Spanish and Portuguese South America during the Colonial Period; Vol. 1

Pedrarias, on the day of his arrival, summoned Vasco Nuñez to his presence and held with him a long private conference, at which the historian Oviedo assisted. In accordance with the governor’s request, Vasco Nuñez gave an account in writing, in the course of two days, of his administration during the past three years. He likewise described the rivers and mountains where he had found gold, the caciques who were his allies, and his journey to the Southern Sea and to the Isle of Pearls. Having thus obtained the information which he required, and which Nuñez alone could furnish, Pedrarias next proceeded to take the residencia of the late captain-general, that is to say, he instituted an inquiry into his past conduct, the result being that for the injuries done to Enciso and others, Nuñez was condemned to pay a large amount, although he was acquitted of the criminal charges brought against him. The governor was now his declared enemy, and would have sent him in chains to Spain, to be tried for the death of Nicuesa, had he not been warned by the Bishop Quevedo, who was Nuñez’ friend, that his arrival in Spain would be the signal of his triumph, and that the result would in all probability be his return to Panamá with increased power and position. Nuñez had likewise found an advocate in the wife of the governor, who could not but admire his character and exploits. Under these circumstances it was thought better to detain him at Darien under a cloud. His property, which had been sequestrated, was, however, restored to him.

Nuñez, in his letter to the king, had advised the creation of settlements in the territories of Comagre, Ponca, and Pocorosa, with a view to establishing a line of posts across the mountains between Darien and the Southern Sea; and it was now determined to carry out this plan. Whilst preparations were being made with this view, the Spaniards who had accompanied Pedrarias began to suffer greatly from the effects of the climate, and were likewise sorely pressed by hunger. The colony had not been in any way prepared for such an accession to its numbers; nor were there any neighbouring friendly Indians on whom to fall back for a supply of provisions. Men brought up in luxury, and who were clad in fine raiment, were glad to procure herbs and roots, or were actually perishing from starvation. One of the principal hidalgos dropped down dead in the street, starved. Within a month’s time seven hundred men had perished, whilst Pedrarias himself was taken seriously ill. The provisions which had been brought out were now exhausted, and the horrors of famine stared the whole colony in the face. In this gloomy state of affairs Pedrarias was glad to give permission to a ship-load of starving adventurers to depart for Cuba and for Spain.

When the governor had recovered from his malady, he urged on the expeditions which he had planned; but he was careful not to permit Vasco Nuñez to acquire additional renown by taking part in them. That cavalier was still allowed to remain under the cloud of a judicial inquiry hanging over him. Notwithstanding the provision which had been made not to admit lawyers into the colony, the legal profession was at this time so flourishing at Darien that it was estimated that there were about forty lawsuits to each colonist.

Vasco Nuñez, oppressed by this inaction, determined to prosecute his plans on his own account, without reference to the governor; and he despatched one Garabito to Cuba to enlist men for an expedition across the mountains and to found a colony on the Southern Sea. Whilst Garabito was absent, Nuñez was condemned to behold his schemes ruined, owing alone to the incapacity and brutality of those entrusted by Pedrarias with the mission of carrying them out. Amongst the leaders employed by the governor was one Juan de Ayora, who was sent with four hundred men to build forts in the countries ruled over by Comagre, Pocorosa, and Tubanamá respectively. This officer proved himself an exceptional ruffian even amongst the Spanish transatlantic adventurers of the day. According to Oviedo, who was at this time notary of the colony, he not only demanded of the chiefs and their subjects the authorised requisitions to avert war, but, pouncing upon the caciques and principal men by night, he put them to the torture in quest of gold. Some he then caused to be put to death; others were given to be devoured by the dogs; whilst others again were reserved for new forms of torment. Their wives and daughters were taken from them, and were made slaves and concubines according to the good pleasure of this Ayora.

