIV-6] Some say from 200 to 80. Both numbers, however,
should be larger; for the expedition gained men at Acla, and
100 are mentioned as constituting one land party during the
expedition. _Gil Gonzalez_, _Carta al Rey_, MSS., 3.
[XIV-7] Tararequi Island, Galvano, _Discov._, 148, calls it;
others, Terequeri Islands. Gil Gonzalez writes plainly enough,
_Carta al Rey_, MS., 2, 'Me bolbí á la dicha Ysla de las
Perlas ... i de aí me partí a hazer el descubrimiento que V
M me mando hazer.' The same authority states that the second
four vessels were built at the Pearl Islands, the others
having been 'lost in the river 40 leagues distant.'
[XIV-8] For conflicting statements concerning this, compare
_Gil Gonzalez_, _Carta al Rey_, MS., 16, 36; _Andagoya's
Nar._, 31-2; _Niño_, _Asiento_, MS., in _Squier's MSS._, i.
14, and in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, xiv. 5-19;
_Oviedo_, iii. 65-71; _Las Casas_, _Hist. Ind._, v. 200-4;
_Herrera_, dec. ii. lib. iii. cap. xv.; dec. ii. lib. iv. cap.
i.; dec. iii. i. cap. xvi.; _Helps' Span. Conq._, iii. 69, 70,
74-6; _Gordon's Anc. Mex._, ii. 204-8; _Squier's Dis. Nic._,
MSS., 7-10.
[XIV-9] I follow the commander's own statement, made to the
royal authorities from Santo Domingo, March 6, 1524. Of this,
which I quote as _Carta de Gil Gonzalez Dávila al Rey_, I
have several copies in manuscript, the best being a part of
the first volume of the Squier Collection. This collection,
consisting of twenty-three volumes of manuscripts, beside
separate pieces on various early affairs in Central America
and Mexico, fell into my hands at the sale of the library
of the late E. G. Squier, so widely known as an antiquarian
and historical writer, a review of whose works will appear
in a subsequent volume. The opportunities afforded Mr Squier
by his official position as _chargé d'affaires_ to Central
America, in 1849, and by his researches, combined with a
natural bent as student and author, prompted the collection
of books and manuscripts relative to Central America, a large
proportion of which I found useful in filling gaps in my own
sixteenth-century material. It seems that Mr Squier intended
the publication of a series of documents for history, of
which the _Carta de Palacio_ was printed at Albany, 1859,
and numbered I. The first volume of the Squier Collection of
Manuscripts contains, beside the _Carta de Gil Gonzalez_,
several documents on Nicaraguan discovery certified by
Navarrete, Buckingham Smith, and Squier, as true copies of the
originals in the archives at Seville and in the Hydrographic
Collection, notable among which are _Real Cedula de S. M.
expedida en 18 de Junio de 1519, á Pedrarias Dávila, para que
entregase los Navios de Basco Nuñez a Gil Gonzales de Avila y
los requerimientos que pasaron sobre ello_; and _Relacion Del
Asiento y Capitulacion que se tomó con Andres Niño, Piloto
de su Magestad para el descubrimiento que prometió hazer en
el Mar del Sur con 3 Navios, y por Capitan de ellos á Gil
Gonzales Dávila_.
[XIV-10] Peter Martyr states that they passed over a body of
water to get to it; Herrera and Oviedo both testify to a large
island, which we might believe were any such island there.
The truth is, parts of the land were inundated at this time
by the heavy rains, so that the peninsula being cut off from
the mainland by the water made it appear an island.
[XIV-11] Later called Nicoya, from the cacique of that
country, which name it bears to-day. This was the San Lúcar
of Hurtado. See chap. xi., note 11, this volume. Kohl thinks
it may have been the 5th of April, the day of San Vicente
Ferrer, that the Spaniards arrived here. Gomara states that
in early times it was also called Golfo de Ortiña, and Golfo
de Guetares; _Goldschmidt's Cartography of the Pacific Coast_,
MS., ii. 111-13.
[XIV-12] Which was received by 9,017 natives, large and small,
in one day, and with such enthusiasm that the Spaniards even
wept. This is as much as one having only ordinary faith can be
expected to believe at once, yet the strain on one's credulity
becomes more severe when the right honorable Gil Gonzalez
calls heaven to witness that he told each man and woman, apart
from the others, that God did not want unwilling service, and
that each for himself expressed a desire for it. If we allow
him 15 hours for his day's work, it makes 61 persons an hour,
or one a minute, who were examined and baptized.
[XIV-13] The Spaniards were at this time ignorant of the use
to which these mounds were put. Had they known them to be
great altars upon which were sacrificed human beings, the mild
and philosophic Nicaragua might have had occasion to prove
the valor of his warriors.
[XIV-14] 'I digo mar,' says Gil Gonzalez, _Carta al Rey_, MS.,
'porque creze i mengua.'
[XIV-15] 'Los pilotos qve conmigo llebaba certifican qve
sale a la mar del norte; i si asi es, es mui grand nueba,
porqve abra de vna mar a otra 2 o 3 legvas de camino mui
llano.' Thus it will be seen that the question of interoceanic
communication attracted the attention of the first Europeans
who saw Lake Nicaragua, and this very naturally; for it must
be remembered that Gil Gonzalez was in search of a strait or
passage through the continent, and if perchance he should find
the Moluccas thereabout, his whole object would be attained.
[XIV-16] The word Nicaragua was first heard spoken by
Europeans at Nicoya, where Gil Gonzalez had been notified
of the country and its ruler. In the earliest reports it is
found written _Nicaragua_, _Micaragua_, _Nicorragua_, and
_Nicarao_. Upon the return of Gil Gonzalez the name Nicaragua
became famous, and beside being applied to the cacique and his
town, was gradually given to the surrounding country, and to
the lake. It was by some vaguely used to designate the whole
region behind and between Hibueras and Veragua. Later there
was the Provincia de Nicaragua, beside El Nuevo Reyno de Leon.
Herrera and many others mention the Indian pueblo by the lake.
For a time the lake was known as the _Mar Dulce_. Thus Colon
lays it down on his map, in 1527, as the _mar duce_, and the
town or province _micaragua_. Ribero, 1529, calls the lake
_mar dulce_ and the town _nicaragua_. Munich Atlas, No. vi.,
gives only _micaragua_, which No. vii. makes _nicaragua_.
Ramusio, _Viaggi_, iii. 455, gives _Nicaragva_ as a province.
Mercator, in his Atlas of 1574, gives the town of _Nicaragua_.
Iudocus Hondius, in _Drake's World Encomp._, applies the term
_Nicaragva_ to a province or large extent of country. Ogilby,
Dampier, De Laet, and other contemporary and later authorities
extend the name to the lake.
[XIV-17] The narrative says 3,000 or 4,000; I name the lowest
number, giving the reader the right of reducing at pleasure.
[XIV-18] The name of the bay remains; that of the island is
lost. The early names of the islands in this bay were _S.
Miguel la Possession_, _La Possession_, and _Esposescion_;
_Amapalla_, _Amapala_, or _I del Tigre_; _y. de flecheros_,
_Mangera_, or _Manguera_. Jefferys calls the bay _Fonseca_
or _Amapalla_. East of _b: de fomsequa_ Vaz Dourado places
the wood _monic_. Mercator locates the town _Canicol_ on
the southern shore. Ogilby places the town _Xeres_, De Laet
_Xerez_, near _B. de Fonseca_. On one map there is _Xeres_ or
_Chuluteca_, on the eastern shore, and _El viejo las Salinas_
river flowing into the bay.
[XIV-19] Further references to this voyage, unimportant,
however, are made in _Galvano's Discov._, 148-9, where it
is stated that 'Nigno' reached 'Tecoantepec'; _Pacheco_ and
_Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, i. 440; _Ogilby's Am._, 238; _Crowe's
Cent. Am._, 58; _Gordon's Anc. Mex._, ii. 204-8; _Peter
Martyr_, dec. vi. cap. ii.-v.; _Conder's Mex. and Guat._, ii.
301; _Juarros_, _Guat._, passim; _Pim's Gate of Pacific_, 34;
_Morelli_, _Fasti Novi Orbis_, 18; _Andagoya's Nar._, 31-2.
[XV-1] [Illustration]
In making settlements, as in all things relating to the New
World, it was the aim of the Spanish government to reduce
details to law. At p. 19, vol. ii. et seq., _Recop. de
Indias_, we find the ordenanzas de la poblacion de ciudades y
villas begun by Charles V., in 1523, and continued by Philip
II., Felipe III., and Felipe IV., down to 1656. Therein it was
ordered that in choosing a site for settlement, which always
implied the building of a town or city, care must be taken
that the place be suitable in every respect. It should be
ascertained if it was a healthy locality, if the young natives
were well and strong, if many of the people attained old age,
if the country was favorable to agriculture or mining, and
of easy access by land and sea; if by the sea, there should
be a good harbor, and, if possible, the town must be placed
by a river. Open pueblos must not be built on the seashore
because of corsairs. The site being chosen, a plan of the
place must be made, the squares formed, and the streets and
lots laid out, and measured by cord and rule. The location
of the plaza, or public and official square, was of primary
import, since from it to the principal entrances ran the most
important streets. After the land had been set apart for town
lots and ejidos, or commons, the country adjacent was to be
divided into four parts, one of them for the person making
the settlement, and the remainder to be assigned by lot to the
settlers. In inland settlements, the church should be located
at a distance from the plaza, and on the street running
from the plaza to the church were to be placed the _casas
reales_, or offices and dwelling of the crown officials,
the _cabildo_, _consejo_, or the city-hall, the _aduana_,
or custom-house, and the _atarazana_, or arsenal. Or the
church was placed on one side of the plaza; the royal houses
and the municipal house on another; the custom-house on the
third; while the remaining side might be devoted to business
houses or dwellings. Thus a stranger entering any Spanish
town could find without direction all the principal places.
Marketing-stalls, usually with an awning, were admitted in the
plaza. If a seaboard town, the church must be so placed that
it could be seen on entering the harbor, and so constructed
as to serve for purposes of defence. In this case the plaza
must be at the landing; if inland, in the centre of the town.
In form it must be a parallelogram, the length to be at least
one and a half times the width, as the best shape for feats
of horsemanship; its size should be, according to population,
not less than 200 by 300 feet, nor more than 800 by 532 feet,
a good size being 600 by 400 feet. From the plaza, whose
corners stood toward the four cardinal points, issued four
principal streets, one from the middle of each side, and
two smaller streets from each corner. In cold countries the
streets had to be wide; in hot countries, narrow. Houses not
to be built within 300 _pasos_ or 750 feet, of the walls or
stockade. Town lots and lands not distributed to settlers
belonged to the king, and were reserved for future settlers.
Then the law states how first settlers must hasten with their
house-building, after having planted and assured themselves
of food for the season, building with economy and strength,
and throwing round the town palisades and intrenchments.
The houses must be uniform, and with good accommodations for
horses.
[Illustration]
Any ten or more married men might unite to form a new
settlement, and might elect annually from among themselves
_alcaldes ordinarios_ and other municipal officers. When
it was possible to establish a _villa de Españoles_ with
a council of alcaldes ordinarios and regidores, and there
was a responsible person with whom to make an agreement for
settlement, the agreement was to be as follows: Within a time
specified there must be from ten to thirty settlers, each
with one horse, ten milch cows, four oxen, one brood mare,
one sow, twenty ewes of Castile, six hens, and a cock. A
clergyman must be provided, the first incumbent to be named
by the chief of the colony, and his successors in accordance
with the royal right of patronage. A church must be built,
which the founder of the settlement supplied with ornaments,
and to which were granted lands. Any one agreeing to form a
settlement, and conforming to the regulations, had given him
land equivalent to four square leagues, distant at least five
leagues from any other Spanish settlement; and he was himself
to enter into agreement with each enrolled settler to give
a town lot, lands for pasturage and cultivation, and as many
_peonías_, or shares of foot-soldiers, and _caballerías_, or
shares of cavalrymen, as each would obligate himself to work,
provided that to no one was to be given more than five peonías
or three caballerías. The principal with whom an agreement for
settling was made, to hold civil and criminal jurisdiction
in first instance, during life, and for that of one son or
heir, and from him appeal might lie to the alcalde mayor
or the audiencia of the district. He might appoint alcaldes
ordinarios, regidores, and other municipal officers. Those
going from Spain as first settlers were exempted from the
payment of _almojarifazgo_, or export duty, or other crown
dues, on what they took for their household and maintenance
during the first voyage to the Indies. Bachelors should be
persuaded to marry.
When a colony was about to leave a city to make a settlement,
the _justicia_ and _regimiento_ should file with the
_escribano del consejo_ a list of the persons migrating;
and lest the mother city should be depopulated, those only
were eligible who had no town lots or agricultural lands.
The number of colonists being complete, they were to elect
officers, and each colonist to register the sum he intended
to employ in the enterprise. And even after the settlement
had been begun, whether as _colonia_, that is, colonists
in voluntary association, or _adelantamiento_, _alcaldía
mayor_, _corregimiento_, enterprises headed respectively by
an adelantado, alcalde mayor, or corregidor, or _villa_, or
_lugar_, the fathers of it were forbidden to wholly leave the
people to themselves.
Discoverers, pacificators, first settlers and their immediate
descendants, possessed advantages over others. They were made
_hijosdalgo de solar conocido_, with all the honors, according
to law and custom, of hijosdalgo and gentlemen of Spain. They
might bear arms, by giving bonds, before any justice, that
they would use them solely in self-defence. And that it might
be known who were entitled to reward, viceroys and presidents
of audiencias were directed to examine into the merits of
cases, and see that a book was kept by the _escribano de
gobernacion_, in which were recorded the services and merits
of every person seeking preferment.
For the government of the settlement, the governor in whose
district it might be, had to declare whether it was to
be _ciudad_, _villa_, or _lugar_, that is to say, a town
less than a _villa_, and greater than _aldea_. A _ciudad
metropolitana_, or capital of the province, to have a _juez_
with the title of _adelantado_, that is to say, a military
and political governor of a province; or _alcalde mayor_,
governor of a pueblo not the capital of the province; or
_corregidor_, a magistrate with criminal jurisdiction only;
or _alcalde ordinario_, mayor with criminal jurisdiction. This
_juez_ was to have jurisdiction _in solidum_, and jointly with
the _regimiento_. The administration of public affairs was
vested in two or three treasury officials, twelve _regidores_,
or members of the town council, appointed, not elected; two
_fieles ejecutores_, or regidores having charge of weights;
in each parish two _jurados_, who saw that people were well
provided, especially with provisions; a _procurador general_,
attorney with general powers; a _mayordomo_, having charge
of public property; an _escribano de consejo_, notary of the
council; two _escribanos públicos_; one _escribano de minas
y registros_; a _pregonero mayor_, official vendue-master; a
_corredor de lonja_, merchants' broker, and two _porteros_,
or janitors of the town council. If the city was _diocesana_,
or _sufragánea_, it must have eight regidores, and the other
officers in perpetuity; villas and lugares only to have
an alcalde ordinario, say, four regidores, an alguacil, or
bailiff, an _escribano de consejo y público_, and a mayordomo.
[XV-2] [Illustration: ARMS OF THE CITY OF PANAMÁ.]
The title was 'Nueva Ciudad de Panamá.' _Décadas_, in
_Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, viii. 16. A second
decree, dated from Lisbon December 3, 1581, added to the
title 'muy noble y muy leal.' _Panamá_, _Descrip._, in _id._,
ix. 80. A half-page representation of the arms is given in
_Gonzalez Dávila_, _Teatro Ecles._, ii. 56—shield on golden
field divided; on the right a handful of gray arrows with blue
points and silvery feathers, and a yoke, the device of the
Catholic kings. On the left three caravels, significant of
Spice Island or other commerce, over which shines the north
star. Above the golden field a crown, and round the field a
border of castles and lions. 'Tambien le diò los Honores, y
Titulos de muy Noble, y muy Leal, y que sus Regidores gozen
del Titulo de Veintiquatros.'
[XV-3] The prior of Lora, chaplain of the king in 1522,
was proposed to the pope for the office of bishop of the
country lying between Nombre de Dios and Higueras. 'Siruenla
cinco Dignidades, y dos Canonigos, tres Capellanes: y ocho
Colegiales del Colegio. Tiene Sacristan Mayor con carga de
Sochantre en el Coro; y tiene vna sola Parroquia en ella,
y su comarca.' _Gonzalez Dávila_, _Teatro Ecles._, ii. 56.
This author, as well as Alcedo in _Dic. Univ._, iv. 33, gives
a list of bishops, but both are incorrect. It was somewhat
later, the time of which is written in _Purchas_, _His
Pilgrimes_, iv. 882. 'The limits of the Counsell of _Panama_,
which was first called _Castilla del Oro_, and afterwards
_Terra Firme_, are very small; for the Counsell is principally
resident there, for the dispatch of the Fleetes and Merchants,
which goe and come to _Peru_: it hath in length East and West
about ninetie leagues.' Further reference, _Morelli_, _Fasti
Novi Orbis_, 96; _Oviedo_, iii. 57-117; _Herrera_, dec. iii.
lib. i. cap. xvi.; _Carta de la Audiencia de Santo Domingo_,
in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, i. 413; _Enciso_,
_Suma de Geografia_, 57.
[XV-4] As a discoverer, his talents were unequal to the
attempt. As a writer, Andagoya figured with Oviedo, Enciso,
and other noted men in the retinue of the unscrupulous
Pedrarias. Born in Alava province, he came to the
Isthmus in 1514, and took an active part in the various
expeditions for its subjugation and settlement. Through
the favor of Pedrarias, whose wife's maid he married, he
rose to encomendero, to regidor of Panamá, and, in 1522,
to inspector-general of the Isthmus Indians. The present
expedition, which brought back wonderful reports of the Inca
empire, might have gained him the glories of that conquest,
or at least he might have shared them with Pizarro, had his
health not broken down. As it was, he merely acquired wealth
as agent for the Peruvian hero, and although he rose afterward
to adelantado and governor of New Castile, his integrity
and comparative want of audacity prevented him from reaping
the benefits within reach of less scrupulous rivals. The
original of his well-written narrative, relating the history
of the Isthmus and adjoining region in connection with his
career, was found by Navarrete in the Seville Archives, and
published in his _Col. de Viages_, iii. 393-459, from which
source Markham made the translation issued in 1865 by the
Hakluyt Society. Oviedo's account of Andagoya's career, from a
different source, iv. 126-32, confirms the general exactness
of his narrative, although Acosta, _Comp. Hist. Nueva
Granada_, 383, declares it colored with a view to advocate
his claim to the governorship of New Castile. _Helps' Span.
Conq._, iii. 426, and _March y Labores_, _Marina Española_,
ii. 121, give Andagoya's voyage.
[XVI-1] [Illustration]
Called by Herrera, Ymabite, and by Juarros, _Guat._, following
him, Imabite. 'Y poblò en medio de la provincia de Ymabite,
la ciudad de Leon, con templo, y fortaleza.' dec. iii. lib.
v. cap. xii. See also _Relacion de Andagoya_, in _Navarrete_,
_Col. de Viages_, iii. 413; _Exposicion á S. M. por la
justicia y regimiento de la ciudad de Granada_, in _Pacheco_
and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, vii. 555-6; _Relacion de lo que
escriben los oidores_, in _id._, xiv. 39; _Remesal_, _Hist.
Chyapa_, 164; _Oviedo_, iii. 113-14, 119, iv. 100-1. Fray
Gil Gonzalez Dávila, in _Teatro Ecles._, i. 233, gives a
representation of what he calls the 'armas de la civdad de
Nicaragva,' consisting of a shield bearing in its field a
rampant lion with the left paw resting on a globe. The shield
is surmounted by a crown. In view of the usual remoteness
of this writer from the truth, we may apply the term city of
Nicaragua to any city in Nicaragua, notwithstanding he affirms
it to be the place discovered by Gil Gonzalez in 1522, and
peopled by Hernandez and Pedrarias.
