De Orbe Novo Part 15

BOOK VI

In the general a.s.sembly convoked shortly afterwards, the colonists unanimously decided to send an envoy to Hispaniola to ask for reinforcements and for the appointment of a judge. The same envoy would go on to Spain where he would first explain to the Admiral and his officers and afterwards to the King, all that had happened, and would seek to persuade his Majesty to send the thousand soldiers the son of Comogre had declared would be necessary for the expedition across the mountains to the South Sea. Vasco Nunez sought to be chosen for this mission, but his companions refused him their votes, and his adherents would not allow him to go; not only because they would have felt themselves abandoned, but because they suspected that once out of it, Vasco would not return to such a furnace of calamities, following the example of Valdivia and Zamudio, whom they had sent off in the month of January, and who, they thought, had no intention of returning. In this latter they were wrong, as we shall show in the proper place, for those men were dead.

After several ballotings without result, the colonists finally chose a certain Juan Quevedo, a serious man of mature age, who was agent of the royal treasury in Darien. They had full confidence that Quevedo would conduct this business successfully, and they counted on his return because he had brought his wife with him to the new world and was leaving her in the colony as a pledge. As soon as Quevedo was elected, several opinions concerning an a.s.sociate for him were expressed. Some people said it was risky to trust such an important affair to one man; not that they mistrusted Quevedo, but human life is uncertain, particularly if one considers that people accustomed to a climate near the equator would be exposed on returning northwards to frequent changes of climate and food. It was necessary, therefore, to provide an a.s.sociate for Quevedo, so that, if one died the other might survive and if both escaped death, the King would place more confidence in their dual report. Much time was spent in debating this point, and finally they decided to choose Roderigo Colmenares, whose name I have frequently mentioned. He was a man of large experience; in his youth he had travelled by land and sea over all Europe, and he had taken part in the Italian wars against the French. What decided the colonists to choose Colmenares was the fact that, if he left, they could count on his return, because he had purchased properties in Darien and had spent large sums in planting. He hoped to sell his crops as they stood, and to obtain the gold of his companions in exchange. He therefore left the care of his estates to a citizen of Madrid, a certain Alonzo Nunez, who was his comrade. This man was a judge, and had almost been chosen by the colonists as an envoy in place of his friend Colmenares; and indeed he would have been elected but that one of his companions explained that he had a wife at Madrid.

It was feared, therefore, that the tears of his wife might prevent him from ever returning, so Colmenares, being free, was chosen as the a.s.sociate of Quevedo. There being no larger ship at their disposal, both men sailed on a brigantine, the fourth day of the calends of November in the year of grace 1512.

During their voyage they were buffeted by many tempests, and were finally dashed upon the western coast of that large island which for a long time was thought to be a continent, and which in my First Decade I explained was called Cuba. They were reduced to the most extreme want, for three months had elapsed since they left Darien. They were, therefore, forced to land to seek some a.s.sistance from the islanders, and by chance they approached on that side of the island where Valdivia had also been driven ash.o.r.e by tempests. Ah! unhappy creatures! you colonists of Darien, who await the return of Valdivia to a.s.suage your sufferings. Hardly had he landed before he and his companions were ma.s.sacred by the Cubans, the caravel broken to pieces and left upon the sh.o.r.e. Upon beholding some planks of that caravel half buried in the sand, the envoys bewailed the death of Valdivia and his companions. They found no bodies, for these had either been thrown into the sea, or had served as food for the cannibals, for these latter frequently made raids in Cuba in order to procure human flesh.

Two islanders who had been captured, related the death of Valdivia, which had been brought about by the love of gold. These islanders confessed that, having learned from the talk of one of Valdivia's companions that he had gold, they had plotted to a.s.sa.s.sinate him because they too loved gold necklaces.

Horrified by this catastrophe, and feeling themselves unable to avenge their companions the Spaniards decided to fly from that barbarous land and the monstrous cruelty of those savages. They therefore continued their voyage, stunned by the ma.s.sacre of their companions and suffering severely from want. After leaving the southern coast of Cuba behind them, a thousand untoward events still further delayed them.

They learned that Hojeda had also landed and that he had been driven by storms upon these coasts, where he led a wretched existence. He endured a thousand annoyances and a thousand different kinds of sufferings. After having suffered the loss of his companions or witnessed them gasping from hunger, he had been carried to Hispaniola almost alone.

He arrived there hardly alive, and died from the effects of the wound he had received from the natives of Uraba. Enciso, the judge elect, had sailed along this same coast, but with better fortune, for he had had favourable weather.