One of the first victims of this expedition was Comagre himself, the same youthful cacique who had given to Vasco Nuñez the earliest information of the existence of the sea beyond the mountains, and who had told him that a thousand men would be needed for its discovery. Little did he imagine that he himself would be one of the victims of the thousand men who had now been brought by his advice! The chiefs with whom Vasco Nuñez had cemented a friendship came forth in turn to lay their gold before Ayora. The valiant Tubanamá, being of a less submissive turn of mind, took to arms, but to no avail. Another cacique, having put his women and children in safety, laid wait in ambuscade and attacked the Spaniards, wounding Ayora himself.

The proceedings of Ayora towards another cacique are thus described by a lawyer sent on a mission of inquiry to the West Indies a few years later by Cardinal Ximenes. On the approach of the Spaniards, the cacique in question, under the belief that he was about to welcome his old friend Nuñez, had prepared for him the best entertainment within his means, including roast-meat, game, and wine. On his inquiring for the chief, Ayora was pointed out to him, but he replied that this was not Nuñez. He was, however, to become well acquainted with his present guest during their brief intercourse. After having partaken of his hospitality, Ayora sent for him and demanded gold. This not being forthcoming in sufficient quantity, the cacique was bound, upon which his vassals were desired by him to bring all the gold in their possession. The amount, however, did not satisfy the invader, who ordered the cacique to be burnt alive.7

Not being troubled as to the means he took to obtain it, it was but natural that this scoundrel should gather together a considerable quantity of gold; it is some satisfaction to the moral sense to know that neither Ayora nor any one else was any the better for it. The idea of delivering up his ill-gotten treasures was repugnant to the avarice of this robber, who secretly made off with them to sea and was never more heard of. The colony which he had founded at Santa Cruz met with no better fate. The garrison, having given much offence to the Indians, were beset at night by Pocorosa and his people; a desperate struggle ensued, but when morning broke, only five Spaniards were left alive to carry the tale to Darien. It may here be mentioned that Hurtado, who had been sent by Pedrarias to discover the causes in the delay of the return of Ayora, brought back with him to Darien a hundred peaceful Indians, of whom he disposed as slaves. A number of these had been lent to him as carriers by the cacique Careta, the friend and ally of Nuñez.

1515.

In a letter addressed to Vasco Nuñez, King Ferdinand expressed his high sense of his merits and services, and constituted him Adelantado of the Southern Sea, and governor of the provinces of Panamá and Coybá. He was, however, to be subordinate to Pedrarias. A letter was likewise written at the same time to the latter, informing him of this arrangement, and requiring him to consult with Vasco Nuñez upon all affairs of importance. This communication was a severe blow to the vanity of the jealous old man; and upon its receipt, he summoned a council to deliberate as to what action should be taken. It was finally arranged that the above-mentioned titles and dignities should be nominally conferred upon Nuñez, but that for the meantime he was not to enter into possession of the territories assigned to him.

At this critical moment Carabito, the agent of Nuñez, happened to return from Cuba with a vessel freighted with arms and ammunition, and having seventy men on board. He anchored at some distance from Darien, but sent word of his arrival to Nuñez, all of which became speedily known to Pedrarias. The suspicious mind of the latter taking the alarm, he at once ordered Nuñez to be seized and confined; but he was prevailed upon by the bishop to inquire into the matter calmly, the result being that, as nothing treasonable was proved against him, Nuñez was set at liberty.

The bishop next endeavoured to persuade Pedrarias to employ Vasco Nuñez on an expedition which he was about to despatch to the Southern Sea and to the Isle of Pearls. As, however, there was much credit and probably much wealth to be derived from it, Pedrarias preferred to give the command to his own kinsman, Morales, with whom he associated Francisco Pizarro, who had been in Nuñez’ expedition to the same region. Gaspar Morales accordingly started with sixty men, and traversed the mountains by a shorter route than that which had previously been taken. He arrived at the territories of a cacique named Tutibrá, where he left one-half of his men under Peñalosa, whilst with the remainder he set out in canoes for the Pearl Islands. On arriving at the Isla Rica, so named by Nuñez, they experienced a warm reception from the cacique, who sallied forth four times against them, but who was as often repulsed with loss. His warriors were paralysed by the firearms and the blood-hounds, and the cacique was at length obliged to sue for peace. He presented to his guests as a peace-offering a basket filled with pearls, two of them being of remarkable size and beauty. Taking Morales and Pizarro to the summit of a wooden tower, he pointed proudly to a long vista of islands subject to his sway, and promised his new friends as many pearls as they might desire so long as they should continue to give him their friendship.