[XVI-2] Consisting of gold from 12 to 18 carats by actual
assay, amounting to 17,000 pesos de oro; of an inferior
quality, known as _hachas_, 15,363 pesos; in rattle-shaped
pieces, said to be of no standard value, 6,182 pesos. _Gil
Gonzalez Dávila_, _Carta al Rey_, MS. There were likewise 145
pesos worth of pearls, of which 80 pesos' worth were obtained
from the Pearl Islands. _Relacion del viage que hizo Gil
Gonzalez Dávila_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._,
xiv. 20-24. This document gives in detail, beside the quantity
of pearls secured, the distance journeyed, the dimensions of
the islands, the names of the provinces through which they
passed, with their caciques, the gold taken from each, and
the souls baptized. There are also here given, 5-20, _id._,
_Andrés Niño_, _Relacion del asiento_, or agreement with the
king; _Relacion de lo que va en la armada_, with the cost of
outfit, etc.
[XVI-3] The 10th of March, 1524, the royal officers at
Española, Miguel de Pasamonte and Alonso Dávila, write the
king that Captain Gil Gonzalez Dávila is there about to embark
'to seek the strait from north to south'—'Torna agora á buscar
el Estrecho de Norte á Sur.' _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col.
Doc._, i. 440.
[XVI-4] 'El mal tiempo echo a la mar algunos de los cavallos
que llevava, de donde le quedó el nombre.' _Herrera_, dec.
iii. lib. v. cap. xii. Oviedo mentions the death of a horse
which was buried with great secrecy, lest the natives should
learn they were mortal. Fernando Colon, in 1527, writes _a:
de cauallos_; Ribero, in 1529, _C∴ de cauallos_; Vaz Dourado,
1571, _p∴ de caualos_, with the name _triqueste_ next west;
De Laet, 1633, _Po de Cavallos_; Ogilby, 1671, _Pta d.
Cavallos_; Jefferys, 1776, _Pto Cavallos_; and to-day as
in the text.
[XVI-5] Oviedo, iii. 114, says that two or three days
afterward Soto and his companions were released upon parole,
and their arms restored them.
[XVI-6] Town, port, and cape. Some English charts still retain
the name _Cape Triunfo_. Ribero writes _t'ũfo de la c̃z_; Vaz
Dourado, _triumfo dellai_, the next name west being _piita
de la call_, and next to this, _rio de pochi_, which Ribero
calls _R∴ d' pechi_. Next west of this name Ribero places
_p∴o de hellados_. Ogilby, De Laet, Jefferys, and others
give _Triumpho_ or _Triumfo de la Cruz_.
[XVII-1] See chapter iv., note 6, this volume.
[XVII-2] 'Una que llaman Hueitapalan y en otra lengua Xucutaco
... ocho ó diez jornadas de aquella villa de Trujillo.'
_Cortés_, _Cartas_, 469. 'Higueras y Hõduras, que tenian fama
de mucho oro y buena tierra.' _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 233.
[XVII-3] _Cartas_, 315, letter of 13 Oct., 1524. The letter
of the emperor commanding him to search both coasts is dated
6 June, 1523.
[XVII-4] Soldiers, 370, including 100 archers and
arquebusiers, and 22 horses, says _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist.
Verdad._, 176. 'Por todos çinco navios gruessos ó caravelas
é un bergantin.' _Oviedo_, iii. 459.
[XVII-5] Also written Oli, Olit, Olite, Dolid, Dolit. A
hidalgo of Baeza. _Oviedo_, iii. 188. See chap. vi. vol. i.,
_Hist. Mexico_, this series.
[XVII-6] Bernal Diaz describes him as a well formed,
strong-limbed man, with wide shoulders and a somewhat fair
complexion. Despite the peculiarity of a groove in the lower
lip, which gave it the appearance of being split, the face
was most attractive. 'Era un Hector en el esfuerço, para
combatir.' He was married to a Portuguese, Felipa de Araujo,
by whom he had a daughter. _Hist. Verdad._, 176, 177, 240.
Further references in chap. vi. vol. i., _Hist. Mexico_, this
series.
[XVII-7] The lobes of his ears were shorn by captors, he
said, of a fortress which he had aided too obstinately in
defending. Bernal Diaz appears to doubt this explanation.
_Hist. Verdad._, 176, 177.
[XVII-8] The agent, Alonso de Contreras, had received 8,000
pesos de oro for the purpose, in order that the expedition
should not be hampered for want of means, nor be obliged to
prey at once upon the natives. _Oviedo_, iii. 459. Cortés
estimates the total cost of the expedition at over 50,000
ducats. _Mem._, in _Doc. Inéd._, iv. 227; _Instruc._, in
_Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, xiii. 5; _Gastos_,
in _id._, xii. 386, with details of expenses. The purchases
were made ere the presence of the fleet should raise prices
at Habana, and yet a fanega of maize cost two pesos de oro,
a sword eight pesos, a crossbow twenty, and a firelock one
hundred; while a shipmaster received eight hundred pesos a
month. _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 243.
[XVII-9] 'Se habia confederado el tal Cristóbal Dolit con
Diego Velazquez, y que iba con voluntad de no me obedecer,
antes de le entregar la tierra al dicho Diego Velazquez
y juntarse con él contra mi.' _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 337.
'Cõcertarõ ... q̃ entre él, y Christoval de Oli, tuviesen
aquella tierra de Higueras ... y q̃ el Diego Velazquez le
proveeria de lo q̃ huviesse menester.' _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist.
Verdad._, 177; _Oviedo_, iii. 113; _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._,
243.
[XVII-10] If not, he would return to Mexico to his wife and
estates, and affirm before Cortés that his agreement with
Velazquez was subterfuge on his part to obtain stores and men.
_Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 177.
[XVII-11] 'Con que començò a entender que se yua apartando de
la obediencia de Cortés.' _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. v. cap.
xii.
[XVII-12] _Juarros_, _Guat._, 42-3. It was soon abandoned.
See chap. xvi., note 5, this volume.
[XVII-13] This according to _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 269, and
_Cortés_, _Cartas_, 467, who do not, however, clearly indicate
that Valenzuela was one of Olid's officers. Informed of the
wreck, by Casas probably, Cortés sent a vessel for them, which
was also wrecked, on the Cuban coast. Bernal Diaz, _Hist.
Verdad._, 208, alludes to this party as twenty-five men sent
to kidnap Indians.
[XVII-14] 'Cum narium et venarum gutturis summo tumore præ
ira, sæpe dedit de tanta animi perturbatione signa, neque a
verbis id significantibus abstinuit.' _Peter Martyr_, dec.
viii. cap. x.
[XVII-15] Cortés did not overlook the application of the
act to his own escapade with Velazquez. In complaining
to the emperor, he assumes that many will regard it as a
_pena peccati_, but explains that Olid had no share in this
expedition, as he himself had had in the one from Cuba.
With respect to the present fleet, he regretted not so much
the loss of 40,000 pesos de oro as the injury the rebellion
must cause the imperial interest, in delay of exploration
and settlement and in excesses against Indians. Further,
he remarks pointedly, such revolts will deter loyal and
enterprising men from embarking their fortune in the service
of the crown. _Cartas_, 337.
[XVII-16] _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. xiii. Cortés,
_Cartas_, 336, calls him 'primo,' which may bear the same
interpretation. Oviedo, iii. 517, calls him brother-in-law.
[XVII-17] Fitted out with sails and rigging of vessels
seized from traders, and with pressed crews; the fleet was
ordered to intercept any communication and aid for Honduras.
_Testimonio_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, xii.
274-7. They were all the vessels that could be obtained, it
seems. One or both of the small craft deserted and took refuge
in Cuba, there to leave testimony. See also _Relacion de los
Oidores_, in _id._, xiv. 43; _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 336. Bernal
Diaz places the number of vessels at five and the soldiers at
100, naming 3 conquistadores. _Hist. Verdad._, 194. Out of
the 150 the soldiers probably did number 100, and there may
have been five vessels, for Herrera states that Cortés sent
a ship with stores under Pedro Gonzalez to follow Casas. Off
the very coast of Honduras he was overtaken by a storm which
drove him back to Pánuco with the belief that the fleet must
have perished, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. xiii. Gomara, _Hist.
Mex._, 243, mentions only two vessels.
[XVII-18] 'Assi estuuieron todo aquel dia,' says Herrera,
_loc. cit._, who leaves the reader to suppose that at one time
the advantage leant to Olid's side and caused Casas to hoist
a flag of truce which was disregarded; but other authorities
do not take this view.
[XVII-19] Four soldiers. _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 194;
without loss, says Herrera.
[XVII-20] 'O esperando con intenciõ de se ir a otra baia a
desembarcar,' is one of the suppositions of _Bernal Diaz_,
_Hist. Verdad._, 194. 'Briones ... en teniendo auiso de
Francisco de las Casas, se apartò de Christoual de Olid,
y tomò la voz de Cortes.' _Herrera_, _ubi sup._ It appears
that Briones had by this time gained an advantage over Gil
Gonzalez, capturing over 50 of his men; but he now released
them under certain conditions. _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 459. Bernal
Diaz assumes that Briones' revolt occurred later and that he
set out for Mexico.
[XVII-21] After convincing him by means of two or three days
of exposure and starvation, as Bernal Diaz and Gomara seem to
intimate. Herrera assumes that he won him by kind treatment.
[XVII-22] After the defeat by Briones, Gil Gonzalez seems to
have become bewildered. Leaving a few followers at Nito under
Diego de Armenta, he embarked in three vessels, touched at San
Gil to hang Francisco Riquelme and a clergyman for having led
a revolt, and thence proceeded to Choloma. Owing to Briones'
defection his capture was intrusted to Juan Ruano. _Herrera_,
dec. iii. lib. v. cap. xiii. The seizure was effected with the
loss of his nephew Gil de Ávila and eight soldiers. _Bernal
Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 194; _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 459. Oviedo
assumes that Gonzalez was entrapped by false promises, iii.
188.
[XVII-23] 'Con un cuchillo de escribanías, que otra arma
no tenia ... diciendo: "Ya no es tiempo de sufrir mas este
tirano."' _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 460.
[XVII-24] 'Aqui del Rey, e de Cortés contra este tirano, que
ya no es tiempo de mas sufrir sus tiranias.' _Bernal Diaz_,
_Hist. Verdad._, 195.
[XVII-25] According to Herrera, the confessor, awed by the
proclamation, revealed the hiding-place, after exacting a
promise that no harm should befall his protégé. The promise
was disregarded on the principle that 'dead man wages no war,'
and although Olid _was dead_ when the hour came for execution,
yet the _corpse_ was publicly beheaded, dec. iii. lib. v. cap.
xii. Other authorities do not state how he was discovered or
arrested. 'Otro dia por la mañana, hecho su proceso contra
él, ambos los capitanes (Casas and Gonzalez) juntamente le
sentenciaron á muerte.' _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 460. 'Assi fenecio
su vida, por tener en poco su contrario.' _Gomara_, _Hist.
Mex._, 244. His brother, Antonio de Olid, sought justice
before the Consejo de Indias against Casas and Gonzalez for
the murder. _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. x. cap. xi.
[XVII-26] In Estremadura.
[XVII-27] 'Halláronse ciento y diez hombres que dijeron que
querian poblar, y los demás todos dijeron que se querian ir
con Francisco de las Casas.' _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 460. See
also _Informe_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ii.
131, 141. These did not comprise Gonzalez' followers, but may
have been all of Olid's and Casas' men who cared to remain in
Honduras; yet it seems strange that the latter should have
allowed so large a number to abandon a province which they
had been sent to occupy.
[XVII-28] Oviedo assumes that Casas would brook no rival
after his triumph, and made Gonzalez a prisoner, 'é llevólo
en grillos á la Nueva España.' iii. 188-9, 518. The last
assertion is even less likely. Affairs had meanwhile changed
in Mexico, and like Casas he fell into the hands of Cortés'
enemies, who were at first intent on their execution, but
ultimately sent both to Spain for trial. One of the charges
was the murder of Olid. Gonzalez was wrecked on Fayal Island,
but reached Seville in April, 1526, only to be confined in
the atarazana, or arsenal. Released on parole, as a knight
commander of Santiago, he returned to his home at Ávila, and
there died not long after, says Oviedo, deeply repentant of
his sins. _Dávila_, _Testimonio_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_,
_Col. Doc._, xii. 362-7.
[XVII-29] _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 245. A minority soon
after attempted to replace Medina by the alguacil Orbaneja.
_Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ii. 133-5. Testimony
on the foundation of Trujillo, in _id._, xiv. 44-7.
[XVII-30] Herrera states that Ruano, who captured Gonzalez,
had gone to Cuba after Casas' triumph, but the testimony in
_Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ii. 127, etc., shows
that he had been picked up by Moreno at San Gil.
[XVII-31] He himself being the probable captain. Some sixteen
slaves were kidnapped here, and the rest at San Gil. The
account of Moreno's proceedings, by different witnesses, is
to be found in _Informacion hecha por órden de Hernan Cortés
sobre excesos por Moreno_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col.
Doc._, ii. 127-79; and in _Relacion de los Oidores_, in _id._,
xiv. 39, etc. When the emperor learned of the kidnapping,
he angrily ordered the release of the slaves, and their good
treatment pending an investigation. _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib.
x. cap. xi. Cortés intimates that Ruano had used persuasion
with Moreno to obtain the command. _Cartas_, 462-3.
[XVIII-1] Herrera assumes stronger reasons, the arrival of
the supply vessel sent after Casas with the report that the
latter could not have escaped the storm which drove her back
to Mexico, and the rumored victory of Olid over both his
opponents. But it is pretty certain that Cortés heard nothing
of the latter affair, at least while he was in Mexico, dec.
iii. lib. v. cap. xiii.
[XVIII-2] The safety of Mexico was above other considerations;
the road to Honduras was unknown and full of danger; the
emperor would punish Olid. Such were the arguments used.
Cortés replied that unless prompt chastisement was inflicted
others would follow the example, and disorder must follow,
with loss to himself of respect and territory. The crown
officials demanded in the emperor's name that he should
remain. _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 245. Cortés yielded, and
wrote to the emperor that he had intended to march through
Guatemala but would remain, especially since he expected news
from Honduras within two months. _Carta_, Oct. 15, 1524. A
few days later he began his march.
[XVIII-3] _Cartas_, Sept. 3, 1526, 395-6.
[XVIII-4] In the letter from Honduras he says October 12, but
this very generally accepted date must be a misprint, since
in one of the two letters dated at Mexico within the following
three days, he writes to the emperor that he would not leave.
He could hardly dare to reveal that he had gone, while writing
that he was still at Mexico; but he was on the way before
November.
[XVIII-5] 'Sacó de aquí ciento y veinte de caballo y veinte
escopeteros y otros tantos ballesteros y gente de pié,'
besides 4,000 to 5,000 Indians. _Carta de Albornoz_, in
_Icazbalceta_, _Col. Doc._, i. 485. A number of Spaniards
at least were added on the way to Goazacoalco, where review
was held, showing, according to Bernal Diaz, upward of 250
soldiers, beside arrivals from Spain, 130 being horsemen, and
3,000 warriors from different parts of the country, beside
servants of caciques. _Hist. Verdad._, 195-7. This agrees
with Gomara's 150 cavalry, 150 infantry, 3,000 warriors, and
a number of servant-women. _Hist. Mex._, 251. Cortés, at this
same review, mentions only 93 horsemen with 150 horses, and
30 and odd foot-soldiers. _Cartas_, 398.
[XVIII-6] Prescott, whose account of this famous expedition
and its connecting incidents, indicates both a want of
authorities and an imperfect study, mentions only the
sovereigns of Mexico and Tlacopan. Helps follows him. But
Gomara names also the king of Tezcuco, besides a number of
caciques, and gives their tragic fate, as does Ixtlilxochitl
with greater detail. _Horribles Crueldades_, 79.
[XVIII-7] Bernal Diaz names a number of the officers and staff
servants, as Carranza, mayordomo; Iasso, maestresala, or chief
butler; Salazar, chamberlain; Licenciado Pero Lopeza, doctor,
a vintner, a pantler, a butler, etc.; 2 pages with lances, 8
grooms, and 2 falconers; 5 musicians, etc.
[XVIII-8] Bernal Diaz relieves his feelings in a loud grumble,
which softens as he recalls the consolation to his pride in
being given for a time a petty command. _Hist. Verdad._, 197.
[XVIII-9] 'Y aun hasta Nicaragua ... y hasta dõde residia
Pedrarias.' _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 250.
[XVIII-10] See _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 337, 397.
[XVIII-11] The pueblos at the crossing-places are called
respectively Tonalan and Agualulco, written in different forms
even by the same authority.
[XVIII-12] Cortés calls the province Çupilcon, 35 leagues from
Espíritu Santo, a figure which may be correct by the line of
march. It was 20 leagues in length, and its extreme eastern
pueblo was Anaxuxuca.
[XVIII-13] Guezalapa, or Quetzatlapan.
[XVIII-14] Zagoatan, Zagutan, etc.
[XVIII-15] Ocumba was one of the pueblos discovered up the
river.
[XVIII-16] 'Estuvieron muy cerca de se ahogar dos ó tres
españoles,' is the prudent form in which Cortés disguises this
and other unpleasant facts to the emperor. _Cartas_, 404.
[XVIII-17] An anthropophagous Mexican was here burned alive,
as a warning against such indulgences; and a letter was given
to the leading cacique to inform other Spaniards that he
was a friend to the white man. _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 252;
_Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. vii. cap. viii.
[XVIII-18] Ascension is the name applied by Cortés to the
Gulf of Honduras. While on the way to the capital of Acalan,
a messenger came up with letters from Mexico, not of very late
date, however, and he was sent back from Izancanac. _Cortés_,
_Cartas_, 421-2.
[XVIII-19] The fate of the crew and vessels appears to have
been mixed up with the invented narrative of the general
disaster, and it was not till after Cortés' return to Mexico,
two years later, that inquiries were made which revealed their
fate. _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 196, 210. Albornoz,
one of the rulers appointed by Cortés over Mexico, relates
in a letter to the emperor, dated 15 December, 1525, that
according to reports from Xicalanco traders to Ordaz, the
party of Cortés had been killed seven to eight moons before,
in an island city, seven suns distant from Xicalanco, called
Cuzamelco. They had been surprised by night and slaughtered
with sword and fire. A number of captives had been reserved
for the table, but the flesh being found bitter of taste it
had been cast into the lake. _Icazbalceta_, _Col. Doc._, i.
485-6.
[XVIII-20] Zaguatapan, Huatipan, etc.
[XVIII-21] 'Y los arboles tan altos que no se podia subir en
ellos, para atalayar la tierra.' _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 253.
[XVIII-22] Cortés names Uzumazintlan, below, and Petenecque,
six leagues above, with three other pueblos beyond. _Cartas_,
412. Cortés gave presents in return, and made so forcible
an appeal in behalf of his creed, that many returned to burn
their idols. _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 254. Bernal Diaz states
that four foragers were killed on this river. _Hist. Verdad._,
198.
[XVIII-23] The natives reported two rivers, one very large,
and bad marshes, on the three days' road to Acalan. _Bernal
Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 198.
[XVIII-24] Apoxpalon, Apaspolon, etc.
[XVIII-25] Bernal Diaz states that he and Mejía led the party.
[XVIII-26] He was one of three Flemish monks who formed the
first special mission of friars to New Spain, arriving a year
before the famous twelve. _Torquemada_, iii. 424-5. His proper
name was De Toit.
[XVIII-27] 'Algunas oy permanezen (1701), y se llaman las
Puentes de Cortés.' _Villagutierre_, _Hist. Conq. Itza_, 40.
[XVIII-28] Bernal Diaz relates at length, with swelling pride,
how the great leader humbled himself to him. _Hist. Verdad._,
199. Sandoval dared not trust his own attendants with a secret
whereon depended his supper, but went in person with Diaz to
convoy it. The friars received liberal contributions from the
men, but the Indians were neglected, says Ixtlilxochitl, the
kings and caciques alone being given as a favor a little of
the maize set aside for the horses. _Horribles Crueldades_,
87.
[XVIII-29] Cortés writes Teutiercas, Tentacras; Gomara,
Teuticaccac; Herrera, Titacat.
