chapter 140

, that he discovered 200 leagues beyond Paria, and the coast from Paria to Cuquibacoa, which is now Venezuela. I have added as far as Cabo de la Vela, because I found it so deposed in the process by several witnesses who afterwards knew all that land well, had intercourse with the discoverers, and went with them in their voyages of discovery, though not in that voyage of Hojeda; but the testimony was given when the events were recent, and consequently well known. Hojeda himself did not mention Cabo de la Vela, because it is near the Gulf of Venezuela, and is all one land; and of the gulf and province he made principal mention, as a thing notable and important, and called by the natives Cuquibacoa.

Along all this land or sea-coast traversed by Hojeda, Americo, and his company, they got gold and pearls by barter and exchange, but the quantity is not known, nor the deeds they perpetrated in the land. Having left Margarita, they went to Cumana and Maracapana, which are respectively seven and twenty leagues from Margarita. There are people on the sea-shore, and before reaching Cumana there is a gulf where the water of the sea forms a great angle extending fourteen leagues into the land, round which there are numerous and populous tribes. The first, nearly at the mouth of the bay, is Cumana. A large river falls into the sea near the village, in which there are numbers of the creatures we call _lagartos_, but they are nothing more than the crocodiles of the river Nile. As they were under the necessity of refitting the ships, they being defective for so long a voyage as a return to Spain, and also being in want of provisions, they arrived at a port which Americo calls the best in the world. But he does not say where it was, nor does he mention Hojeda. According to what I remember forty-three years after having been there, and over fifty years since the voyage of Hojeda, I suspect that it must be a gulf called Cariaco, which runs fourteen leagues into the land, the entrance being seven leagues from Margarita, on the mainland near Cumana. Further, it occurs to me that I heard that at that time Hojeda entered and repaired his ships, and built a brigantine in the port called Maracapana, but this, though a port, is not the best in the world.

At last they left the port, wherever it may have been, within those 200 leagues of mainland from Paria onwards. They were received and served by the people of that region, who were innumerable, according to Americo, as if they had been angels from heaven, and as Abraham had known the three, so they were recognised as angels. They unloaded the ships and brought them to land, always helped by the labour of the Indians. They careened and cleared them, and built a new brigantine. They say that during all the time that they were there, which was thirty-seven days, they never had any need of touching their Castillian provisions, because they were supplied with deer, fish, native bread, and other food; and if they had not been so provided, says Americo, they would have been in great distress for provisions in returning to Spain. During all the time they were there they went on shore among the villages, in which they were received with hospitality, honour, and festivity. This is certain (as will be seen further on in the course of the history, if it please the all-powerful God), that all these people of the Indies, being by nature most simple and kind, know well how to serve and please those who come to them, when they look upon them as friends. When after having repaired their ships and built the brigantine they determined to return to Spain, Americo here says that their hosts made great complaints of another cruel and ferocious tribe, inhabiting an island at a distance of 100 leagues; saying that they came at a certain time of the year over the sea, to make war, and that they carried off their captives, killing and eating them. They showed their grief with so much feeling and persistency, says Americo, that it moved us to compassion, and we offered to avenge them. This made them rejoice greatly, says Americo, and they said they would like to go also. But the Christians, for many reasons, would only consent that seven natives should accompany them, on condition that they should not be taken back to their country in the ships, but that they should return in their own canoes, and to this, he says, both parties consented. I do not know what interpreter made these agreements, nor who understood all that was said, but it is obvious that they could not have known the language in thirty-seven days. And how could Hojeda and Americo, and those of their company, know whether the islanders had just cause for war or not? Were these men so certain of the justice of the natives that, without further delay, merely because they made complaints, they offered to avenge them? Pray God that they did not make this war to fill up their ships with natives, with a view to selling them for slaves, as they afterwards did in Cadiz; work too often done by our people against these unfortunate tribes and lands. They set out, and after seven days they came upon numerous islands, some peopled and others uninhabited, says Americo, at last arriving at their destination. These islands cannot be others than those we reach in coming from Spain, such as Dominica and Guadalupe, and the others that lie in that line. Presently they saw, he says, a great crowd of people, who, when they saw the ships and the boats approaching the shore well armed with guns, sent a body of 400 to the water's edge, with many women, naked and armed with bows and arrows and shields, and all painted in different colours, and adorned with wings and feathers of large birds, so that they appeared very warlike and fierce. When the boats had approached to the distance of a cross-bow shot, they advanced into the water, and discharged a great number of arrows to prevent their advance. The Christians discharged the firearms and killed many of them, and fearing the discharge and the firing, they left the water and came on shore. A body of forty-two men then landed from the boats and attacked them. The natives did not fly, but stood their ground manfully, and fought valiantly like lions, defending themselves and their country. They fought for two long hours, first with their guns and cross-bows, and afterwards with their swords and lances, killing many; and that they might not all perish, those of the natives who were able, fled into the woods. Thus the Christians remained victorious, and they returned to their ships with great joy at having sent so many people to hell who had never offended them. On another day, in the morning, they saw a great multitude of natives, making the air resound with horns and trumpets, painted and armed for a second battle.

The Christians determined to send fifty-seven men against them, divided into four companies, each with a captain, intending, says Americo, to make friends with them if possible, but if not, to treat them as enemies, and to make slaves of as many as they could take. This is said by Americo, and it is to be noted here how he makes a pretext of truth and justice and legality, when the Spaniards had promised to go a hundred leagues on a message of war and vengeance. Yet they would come to treat of friendship with the natives, seeking occasion to gratify their covetousness, which was what they came for from Castille. Such are the pretexts and unworthy artifices that have always been used for the destruction of these natives.

They went on shore, but the Indians, owing to the fire from the guns, did not venture to oppose their landing, yet they awaited them with great steadiness. The naked men fought against the clothed men with great valour for a long time, but the clothed made a fearful slaughter among the naked men, the swords taking great effect on their naked bodies. The survivors fled when they saw that they were being cut to pieces. The Christians pursued them to a village, capturing all they could, to the number of twenty-five. They returned with their victory, but with the loss of one killed and twenty-two wounded. They then sent away the seven natives who had come with them from the mainland. They departed, says Americo, taking with them as prisoners seven natives given to them by the Spaniards, three men and four women, as their captives, and they were very joyful, admiring that deed performed by the forces of the Christians. All this is related by Americo, who adds that they returned to Spain and arrived at Cadiz with 222 Indian captives, where they were, according to him, very joyfully received, and where they sold all the slaves. Who will now ask whence they stole and carried off the 200 natives? This, as other things, is passed over in silence by Americo. It should be noted here by readers who know something of what belongs to right and natural justice, that although these natives are without faith, yet those with whom Americo went had neither just cause nor right to make war on the natives of those islands and to carry them off as slaves, without having received any injury from them, nor the slightest offence. Moreover, they were ignorant whether the accusations of those of the mainland against the islanders were just or unjust. What report, or what love would be spread about and sown among the natives, touching those Christians, when they left them wounded and desolate? But we must proceed, for, touching this matter, _grandis restat nobis via_.

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