Turning towards the mainland, which stretched away mountain upon mountain as far as the eye could reach, the communicative chief told his guests of a country of inexhaustible riches that lay in that direction. His words and suggestions were not lost upon one of the two men who listened to him. The cacique further agreed to become the vassal of the king of Castile, and to pay him an annual tribute of one hundred pounds weight of pearls. The party then returned to the mainland at another point than that at which they had embarked, when Morales sent a detachment of ten men to conduct Peñalosa and his party from the village of Tutibrá.

During the absence of the Spanish leaders at the islands, a conspiracy had been formed by a large number of the caciques along the coast to massacre the whole band of invaders. This measure was undoubtedly the result of grossly tyrannical conduct on the part of the Spaniards. By some writers the provocation is ascribed to Peñalosa; by others it is given to Morales himself, who is stated on one occasion to have come upon an Indian town or village in the midst of a festivity, when the men and women were seated apart, and to have taken advantage of the opportunity to capture the females. We shall not be far wrong if we assign both to Peñalosa and to Morales a full share of the enormities which brought about the conspiracy.

The party sent in quest of Peñalosa put up for the night in the village of one of the conspirators; but in the dead of night the house was wrapped in flames, and most of the strangers perished. There was at this time with the Spaniards under Morales a cacique named Chirucá, who, on learning of the above-mentioned massacre, instantly fled during the night. He was pursued and taken, and, on being put to the torture, confessed the whole conspiracy. Morales and Pizarro were appalled by the unsuspected danger into which they had fallen. They, however, compelled Chirucá to send a message to each of the caciques inviting him to a conference. The caciques fell into the snare, and eighteen of them were put in chains. At the same time Peñalosa with his thirty men arrived from Tutibrá. Being thus in strength, the Spaniards lost no time in attacking the unsuspecting Indians, of whom seven hundred were slain. The eighteen captive caciques, and likewise Chirucá, were given to the blood-hounds.

After the above-mentioned occurrence, Morales attacked by night a warlike cacique named Biru, setting fire to his town. The chief, who at first fled, soon turned upon his pursuers and fought for the entire day, which ended not much to the advantage of the Spaniards. In his retreat, Morales was harassed by the people of the twenty caciques whom he had caused to be slaughtered. Being much pressed, he had recourse to the expedient of stabbing his Indian captives at intervals as he went along, hoping thus to occupy and delay his pursuers. In this manner, says Oviedo, perished ninety or a hundred persons. Vasco Nuñez could not be called an over-scrupulous commander; but though in circumstances of difficulty he had to provide for the safety and wants of his men as best he could, he was by nature neither cruel nor treacherous. It would be an outrage to name him together with such men as Ayora and Morales, of which latter’s proceeding, just mentioned, he writes to the king that a more cruel deed had never been heard of.

For nine days the Spaniards were hunted about the woods and mountains, at the end of which time they found themselves at the point from which they had set out. It was all their commanders could do to prevent them from yielding to despair. Entering a thick forest, they were again assailed by Indians, with whom they now fought like wild beasts. They at length owed their safety to the fact of their surprising some canoes, in which they traversed the Gulf of St. Michael, landing at a less hostile locality, from which they again set out to cross the mountains. After incredible sufferings they returned to Darien, with the satisfaction of having brought with them their precious pearls from Isla Rica, one of which was afterwards presented to the Empress of Charles V.