[XVIII-30] Bernal Diaz's rather confused account states that
Cortés demanded bridges to be built, but was told that the
caciques of the different pueblos had first to be consulted.
Supplies being needed, Mazariegos was sent with 80 men in
canoes to different settlements to obtain supplies, and
found ready response. The next pueblo reached by the army was
deserted and without food. _Hist. Verdad._, 200. The above
seems doubtful.
[XVIII-31] The plan is said to have been imparted to
sympathizers in Mexico, with the recommendation to rise on
a certain day against the colonists. 'Y de aqui creyeron
muchos que naciò la fama de la muerte de Cortes.' _Herrera_,
dec. iii. lib. vii. cap. ix. For this uprising there was
opportunity enough, says Gomara, during the anarchy prevalent
during Cortés' absence; but the Indians were waiting further
orders from Quauhtemotzin. Finally their preparations aroused
the suspicions of the colonists, and they took precautions.
_Hist. Mex._, 250, 258. According to Cortés the Indians,
after killing the Spaniards, were to rouse Honduras and the
intermediate country ere they passed on to Mexico. All vessels
were to be seized, so as to prevent alarm from being given.
_Cartas_, 420.
[XVIII-32] Mexicaltzin, afterward baptized as Cristóbal, to
whom the conspirators, says Cortés, had promised a province
for his share of the spoil. _Cartas_, 420-1. Bernal Diaz
states that the revelation was made by two prominent caciques,
Tapia and Juan Velazquez, the latter captain-general under
Quauhtemotzin when he was ruler. _Hist. Verdad._, 200.
According to Ixtlilxochitl, the Indians were imitating the
Spaniards in the festivities which precede Lent, but in such
a manner as to arouse the suspicion of Cortés. One cause for
the enjoyment was a statement by Cortés that here they would
turn back to Mexico. The general called his spy Costemexi,
of Ixtapalapan or Mexicaltzinco, and bade him ascertain what
was going on. He soon returned to report that the three kings
and six courtiers had been engaged in a humorous dispute
as to which of the trio the now conquered provinces should
belong to. Tlacatecatl, one of the chief lords, thereupon
observed that if discord had brought about the fall of the
native empire, they had gained instead the supreme happiness
of instruction in the true faith. After this came tales and
songs. When tortured some years after by Prince Ixtlilxochitl,
the spy insisted that he had represented the case only as
above stated, but that Cortés chose to interpret it as a
malicious plot. _Horribles Crueldades_, 90-3. This version is
doubtful in its details, and for the reason that the author's
chief effort is to vindicate the natives. The cause for the
rejoicing at a return to Mexico from Acalan savors rather of
a promise from the conspirators than from Cortés.
[XVIII-33] The kings had formed it, and although they had not
been parties to it, yet as subjects they naturally desired
the liberty and weal of their lords. _Gomara_, _Herrera_,
_Cortés_, _Bernal Diaz_. The two former implicate the three
allied kings, the latter only the two of Mexico and Tlacopan.
[XVIII-34] The rest being spared, since they had been guilty
chiefly of listening to the plot, says Cortés; 'pero quedaron
procesos abiertos para que ... puedan ser castigados,' if
required. The execution took place within a few days of the
disclosure. _Cartas_, 421. Bernal Diaz, Herrera, and Gomara
agree. The latter adds that king Cohuanacoch, of Tezcuco, who
had also plotted, died some time before of bad food and water.
_Hist. Mex._, 274. Torquemada adds five caciques to the three
royal victims, according to the native version. i. 576.
[XVIII-35] _Hist. Verdad._, 200.
[XVIII-36] 'Por carnestollendas ... en Izancanac.' _Gomara_,
_Hist. Mex._, 258-9. On February 26, 1525, specifies
Vetancurt; on a Tuesday, three hours before dawn, adds
Ixtlilxochitl, who also declares that the native songs and
versions place it at Teotilac, and it certainly appears to
have been carried out before the capital was reached. The
Mexicans were so oppressed by hardships, says Bernal Diaz,
that they seemed to be quite indifferent; still, the Spaniards
hastened the departure for fear of an uprising. He places
the occurrence at a pueblo beyond Acalan. Ixtlilxochitl tells
another story. The kings were brought out three hours before
dawn for fear of a tumult. The two of Mexico and Tlacopan had
already been hanged, and Cohuanacoch was about to be, when his
brother, Ixtlilxochitl, being advised, rushed forth and called
upon the Indians. Perceiving the danger, Cortés cut the rope
and saved the half-strangled king of Tezcuco. He thereupon
proceeded to explain to Ixtlilxochitl the just reasons
which had brought about the execution. The prince appeared
convinced, and dismissed the auxiliaries, who stood ready
to fall upon the Spaniards. The chief motive, however, for
sparing them, was not the justice of the deed, for he regarded
it ever as a treacherous one, but the fear of wars that might
result from a revolt and carry desolation over his country,
checking the progress of the saving faith. Cohuanacoch, whom
Cortés accused as the chief conspirator, was carried with the
army in a hammock, suffering severely from the wrenching of
the noose. His grief brought about an intestinal hemorrhage,
from which he died within a few days. _Horribles Crueldades_,
98-4.
[XVIII-37] 'Y sin auer mas prouãças, Cortes mandò ahorcar
al Guatemuz, y al señor de Tacuba.... Y fue esta muerte que
les dieron muy injustamente dada, y pareciò mal a todos los
que ibamos aquella jornada.' _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._,
200. But his account of all this expedition is questionable,
and his testimony loses force through the evident fact that
he is carried away by sympathy for the kings, who had often
favored him, and for the natives to whom his later condition
in life bound him rather closely. He certainly admits the
strong accusation and the confirmatory admission of the
victims, the king of Tlacopan stating, for instance, that
he and Quauhtemotzin had declared one death preferable to
the daily deaths suffered. Torquemada adopts the version
of a Tezcucan manuscript, which relates that Cohuanacoch on
one occasion remarked to his royal confrères that, if they
chose to be disloyal, the Spaniards might have to regret
past injuries. Quauhtemotzin hastened to silence him by
observing that walls had ears, which might misunderstand
such expressions. A plebeian native reported them, and that
very night those who had been present at the conversation,
three kings and five caciques, were found hanging from a
ceiba-tree. Torquemada will not believe that the Indians
intended to revolt, especially since their country was now
divided, but that Cortés regarded the kings as a burden, i.
575-6. Cavo, _Tres Siglos_, i. 46-8, agrees, and Gomara even
intimates something to this effect in saying that Cortés
ought to have preserved so prominent and brave a captive to
point the triumph of his victories, but that the dangerous
circumstances must have prevented him. _Hist. Mex._, 259.
'Es notorio, que Quauhtemoc y los demás señores murieron
sin culpa, y que les levantaron falso testimonio.' Indeed,
continues Ixtlilxochitl, when the Indians complained to the
kings of maltreatment, they counselled submission. But his
story is so full of glaring misstatements and absurdities,
and so evident is the desire to relieve his kinsmen from
the traitor's brand, that he cannot be relied on. _Horribles
Crueldades_, 82, etc.; _Id._, _Relaciones_, _Kingsborough's
Mex. Antiq._, ix. 440, etc. Brasseur de Bourbourg follows him
implicitly of course, as he does almost any record from native
source. There was no witness except the spy, and the princes
were not allowed to defend themselves. _Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv.
608. He evidently pays no attention whatever to the Spanish
versions. Bustamante accepts even more implicitly the records
of those whom he prefers to regard as his ancestors. See his
edition of Gomara, _Chimalpain_, _Hist. Conq._, ii. 135-6.
Cano, who married the cousin and widow of Quauhtemotzin, calls
the execution of the three kings a murder, as may be expected
from his dislike of Cortés. _Oviedo_, iii. 549. Carried away
by hyperbolic flights of fancy, wherein he surpasses even
Solis himself, Salazar condemns the deed as based on false
testimony, and blames Cortés for irritating the natives by
resorting to so rash a measure. _Conq. Mex._, 240-3. Father
Duran emphasizes this with well-known sympathy for the native
cause. 'Y levantándose contra él algunos testigos falsos le
mandó á horcar.' _Hist. Ind._, MS., ii. 522. On imperfect
evidence and without a trial, says _Robertson_, _Hist. Am._,
ii. 138. Prescott sympathizes with Quauhtemotzin and regards
the testimony as insufficient, while Helps, _Cortés_, 208-9,
doubts the statements of Bernal Diaz, and refers to the act
as cruel practical wisdom. The chief ground for this view is
that Cortés, as an hidalgo, would not lie, and can therefore
be relied upon. It has not been my fortune to acquire such
faith, and I fancy that a closer study of his hero might
have changed Sir Arthur Helps' views. Alaman, a Mexican with
Spanish sympathies, believes in the conspiracy, but regards
the execution as a blot on Cortés. Quauhtemotzin, at least,
should have been sent to Spain after the fall of Mexico.
_Disert._, i. 214. This certainly would have been the best way
to secure and make use of him. Pizarro y Orellana, _Varones
Ilvstres_, 114-16, regards the evidence as clear and the
execution as just; so does Revilla, although his reasons are
not the best. _Solis_, _Conq. Mex._ (ed. 1843), 508.
[XVIII-38] It is not improbable that suspicions as to
the thoughts and acts of the kings may have created a
prejudice against them, but the suspicions existed already
before they left Mexico, as proved by their being taken
not only as hostages for the loyalty of their subjects,
but as a precaution against their own possible disloyalty.
Quauhtemotzin was evidently not the most submissive of men,
for he had always been regarded as requiring a close watch,
and Cortés brought him chiefly because of his 'bullicioso'
character, as he expresses it. It may not be considered
unpardonable for the Indian auxiliaries to relieve their
feelings in mutinous expressions against the taskmasters and
despoilers who were taking them away from home to meet an
unknown fate, to endure toil, hunger, and danger. But such
sentiments could not be overlooked in the kings. They, as
captured leaders, existed only by sufferance, the condition
being good behavior. For them even to listen was to encourage,
and they were consequently guilty. Not that I blame them.
Nay, I would rather blame them for not being more prompt
and determined in the patriotic effort. But in resolving to
listen, and to act, no doubt, they accepted a risk with a
penalty well defined among all peoples. Cortés was not the
man to hesitate at almost any deed when private or public
interests demanded it; and it needed but little to rouse to
blind fury the slumbering suspicions of the soldiers regarding
Mexican loyalty. But here we have evidence—not groundless
even from a native point of view—to justify the Spaniards
in assuming that a conspiracy, or, at least, mutinous talk,
was wide-spread, and this among a horde tenfold superior
in number; a horde known ever to have cherished unfriendly
feelings, and now doubly embittered by suffering. Under
the circumstances even saints would not have disregarded
testimony however doubtful; and the Castilians were but human.
Self-preservation, ay, duty to king, and country, and God,
whose several interests they were defending, demanded the
prompt suppression of so ominous a danger. What were the best
measures? A long campaign in Mexico had impressed Cortés with
the belief that a people so trained to abject subservience
as the Aztecs, and so bloody in their worship, could be
controlled by severity alone, and that the lesson must fall
on the leaders. Situated as they were the soldiers could
not be expected to guard a large number of captives. Hence
no course remained, except capital punishment. According to
Bernal Diaz, _Hist. Verdad._, 201, Cortés' distress of mind
at the sufferings of the expedition was so increased by this
deed that he became sleepless, and, in wandering around one
night in a temple forming the camp, he fell from a platform
a distance of ten feet, hurting his head severely.
[XVIII-39] On a watercourse falling into Términos. _Cortés_,
_Cartas_, 419.
[XVIII-40] 'Pueblos, ò Tierras de Venados.' _Villagutierre_,
_Hist. Conq. Itza_, 43. 'Provincia de Maçatlan, que en su
lengua dellos se llama Quiacho.' _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 422.
[XVIII-41] Called by Cortés Táica, Tahica, and Taiça, the
latter not incorrect perhaps, although Atitza or Tayasal may
be better.
[XVIII-42] This is probably Lake San Pedro, from which all the
fish were caught, over 1,000 in number. _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist.
Verdad._, 201.
[XVIII-43] 'Parescia brazo de mar, y aun así creo que lo es,
aunque es dulce.' _Cartas_, 427.
[XVIII-44] So write Bernal Diaz and Villagutierre. Pinelo,
_Relacion_, 1, 2, has it Taiza or Atitza. Two leagues from
shore, says Cortés, on an island known as Peten Itza, Peten
signifying island. Its present name is Remedios, and on
the ruins of the old pueblo has risen the town of Flores.
The name of Peten lives in that of the province. A romantic
account is given of the rise of this lake people. The Itzas
were a branch of one of the most ancient nations of Yucatan,
whose name had descended on them as followers of the hero-god
Itzamná. Chichen Itza, their capital, was once a centre of
power and wealth in the peninsula, but with the changing
fortunes of war came disunion, and in the beginning of the
15th century the feared Itzas had dwindled into a number of
petty principalities ruled by caneks. 'El Cazique à quien
comunmente llaman Canek.' _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yucathan_, 54.
It so happened that one of these fell in love, but found an
obstacle in a father, who awarded the object of his affections
to a more powerful chief. The canek was not to be thus easily
balked. He watched his opportunity, and on the wedding-day
broke in upon the festive assembly and carried off the bride.
Gathering his warriors, the disappointed rival prepared to
wreak vengeance and recover the prize. The Ilium of our hero
was not fitted to withstand such hosts, and he had no other
alternative than flight. Nor could his subjects hope to
escape desolation, and taking up the cause of their leader,
they followed him southward in search of a new home, safe
from the avenger. Guided by craggy ranges, the refugees came
to the smiling valley of Tayasal, with its island-studded
lake, bordered by verdure-clad slopes, beyond which rose
the shielding forest. Here indeed was a land of promise,
where, guarded by Itzamná, they might rear new generations to
perpetuate the name and traditions of their race. So runs the
story as related by chroniclers, although with their devout
frame of mind they give preference to another account, which
attributes the migration to the prophecies of their priests,
foretelling the coming of a bearded race, with a new faith,
to rule over the land. _Villagutierre_, _Hist. Conq. Itza_,
29-31; _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yucathan_, 507. See also _Native
Races_, ii. v., etc. The Itzas will be again spoken of in a
later volume.
[XVIII-45] 'Y que veria quemar los ídolos.' _Cortés_,
_Cartas_, 30. Which was done, adds Gomara; but this
Villagutierre will not allow. Idolatry rather increased, he
goes on to show. _Hist. Conq. Itza_, 50. Here three Spaniards,
two Indians, and one negro deserted, tired of the constant
hardship. _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 202.
[XVIII-46] When the conquerors entered a century later to
occupy the district, they found more than a score of stone
temples on the island alone, and in one of the principal
ones this idol. _Villagutierre_, _Hist. Conq. Itza_, 100-2;
_Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yucathan_, 55; _Native Races_, iii. 483.
[XVIII-47] Nuestra Señora de Marco. _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib.
viii. cap. i.
[XVIII-48] This was Medrano; 'Chirimia de la yglesia de
Toledo.' The victims are named. _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib.
viii. cap. i. Cortés also admits that great hunger was
suffered, yet the swine were only sparingly used.
[XVIII-49] 'Murieron sesenta y ocho caballos despeñados y
dejarretados,' etc. _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 433. Bernal Diaz is
less clear on this incident. Gomara follows Cortés, although
he says that the passage took only eight days, _Hist. Mex._,
263, and Herrera is the only one who enters into the losses
sustained in men, a number dying also of diarrhœa from
palm-cabbage. _Ubi sup._
[XVIII-50] Cortés describes even these crossings as quite
dangerous. The horses swam below the fall in the still water.
Three days were passed ere all the horses could crawl into
the camp, a league further. _Cartas_, 434.
[XVIII-51] 'Á 15 días del año de 1525.' _Id._; that is, April
15.
[XVIII-52] 'Habia diez dias que no comiamos sino cuescos
de palmas y palmitos.' 'Aun de aquellos palmitos sin sal no
teniamos abasto, porque se cortaban con mucha dificultad de
unas palmas muy gordas y altas, que en todo un dia dos hombres
tenian que hacer cortar uno, y cortado, le comian en media
hora.' _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 434, 439.
[XVIII-53] _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 202, 204;
_Juarros_, _Guat._, 326. Most authors confound Nito and San
Gil, and Prescott actually does so with Naco.
[XIX-1] Sixty men and twenty women left by Gonzalez. _Cortés_,
_Cartas_, 440. Forty Spaniards and four women, says Bernal
Diaz, _Hist. Verdad._, 204.
[XIX-2] 'De todos ellos no habia ocho para poder quedar en
la tierra.' _Cortés_, _Cartas_, _loc. cit._ Their captain,
Armenta, having refused to return with them to Cuba, they had
hanged him a few days before, and had elected Nieto, who was
ready to execute their wishes. _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._,
204.
[XIX-3] Montagua probably.
[XIX-4] Captain Marin found eight leagues off, on the
Naco road, a number of well-supplied villages, from which
provisions were forwarded. _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._,
204.
[XIX-5] Bought on credit from the owner, Anton de Carmona
or Camargo, says Bernal Diaz, who reduces the stock to seven
horses and forty hogs.
[XIX-6] A party had already been sent in this direction, but
they returned within ten days disheartened, throwing discredit
on the informants, who on their side accused the men of being
faint-hearted. _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 441-2.
[XIX-7] Eighty Spaniards had attacked a pueblo, but the
Indians returned in greater force and drove them off with some
wounded. _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 444.
[XIX-8] It was sought to allure the natives back to aid in
carrying supplies, but none came. _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 450.
Bernal Diaz relates that the warriors returned to the attack
after the flight, only to lose eight men. They now came to
sue, and Cortés offered to release the captives if they sent
down provisions to the vessel. This they did, but Cortés
nevertheless insisted on retaining three families, whereupon
the Indians attacked and wounded twelve Spaniards, including
the general. _Hist. Verdad._, 205. This writer was not with
the expedition, however, but at Naco, so that his account is
doubly doubtful.
[XIX-9] 'Quimistlan y Zula y Cholome, que el que menos destos
tiene por mas de dos mil casas.' _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 456.
Bernal Diaz also names some places. _Hist. Verdad._, 207.
[XIX-10] He had been buffeted off the coast for nine days,
while the land party arrived long before him, over a good
road.
[XIX-11] 'Murieron ochenta Españoles sin algunos Indios en
este viaje.' _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 269. Licenciado Lopez
escaped to spread the news of Cortés' being alive. _Bernal
Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 208.
[XIX-12] Together with Moreno 'in chains.' 'Although I fear
that he acted by order of the oidores, and that no justice
will be given.' _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 465-6. He praised the
wealth of Honduras, and asked for soldiers. 'Y para dar
credito que auia oro, embiò muchas joyas, y pieças ... de lo
que truxo de Mexico,' says _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._,
208. But he is by no means to be relied on.
[XIX-13] Bernal Diaz assumes, contrary to Cortés' clear
statement, that Zuazo sent a vessel from Habana with the
letter, and that two days before her arrival at Trujillo
came two vessels laden with merchandise from the oidores
and merchants of Santo Domingo, who had learned of Cortés'
whereabouts through a letter from one of the survivors of
Ávalos' wrecked ship. _Hist. Verdad._, 208. Gomara states that
the vessel from the oidores, laden with thirty-two horses,
saddlery, and other useful material, was turned back from Cuba
by the survivors of Ávalos' expedition. She touched at Santo
Domingo on her way to Honduras. _Hist. Mex._, 270. Cortés
shows that the news of Ávalos' shipwreck did not reach him
till some time later. _Cartas_, 468-471.
[XIX-14] The staff did all they could to cheer him, and among
other efforts to dispel his gloom, Mañueco, the maestresala,
made a wager that he would ascend in full armor the steep hill
to the new gubernatorial building. Before he could reach the
top he fell dead. _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 211.
[XIX-15] 'Dejé en aquella villa hasta treinta y cinco de
caballo y cincuenta peones.' _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 470.
[XIX-16] He places this just before the arrival of Zuazo's
letter, _Hist. Verdad._, 209, but Cortés now for the first
time complains of feeling very ill, from the tossing at sea.
_Cartas_, 471.