He himself told me these things at Court, and he added that the natives of Cuba had received him kindly, especially the people of a certain cacique called El Comendador [the Commander]. When this chief was about to be baptised by some Christians who were pa.s.sing through, he asked them how the governor of the neighbouring island of Hispaniola was called, and he was answered that he was called El Comendador.[1] The governor of that island was at that period, an ill.u.s.trious knight of the Order of Calatrava, and the knights of that Order take the t.i.tle of Commander. The cacique promptly declared that he wished to be called El Comendador; and he it was who had given hospitality to Enciso, when he landed, and had supplied all his wants.

[Note 1: Don Nicholas de Ovando, Comendador de Lares, and later Grand Master of the Order of Calatrava.]

According to Enciso, now is the time, Most Holy Father from whom we receive our religion and our beliefs, to preach to the islanders. An unknown sailor,[2] who was ill, had been left by some Spaniards who were coasting the length of Cuba, with the cacique El Comendador, and this sailor was very kindly received by the cacique and his people.

When he recovered his health, he frequently served the cacique as lieutenant in his expeditions, for the islanders are often at war one with another; and El Comendador was always victorious. The sailor was an ignorant creature, but a man of good heart, who cultivated a peculiar devotion for the Blessed Virgin, Mother of G.o.d. He even carried about him, as constantly as his clothes, a picture of the Blessed Virgin, very well painted on paper, and he declared to El Comendador that it was because of it that he was always victorious.

He also persuaded the latter to abandon the zemes the people adored, because he declared that these nocturnal goblins were the enemies of souls, and he urged the cacique to choose for his patron the Virgin Mother of G.o.d, if he desired all his undertakings, both in peace and in war, to succeed. The Virgin Mother of G.o.d was never deaf to the invocation of her holy name by a pure heart. The sailor obtained a ready hearing from these naked islanders. Upon the request of the cacique he gave him the image of the Virgin, and consecrated a church and an altar to it. The zemes, whom their ancestors had worshipped were abandoned. These zemes, Most Holy Father, are the idols made out of cotton, of which I have spoken at length in the tenth book of my First Decade. Following the instructions of the sailor, the cacique El Comendador and all his people of both s.e.xes went each day at sunset to the chapel dedicated to the Virgin. Entering, they knelt, and reverently bowing their heads and joining their hands they saluted the image by repeated invocations, _Ave Maria, Ave Maria_; for there were very few who had learnt the whole prayer.

[Note 2: Las Casas tells an identical story concerning Alonso de Hojeda, who gave an image of the Blessed Virgin to a cacique of Cueyba. During the campaign which ended in the conquest of Cuba, Las Casas offered to trade a Flemish statue for the one Hojeda had left there, but the cacique refused, and taking his image, he fled into the woods, lest he should be forced to exchange. The two stories, doubtless, refer to the same incident, though it seems strange that Peter Martyr should not have identified Hojeda as the "unknown sailor." See Las Casas, _Hist. de las Indias_, tom, iv., cap. xix.: _B. Las Casas, his Life, his Apostolate, and his Writings_, cap iv.]

When Enciso and his companions landed there, the Indians took them by the hands and joyfully led them to the chapel, declaring that they were going to show them something wonderful. They pointed to the holy image surrounded, as though with a garland, by dishes full of food and drink. They offered these presents to the image just as they formerly did in their own religion to the zemes. They say that by such offerings they provide for the image in case it should be hungry, for they believe that it might suffer from hunger.

Listen now to a most curious story concerning the a.s.sistance they believe they have received from that image of the Blessed Virgin, and by my faith, Most Holy Father, one would willingly believe it to be true. According to the report of our men, the effect of the fervent piety which animates those simple souls for the Blessed Virgin Mother of G.o.d is such, that they almost constrain her to come down from heaven to help them whenever they weaken in a struggle. Has not G.o.d left pity, love, and charity amongst men, by the practice of which they may merit His grace and that of the heavenly host? The Virgin could never abandon those who with pure heart invoke her aid. Now El Comendador and all his chiefs declared to Enciso and his companions, that when the sailor had carried the holy image with him into battle in full view of both armies, the zemes of the enemy turned their heads and trembled in the presence of the image of the Virgin; for it is the custom for each army to carry its own protecting zemes into battle.

Not only had they beheld the holy image but also a woman, robed in fair white draperies, who, in the heat of the battle, sustained them against their enemies. The latter also declared that there had appeared opposite to them a woman with menacing face, carrying a sceptre, who encouraged the opposing army and that this apparition made them tremble with fear.

