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