[XIX-17] 'Martin Dorantes su lacayo.' _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._,
271. On October 23, 1525, it seems from a letter of Cortés.
_Cartas_, 395. Bernal Diaz intimates that a fear of being
seized by his enemies had to do with Cortés' disinclination
to go in person. _Hist. Verdad._, 212.
[XIX-18] In concluding the reply to their expostulations,
Cortés had observed that he could find plenty of soldiers in
Spain and elsewhere to do his bidding. The men commissioned
Sandoval to plead their cause in person; to urge the leader to
depart, and to hint that they could find governors in Mexico
to right them. _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 212.
[XIX-19] 'É dos leguas el uno del otro ... el de Papayeca
tiene diez y ocho pueblos subjectos, y el de Champagua
diez.' _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 465. The names are also given as
Chapaxina, Papaica, etc.
[XIX-20] The two colleagues had been usurping guardians. They
were to be taken to Mexico to be impressed with the extent
of Spanish power, and to learn submission from its natives.
Pizacura died before leaving Honduras. _Cortés_, _Cartas_,
473; _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 272.
[XIX-21] 'Era temido, y acatado, y llamauanle en todas
aquellas Provincias: El Capitan Hue, Hue de Marina, q̃ quiere
dezir el Capitan viejo que trae a doña Marina.' _Bernal Diaz_,
_Hist. Verdad._, 207.
[XIX-22] They asked for a Spaniard to settle on each island,
as a guardian, but this could not be granted. _Gomara_, _Hist.
Mex._, 273. Bernal Diaz says that the vessel escaped, and that
she was commanded by Moreno.
[XIX-23] Huilancho, Huilacho, Huyetlato, etc.
[XIX-24] Cortés claims that the province had submitted to
him some time before, but he probably received the proffer
only now, though pleading a previous allegiance to excuse the
interference.
[XIX-25] To assist him against two officers who opposed
his attempt to become independent of Pedrarias. _Cortés_,
_Cartas_, 476. According to Herrera, Sandoval returned without
achieving anything, pleading that he had not enough men,
dec. iii. lib. viii. cap. vii. Bernal Diaz, who was present,
states, on the other hand, that Sandoval appeared against
Rojas with sixty men, but made friends with him. Just then
came letters from Cortés ordering him to join in returning
to Mexico, and he hastened back, Rojas departing at the same
time. _Hist. Verdad._, 208. Gomara, following Cortés, assumes
that Rojas obeyed a mere message from Trujillo to leave
Olancho. _Hist. Mex._, 272.
[XIX-26] Cereceda writes Gaona. _Carta_, in _Squier's MSS._,
xx. 61.
[XIX-27] 'Escribí al dicho Francisco Hernandez y á toda la
gente que con él estaba en general, y particularmente á
algunos de los capitanes de su compañía que yo conoscia,
reprendiéndolos la fealdad que en aquello hacian,' etc.
_Cortés_, _Cartas_, 474. Bernal Diaz states, on the other
hand, that he promised to do his best for him, _Hist.
Verdad._, 211, and in this was probably a little truth, as
will be seen.
[XIX-28] 'Hernandez ... sent to invite the Marquis to come
and receive the province from him.' _Andagoya's Narrative_,
37; _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. viii. cap. vii. Cortés became
a marquis a few years later.
[XIX-29] 'Quise luego ir á Nicaragua, creyendo poner en ello
algun remedio.' _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 476.
[XIX-30] Bernal Diaz assumes that when Sandoval was setting
out for Mexico, shortly before this, as stated, he received
orders to pass through Nicaragua, 'para demandalla a su
Magestad en Gouernacion.' _Hist. Verdad._, 212.
[XIX-31] _Id._, 215. 'Para este efeto fletó un navio en la
Villa de Medellin.' _Oviedo_, iii. 523. He came in the vessel
which had carried the messenger. _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 476.
[XIX-32] Lordship, a title which pertained only to the higher
nobility and to the highest offices, and which Cortés, even
as governor and captain-general, had not the slightest right
to assume.
[XIX-33] Seat of honor for princes and prelates and for the
ruling men in a province.
[XIX-34] _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 273; _Herrera_, dec. iii.
lib. viii. cap. vii.
[XIX-35] Messengers were sent to the pueblos en route ordering
them to put the road in order and prepare for his reception.
Some of the Mexican auxiliaries were also appointed for the
work, says Ixtlilxochitl, but their remaining prince stayed
with Cortés. _Horribles Crueldades_, 110.
[XIX-36] 'Recibió el cuerpo de Christo vna mañana porque
como estaua tan malo, temia morirse.' _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist.
Verdad._, 215. Prescott ignores the friar, and assumes that
Sandoval persuaded him to leave. But this is only one of
the many errors into which he has fallen concerning this
expedition, _Mex._, iii. 302.
[XIX-37] The natives were to be punished for persevering in
idolatry; although Indians must not be enslaved, yet slaves
held lawfully by them might be purchased as such by the
colonists. The instructions contain a number of minor rules
for the good government of province and towns. _Cortés_,
_Escritos Sueltos_, 75-95. Saavedra did not perhaps relish
the idea of being left with a comparatively small force,
for Bernal Diaz complains that he purposely withheld for
some time the order permitting the Naco company to leave for
Mexico. _Hist. Verdad._, 215, 219. The leading authorities
for Cortés' different expeditions to Honduras are: _Cortés_,
_Cartas_, 338, 351, 369, et seq.; _Id._, _Escritos Sueltos_,
70-95, 318; _Id._, _Carta al Rey_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col.
Doc._, i. 481-2; _Albornoz_, _Carta_, in _Id._, i. 484-6;
_Peter Martyr_, dec. viii. cap. x.; _Oviedo_, iii. 188-9, 446,
458-9, 517-18; _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 233-4, 243-6, 250-74;
_Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 159, 176-7, 193-216; Letters
and Reports by Cortés and other officers to the Emperor
and Council, in _Doc. Inéd._, i. 521-4, iv. 226-7, et seq.,
and in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, xii. 268-77,
362-7, 386-403; xiii. 46-7, 108-9, 293-4, 397; xiv. 25-43,
et seq.; _Cerezeda_, _Carta_, in _Squier's MSS._, xx. 61;
_Ixtlilxochitl_, _Horribles Crueldades_, 78-110; _Chimalpain_,
_Conq. Mex._, ii. 106-53; _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. v. cap.
vii.-viii. xii.-xiii.; lib. vi. cap. x. xii.; lib. vii.
cap. viii.; lib. viii. cap. iii.-vi.; lib. x. cap. xi. Less
important books, which add little or nothing to the preceding,
are: _Torquemada_, i. 574-6; _Remesal_, _Hist. Chyapa_,
164; _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yucathan_, 44-58; _Villagutierre_,
_Hist. Conq. Itza_, 39-50; _Duran_, _Hist. Ind._, MS., ii.
521-2; _Pinelo_, _Relacion_, 2; _Vazquez_, _Chronica de
Gvat._, 18-20; _Cortés_, _Hist. N. España_, 351-2, 367-9;
_Pizarro y Orellana_, _Varones Ilvstres_, 108-16; _Galvano's
Discov._, 160-4; _Twee Onderscheydene Togten_, 52-80, 95-107,
in _Aa_, _Naaukeurige Versameling_, xi.; _Twee Verscheyde
Togten_, 19-76, 94, in _Id._; _Gottfried_, _Reysen_, iv.;
_Ogilby's Am._, 91-2; _Salazar_, _Conq. Mex._, 154-8, 211-311;
_Revilla_, in _Solis_, _Hist. Mex._ (ed. Mad., 1843), 463-9;
_Beaumont_, _Cron. Mich._, iii. 189-92; _Juarros_, _Guat._,
55, 123, 324-7; _Cavo_, _Tres Siglos_, i. 29-30, 46-8;
_Veytia_, _Hist. Ant. Méj._, iii. 420; _Laet_, _Nov. Orb._,
318; _Voyages_, _New Col._, i. 347; _World Displayed_, ii.
251; _Lardner's Hist. Discov._, ii. 62; _Gordon's Hist. Ant.
Mex._, ii. 203, 209-15, 240-1; _Fancourt's Hist. Yuc._, 39;
_Squier's States Cent. Am._, 66; _Rivera_, _Hist. Jalapa_, i.
44; _Bustamante_, _Cuad. Hist._, i. 42; _Alaman_, _Disert._,
i. 196-7, 203-23, 234-5; append., 129-37; ii. 17-18; _Rivera_,
_Gob. Mex._, i. 17; _Zamacois_, _Hist. Méj._, iv. 178-9,
236-326, 349-53, 369, 739-56; _Cortés_, _Aven. y Conq._,
285-9; _Prescott's Mex._, iii. 276-302; _Helps' Cortés_,
ii. 183-228; _Id._, _Span. Conq._, iii. 30-61; _Brasseur
de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv. 573-617; _Bussierre_,
_Mex._, 339-49, 380; _Larenaudière_, _Mex. et Guat._, 136-7;
_Monglave_, _Résumé_, 138; _Armin_, _Alte Mex._, 351-61;
_Mayer's Mex. Aztec._, i. 86; _Abbott's Cortés_, 305-29;
_Wells' Honduras_, 449-57; _Pelaez_, _Mem. Guat._, i. 53-4.
[XX-1] The reader will remember how, in the last chapter,
Cortés treated the messengers bearing this petition.
[XX-2] 'No los osó acometer porque tenia por cierto que habian
de matar á él ántes que á nadie.' _Andagoya_, _Rel._, in
_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 417.
[XX-3] Within the bay formed by Punta de Burica, into which
flows, among other small streams, the river known at present
as Fonseca. _Cartography Pac. Coast_, MS., ii. 79.
[XX-4] It certainly appears strange that Córdoba, knowing
so well the character of his master, should so tamely have
delivered himself into his hands. The chroniclers sympathize
with any victim of the abhorred governor. 'Estaba muy bien
quisto comunmente,' says Oviedo, 'de todos los españoles ...
culpaban ... á Pedrarias de inconstante é acelerado é mal
juez.' iii. 165-6. His rebellion 'parecio siempre incierto,'
is the unstudied qualification of Remesal, _Hist. Chyapa_,
164.
[XX-5] Juan Carrasco and Christóbal de la Torre. _Herrera_,
dec. iii. lib. ix. cap. vii.
[XX-6] News coming of the approach of a royal governor,
Saavedra would send nothing but advice.
[XX-7] 'Estando de acuerdo ciento y cincuenta Caziques.'
_Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. ix. cap. x.
[XX-8] His achievements are related in vol. i. chaps. ii. and
iii. of the _History of Mexico_, this series.
[XX-9] Herrera, who is somewhat contradictory on this point,
names Gabriel de Rojas, Garabito, and Diego Álvarez among the
ruling men. dec. iv. lib. i. cap. vi. Salcedo, in _Pacheco_
and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, xiv. 47 et seq., gives also a
list of the Leon city officials.
[XX-10] The two months' voyage had proved pleasant, being
marred only by the death of two men during an attack by the
natives of Dominica Island, where they had entered to repair
a leaky vessel. _Oviedo_, iii. 116.
[XX-11] 'Por manera que estas mudanças de gobernadores es
saltar de la sarten en las brasas.' _Oviedo_, iii. 123.
[XX-12] 'É como era hombre ydiota é sin letras, el se movió
por consejo de aquel bachiller Corral, para me haçer matar á
trayçion.' _Oviedo_, iii. 122.
[XX-13] See, for instance, _Castilla_, _Carta_, in _Pacheco_
and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, xii. 85.
[XX-14] Sandoval, indeed, speaks of the governor as a
meritorious servant of the king, traduced by envious persons.
_Hist. Carlos V._, i. 218.
[XXI-1] The bitter complaints of Cortés against his rebellious
lieutenant evoked from the king merely instructions for Olid
to maintain friendly relations with Cortés, and to report to
the crown regarding the progress of his conquest. 'El Rey ...
no hizo mas demostracion que escriuir á Christoual de Olid,
que con Cortes tuuiese toda buena correspondencia, y fuesse
dando cuenta a su Magestad, de lo que passaua en aquella
tierra, pareciendo que no era mal consejo, la diuision de tan
gran gouierno como tenia.' _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. v. cap.
xiii.
[XXI-2] His commission is dated November 20th. _Pacheco_ and
_Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, xiv. 52.
[XXI-3] Cortés' complaints were numerous and bitter, as may
be imagined. In a letter of 1532, for instance, he represents
to the king the many valuable services rendered, and the
hardship and danger suffered. He had discovered the province
of Honduras at his own expense, amounting to over 30,000
castellanos, and the expedition to suppress the revolt of Olid
had cost him over 50,000 castellanos, a like amount being also
expended by his followers. He had conquered, pacified, and
settled over 200 leagues of territory, founding three towns
on the best parts of the coast; he had expended over 25,000
castellanos for horses, arms, and provisions, imported from
Española and Cuba, and before leaving the country had left
a competent captain in charge of the new colonies. _Pacheco_
and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, xiii. 6-7.
[XXI-4] For this they were afterward censured. _Herrera_, dec.
iii. lib. x. cap. xi.
[XXI-5] The royal commission, with the ceremonies attending
its reception, is given in _Traslado de una Cédula_, in
_Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, xiv. 47 et seq.
[XXI-6] Orders came for investigation and punishment,
_Herrera_, dec. iv. lib. ii. cap. vi., but the distant Indies
possessed as yet too many loop-holes and corners for blind
justice.
[XXI-7] Oviedo, iii. 189, states that Diego Mendez de
Hinestrosa was left in charge at Trujillo, that Salcedo had
already marched out of Trujillo for Nicaragua when the envoys
of Pedrarias came up, and that he sent them at once to the
audiencia. But he is not well informed.
[XXI-8] Herrera would have us believe that starvation was over
the whole country, in all its ghastly horrors, making it a
question of life and death between Spaniard and Indian, who
devoured each other. dec. iv. lib. i. cap. vii. But this is
clearly exaggeration.
[XXI-9] According to Herrera, dec. iv. lib. iii. cap. ii.,
Gabriel de Rojas was offered the government, but declined to
hold the province except for the king direct; whereupon he was
arrested and Garabito given the command. He seems confused,
however, while Cereceda's account is most clear on all these
points. _Carta_, MS., 3-6. Oviedo is quite brief. iii. 190.
[XXI-10] The present treasurer, Rodrigo del Castillo, was
under indictment by the inquisition at Panamá. With Pedrarias
came a friar empowered to try his case, by whom he was
acquitted, and he thereupon resumed office till Tobilla
arrived. _Cerezeda_, _Carta_, MS., 10-11.
[XXI-11] Herrera's lucid definition of the limits reads:
'Desde Leon al puerto de Natiuidad, cien leguas Nortesur,
y desde Chorotega, por otro nombre Fõseca, hasta puerto de
Cauallos, Nortesur, que auia setenta leguas, y cien leguas
de costa por el mar del Norte, y otras tantas por el Sur con
mas lo q̃ se le renunciaua, y lo que para adelante pudisse
ensancharse descubriendo,' including Nequepia province, or
Salvador, dec. iv. lib. iii. cap. ii.
[XXI-12] Besides the usual humane injunctions it was ordered
that towns should be founded near the Indians, so that they
might be brought by example and gentle means to a knowledge of
the true faith, and be led to adopt the manners and customs of
Christians. To promote this desirable end the royal officers
were enjoined to watch strictly over the moral and economic
features of the Spanish settlements. The revolted Chorotegas
were to be pacified by kindness, and the native slaves brought
from Panamá were to be returned. _Herrera_, dec. iv. lib. i.
cap. viii. See chap, v., note 5, this volume.
[XXI-13] 'Lleuando los Indios cargados, y encadenados, cõ
argollas, porq̃ no se boluiessen: y porq̃ vno se canso, por
no quitarle el argolla le quitaron la cabeça, y lo dissimulo.'
_Herrera_, dec. iv. lib. iii. cap. ii.
[XXI-14] Ponce de Leon and Hernando de Soto, for instance,
took two cargoes at one time, according to Pizarro,
_Relacion_, in _Col. Doc. Inéd._, v. 209.
[XXI-15] 'Ellos matarõ a los Castellanos q̃ acertaron a hallar
fuera del lugar, y los comieron.' _Herrera_, dec. iv. lib.
iii. cap. ii.
[XXI-16] 'Los quales eran del valle de Olocoton é de su
comarca.' _Oviedo_, iv. 100.
[XXI-17] Despite his want of success, says Oviedo, iv. 61,
Estete received from Pedrarias another important command,
to the prejudice of another officer. The details of the
expedition will be given in connection with Salvador.
[XXI-18] Soto alone brought about 100 men to Peru. _Pizarro_,
_Rel._, in _Col. Doc. Inéd._, v. 211-15; _Herrera_, dec. iv.
lib. vi. cap. iii.; _Oviedo_, iii. 119-20. This conquest will
be spoken of in a later volume of this history.
[XXI-19] In 1527, as has been intimated, there was an outcry
for his removal, but with the aid of influential friends
he managed to retain his seat. Castillo states that one
expedition alone, under Córdoba, had brought over 100,000
pesos de oro into Leon, none of which reached the crown. After
beheading Córdoba he had conjured up a partner for him, named
Tellez, into whose hands was placed the confiscated estate, so
that it might with better pretence be appropriated. _Carta_,
in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, xii. 84-6.
[XXI-20] 'En fin de Iulio.' _Herrera_, dec. iv. lib. ix. cap.
xv.
[XXI-21] Oviedo, iii. 172, attributes to Pedrarias the release
of two millions of souls from dusky bodies during a period of
sixteen years. 'Ni han tenido más largas jornadas que caminar
dos millones de indios que desde el año de mill é quinientos
y catorçe que llegó Pedrarias á la Tierra-Firme hasta quél
murió.' Two million murders!
[XXI-22] Additional authorities for the preceding two
chapters are: Various documents in _Col. Doc. Inéd._, v.
209, 211-12, 215; also in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col.
Doc._, vii. 556-7; xii. 84-6; xiv. 54; xvi. 324; _Squier's
MSS._, iv. xx. 2-5, 11-43; _Remesal_, _Hist. Chyapa_, 164;
_Andagoya_, _Narr._, 32-9; _Chimalpain_, _Hist. Conq._,
ii. 181; _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 416-17; _Las
Casas_, _Hist. Apolog._, MS., 29; _Pelaez_, _Mem. Guat._,
i. 54-9; _Beaumont_, _Crón. Mech._, MS., 322-3; _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv. 616; _Belly_, _Nicaragua_,
i. 171-2.
[XXII-1] _Cartas_, 259.
[XXII-2] See p. 493, this volume.
[XXII-3] _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 289-90. But this state of things
did not last long. Ixtlilxochitl includes Soconusco in a
list of provinces which were in revolt in 1523. _Horribles
Crueldades_, 65.
[XXII-4] According to Fuentes y Guzman, derived from
_Coctecmalan_—that is to say, _Palo de leche_, milk-tree,
commonly called _Yerba mala_, found in the neighborhood of
Antigua Guatemala. See also _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 257-8.
In the Mexican tongue, if we may believe Vazquez, it was
called _Quauhtimali_, 'rotten tree.' _Chronica de Guat._,
68. Others derive it from _Uhatezmalha_, signifying 'the
hill which discharges water;' and Juarros suggests that it
may be from _Juitemal_, the first king of Guatemala, by a
corruption, as _Almolonga_ from _Atmulunga_, and _Zonzonate_
from _Zezontlatl_. The meaning of the word would then be 'the
kingdom of Guatemala.' _Guat._, i. 4; ii. 259-60.
[XXII-5] See _Native Races_, v., passim.
[XXII-6] There were two royal families among the Cakchiquels.
The succession alternated between them. The king's title
was Ahpozotzil, while that of the heir of the other branch
was Ahpoxahil. The eldest sons of these had respectively the
titles of Ahpop Qamahay and Galel Xahil. _Native Races_, ii.
640.
[XXII-7] This Mexican name of Cortés was already known to the
natives from sea to sea, and from the far north to the far
south; in fact, to them it was almost his only name.
[XXII-8] Gomara surmises that the ships of Andrés Niño were
referred to, _Hist. Ind._, 266, while Peter Martyr believes
them to have been those of Gil Gonzalez, seen off the coast
of Yucatan.