El Comendador declared that after the sailor had been taken away by some Christians who had landed at that place, he had faithfully obeyed his instructions. He further related that a heated altercation had broken out with his neighbours, as to which of the zemes was most powerful. The controversy led to frequent conflicts, in which the Blessed Virgin had never failed them, but had appeared in every battle, grasping the victory with her small hands from the most formidable of the hostile forces. The Spaniards asked what their war cry was, and they replied that, in obedience to the instructions of the sailor they only shouted, in the Spanish language, "St. Mary to the rescue!" It was the only language the sailor spoke. In the midst of these cruel wars they made the following agreement; instead of putting a fixed number of champions into the field, as was often done by the armies of other nations of antiquity, or instead of settling their disputes by arbitration, two young men of each tribe should have their hands tied behind their backs as tightly as he who bound them chose. They would then be led to a lofty place, and the zemes of the tribe whose champion most quickly undid his bonds should be acclaimed as the most powerful. The agreement was made, and the young men of both sides were thus bound. El Comendador's people tied their adversary, while their enemies tied one of his men. Three different times the trial was repeated, and each time after invoking their zemes, the young men tried to free themselves from their bonds. El Comendador's champions repeated the invocation, "St. Mary, help me, St. Mary, help me!" and immediately the Virgin, robed in white, appeared. She drove away the demon, and touching the bonds of the Christian champion with the wand she carried, not only was he at once freed, but the bonds were added to those of his opponent, so that the enemy found the young Christian not only free, but their own champion with double bonds. They were not content with this first defeat, and attributed it to some human trickery which they did not believe demonstrated the superiority of the divinity. They therefore asked that four men of venerable age and tried morality should be chosen from each tribe, and should stand on either side of each young man, in order to verify whether or not there was any trickery. O what purity of soul and blessed simplicity, worthy of the golden age!

El Comendador and his advisers yielded to this condition with a confidence equal to that with which the sufferer from an effusion of blood sought the remedy for his malady; or Peter, whose place, Most Holy Father, you occupy, marched upon the waves when he beheld our Lord. The conditions being accepted, the young men were bound and the eight judges took their places. The signal was given, and each one called upon his zemes, to come to his a.s.sistance. The two champions beheld the zemes with a long tail and an enormous mouth furnished with teeth and horns just like the images. This devil sought to untie the young man who was acting as his champion, but at the first invocation of the Comendador the Virgin appeared. The judges, with wide open eyes and attentive minds, waited to see what would happen. She touched the devil with the wand she was carrying and put him to flight, afterwards causing the bonds of her champion to transfer themselves to the body of his adversary. This miracle struck terror into the Comendador's enemies, and they recognised that the zemes of the Virgin was more powerful than their own.

The consequence of this event was, that when the news spread that Christians had landed in Cuba, the Comendador's neighbours, who were his bitter enemies, and had often made war upon him, sent to Enciso asking for priests to baptise them. Enciso immediately despatched two priests who were with him, and in one day one hundred and thirty men of the Comendador's enemies were baptised and became his firm friends and allies. We have in another place noted that chickens had greatly increased in the country, owing to the care of our compatriots. Each native who had received baptism presented the priest with a c.o.c.k or a hen, but not with a capon, because they have not yet learned to castrate the chickens and make capons of them. They also brought salted fish and cakes made of fresh flour. Six of the neophytes accompanied the priests when they returned to the coasts, carrying these presents, which procured the Spaniards a splendid Easter. They had left Darien only two days before the Sunday of St. Lazarus, and Easter overtook them when they were doubling the last promontory of Cuba. In response to the pet.i.tion of the Comendador they left with him a Spaniard, who volunteered for the purpose of teaching the cacique's subjects and their neighbours the Angelic Salutation, their idea being that the more words of the prayer to the Virgin they knew, the better disposed she would be to them.

Enciso agreed, after which he resumed his course to Hispaniola, which was not far distant. From thence he betook himself to the King, who was then in residence at Valladolid, where I talked intimately with him. Enciso seriously influenced the King against the adventurer Vasco Nunez, and secured his condemnation. I have wished, Most Holy Father, to furnish you these particulars concerning the religion of the natives. They reach me not only from Enciso, but from a number of other most trustworthy personages. I have done this, that Your Beat.i.tude might be convinced of the docility of this race, and the ease with which they might be instructed in the ceremonies of our religion. Their conversion is not to be accomplished from one day to another, and it is only little by little that they will accept the evangelical law, of which you are the dispenser. Thus shall you see the number of the sheep composing your flock increased each day. But let us return to the story of the envoys from Darien.