Another expedition sent out by Pedrarias was still more unfortunate than that above referred to. It was commanded by Becerra, and consisted of one hundred and eighty men. Of this force the sole survivor was an Indian youth, who returned to Darien almost famished with hunger. His leader, he said, had entered by unknown ways the province of Cenú, where the Indians were fully prepared to receive him. His men were wounded by poisoned arrows; the paths were blocked by felled timber; and finally, when Becerra’s men, under the guidance of Indians, were crossing a great river, the latter contrived to destroy them all.

About this time the historian Oviedo became so disgusted with the intolerable conduct of his countrymen in the Isthmus of Darien, that he resolved to return to Spain for the purpose of giving information to the king, and in order that he might live in a country more secure for his conscience and his life. It is interesting to note that he was charged with complaints to the king by the governor against the bishop and by the bishop against the governor. Pedrarias too seems to have begun to take this state of things to heart. He ordered the melting-house to be closed, and, together with the bishop, caused public prayers to be offered up that God would remove his anger from the colony. Of evil deeds there was certainly enough to rouse the wrath of the Almighty. With one expedition sent out by Pedrarias under the Alcalde Mayor Espinosa, there was a Franciscan monk named San Roman. In writing to the head of the Dominicans, San Roman begs the latter, for the love of God, to speak to the authorities at San Domingo and urge them to provide a remedy for the Terra Firma, which these tyrants were destroying. This letter was given by Pedro de Cordova to Las Casas. On his return to Spain, the same Franciscan, it is to be hoped with some exaggeration, stated at Seville that in this expedition of Espinosa’s he had seen killed by the sword or thrown to the dogs above forty thousand souls. Espinosa returned with two thousand captives, all of whom are said to have perished at Darien.

We have seen so far the results of the policy of Pedrarias and his lieutenants as regards the inhabitants of the Isthmus. We have now to turn to his treatment of the most capable and distinguished Spaniard within the colony, namely, the Adelantado Vasco Nuñez de Balboa. In the midst of the general gloom in which the settlement of Darien was enveloped, Pedrarias was continually haunted by the fear that the able Adelantado would one day oust him from his office. Had the choice of a leader depended on the people, he knew that Nuñez would have been elected by acclamation; and he had but recently received proofs of the high estimation in which his services were regarded by the king. He was further aware of the gloomy tales of misrule and consequent misery which were being constantly sent to Spain with reference to his own government. Whilst Pedrarias was in this frame of mind, a new idea was presented to him by Bishop Quevedo, the fast friend of Nuñez, who suggested a matrimonial alliance between the Adelantado and the governor’s daughter. The suggestion seemed to be a happy one and was readily accepted by both parties, a regular contract being entered into, and the young lady being sent for from Spain.

1516.

Vasco Nuñez was now the ally of the governor, whose jealousy was lost sight of in his desire to further the interests of his daughter’s future husband. Nuñez was authorised to build brigantines and to make the necessary preparations for an expedition of discovery on the Southern Sea. A town named Acla was founded at a point to the west of Darien, whence there was supposed to be the most convenient route across the mountains. Here Nuñez commenced his operations, having two hundred men placed under his command and being aided by an advance from the treasury. He was also assisted with funds by a notary of Darien, named Hernando de Arguello. Nuñez pursued his undertaking with his accustomed energy, and had in a short time constructed the materials of four brigantines. The timber was felled in the forest of Acla, and was then, with the anchors and rigging, transported to the opposite shore of the Isthmus. On this service were engaged Spaniards, negroes, and Indians. As there were no other roads save Indian paths through the primeval forests or up the rugged defiles, the work of transportation was similar to that with which the journals of Mr. Stanley in Africa have made us familiar in our own day. Many of the Indians perished over the task; but at length the ponderous loads were conveyed to a river which flowed into the Pacific.