[XXII-9] 'El qual pregunto, si eran de Malinxe, ... Dios caydo
del cielo.' _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, 266.
[XXII-10] A carver in wood, and no ordinary pilot, Peter
Martyr says, dec. viii. cap. v., while Gomara's words are,
'Treuiño, y era carpintero de naos.' _Hist. Ind._, 266.
[XXII-11] One of the messengers sought to appropriate
to himself a quantity of the gold, while his comrade,
disapproving, first admonished him, then held his peace,
dissembling, and accused him to Cortés of theft. The culprit
was convicted, publicly flogged, and banished from New Spain.
_Peter Martyr_, dec. viii. cap. v. 'Esta fue la primera
entrada, y noticia de Quauhtemallan.' _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._,
267.
[XXII-12] _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 289; _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._,
267; _Vazquez_, _Chronica de Gvat._, 4; _Remesal_, _Hist.
Chyapa_, 2-3. Gomara erroneously gives 1523 as the year of
this embassy, as well as Alvarado's expedition to Tututepec.
[XXII-13] Or Tuzapan, on the coast of Vera Cruz, some leagues
south of Tampico.
[XXII-14] Gomara says 200 men, to ratify the treaty of peace
with a reasonable present. _Hist. Ind._, 266-67. Remesal
states that the embassadors from Guatemala found Cortés
at the port of Villa Rica [Vera Cruz] in high good humor,
having received the news of his appointment as governor and
captain-general of New Spain. _Hist. Chyapa_, 3.
[XXII-15] Vazquez makes no mention of embassadors from the
lord of Utatlan; on the contrary, he states that the king
of the Cakchiquel nation had invested with independent
sovereignty over a portion of his kingdom his brother
Ahpoxahil, who held his court at Tecpanatitan [Tzolola]; and
that these two rulers, without informing the neighboring lords
of their intention, conjointly sent embassadors to Cortés
with offers of peace and submission. _Chronica de Gvat._, 68.
Brasseur de Bourbourg takes this view, and states that when
the secret alliance became known the indignation was general.
A confederation for the destruction of the Cakchiquels was
formed, and a struggle of fearful bloodiness had been carried
on for some months when the confederates received the news
that the Tonatiuh was advancing through Soconusco against
them. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv. 630.
But Cortés distinctly states that he both sent messengers to
Utatlan and received envoys from that city. _Cartas_, 289. See
also _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. viii.; _Bernal Diaz_,
_Hist. Verdad._, 174.
[XXII-16] Gomara states that at the time of their overtures
to Cortés the Guatemalans were at war with Soconusco, and
now, encouraged by their alliance, pressed hostilities with
increased vigor. _Hist. Ind._, 267. Ixtlilxochitl claims that
in 1523 the Mexican princes Ixtlilxochitl and Quauhtemoctzin
learned that the provinces of the south coast, among which he
includes Soconusco, had risen against those who were friendly
to the Christians, and they straightway informed Cortés.
_Horribles Crueldades_, 65-6.
[XXII-17] 'Y porque ya yo tenia mucha costa hecha ... y porque
dello tengo creido que Dios nuestro Señor y V. S. M. han de ser
muy servidos.' _Cartas_, 304.
[XXII-18] For more concerning his character see _Hist. Mex._,
i. 73-5, this series.
[XXII-19] _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 304. With regard to both date
and number authorities differ. Bernal Diaz assigns December
13th as the day of departure; Ixtlilxochitl, December 8th.
_Horribles Crueldades_, 71; Fuentes, November 19th, and
Vazquez, November 13th. Vazquez states that this last is
the date given in the original manuscript of Bernal Diaz,
though the printed copy gives December 13th. _Chronica de
Gvat._, 523. The number of forces at the second mustering
is stated by Cortés to have been 120 horsemen, with 40
spare animals, and 300 foot-soldiers, of whom 130 were
cross-bowmen and arquebusiers. There were also several
persons of high rank from Mexico and the neighboring cities
with the native troops; but the latter were not numerous,
on account of the distance of the proposed scene of action.
A park of four pieces of artillery completed the equipment.
Oviedo follows Cortés. Bernal Diaz, _Hist. Verdad._, 174,
gives the number of arquebusiers and cross-bowmen as 120,
and that of the horsemen 135, with above 200 Tlascaltecs
and Cholultecs, besides 100 picked Mexicans. Herrera, dec.
iii. lib. v. cap. viii., assigns 300 Spaniards, 100 of whom
were arquebusiers, with 160 horses. Vazquez, _Chronica de
Gvat._, 4, says the force consisted of 300 Spaniards with
Tlascaltec, Mexican, and Cholultec allies. Without making
any mention of the guns, which the above authorities do not
omit, Fuentes says the force was composed of 750 hombres
de calidad, as follows: 300 foot-soldiers, arquebusiers,
and cross-bowmen, 135 horsemen, and four guns under the
artilleryman Usagre, written in Bernal Diaz as Viagre; but
750 must be an error, since the artillerymen would thus
number 315; 450 is probably the intended number. To these
were added 200 Tlascaltec and Cholultec bowmen, and 100
picked Mexicans. This author, moreover, gives a list of the
names of nearly 200 conquistadores. _Recordacion Florida_,
MS., 25-7. Gomara has 420 Spaniards, with 170 horses, four
pieces of artillery, a great quantity of stores, and a large
number of Mexican troops. 'Mucha gente Mexicana.' _Hist.
Ind._, 267. Brasseur de Bourbourg gives the forces as 300
foot-soldiers, 120 of whom were arquebusiers or cross-bowmen,
135 horsemen, with four pieces of artillery, 200 warriors of
Tlascala and Cholula, 10,000 each of Mexico and Acolhuacan,
besides a large number of porters and carriers. _Hist. Nat.
Civ._, 632. This last author is supported by Ixtlilxochitl,
who states that Ixtlilxochitl and Quauhtemoctzin supplied
Cortés each with 10,000 warriors, under the command of able
captains. _Horribles Crueldades_, 65-6. And with regard to the
native contingent troops, we have additional evidence that
they were far more numerous than Cortés chose to represent
them to the Spanish monarch. The Xochimilco Indians, whose
city lay five leagues from Mexico, sent in a petition for
redress of grievances, dated 2d May, 1563, in which they
claim to have furnished Alvarado, their encomendero, with
2500 warriors for the conquest of Honduras and Guatemala.
_Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, viii. 293-4. By royal
edict the employment of natives beyond their own borders
had been forbidden; hence, to diminish the magnitude of the
disobedience, the number was diminished.
[XXII-20] The former were Franciscans, named Juan de Torres
and Francisco Martinez de Pontaza, according to Vazquez,
_Chronica de Gvat._, 524. This writer enters into a long
argument to prove that Bartolomé de Olmedo, of the order
of Nuestra Señora de la Merced, could not have accompanied
the expedition, as stated by Bernal Diaz, _Hist. Verdad._,
174. Vazquez, with the aid of two other friars, compared
the original manuscript of Bernal Diaz with the printed work
published in 1632, and found the last mention of Olmedo in the
manuscript to be in chapter clvii. He had a suspicion that the
passages in later chapters where Olmedo's connection with the
expedition is mentioned may be interpolations by the Friar
Alonso Remon, who was of the same order as Olmedo, and who
first published the _Historia Verdadera_. The two clergymen
were Juan Godinez, _Remesal_, _Hist. Chyapa_, 4, and Juan
Diaz, _Ramirez_, _Proceso contra Alvarado_, 128.
[XXII-21] _Remesal_, _Hist. Chyapa_, 3. This authority
also states that Cortés conferred on Alvarado the title of
lieutenant-governor and captain-general. Cortés, in his letter
to the king, expresses great confidence in the expedition,
and regrets that inopportune circumstances in connection with
the fleets had retarded the discovery of many secrets, and
the collection of gold and pearls for the royal treasury.
_Cartas_, 305.
[XXII-22] In some rocky fastnesses, _peñoles_, called the
Peñoles de Guelamo, being in the encomienda of a soldier of
that name. _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 174; _Fuentes_,
_Conq. Guat._, MS., 1.
[XXII-23] Larrainzar finds no difficulty in looking beyond the
myths to a time when this people was included in the Chiapanec
nation. _Hist. Soconusco_, 7.
[XXII-24] Bernal Diaz assumes that the province contained
only 15,000 families, estimated by Fuentes to represent a
population of 60,000 inhabitants. _Hist. Verdad._, 174.
[XXII-25] _Pelaez_, _Mem. Guat._, i. 45; _Gomara_, _Hist.
Mex._, 229; _Vazquez_, _Chronica de Gvat._, 4; _Herrera_, dec.
iii. lib. v. cap. viii. Bernal Diaz, followed by Fuentes,
states that in Soconusco Alvarado was peaceably received,
and that the natives presented offerings of gold. _Hist.
Verdad._, 174. This idea may have arisen from the fact that
some towns did submit without active opposition, as recorded
or implied by Gomara and Herrera. Remesal says that Alvarado
passed on like a thunderbolt, conquering by force of arms and
exciting great terror by reason of the carnage at Soconusco.
That the destruction was great is evident from the ruins to be
seen at the entrance into Guatemala, in the locality called
the Sacrificadero. _Hist. Chyapa_, 3. Brasseur de Bourbourg
affirms that Alvarado, as he passed through this district,
founded a Spanish colony at Huehuetan, which was long the
capital of the territory after the destruction of the city
of Soconusco. _Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv. 633-4. This could have
been only a concentration of the already resident Spaniards,
for Alvarado would scarcely have left behind him, at this
juncture, many of his own men.
[XXII-26] Fuentes and Guzman, MS., 2, give the later name of
Zapotitlan as Suchitepeque, which signifies Hill of Flowers.
[XXII-27] Place of zapotes, a plum-like fruit abounding in
the neighborhood. _Niebla_, _Mem. Zapotitlan_, MS., 7-8.
Its ancient name was Xetulul. It is now abandoned, and the
inhabitants are dispersed among the neighboring villages.
_Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv. 635.
[XXII-28] The Zamalá, bearing at its source the name Seguilá,
and lower that of Olintepec. Near the village of this latter
name it is joined by the Tziha, from which junction down to
the sea it is called the Zamalá. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_,
_Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv. 635.
[XXII-29] The loss to the natives was of course severe. Of
the Spaniards two only were killed, but many were wounded.
The allies were greater sufferers, and a number of the horses
were badly injured. See further _Alvarado_, _Relacion_, in
_Barcia_, _Hist. Prim._, i. 157-8; _Oviedo_, iii. 475-6;
_Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 174; _Salazar_, _Conq. Mex._,
125-6; _Ixtlilxochitl_, _Horribles Crueldades_, 66; _Fuentes
y Guzman_, _Recordacion Florida_, MS. 2; _Juarros_, _Guat._,
ii. 250.
[XXIII-1] With whom the king of the Quichés was actually at
war, and who with sneers and insults affirmed that without
aid he could defend his kingdom against a greater army than
that which the strangers were bringing against the Quichés.
_Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 247.
[XXIII-2] That is to say, 'Under the government of Ten.'
The city was ruled by ten lords, each having under him a
_xiquipil_, or 8000 dwellings. Fuentes estimated that this
city contained 300,000 inhabitants. So strongly was it
fortified that it had never been taken, though attempts had
often been made. _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 240.
[XXIII-3] The most powerful of the Quiché monarchs, said
to have reigned about the time of Julius Cæsar. For list of
Quiché kings see _Native Races_, v. 566.
[XXIII-4] Juarros states that Tecum Umam set out with 72,000
fighting men. At Chemequena, now Totonicapan, the number
was increased to 90,000 by the forces of eight fortified
places and eighteen towns; on the plains of Xelahuh ten
lords joined him with 24,000 men, and 46,000 arrived from
other quarters, so that in all his army amounted to 232,000
warriors. _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 248. Vazquez affirms that
these forces came from more than 100 populous towns, which
owed allegiance to the Quiché monarch, and that no aid was
given by the Cakchiquels or Zutugils. _Chronica de Gvat._, 5.
[XXIII-5] Vazquez describes both the natural difficulties and
the artificial defences of this pass as offering the greatest
obstacles to the invaders. The gorge had been protected by
palisades and ditches, and only by the most indefatigable
exertions, now destroying trenches and stone barricades,
now climbing rugged steeps by help of feet and hands, were
the Spaniards able to reach the plain above. Moreover, the
devil was at hand to help his own, and he wrought against
the good Spaniards by means of diabolical transformations in
lightning and whirlwinds, and otherwise convulsed elements;
and by fearful apparitions and transformations into wild
beasts. _Chronica de Gvat._, 5. This, from Fray Francisco's
description, will enable the reader to form some opinion
of the religio-historical narration representing this
achievement.
[XXIII-6] Bernal Diaz states that the Spaniards had three men
and two horses wounded in this struggle. Fuentes says six men
and two horses were wounded. _Fuentes y Guzman_, _Recordacion
Florida_, MS., 3.
[XXIII-7] _Alvarado_, _Relacion_, in _Barcia_, i. 158;
_Oviedo_, iii. 476; _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 174;
_Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 229.
[XXIII-8] 'I aqui hicimos otro alcance mui grande, donde
hallamos Gente, que esperaba vno de ellos à dos de Caballo.'
_Alvarado_, _Relacion_, in _Barcia_, i. 158. See also for a
description of this engagement, _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. v.
cap. ix.
[XXIII-9] 'La mucha sangre de Indios que avia corrido en
Rios en _Xequikel_ (que por esso se llamó assi).' _Vazquez_,
_Chronica de Gvat._, 524. '_Xequiqel_, que quiere decir rio de
sangre.' _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 250. This last author states
that from the river Zamalá to the Olintepec six battles were
fought, but that this was the most strongly contested and
the most bloody. Compare _Alvarado_, _Relacion_, in _Barcia_,
158; _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 174; _Fuentes y Guzman_,
_Recordacion Florida_, MS., 3-4; _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 229.
[XXIII-10] 'Murió vn señor de quatro que son en Vtatlan.'
_Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 229. Besides Prince Ahzumanche, two
principal lords of Utatlan were slain in the battles of the
pass—the one Ahzol, a great captain, and a relative of the
king, and the other Ahpocoh, his shield-bearer, whose office
in the army was of the highest. _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 250;
_Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 174. The words Ahzol and
Ahpocoh are not, however, patronymics, but titles.
[XXIII-11] The district is called El Pinar by Juarros,
_Guat._, ii. 248; and El Pinal by Vazquez, _Chronica de
Gvat._, 524.
[XXIII-12] 'Corriendo la Tierra, que es tan gran Poblacion
como Tascalteque, i en las Labranças, ni mas, ni menos, i
friisima en demasia.' _Alvarado_, _Relacion_, in _Barcia_, i.
158.
[XXIII-13] Vazquez visited this hermitage at Zacaha in 1690,
and there saw a picture of the virgin, which had been brought
by the conquerors, and was known as La Conquistadora, for
a description of which the reader can consult _Chronica de
Gvat._, 9. In his time the shrine was a place greatly revered.
It was a current belief that some member of the priestly
order, the object of devotion, was interred there, a strong
supposition prevailing that the remains were those of the
first bishop of Guatemala; but this is wrong, for Bishop
Marroquin died in the Episcopal palace at Guatemala. The
remains were probably those of the priest Pontaza. _Chronica
de Gvat._, 8-10, 526.
[XXIII-14] The descendants of this conquistador were still
living in the same locality in the time of Vazquez, who
describes them as raisers of small stock, as poverty-stricken
as the descendants of the conquered natives. _Id._, 8-9.
[XXIII-15] Four years later the town was removed to the
present site. _Id._, 7-8; _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 241.
The meaning of the term Quezaltenango is the 'place of the
quetzal,' the American bird of paradise, called 'trogon'
by the naturalists. The name was of Mexican origin, and was
probably applied not only to the district but to the city of
Xelahuh.
[XXIII-16] During a stay of two to three days. _Fuentes y
Guzman_, _Recordacion Florida_, MS.
[XXIII-17] Four years later the inhabitants were removed to
the new town of Quezaltenango, which the Indian population
still call Xelahuh.
[XXIII-18] On the authority of a manuscript of sixteen leaves
found at San Andrés Xecul, a town not far from Quezaltenango,
Juarros states that on the second day four caciques humbly
surrendered themselves, and owing to their influence the
inhabitants peaceably returned and tendered allegiance.
_Guat._, ii. 240-1. No mention of such an event is made by
Alvarado, Bernal Diaz, or Herrera; and Vazquez distinctly
states that these four chiefs were won over, with some
difficulty, after the final battle and the death of Tecum.
Though Brasseur de Bourbourg follows Juarros, I incline to
the opinion that the pacification of Xelahuh was subsequent
to the battle which is yet to follow.
[XXIII-19] Twelve thousand of whom were from the city of
Utatlan. _Relacion_, i. 158. Juarros says the first contingent
contained 16,000 men. _Guat._, ii. 251. Bernal Diaz gives
the whole number as more than 16,000. _Hist. Verdad._, 174.
Herrera uses the indefinite but safe expression 'vn gran
exercito de Quazaltenalco.' dec. iii. lib. v. cap. ix.
[XXIII-20] The numbers are differently given. Alvarado says
there were 90 horsemen; Juarros, 135 horse; Herrera, that the
whole force consisted of 80 horse, 200 infantry, and a strong
body of Mexicans. Bernal Diaz uses the general expression,
'with his army.'
[XXIII-21] Such is the legend long retained among the Quichés.
_Guatemala_, _Chronica de la Prov._, i. 13; _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv. 641.
[XXIII-22] 'I nuestros Amigos, i los Peones hacian vna
destruccion, la maior del Mundo, en vn Arroio.' _Alvarado_,
_Relacion_, i. 158.
[XXIII-23] Vazquez asserts that this engagement took place
on the 14th of May, 1524, while the despatch by Alvarado
reporting the event to Cortés is dated more than a month
earlier, April 11th.
[XXIII-24] It is difficult to arrive at any approximation
to the number of slain during the series of engagements on
the Pinar. Vazquez is the only authority who ventures to put
down figures. 'Viniendo sobre el Exercito Christiano ... de
trece mil, en trece mil, cada dia, aquellos.... Barbaros tan
imperterritos â la muerte, y al estrago que las Catholicas
armas hacian en su numeroso Exercito, quedando muertos mas
de diez, y doze mil infieles, encendiendo en los que quedauan
viuos ... que acoradas con la vertida sangre de sus compañeros
avivaban mas su rabia, para embestir con irracional despecho
â las Españoles.' _Chronica de Gvat._, 5. See also _Bernal
Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 159.
[XXIII-25] The names of these caciques, given by Juarros,
were Calel Ralak, Ahpopqueham, Calelahau, and Calelaboy, as
supplied by the manuscript previously mentioned in note 17,
this chapter.
[XXIII-26] So they called the Spaniards, as the soldiers
of Alvarado, generally known by the name of Tonatiuh, the
initial 'T' being changed by the Quichés into 'D.' _Vazquez_,
_Chronica de Gvat._, 524.
[XXIV-1] Also called Gumarcaah. It is represented to-day by
the town of Santa Cruz del Quiché, which is situated so near
the ruins of the ancient city that it might be considered an
outlying suburb. About the middle of the sixteenth century
Utatlan was entirely abandoned and the inhabitants removed
to Santa Cruz. _Juarros_, _Guat._, i. 66; _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv. 647.
[XXIV-2] _Juarros_, _Guat._, i. 66-7; _Alvarado_, _Relacion_,
i. 159; _Ramirez_, _Proceso contra Alvarado_, 32. See also
_Native Races_, ii. 744, 788-9. Atalaya and Resguardo are
Spanish terms, the first signifying 'Watch-tower' and the
other 'Guard.'
[XXIV-3] _Torquemada_, i. 311. The frontage of the palace was
376 paces, while its depth reached 728 paces. The chronicler
Fuentes visited Santa Cruz del Quiché for the purpose
of investigating the ruins, from which, as well as from
manuscripts, he gathered much information.
[XXIV-4] Juarros calls him Chignauivcelut.
[XXIV-5] Francisco Flores claims that he and Juan de Oriza
made the discovery. _Ramirez_, _Proceso contra Alvarado_, 32,
34.
[XXIV-6] Bernal Diaz states that some Indians of Quezaltenango
warned Alvarado that they intended to kill them all that
night if they remained there, and that they had posted in the
ravines many bands of warriors, who, when they saw the houses
in flames, were to unite with those of Utatlan and fall on
the invaders at different points.
[XXIV-7] It is possible that Oxib Quieh was hanged, and not
burned, though Alvarado makes no mention of such weakness on
his part, but states distinctly 'Yo los quemé.' _Relacion_,
i. 159. Bernal Diaz, however, asserts that through the
intercession of Fray Bartolomé Olmedo a respite of two days
was granted the unfortunate king, during which time he was
converted and baptized, and that his sentence was commuted to
hanging. _Hist. Verdad._, 175. This view is taken by Salazar
y Olarte, _Conq. Mex._, 125-6, and Juarros, _Guat._, ii. 253,
but not by Ixtlilxochitl, _Horribles Crueldades_, 67. At the
trial of Alvarado this act of barbarity constitutes one of the
charges, and the testimony tends to prove that no exception
was made in favor of any one of the victims. The witness
Francisco Flores, mentioned in note 5, this chapter, states
that one of the nobles was spared, because he had disclosed
the plot. His testimony may, however, be founded on a respite
granted to Oxib Quieh, incorrectly understood by Flores.
_Ramirez_, _Proceso contra Alvarado_, 32. Alvarado informed
Cortés that the victims made full confession of the plot
before they were put to death, and his use of the expression
'Como parecera por sus confesiones' would seem to indicate
that the confessions were taken down in writing and forwarded
to Cortés. _Relacion_, i. 159. In conclusion, Brasseur de
Bourbourg says that only the monarch and the heir presumptive
were burned, which is at variance with Juarros' expression,
'Ni las muertes de sus primeros capitanes, ni las de sus dos
Reyes, executadas por los Castellanos,' _Guat._, ii. 253, and
also with the testimony of Flores, who says, 'E los prendio a
todos ... e despues los quemo.' _Ramirez_, _Proceso contra
Alvarado_, 32. Las Casas affirms they were burned alive
without any form of trial. _Regio. Ind. Devastat._, 35.
[XXIV-8] _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 253. Alvarado never alludes
to his artillery in this or any future campaign of the year,
though he repeatedly speaks of the arquebusiers. Juarros, so
far as I can discover, is the only author except Brasseur de
Bourbourg who mentions artillery.
[XXIV-9] 'I es la Tierra tan fuerte de quebradas, que ai
quebradas que entran docientos estados de hondo, i por
estas quebradas no pudimos hacerles la Guerra.' _Alvarado_,
_Relacion_, i. 159.
[XXIV-10] His object in making this demand was twofold: he
wished to test the Cakchiquel king's feelings toward him, and
at the same time to increase his native forces, who would be
useful in this work. _Alvarado_, _Relacion_, i. 159. According
to Brasseur de Bourbourg the princes of the Cakchiquel nation
met with much opposition from their subjects in supporting
the Spaniards, and the nobles refused to supply the troops
demanded by Alvarado. In this embarrassment the Ahpozotzil
raised 4000 warriors in his capital. _Hist. Nat. Civ._, 648.
Bernal Diaz, followed by Juarros, gives a different account
from that of Alvarado, which is followed in the text. It is to
the effect that the people of Guatemala, hearing of Alvarado's
repeated victories, and learning that he was stationed at
Utatlan, sent an embassy with presents of gold, offering
their services against the Quichés, with whom they were at
enmity. These were accepted by Alvarado, who, to test their
sincerity, and also because he was ignorant of the road, asked
and received assistance across the many gullies and through
the difficult passes. _Hist. Verdad._, 175.
[XXIV-11] 'Mandè quemar la Ciudad, i poner por los cimientos.'
_Alvarado_, _Relacion_, i. 159.
[XXIV-12] Derived from _cé_, 'one,' and '_quechutl_,' a
bird similar to the flamingo, for a description of which
see _Native Races_, iii. 374. His native name was Tepepul,
_Id._, v. 566, but I have preferred to use his Mexican name
in order to avoid confusion, as another Tepepul, king of the
Zutugils, will appear later in the narrative. The date of
this submission of the Quichés must have been a day or two
before the 11th of April, on which day Alvarado wrote his
despatch to Cortés, stating that he would leave for the city
of Guatemala on the same day, which was a Monday. Juarros
states that Alvarado remained eight days, Bernal Diaz seven
or eight, in Utatlan, occupied in the pacification of the
surrounding tribes. _Guat._, ii. 254. Herrera states that
the war terminated on the 25th of April, which can only be
explained by supposing that Alvarado did not leave Utatlan on
the 11th, as he intended. _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. x.
[XXIV-13] 'Estamos metidos en la mas recia Tierra de Gente
que se ha visto.' _Relacion_, i. 160.
[XXIV-14] _Relacion_, i. 159; _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._,
175.
[XXV-1] Alvarado's line of march on this occasion seems to
have been confounded by different authors with routes followed
by him at later dates. Juarros says that he did not pass
through the towns of the coast, but along the Itzapa road; for
in a land title possessed by the Indians of Parramos, extended
in the year 1577, on the 10th of November, in a reference to
a plain on said road, this expression occurs: 'Where they say
the camp of the Spaniards was pitched when the Adelantado
D. Pedro de Alvarado came to conquer this land.' _Guat._,
ii. 255. By these remarks Juarros supports Fuentes' opinion
that the capital of the Cakchiquel nation was situated on the
slopes of the Volcan de Agua. I am, however, persuaded that
the encampment mentioned in the land title took place later,
on the occasion of Alvarado's campaign southward.
[XXV-2] Vazquez calls this ruler King Ahpotzotzil, _Chronica
de Gvat._, 68, which was only his title. His proper name was
Sinacam, by which he was called in the books of the cabildos
of Guatemala. _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 256. Brasseur de
Bourbourg gives his name as Belehé Qat.
[XXV-3] _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 254-5. The account given
by the Cakchiquel manuscript of this conversation differs
somewhat from the above, stating that it took place in the
palace; that the martial aspect of the population, and the
number of warriors, excited the suspicions of Alvarado;
and that on the night after his arrival, agitated by his
apprehensions, he suddenly entered the royal apartments,
followed by his officers. His unexpected presence caused
great confusion, and the nobles in waiting rallied round their
sovereign. The conversation then followed, when Sinacam spoke
thus: 'Would I have sent my warriors and braves to die for
you and find a tomb at Gumarcaah if I had such treacherous
intentions?' In his explanation, also, the king states that
the armed troops were intended to be directed against the
provinces of Itzcuintlan and Atitlan, with which nations the
Cakchiquels were at war. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat.
Civ._, 650-1.
[XXV-4] Bernal Diaz, or his editor, here introduces Friar
Bartolomé de Olmedo. His story is this: When the Spaniards
arrived at Guatemala, Alvarado told the friar that he had
never been so hard pressed as when fighting with the Indians
of Utatlan, describing them as most brave and excellent
warriors, and at the same time claimed to himself the merit
of having done a good work. The friar chided him, and said it
was God who had wrought the deed; and in order that he might
regard it as good, and aid them in future, it would be well
to give thanks to him, appoint a holiday, celebrate mass, and
preach to the Indians. This injunction was carried out, and
resulted in the baptism of more than 30 natives in two days.
Others also were anxious to be baptized when they perceived
that the Spaniards held intercourse more freely with the
converts than with others. _Hist. Verdad._, 175.
[XXV-5] Patinamit, or Iximché, called by Alvarado the city
of Guatemala. Juarros is in doubt as to the site of the
ancient Cakchiquel capital. Remesal makes no mention of it,
though he speaks of the founding of the Villa de Guatemala.
Fuentes argues that it was not Patinamit, but a city on the
slope of the Volcan de Agua, occupying the same position that
San Miguel Tzacualpa occupied when he wrote. His reasons
are, first, the preservation of the Indian name Guatemala,
indicating that the Spaniards did not found a new town, but
occupied the existing city; the custom of the Spaniards being
to give Spanish names to cities founded by them, as Trujillo,
Granada, Cartago, and others, while those cities which were
already founded retained their native names, as Mexico, Cuzco,
Tlascala, and the like. Again, as observed elsewhere, the word
Guatemala is derived from _Coctecmalan_, which means _Palo
de leche_, milk-tree, commonly called _Yerba mala_. This is
found only at Antigua Guatemala, and within a league around,
in which space, therefore, the capital must have stood. But
it was not situated where Antigua Guatemala stands, because
that place was always called _Panchoy_, or Great Lagoon;
nor where the Pueblo of Ciudad Vieja stands, which locality
was called _Atmulunca_, meaning Gushing Water. Therefore
it must have been on the spot where stood the city of the
Spaniards, which was destroyed in 1541, and where now exists
the little village of Tzacualpa, which name in itself is an
additional argument in favor of this supposition, inasmuch
as its meaning is Old Town. The third argument of Fuentes is
based on the improbability that the Spaniards would found a
city in an unpopulated district when the court and capital
of the Cakchiquels were at their command. Consequently the
court of King Sinacam was situated where the Spaniards first
established themselves, that is where Tzacualpa stands. See
also _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 255-9. Vazquez maintains that
this capital was the city Patinamit, antonomastically so
called, meaning the 'metropolis' or 'the city' par excellence.
The locality on which it was built was called 'Iximché,'
and in his own time Ohertinamit, which means Old Town. The
Mexicans who came with the Spaniards called it Quauhtemali,
meaning rotten tree, from an old worm-eaten Iximché tree.
To distinguish it from the Ciudad de Santiago founded by
the Spaniards, it was afterward named Tecpan Guatemala, that
is, Palace or Royal House of Guatemala, a meaning different
from that given by Fuentes, who says that Tecpan means
'above,' _encima_, as Tecpan Atitlan, a town situated on a
more elevated site than Atitlan. The city Tecpan Guatemala
still exists about half a league distant from the old site.
Vazquez, moreover, supports his opinion on the extent and
magnificence of the palace and public buildings indicated
by the ruins, which he visited in person; and also on the
fortified position of the place. _Chronica de Gvat._, 7,
10, 68, 73; _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 243, 256-7. That the
arguments of Fuentes are fallacious, and that Vazquez is
right, Alvarado's own despatches prove almost to a certainty.
In his report to Cortés, dated 11th April, at Utatlan, he
says, 'Embiè à la Ciudad de Guatemala, que està diez Leguas
de esta,' and afterward informs Cortés that on that day he
will leave for the city of Guatemala, 'Yo me parto para la
Ciudad de Guatemala Lunes once de Abril.' At the commencement
of the next despatch he writes, 'Yo, Señor, partì de la Ciudad
de Uclatan, í vine en dos Dias à esta Ciudad de Guatemala.'
Now this 'city of Guatemala' was the capital of the king of
the Cakchiquels, and where Alvarado was entertained by him,
as will be told in the text, and it was ten leagues from
Utatlan, a distance which would occupy the army two days, as
stated by Alvarado; for it was difficult ground to march over,
being intersected by numerous ravines. _Vazquez_, _Chronica
de Gvat._, 7. The site proposed by Fuentes is nearly twice
the distance from Utatlan, and could not have been reached by
the Spaniards in the short period of two days, except by very
exhausting and forced marches, to which it is most improbable
that Alvarado subjected his men when on a visit to a friendly
power. Again, Alvarado reports that when on his expedition
against Atitlan he left the city of Guatemala and by a forced
march entered that territory the same day—'I anduve tanto,
que aquel Dia lleguè a su Tierra'—a distance that could
be accomplished from the existing ruins of Patinamit, but
apparently not from the Volcan de Agua.
[XXV-6] Juarros calls it 'chay.'
[XXV-7] _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 243-4. This author adds that
Bishop Marroquin, having heard of this stone, caused it to be
cut into a square and consecrated as part of the high altar
in the church of Tecpan Guatemala. Stephens saw it and says
that it is a piece of common slate. _Incid. of Travel in Cent.
Am._, ii. 150.
[XXV-8] 'Donde fui mui bien recibido de los Señores de ella,
que no pudiera ser mas en Casa de nuestros Padres; i fuimos
tan proveidos de todo lo necesario, que ninguna cosa hovo
falta.' _Alvarado_, _Relacion_, i. 161.
[XXV-9] On this occasion Friar Juan de Torres converted and
baptized many. _Vazquez_, _Chronica de Gvat._, 7.
[XXV-10] Atitlan, in the Pipil language 'Correo de Agua,' or
'Water Courier.' This is according to Juarros, who states that
the place was also called Atziquinixal, which in the Quiché
language signifies 'House of the Eagle,' from the device of
the kings, who wore as their royal emblem an eagle fashioned
from the plumes of the quetzal. _Guat._, 245. Ternaux-Compans
wrongly interprets it 'watercourse,' 'cours d'eau.' _Voy._,
série i. tom. x. 416.
[XXV-11] Its real meaning, however, is 'heroes' or 'demigods.'
[XXV-12] An insurrection of the principal cities of the
monarchy had been promoted by this cacique. These cities,
according to Vazquez, were Tecpan Atitlan and others of that
province, while Fuentes believes them to have been Tecpan
Guatemala and its dependencies. _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 277.
[XXV-13] _Alvarado_, _Relacion_, i. 160.
[XXV-14] 'Le dieron muchos presentes de oro y plata y joyas
en gran cantidad.' _Ramirez_, _Proceso contra Alvarado_, 7,
25, 28 et seq.
[XXV-15] 'À los quales mataron sin temor ninguno.' _Alvarado_,
_Relacion_, i. 161. Bernal Diaz states that Alvarado sent
messengers on three several occasions. _Hist. Verdad._, 175.
[XXV-16] Bernal Diaz affirms that Alvarado took with him
more than 140 soldiers, of whom twenty were cross-bowmen
and arquebusiers, and 40 horsemen, with 2000 Guatemalans. It
must, however, be concluded that the statements of the 'true
historian' with regard to the conquest of Guatemala cannot be
relied on as exact, since he admits that he was not present:
'Y esto digo, porque no me halle en estas Conquistas.' _Hist.
Verdad._, 175-6. Brasseur de Bourbourg also states that 2000
Cakchiquels, commanded by the Ahpotzotzil and the Ahpoxahil,
accompanied the Spaniards. _Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv. 652.
Juarros gives the forces as consisting of 40 horse, 100 foot,
and 2000 Guatemalans. It is quite evident that this author
never consulted Alvarado's despatches, judging from the many
instances of chronological, numerical, and other differences.
Alvarado says he marched so rapidly that he reached the
territory of the Zutugils the same day on which he left the
city of Guatemala. Juarros writes, 'Caminaba á convenientes
jornadas.' _Guat._, 278. Salazar follows Bernal Diaz. _Conq.
Mex._, 131.
[XXV-17] Juarros states that these forces were stationed
upon the peñol, or insular rock, but were so harassed by the
cross-bowmen that they sallied and gave fight to the Spaniards
on the plain. _Guat._, ii. 278.
[XXV-18] 'I por la mucha agrura de la Tierra, como digo, no
se mato mas Gente.' _Alvarado_, _Relacion_, i. 162.
[XXV-19] About the middle of May, according to the Cakchiquel
manuscript. Bernal Diaz states that Olmedo preached the gospel
to the Indians, and celebrated mass on an altar which they
erected. The friar also put up an image of the virgin, which
Garay had brought and given him when he died. _Hist. Verdad._,
176.
[XXV-20] _Alvarado_, _Relacion_, in _Barcia_, i. 161-2;
_Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 175; _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._,
230-1; _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. x.; _Oviedo_,
iii. 480-1; _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 277-80; _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv. 652-5. In a memorial
addressed by the chiefs of Atitlan to Philip II., and dated
February 1, 1571, it is stated that when Alvarado came into
the country he was received in a friendly spirit at Atitlan;
that no one took up arms against him, but that valuable
presents were made, while each town and village paid tribute
according to its means. Numbers of their principal men
accompanied him on his future campaigns, and lost their lives
in his service. _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, série i., tom. x.,
419-20. Though the Atitlan campaign was less sanguinary than
the previous ones, this contradiction of all accounts, in
stating that the Spaniards were peaceably received, must have
proceeded from anxiety on the part of the natives to gain some
favor or obtain some redress.
[XXV-21] One witness at the trial of Alvarado in 1528-9 states
that he heard this person was a sister of the king, but from
the statement contained in the charge, and supported by many
witnesses, it can only be inferred that she was one of the
wives of the monarch. _Ramirez_, _Proceso contra Alvarado_,
7, 22, passim. Brasseur de Bourbourg's version is that Suchil
was the wife of one of the highest dignitaries of the crown.
_Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv. 656.
[XXV-22] The defence set up by Alvarado when charged with
this outrage is exceedingly weak. He had been deceived by
the Cakchiquel nobles, he said, who, not wishing him to
march farther south, made false representations regarding
the difficulties he would meet with. A Spanish soldier named
Falcon reported that a slave girl described the country as
fair and rich; upon which Alvarado commanded her to be brought
forward. This was persistently refused by the chiefs, until he
seized one; then an Indian girl of noble birth was produced,
but not the right one. 'He, however, importuned them much,'
and finally Suchil was delivered up to him. The reader will
appreciate the probability of this story when he considers
how likely it was that the Cakchiquel nobles would seek to
deter Alvarado from proceeding against their national enemies.
_Ramirez_, _Proceso contra Alvarado_. See question and charge,
xvii. and xix., pp. 7 and 57, Alvarado's reply, p. 77-8, and
testimony.
[XXVI-1] The native name of the chief town, Panatacat,
was known in the time of Vazquez as _Isquintepeque_.
Alvarado calls it _Iscuyntepeque_, _Relacion_, i. 162;
Herrera, _Yzquintepec_, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. x.; Gomara,
_Izcuintepec_, _Hist. Mex._, 231. Its modern appellation is
Escuintla. See also _Native Races_, v. 607.
[XXVI-2] 'Diciendoles, què adonde iban, i que eran locos, sino
que me dejasen à mi ir allà, i que todos me darian Guerra.'
_Alvarado_, _Relacion_, i. 162; _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. v.
cap. x.; _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 231.
[XXVI-3] Juarros, followed by Brasseur de Bourbourg, states
that the army, when in Itzcuintlan, consisted of 250 Spanish
infantry, 100 cavalry, and 6000 Guatemalan and other Indians.
_Guat._ (ed. London, 1823), 229. Now, Alvarado a little
later in this campaign states that he had 150 infantry, 100
horse, and 5000 or 6000 Indian auxiliaries. This number of
infantry is more probably correct than that given by Juarros.
Alvarado had only 300 infantry when he left Mexico, and,
though few had been killed, numbers were wounded, and he had
left garrisons at various places. _Relacion_, i. 163. That he
should leave Itzcuintlan with 250 Spanish foot-soldiers and
lose 100 of them in a few weeks is a supposition that cannot
be entertained. Juarros appears to have followed Gomara,
_Hist. Mex._, 232, who gives the above figures.
[XXVI-4] No summons of surrender was sent, which omission was
brought forward as a charge against the commander at a later
date. _Ramirez_, _Proceso contra Alvarado_, 7, 57 et seq.
[XXVI-5] Juarros states that this was a night attack, and that
the inhabitants were asleep when the Spaniards entered; Bernal
Diaz says that it occurred in the morning.
[XXVI-6] 'Tambien me han dicho, que cinco Jornadas adelante
de vna Ciudad mui grande, que està veinte Jornadas de aqui,
se acaba esta Tierra ... si asi es, certisimo tengo que
es el Estrecho.' _Alvarado_, _Relacion_, i. 160. Pelaez
erroneously makes this campaign follow the reduction of Mixco,
Sacatepeque, Mazatenango, etc. _Mem. Guat._, i. 45-46. Vazquez
thus describes it: 'Sin dejar las armas de las manos, ni dia
alguno de batallar en los Pueblos de la Costa, corrió como un
rayo, el y su Exercito.' _Chronica de Gvat._, 7.
[XXVI-7] Laet, Ogilby, and Kiepert write _R. Michatoya_.