Even then the labours of Nuñez and his men were far from being complete; for, with all their trouble, the Spaniards found that the timber which they had brought at such cost of labour and of life was useless, being worm-eaten from having been cut near salt water. They were obliged, therefore, to fell trees near the river and begin their work afresh. But the perseverance and good management of Nuñez at length overcame every difficulty. As food was scarce he divided his people into three bands, assigning to one the task of foraging for provisions, to another that of cutting and sawing the timber, and to the third that of bringing the rigging and the ironwork from Acla.

The patience of the working party was still further to be tried; for when the rainy season set in, the river rose so rapidly that the workmen had barely time to save their lives by climbing the nearest trees. The wood on which they had expended so much labour was either buried out of sight or carried away by the torrent. The same cause prevented the foraging party from returning with food; and the workmen were thus reduced to feed on roots. In this extremity the Spaniards owed their relief to the ingenuity of the Indians, who contrived to fasten a number of logs together, thus making a floating bridge on which they were able to cross to the opposite bank, where they procured provisions.

When the river had subsided, the workmen resumed their operations; and, after immense toil, Vasco Nuñez had the satisfaction of seeing two of the brigantines afloat on the river Balsas. As soon as they could be fitted and manned for sea, he embarked in them with his companions on the mighty ocean which he had been the first European to discover. His first cruise was to the Pearl Islands, on one of which he disembarked the greater part of his men, sending back his vessels for the remainder. On their arrival, taking a hundred men with him, he set out on a reconnoitering cruise to the eastward, in the direction to which the natives pointed as being that of the land which abounded in gold. Nuñez and his party sailed for about twenty leagues beyond the Gulf of San Miguel, the seamen being alarmed at the number of whales which they met with. On this account he anchored for the night, intending to continue his cruise in the same direction next day. But when daylight came the wind had changed, whereupon he steered for land. It was at the point where a party of Spaniards under Morales had recently been massacred; and as the Indians were disposed to fight, Nuñez took vengeance upon them for the slaughter of his countrymen, after which he re-embarked and returned to Isla Rica.

Nuñez resolved to build his remaining brigantines at this island, and accordingly despatched men to Acla to bring the necessary rigging. It was at this time that a rumour reached him of the appointment of a new governor to supersede Pedrarias. His relations with the latter were now so good that he was not a little disturbed by the rumour in question, since it was possible that the new governor might put a stop to the exploring expedition which he contemplated, or might entrust the command of it to some other person. Under these circumstances, he held a consultation with some of his friends as to what had better be done, and the fact that part of this conversation was overheard by a sentry who had taken refuge from the rain in the verandah of Nuñez’ house, had an important bearing upon the fate of that cavalier. It was agreed that a trusty person should be sent to Acla, seemingly on business. Should he find that there was no foundation for the rumour of the coming of a new governor, he was to explain to Pedrarias the progress of their operations, and to request further assistance. In the opposite event he was to return forthwith to Isla Rica; for in that case it had been determined that Nuñez and his party should put to sea at once on their expedition of discovery.

The messenger chosen to go to Acla was Garabito, the same who had been sent by Nuñez to Cuba for recruits. It is stated that this man was possessed by a secret enmity to Nuñez, on account of having been discovered and rebuked by the latter for his attentions to the daughter of the Cacique Careta, who all this time had lived with Nuñez, and to whom he is said to have been much attached. It is even said that Garabito in his jealousy went so far as to send an anonymous letter to Pedrarias, stating that Nuñez had no intention of marrying his daughter, and that he was merely playing a part to gain time. It is certain that Garabito, on his arrival at Acla, basely betrayed his confiding friend.

A new governor had indeed been sent out from Spain to supersede Pedrarias; but he had died in the harbour of Darien. From Garabito Pedrarias had no difficulty in extracting all the information which he possessed, and, further, all that he conjectured respecting the plans of Nuñez. In fact, the suspicions of the jealous old governor had been thoroughly aroused afresh. The latter had made a lamentable mistake in allowing so long an interval to elapse without sending to his chief a report of the progress of his expedition, and there were not wanting at Darien jealous and mischief-making persons still further to irritate the governor’s mind against him.