[XXVI-8] Called _Atiepar_ by Alvarado; _Caetipar_ by Gomara;
_Atiquipaque_ by Juarros; _Aticpac_ by Brasseur de Bourbourg;
and by Ixtlilxochitl, in _Horribles Crueldades_, 69, _Cala_.
Alvarado states that both the language and race of people were
here different.
[XXVI-9] _Ramirez_, _Proceso contra Alvarado_, 7-8 et seq. The
account given by Juarros differs so much from Alvarado's that
I can give the former but little consideration in the text.
It is to this effect: After crossing the river the Spaniards
were attacked by a large body of Indians, and an obstinate
battle ensued, in which Alvarado was dismounted by a chief,
who wounded his horse with a lance. Alvarado then attacked
the Indian on foot and killed him. The victory was for some
time doubtful, but passed finally to the Spaniards. On the
following day they entered the deserted town, where before
long they were again attacked by a fresh body of the enemy.
Cooped in the narrow streets, the Spaniards could not act, and
retreated to open ground, where they soon threw the Indians
into disorder.
Alvarado's despatches to Cortés, _Relacion de Alvarado_, form
the base of that portion of the conquest of Guatemala which
begins with the departure of the Spaniards from Soconusco
and terminates with the founding of the Ciudad de Santiago at
Patinamit. Two only of these reports are extant; that there
was at least one more is certain from the opening line of
the first, wherein Alvarado states that he had written from
Soconusco; 'de Soncomisco escrivì à Vuestra Magestad.' It
might be supposed, from the expression 'Vuestra Magestad,'
that the letter was addressed to the king of Spain; the
conclusion, however, proves that such was not the case,
as Alvarado requests Cortés to report his services to his
Majesty. 'Magestad' is probably a misprint for 'Merced,' or
an incorrect reading of the manuscript. These despatches were
first published at Toledo, October 20, 1525, with the fourth
report of Cortés to the king of Spain. They were afterward
translated into Italian by Ramusio and published at Venice
in 1565. In 1749 Barcia, a member of the royal council,
reproduced them, in Madrid, in his collection of the works
of the chroniclers, and it may be remarked that Ramusio's
translation does not always agree with this Spanish edition.
Ternaux-Compans translated Ramusio's version into French and
published the letters at Paris, in 1838, in his Collection
of Voyages. Alvarado's style is clear and simple, terse and
vigorous, and his descriptions are vivid. That he did not
report all his proceedings to Cortés is evident from the
_Proceso contra Alvarado_, already frequently quoted, in
which numerous acts of cruelty, outrage, and embezzlement
are charged against him. Yet there is no just reason to doubt
the truthfulness of his narrations so far as they go, since
they are supported by good authorities. It is suppression and
not misrepresentation of facts that can be charged against
him. In these two despatches the writer has portrayed his
own character most clearly. His energy, recklessness, and
indomitable will, his bravery, religious superstition, and
ambition, are all distinctly displayed; but in bold relief,
prominent above all other traits, is recognized his cruelty:
whenever the carnage on the battle-field has been unusually
dreadful he delights to report it to Cortés, sometimes even
mentioning the matter twice; and when the natives have
managed to escape him with comparatively small loss, he
regretfully enters into explanations and gives the reasons why
so few lives were taken. These despatches are particularly
interesting for their evidence relative to the site of
the first city founded by the Spaniards in Guatemala. They
moreover correct many errors committed by Remesal, Fuentes,
and Juarros, who, strange to say, could never have seen
these reports, or even Oviedo's almost verbatim copy of them.
Another narrative of the conquest was written by Gonzalo de
Alvarado, which work Pelaez, _Mem. Guat._, i. 47, considers
that Herrera must have seen. It was never published; Juarros
thus describes it: 'MS. de Gonzalo de Alvarado, que paraba en
poder de D. Nicolas de Vides y Alvarado, su descendiente.'
[XXVI-10] _Ramirez_, _Proceso contra Alvarado_, 7-8 et seq.
[XXVI-11] 'Me recibieron de paz, i se alçaron dende à vna
hora.' _Alvarado_, _Relacion_, i. 163.
[XXVI-12] Juarros states that the army halted near the city,
and was almost immediately attacked by three strong bands
of natives, one descending from the heights of Nextiquipac,
another from Taxisco, and the third from Guazacapan. It
required all the skill and strength of the Spaniards to resist
the combined onset. But the division from Guazacapan abandoned
the field, while that which came down from the mountains
was broken and put to flight; whereupon the Taxisco party
submitted, and the town remained in the possession of the
Spaniards. _Juarros_, _Guat._ (ed. London, 1823), 231.
[XXVI-13] Called by Alvarado _Nacendelan_, and _Necendelan_
by Gomara; in Mercator's Atlas, 1574, _Nacendelen_, and in the
_West-Indische Spieghel_, 64, _Nacedelan_. Its modern name is
Nancintla.
[XXVI-14] These consisted of cloth, cross-bow strings,
horseshoes, nails, and other iron articles. Alvarado states
at a later date that the nails and horseshoes were cast with
copper by the Indians, who believed that the iron would melt
with it. _Ramirez_, _Proceso contra Alvarado_, 79-80. The
clothing, he says, could not be recovered, as it had been torn
up for breech-clouts. _Relacion_, i. 163; _Oviedo_, iii. 483.
[XXVI-15] Herrera affirms that they were from Nancintlan,
and had the custom of fighting with little bells, 'sendas
campanillas,' in their hands. Juarros states that all
inquiries to discover the reason of this practice have been
useless. _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. x.; _Juarros_,
_Guat._ (ed. London, 1823), 232; also _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._,
232.
[XXVI-16] Referred to as Don Pedro, one of Cortés' most
trusted officers. See _Hist. Mex._, chap. vi., this series.
He is mentioned more than once by Alvarado, and important
commands were intrusted to him. _Relacion_, i. 163-4.
[XXVI-17] Juarros says this stay was made at Guazacapan, a
town passed on the way to Nancintlan. The army would have
been, thus far, about 25 days on the campaign of discovery:
Four days from Patinamit to Itzcuintlan, eight days at this
latter place, four days in passing through the towns of
Atiquipac, Tacuylula, and Taxisco, to Nancintlan, and eight
at this latter place.
[XXVI-18] _Ramirez_, _Proceso contra Alvarado_, 8, 58, 79 et
seq. Brasseur de Bourbourg is of opinion that only certain
of the chiefs were captured after having fled, and that they
were hanged. _Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv. 660. I give the narrative
as derived from the evidence in Alvarado's trial.
[XXVI-19] The present town of Pasaco, called _Pacoco_ by
Oviedo, iii. 483, and _Pazùco_ by Herrera, dec. iii. lib. v.
cap. x., and Gomara, _Hist. Mex._, 232.
[XXVI-20] These were placed slantwise, and projected two or
three fingers' width above the surface. They were smeared with
so noxious a poison that if but a drop of blood were drawn
the wounded man died insane, on the second, third, or seventh
day, suffering intense thirst. _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. v.
cap. x.; _Native Races_, ii. 744.
[XXVI-21] _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. x. On a previous
occasion they had met with this indication of hostility,
but in this instance they seem to have had an opportunity of
witnessing the ceremony. _Alvarado_, _Relacion_, i. 163.
[XXVI-22] 'I seguimos el alcance todo lo que se pudo seguir.'
_Alvarado_, _Relacion_, i. 163. Juarros states that this
victory did not decide the conquest of the district; some
towns submitted, but others retained their liberty. Among
those which sought for peace was the large town of Tejutla,
four leagues from Guazacapan, which was taken possession
of as an arsenal. After the conquest it gradually lost its
ancient importance, and was abandoned about the middle of the
seventeenth century.
[XXVI-23] Near Bay of Sonsonate. See maps of Colon, 1527, and
Ribero, 1529, having at or near this point _r. Ciego_; also
Kiepert's _Map of Central America_, 1858. _R. Paza_ forms the
boundary between Salvador and Guatemala. Paza is evidently
an abbreviation of the native name Pazaco, and Paz a Spanish
corruption of Paza.
[XXVI-24] Alvarado calls it _Mopicalco_; Herrera and Gomara,
_Mopicalãco_. Brasseur de Bourbourg remarks that it seems to
correspond with the present village of Nahuizalco, not far
from Sonsonate, in Salvador. _Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv. 661.
[XXVI-25] Mentioned by the conqueror as Acaxual, 'donde
bate la Mar del Sur en èl.' _Relacion_, i. 163. Gomara calls
it _Acaiucatl_; Herrera, _Cayacatl_; and Oviedo _Acarval_,
while Ixtlilxochitl gives it the name of _Acayncatl_. Its
modern appellation is Acajutla. Juarros incorrectly states
that Alvarado did not discover it before 1534. _Guat._,
i. 254. Fernando Colon, 1527, and Diego de Ribero, 1529,
write _las matas_. Mercator's atlas, 1574, town and bay
_Acaxutla_; Ogilby, 1671, _Pto d' Acaxutla_; Laet, 1633,
_Po de Acaxutla_; _West-Indische Spieghel_, 1624, _Caxulta_;
Jefferys, 1776, _Sonsonate_ or _Trinidad City_, _Rio St.
Jago_, and the southern point _Izalcos_, southern cape
_Pt. de los Remedios_, northern cape _Pt. Dacaxutla_,
on the coast near the latter point _Guacapa_, and in the
interior _Chiquimula_. A little north river and city _las
Esclavos_; Kiepert, 1858, _B. de Sonsonate_, also a like named
city on the _R. St. Jago_. On the coast, _Acajutla_ city,
and eastward, _P. de los Remedios_, _Puerto Libertad_, and
_Pt. de la Concordia_. The coast is called _Cuesta del
Balsamo_.
[XXVI-26] 'Parecian bien con los sacos como eran blancos, y de
colores, con muy buenos penachos q̃ lleuauan en las cabeças.'
_Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 232.
[XXVI-27] It is on this occasion that Alvarado gives the
number of his forces. Ixtlilxochitl says there were not more
than 7000 Mexicans and Tezcucans ... and Alvarado had not more
than 250 Spanish foot and 100 horse, and some few thousand
Quauhtemaltecs. _Horribles Crueldades_, 69.
[XXVI-28] Gomara states that Alvarado dared not attack them,
because they were so strong and well drawn up, but that the
Indians charged the Spanish army as it was moving by. _Hist.
Mex._, 232. Ixtlilxochitl's account is similar to that of
Gomara: 'Pasaron por un lado del ejército de los enemigos;
y como los vieron á la otra parte, envistieron con ellos.'
_Horribles Crueldades_, 69-70.
[XXVI-29] Brasseur de Bourbourg, misled by Ternaux's
translation from Ramusio of Alvarado's letter, says: 'Sans que
l'inégalité du terrain permît aux Espagnols de leur opposer
beaucoup de résistance.' _Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv. 662. See also
_Alvarado_, _Relacion_, i. 164, and _Alvarado_, _Lettres_, in
_Ternaux-Compans_, série i. tom. x.
[XXVI-30] For armor they wore a sack, with sleeves reaching
down to the feet, of hard twisted cotton, three fingers
in thickness. _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 232; _Alvarado_,
_Relacion_, i. 164; _Native Races_, ii. 742.
[XXVI-31] He had been pierced through the thigh with an arrow,
which was shot with such force as to penetrate the saddle.
His leg was shortened in consequence to the extent of four
fingers' width, and he remained lame for life. _Alvarado_,
_Relacion_, i. 164. Remesal erroneously states that Alvarado
received this wound in Soconusco. _Hist. Chyapa_, 7.
[XXVI-32] This is Alvarado's own statement: 'I fue tan grande
el destroço, que en ellos hicimos, que en poco tiempo no havia
ninguno de todos los que salieron vivos;' and lower, 'I en
caiendo la Gente de pie, los mataba todos.' _Relacion_, i.
164. Gomara says, 'Y casi no dexaron ninguno dellos viuo.'
_Hist. Mex._, 232.
[XXVI-33] Tacusocalco. _Oviedo_, iii. 484.
[XXVI-34] The three brothers who accompanied Alvarado from
Mexico are now brought more into notice. There are three other
Alvarados mentioned by Fuentes in his list of conquerors, but
their names do not correspond to those of the other brothers
of the lieutenant-general. _Fuentes y Guzman_, _Recordacion
Florida_, MS., 25-7; _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 14.
[XXVI-35] 'Que verla de lejos era para espantar, porque tenian
todos los mas lanças de treinta palmos, todas en Arboledas.'
_Alvarado_, _Relacion_, i. 164. Herrera adds that the spears
were poisoned: 'Las lanças eran mayores, con yerua.' dec. iii.
lib. v. cap. x.
[XXVI-36] 'Peleò despues con otro exercito mayor, y mas
peligroso.' _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. x.
[XXVI-37] Called by Alvarado, _Miaguaclan_; by Herrera,
_Mautlan_; by Ixtlilxochitl and Gomara, _Mahuatlan_.
[XXVI-38] Atehuan, _Alvarado_, _Relacion_, i. 164; Lechuan,
_Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. x.; Atlechuan, _Gomara_,
_Hist. Mex._, 232; Athehuan, _Oviedo_, iii. 484.
[XXVI-39] 'Yo los recibí pensando que no me mentirian como
los otros.' _Alvarado_, _Relacion_, i. 164. Oviedo, on the
contrary, says, 'Pensando que mentirian, como los otros.' i.
485.
[XXVI-40] 'Los mas de los pueblos fueron quemados e
destruidos.' _Ramirez_, _Proceso contra Alvarado_, 26 et seq.
[XXVI-41] Written _Cuitlachan_ by Gomara and Ixtlilxochitl.
Cuzcatlan, meaning Land of Jewels, _Juarros_, _Guat._, i.
23, was the ancient name of the province, as well as the
city represented by the modern San Salvador. _Native Races_,
v. xii. In _Ogilby's America_, 1671, is written town _S.
Salvador_, and south of it a town _La Trinidad_; Laet, 1633,
_S. Saluador_, and on the opposite side of the river _La
Trinidad_, and in the interior to the north a city _Gratias
a Dios_; Jeffreys, 1776, _San Salvador_ or _Cuzcatlan_, west
_Nexapa Guaymoco_, east _Chontales_, north _Istepec_; Kiepert,
1858, _San Salvador_, state, town and volcano.
[XXVI-42] The Spaniards entertained some suspicions of
treachery. Brasseur de Bourbourg states that the prince and
all his suite were seized and kept prisoners. _Hist. Nat.
Civ._, iv. 664. The testimony of Alvarado's letter tends on
the contrary to prove that they escaped from the town with
the rest of the population: 'I mientras nos aposentamos, no
quedò Hombre de ellos en el Pueblo, que todos se fueron à las
Sierras. E como vi esto, Yo embiè mis Mensageros à los Señores
de alli à decirles, que no fuesen malos.' _Relacion_, i. 164.
Compare, however, _Ramirez_, _Proceso contra Alvarado_, 9 et
seq.
[XXVI-43] _Alvarado_, _Relacion_, i. 164-5; _Ramirez_,
_Proceso contra Alvarado_, 58-9 et seq. Brasseur de Bourbourg,
regardless of all Spanish evidence, boldly assumes that the
king 'ainsi que tous les seigneurs de sa cour' were in fact
put to death, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv. 666-7, when in reality
they were fugitives in the mountains and merely condemned. It
is absurd to suppose that in the Cuzcatlan charge, No. xxvi.,
referred to above, Alvarado's accusers would have failed to
bring against him the deaths of the king and chiefs.
[XXVI-44] The branding of slaves at Cuzcatlan was one of the
charges brought against Alvarado at his trial. The Spaniards
appear to have seized upon a number of the natives when they
first entered the town. _Ramirez_, _Proceso contra Alvarado_,
9-59, passim. Las Casas uses these words: 'Stigma enim Regium,
iis, qui non evaserunt, inustum est. Ego etiam præcipuo totius
civitatis viri filio vidi imprimi.' _Regio. Ind. Devastat._,
38.
[XXVI-45] 'Huuo poco despojo.' _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib.
v. cap. x. 'Poco oro y riquezas hallaron en este viage.'
_Ixtlilxochitl_, _Horribles Crueldades_, 70.
[XXVI-46] 'I supe de los Naturales como esta Tierra no tiene
cabo.' _Alvarado_, _Relacion_, i. 165.
[XXVI-47] 'Padecieron hartos trabajos, hambre y calamidades
los nuestros, y los españoles.' _Ixtlilxochitl_,
_Horribles Crueldades_, 70; also _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 232.
[XXVII-1] Alvarado's report of the campaign bears this date,
and as he mentions in it that on his return he founded
the 'Ciudad del Señor Santiago,' he must have arrived at
least several days previous to the above date. Brasseur de
Bourbourg, after pointing out a misconception of Fuentes,
exhibits some confusion in his own mind as to dates and time.
_Hist. Nat. Civ._, 667.
[XXVII-2] Vazquez observes, 'Llegó â _Vulvusya_ que oy llaman
Almolonga; y auiendo en la falda de su bolcan assentado el
Real a los 25 de Jullio de 1524, diò su primer ser a la Ciudad
de Guatemala, con Nõbre de Villa que le duró muy pocos dias.'
_Chronica de Gvat._, 7. Remesal also states that the city
was founded on the slopes of the Volcan de Agua, at a place
called Panchoy, which signifies Great Lagoon, the valley there
being surrounded by mountains. The material of which the first
houses were built consisted, he says, of forked posts for
the corner pillars, of canes and mud for the walls, while the
roofs were thatched with dry grass. By the aid of the Mexicans
they were rapidly thrown up. A sufficient number for the
accommodation of all the army being completed, they waited for
the day of the Apostle Santiago, in order to found the city
on that day and dedicate it to their patron saint. It fell on
Monday, the 25th of July, when the founding was consummated.
_Remesal_, _Hist. Chyapa_, 4. I have elsewhere shown that
Patinamit was the city which Alvarado called Guatemala. Now
there is positive evidence from his own despatch that he
founded the city of Santiago at or upon that same city of
Guatemala. 'Antes acorde me bolver à esta Ciudad de Guatemala,
... asi que Yo soi venido à esta Ciudad ... hice, i edifiquè,
en nombre de su Magestad, vna Ciudad de Españoles, que se
dice la Ciudad del Señor Santiago,' he writes. The use of
the expression 'esta Ciudad de Guatemala' in other portions
of the despatch proves that it was written at the capital
of the Cakchiquel king, while at the conclusion it is dated
thus: 'De esta ciudad de Santiago, à veinte i ocho de Julio
de mil i quinientos i veinte i quatro Años.' Thus it is clear
that the city of Guatemala and the city of Santiago were one,
and that Alvarado appropriated to himself Sinacam's capital.
_Alvarado_, _Relacion_, i. 161-2, 165-6. It may be here stated
that in direct opposition to Alvarado's application of the
term ciudad to the new settlement, both Vazquez and Remesal
assert that it was a villa, the latter adding that it retained
this title eighteen days, and was erected into a city on the
12th of August. _Remesal_, _Hist. Chyapa_, 4, 6. Pelaez says
the city was called 'Ciudad de Santiago de los caballeros,'
but not till November 22, 1527. Vazquez affirms, _Chronica de
Gvat._, 11, that it was so called on the 29th of July, 1524,
while Remesal gives August 12th of the same year. Pelaez, in
his introduction to vol. i., states that Guatemala took its
name from the expression of Guhatezmalhá, that is to say 'the
hill which throws out water.' From the acts of the cabildo
we know that it was called a city on the 29th of July, 1524.
_Arévalo_, _Actas Ayunt. Guat._, 8.
[XXVII-3] _Fuentes y Guzman_, _Recordacion Florida_, MS., 25;
_Arévalo_, _Actas Ayunt. Guat._, 7; Zabarrieta, according to
Remesal.
[XXVII-4] This right to appoint alcaldes and regidores was
maintained and exercised by Alvarado whenever he was present,
as is proved by the cabildos of 1525 and 1526. _Remesal_,
_Hist. Chyapa_, 4. _Arévalo_, _Actas Ayunt. Guat._, 11-18.
[XXVII-5] The cabildo, as an assumption of its official
prerogatives, entered into session the same day, and arranged
legal prices for provisions. _Remesal_, _Hist. Chyapa_,
4. On July 27th we find that an act was passed regulating
the blacksmith's rates. Two dollars was to be his charge
for making 100 nails, the iron being furnished to him. The
charge for shoeing a horse one gold dollar, and the same
for bleeding. It is curious to observe that the price of
horseshoes in Alvarado's army in April, 1524, was $190 a
dozen, at which rate they were bought and sold in his camp.
_Alvarado_, _Relacion_, i. 160. Remesal says that operatives,
knowing the necessity of their services, charged what they
liked. The tailor charged a real a stitch, and shoemakers
worked only at such high wages that while soling other
people's shoes with leather they might have used silver for
their own; and the blacksmith could have made his tools of
gold had he wished. On the 12th of December, 1524, the cabildo
deemed it necessary to establish fixed rates for labor of
all kinds. The measures adopted were punctually carried out
by those in power. The regulations were modified as time
required, and every two years, at most, new rates were adapted
to the condition of affairs, with which even the lords of
estates were compelled to comply. The artisans, however, still
contrived to cause the other colonists much inconvenience
by refusing all payment for work except in gold coin, the
tailor otherwise retaining his customer's clothes, even on a
feast-day, and the shoemaker his shoes. This state of things
lasted till 1529, when the corporation on the 19th of February
made the aboriginal currency of the country, cacao, feathers,
and clothing, legal tender. _Hist. Chyapa_, 6; _Arévalo_,
_Actas Ayunt. Guat._, 8-67, passim. Another of the first acts
of this new corporation was the appointment of a town-crier,
his salary being fixed at $100 a year. _Id._, 7-8. With
regard to this office of crier, Remesal states that it had to
be accepted by the person selected to fill it under pain of
death. _Hist. Chyapa_, 4. On the present occasion the person
chosen was Diego Diaz, who strongly objected to the calling,
but was compelled to accept. Remesal, with his death penalty,
goes beyond the act of the corporation, which says 'so pena
de cient azotes.' _Arévalo_, _Actas Ayunt. Guat._, 8. As an
instance of the dearness of provisions, we find an act passed
on the 6th of May, 1525, limiting the price of eggs to one
gold real apiece. _Id._, 12, 14.
[XXVII-6] _Arévalo_, _Actas Ayunt. Guat._, 8. But Remesal, who
is continually at variance with the best authorities, says on
the 29th of July.
[XXVII-7] Vazquez says there were enrolled as settlers at the
founding less than 200 Spaniards, for, though very few had
fallen in battle, detachments had been left at Quezaltenango
and Patinamit. With regard to this latter place it must be
borne in mind that Vazquez believed the city to have been
founded on the Volcan de Agua. _Chronica de Gvat._, 10-11;
see also _Arévalo_, _Actas Ayunt. Guat._, 8-19.
[XXVII-8] 'Cortes ... confirmo los repartimientos, y ayudo a
pedir aquella gouernacion.' _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 233; see
also _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. x.
[XXVII-9] It will be seen in the narrative that the Spaniards
were soon obliged to abandon Patinamit and locate elsewhere,
and that the city of Santiago had no permanent site until its
establishment in Panchoy in 1527.
[XXVII-10] 'Pedro de Alvarado les mando que dentro de cierto
termino le diesen mill hojas de oro de a quinze pesos cada
hoja.' _Ramirez_, _Proceso contra Alvarado_, 59. Brasseur de
Bourbourg states that the king and royal family were commanded
to bring vases filled with the precious metals, and to deliver
up even their crowns and personal ornaments. _Hist. Nat.
Civ._, iv. 673.
[XXVII-11] The Indians appear to have brought in pyrites not
unfrequently. Las Casas, speaking of the Cuzcatecs, says:
'Indiani igitur magnum hastarum ex orichalcho inaurato,
numerum, quæ aureæ esse videbantur ... congregarunt.
Capitaneus eas Lydio lapide probari jussit, cumque orichalcum
esse cerneret,' etc. _Regio. Ind. Devastat._, 38. 'Alvarado no
tomava syno oro fino e lo rescebia por el toque.' _Ramirez_,
_Proceso contra Alvarado_, 59.
[XXVII-12] See _Bancroft's Native Races_, ii. 732.
[XXVII-13] Brasseur de Bourbourg gives August 27, 1524, as
the date of this abandonment of Patinamit by the Cakchiquels.
_Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv. 676. This date would be about two
months earlier than that assigned to the event in Alvarado's
evidence for defence, where it is shown to have occurred six
or seven months after his seizure of Queen Suchil. _Ramirez_,
_Proceso contra Alvarado_, 100, 146-7, passim.
[XXVII-14] The high price of food during this war is evident
from an act of the cabildo, passed May 6, 1525, limiting the
charge for a hog weighing 120 pounds to twenty pesos de oro,
equivalent to nearly $300 of our day; while eggs were one
real de oro each, that is over $1.50. _Arévalo_, _Actas Ayunt.
Guat._, 13-14.
[XXVII-15] Las Casas tells a frightful story of reprisal,
wherein the Spaniards drove all their captives, man, woman,
or child, into these staked pits. _Regio. Ind. Devastat._, 36.
[XXVII-16] Brasseur de Bourbourg imagines this place to have
been situated in the Zutugil territory. _Hist. Nat. Civ._,
iv. 678.
[XXVII-17] Brasseur de Bourbourg takes the view that both the
later Zacatepec war and the capture of Mixco occurred during
the suppression of the Cakchiquel revolt. But he seems to
me somewhat inconsistent. He makes the subjugation of the
Cakchiquels last 'pendant plusieurs mois' after Alvarado's
return to Patinamit, and yet a little later he points out
that during the first months of the year 1525 Salvador was
reconquered and a Spanish town founded there. _Hist. Nat.
Civ._, iv. 680-1. It is scarcely to be supposed that a second
campaign into Salvador could have been undertaken while the
Cakchiquel war was going on. Moreover, according to his
interpretation of the Cakchiquel manuscript, the town of
Zumpango was one of many which submitted to the Spaniards
after the destruction of Mixco; and, as will be seen later,
the reduction of Zacatepec was owing to the hostile incursions
from that district against Zumpango while Alvarado was absent
on a campaign. The Cakchiquel manuscript is the production of
Francisco Ernandez Arana Xahila, and contains a brief history
of the Cakchiquel nation from the earliest times. The author
was the grandson of King Hunyg of the Ahpotzotzil line, and it
is written in his hand down to the year 1562, from which time
it is continued somewhat further by Francisco Gebuta Queh, of
the same family. Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Bib. Mex. Guat._, 13,
says that it was translated into French in 1856 at Rabinal in
Guatemala.
[XXVII-18] This city had been founded by the Pocoman Indians,
during their early wars with the Quichés and the Cakchiquels,
the site selected being on account of its natural strength.
_Native Races_, i. 787; _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 245. It was
situated in the valley of Xilotepec, on a ridge between the
Pixcayatl and the Rio Grande de Motagua, the former river
being a tributary of the latter, and meaning 'guardian
stream.' _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 350; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_,
_Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv. 680.
[XXVII-19] Juarros states that two defenders, by rolling
stones down the steep path from the heights above, could
prevent an army from entering. _Guat._, ii. 284.
[XXVII-20] Fuentes says 30 cavalry, serving on foot, and 200
Tlascaltecs. _Recordacion Florida_, MS., 14-5.
[XXVII-21] _Macario_, _Xecul MS._, 7; _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii.
285.
[XXVII-22] In this engagement, for the Indians were pursued
after Aguilar's rescue, more than 200 Chignautecs fell,
says Juarros. On the side of the Spaniards many Tlascaltecs
were slain, among whom were two illustrious chiefs, Juan
Xuchiatl and Gerónimo Carrillo—the Spanish name of this
Indian chief—while of the Spaniards themselves a considerable
proportion received severe wounds. _Guat._, ii. 285. Besides
Aguilar and the three captains, whose names are given in the
text, Fuentes mentions also Gutierre de Robles and Pedro de
Olmos as having greatly signalized themselves in this action.
_Recordacion Florida_, MS., 16.
[XXVII-23] Fuentes, who wrote between 1690 and 1700, gives
a partial description of a cavern, the entrance to which
was on a small ridge by the side of the ruins of Mixco.
The door-way was of clay, three feet wide and three high.
Thirty-six stone steps led down to a spacious chamber,
having at its end another flight of stairs, down which no
one had passed far, for the reason that the ground began
to tremble as the explorer proceeded. Eighteen steps had,
however, been descended, and an arched opening on the right
side discovered, leading by six steps into a long cavern.
No further explorations had been made. Ubi sup., cap. ii.;
_Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 350-1 _Native Races_, iv. 119-20.
[XXVII-24] The distance of the outlet from the camp must have
been considerable, as Fuentes states that a day was allowed
for the arrival of Loarca's force at the cave. _Fuentes y
Guzman_, _Recordacion Florida_, MS., 17.
[XXVII-25] The account given by Fuentes is somewhat confused.
From his version on page 17 the reader is led to suppose that
Loarca's party were to ascend by the cavernous passage, and
in the order given in the text, while on page 19 he states
that those who fled by the cave were attacked by the party
'stationed in ambush.'
[XXVII-26] Fuentes says that Lopez de Villanueva and two
others quickly took his place.
[XXVII-27] _Tezump_, _Quiché MS._, 7; _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii.
284-8; _Fuentes y Guzman_, _Recordacion Florida_, MS., 14-9.
[XXVII-28] The Mixco of to-day is distant from the present
city of Guatemala about two leagues, and nine or ten leagues
from the ruins of the Mixco destroyed by Alvarado. Its
destruction was followed by the submission of various towns,
among which, according to the Cakchiquel MS., were Xilotepec,
Yampuk, Papuluka, and Zumpango.
[XXVII-29] _Cakchiquel MS._, 5; _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 281;
_Fuentes y Guzman_, _Recordacion Florida_, MS., 12. Jimenez
makes a marginal note in the manuscript of Fuentes, stating
that 'this is false, because they had rebelled previous to the
arrival of the Spaniards and made their capital at Yampuk.'
_Fuentes y Guzman_, _Recordacion Florida_, MS., 12-3.
[XXVII-30] Fuentes asserts that they were wont to celebrate
their feasts, during which these victims were immolated, on
hills in full view of the Indians who were friendly to the
Spaniards, in order to provoke them.
[XXVII-31] Juarros assigns too early a date, January 1525,
for the events which follow, but he appears to be quite
unconscious of this first Cakchiquel revolt. _Guat._, ii. 281.
Jimenez has made a marginal note in the manuscript of Fuentes
as follows: 'This town,' meaning Xinaco, 'was founded some
time afterward—therefore this is false.'
[XXVII-32] Fuentes states that the Spaniards at this time were
engaged in the Atitlan war. _Recordacion Florida_, MS., 13.
This is a mistake. Atitlan was subdued in 1524, and Alvarado,
who gives a detailed account of the affair, would have
mentioned this war with the Zacatepecs had it occurred at that
time. Juarros says Alvarado was engaged in the Atitlan war or
that of the Pipiles. _Guat._, ii. 282. This latter conjecture
is doubtless right. There is evidence that Alvarado undertook
his second campaign along the coast against Salvador during
the early part of 1525, conquered the country, and founded
the city of San Salvador. No records of the events remain, but
from an act of the cabildo of Guatemala, dated the 6th of May,
1525, we learn that one Diego Holguin had previously left the
city to 'reside in the villa de San Salvador, of which he was
alcalde.' _Arévalo_, _Actas Ayunt. Guat._, 13.
[XXVII-33] Fuentes, followed by Juarros, states that this
was done by the advice of an aged Indian named Choboloc. He
had observed that the Spaniards did not engage with all their
forces at once, but always kept a body of men in reserve, and
suggested to the chiefs of his nation the adoption of similar
tactics.
[XXVII-34] _Fuentes y Guzman_, _Recordacion Florida_, MS.,
12-14; _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 281-3.
[XXVII-35] This ruler, says Gonzalo de Alvarado, displayed in
his person the nobility of his blood and was about 40 years
of age. _Alvarado, Gonzalo de_, _Memoria_, MS.; _Juarros_,
_Guat._, ii. 319.
[XXVII-36] The Cakchiquels are said to have applied the
word Mem to the Maya-speaking tribes. This word, meaning
'stutterers,' was corrupted by the Spaniards into Mames. They
occupied that portion of the country which lay between the
Quiché territory and Chiapas, now the province of Totonicapan.
See _Native Races_, ii. 128, v., passim.
[XXVII-37] The Hondo, during the dry season, is but a small
shallow stream. In the wet season, however, it becomes a deep
and dangerous river, hence its name, El Rio Hondo, 'the deep
river.'
[XXVII-38] _Macario_, _Xecul MS._, 16; _Juarros_, _Guat._,
ii. 311. The town still exists.
[XXVII-39] _Quiché MS._, 10; _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii. 311-13.
A city which remains to the present day under the same name.
[XXVII-40] Like Utatlan and Mixco, this city was situated on
a plateau surrounded by ravines. The plateau was twelve miles
in circumference, and on it are still to be seen the ruins of
Zakuléu, known by the name of Las Cuevas, the caves, about
half a league from Huehuetenango. They are only a confused
heap of rubbish, overgrown with brushwood. Two pyramidal
structures of stone and mortar can, however, be made out.
Juarros calls the place Socoleo, which is the present name
of a village and stream in the locality. _Guat._, ii. 313-14;
_Native Races_, iv. 128-30.
[XXVII-41] The Spaniards lost in this engagement 40 Indians
and three horses, while eight soldiers were severely wounded,
among them Gonzalo de Alvarado. They collected from the bodies
of the slain a great quantity of gold medals. _Alvarado,
Gonzalo de_, _Memoria_, MS.; _Juarros_, _Guat._ ii. 315-16.
[XXVII-42] The present Socoleo, a tributary of the river
Selegua.
[XXVII-43] This guard consisted of 400 Indians and ten picked
Spaniards, under command of Antonio de Salazar. _Juarros_,
_Guat._, ii. 317.
[XXVII-44] During the battle, which was fought in full view
of Zakuléu, the Mames attempted a sally in support of the
mountaineers but were repelled by Salazar. _Juarros_, _Guat._,
ii. 317.
[XXVII-45] Juarros adds that Gonzalo did not adopt this plan
at first for the reason that he wanted to avail himself of
his cavalry in the assault. _Guat._, ii. 318.
[XXVII-46] _Alvarado, Gonzalo de_, _Memoria_, MS.; _Juarros_,
_Guat._, ii. 319. Gonzalo de Alvarado affirms that 1800 Mames
perished in the defence of Zakuléu. _Id._
[XXVII-47] Juarros states that a stone slab formed the door
of the fort, and that this was broken up.
[XXVII-48] The authorities that have been consulted for the
history of the conquest of Guatemala are the following:
_Cortés_, _Cartas_ [ed. Paris, 1866], 289-90, 304-5,
containing information down to the departure of Alvarado for
Guatemala; _Alvarado_, _Relacion_, in _Barcia_, _Hist. Prim._,
157-66, and in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, série i., tom. x.,
107-50, taken as bases of that portion of the history which
includes the entrance into Guatemala territory and succeeding
events down to the founding of the city of Santiago; _Oviedo_,
iii. 448, 459-60, 475-87, wherein Cortés and Alvarado are
closely followed; _Peter Martyr_, dec. viii. cap. v., relating
mainly to the narrative of the messengers sent to Guatemala,
merely mentioning Alvarado's departure; _Gomara_, _Hist.
Mex._, 229-33; _Id._, _Hist. Ind._, 266-8, which affords but
little additional information to that supplied by Oviedo;
_Chimalpain_, _Hist. Conq._, ii. 100-5, 181-2; _Bernal
Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 77, 174-6; _Las Casas_, _Regio.
Ind. Devastat._, 35-40, and _Ixtlilxochitl_, _Horribles
Crueldades_, 66-71. The former of these two last authorities
is exceptionally severe against Alvarado, and enumerates
numbers of atrocities committed by him and his followers,
while the latter prominently brings forward the services of
the Mexican auxiliaries, and mentions the excessive hardships
and cruelties they suffered. _Id._, _Relaciones_, 431-3.
Herrera, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. viii.-xi., occasionally
differs from Alvarado's statements, but is generally reliable.
See also _Lorenzana_, _Viage_, in _Cortés_, _Hist. N. España_,
335-6, 369-70; _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, viii.
17; _Arévalo_, _Actas Ayunt. Guat._, 7-15; _Ramirez_, _Proceso
contra Alvarado_, passim—which work throws much light upon
the doings of the conqueror, though contradictory evidence
renders it ofttimes difficult to decide on the merits of a
charge; _Ramusio_, _Viaggi_, iii. 296-8; _Atitlan_, _Requête
de plusieurs chefs_, in _Ternaux-Compans_, série i., tom. x.,
415-25; _Suchimilco_, _Carta de sus caciques_, in _Pacheco_
and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, xii., 293-4; _Remesal_, _Hist.
Chyapa_, 2-7, an author unreliable so far as the conquest
of Guatemala goes when not supported by other authorities;
_Galvano's Discov._, 156-7; _Voyages, Selection of Curious,
Rare, and Early_, 31; _Fuentes y Guzman_, _Recordacion
Florida_, MS., 1-4, 12-19, 25-7, has many errors and is far
from reliable; _Vazquez_, _Chronica de Gvat._, 1-17, 68,
522-6; _Gonzalez Dávila_, _Teatro Ecles._, i. 139; _Juarros_,
_Guat._, i. 60, 64, 66-7, 79, 253; ii. 240-60, 277-88, 309-20;
_Id._ [ed. London, 1823], 10, 29-30, 124-6, 234-6, 378-404,
419-32, 456-69; _Pelaez_, _Mem. Guat._, i. 44-7, 64-5,
compiled from various authors, and is inaccurate. _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv. 612-719; _Prescott's Mex._,
iii. 273-4; _Help's Span. Conq._, iii. 242-74; _Calle_, _Mem.
y Not._, 113-5; _Salazar y Olarte_, _Conq. Mex._, 124-33;
_Niebla_, _Mem. de Zapotitlan_, MS., 7-8; _Larrainzar_,
_Hist. Soconusco_, 1-14, 17-8; _Zamacois_, _Hist. Méj._, iv.
167-74, 182; _Squier's MSS._, xvi.; _Squier's States Cent.
Am._, 323-30; _Ogilby's Am._, 236; _Dunn's Guat._, 261-4;
_Laet_, _Nov. Orb._, 317-46; _Astaburuaga_, _Cent. Am._,
9; _Larenaudière_, _Mex. and Guat._ [ed. Paris, 1843], 135,
277-85. Minor authorities also consulted are _Russell's Hist.
Am._, i. 389-91; _Robert's Narr. Voy._, xxi.; _Montanus_, _De
Nieuwe Weereld_, 273; _Crowe's Cent. Am._, 28-114; _Conder's
Mex. and Guat._, ii. 178, 183-9, 199, 297; _Drie Verscheyde
Togten_, 18-19, 25-34; _Haefkens_, _Cent. Am._, 5-19; _Holmes'
Annals Am._, i. 54; _North Am. Rev._, xxvi. 132-4; _Wagner_,
_Costa Rica_, 518-22; _Lardner's Hist. Discov._, ii. 61;
_Salvador_, _Diar. Ofic._, April, 1876; _Santos_, _Chronologia
Hospitalaria_, ii. 478; _Findlay's Directory_, i. 222;
_Modern Traveller_, _Mex. and Guat._, ii. 178-90; _Gac. Nic._,
June, 1865, 217; _Garcia_, _Reseña Geog._, 6-7; _Bussière_,
_L'Empire Hex._, 336-7; _Montúfar_, _Mem. Hist. Rev._, pp.
viii.-x.; _Pineda_, _Descripcion Geog._, 10; _Gordon's Anc.
Mex._, ii. 244; _Kerr's Col. Voy._, 221-34; _Vocabulario
Geog._, in _Cartas de Indias_, 674.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 6 - History of Central America, Volume 1, 1501-1530" ***
Copyright 2023 LibraryBlog. All rights reserved.