BOOK VII

The journey from Darien to Hispaniola may be made in eight days or even less, if the wind is astern. Because of storms the envoys occupied a hundred days in crossing. They stopped some days at Hispaniola where they transacted their business with the Admiral and the other officials, after which they embarked on the merchant vessels which lay ready freighted and plied between Hispaniola and Spain. It was not, however, till the calends of May of the year after their departure from Darien, that they arrived at the capital. Quevedo and Colmenares, the two envoys of the colonists of Darien, arrived there on the fifteenth of May, of the year 1513. Coming as they did from the Antipodes, from a country hitherto unknown and inhabited by naked people, they were received with honour by Juan de Fonseca, to whom the direction of colonial affairs had been entrusted. In recognition of his fidelity to his sovereigns, other popes have successively bestowed on him the bishoprics of Beca, afterwards Cordova, Palencia, and Rosano; and Your Holiness has just now raised him to the bishopric of Burgos. Being the first Almoner and Counsellor of the King's household, Your Holiness has in addition appointed him commissary general for the royal indulgences, and the crusade against the Moors.

Quevedo and Colmenares were presented by the Bishop of Burgos to the Catholic King, and the news they brought pleased his Majesty and all his courtiers, because of their extreme novelty. A look at these men is enough to demonstrate the insalubrious climate and temperature of Darien, for they are as yellow as though they suffered from liver complaint, and are puffy, though they attribute their condition to the privations they have endured. I heard about all they had done from the captains Zamudio and Enciso; also through another bachelor of laws, called Baecia, who had scoured those countries; also from the ship's captain Vincent Yanez [Pinzon], who was familiar with those coasts; from Alonzo Nunez and from a number of subalterns who had sailed along those coasts, under the command of these captains. Not one of those who came to Court failed to afford me the pleasure, whether verbally or in writing, of reporting to me everything he had learned. True it is that I have been neglectful of many of those reports, which deserved to be kept, and have only preserved such as would, in my opinion, please the lovers of history. Amidst such a ma.s.s of material I am obliged necessarily to omit something in order that my narrative may not be too diffuse.

Let us now relate the events provoked by the arrival of the envoys.

Before Quevedo and Colmenares arrived, the news had already been spread of the dramatic end of the first leaders, Hojeda, Nicuesa, and Juan de la Cosa, that ill.u.s.trious navigator who had received a royal commission as pilot. It was known that the few surviving colonists at Darien were in a state of complete anarchy, taking no heed to convert the simple tribes of that region to our religion and giving no attention to acquiring information regarding those countries. It was therefore decided to send out a representative who would deprive the usurpers of the power they had seized without the King's license, and correct the first disorders. This mission was entrusted to Pedro Arias d'Avila, a citizen of Segovia, who was called in Spain by the nickname of _El Galan_, because of his prowess in the jousts. No sooner was this news published at the Court than the envoys from Darien attempted to deprive Pedro Arias of the command. There were numerous and pressing pet.i.tions to the King to accomplish this; but the first Almoner, the Bishop of Burgos whose business it is to stop such intrigues, promptly spoke to the King when informed of this one, in the following terms:

"Pedro Arias, O Most Catholic King, is a brave man, who has often risked his life for Your Majesty, and who we know by long experience is well adapted to command troops. He signally distinguished himself in the wars against the Moors, where he comported himself as became a valiant soldier and a prudent officer. In my opinion, it would be ungracious to withdraw his appointment in response to the representations of envious persons. Let this good man, therefore, depart under fortunate auspices; let this devoted pupil of Your Majesty, who has lived from infancy in the palace, depart."

The King, acting on the advice of the Bishop of Burgos, confirmed the appointment of Pedro Arias, and even increased the powers conferred upon him. Twelve hundred soldiers were raised by the Bishop of Burgos, at the royal expense, to form the troop of Pedro Arias who, with the majority of them, left the Court at Valladolid about the calends of October, in the year 1513, for Seville, a town celebrated for its numerous population and its wool. It was at Seville that the royal agents were to equip the remainder of his soldiers and deliver to him the provisions and everything necessary for such a great enterprise.

For it is there that the King has established his office charged exclusively with colonial affairs. All the merchants, coming and going, appear there to render account of the cargoes they have brought from the new countries, and of the gold they export. This office is called India House.[1]

[Note 1: _Domum Indicae Contractationis vocant. Casa de Contractacion_, or Casa de Indias.]

Pedro Arias found two thousand young soldiers in excess of his number awaiting him at Seville; he likewise found a goodly number of avaricious old men, the majority of whom asked merely to be allowed to follow him at their own cost, without receiving the royal pay. Rather than overcrowd his ships and to spare his supplies, he refused to take any of the latter. Care was taken that no foreigner should mingle with the Spaniards, without the King's permission, and for this reason I am extremely astonished that a certain Venetian, Aloisio Cadamosto, who has written a history of the Portuguese, should write when mentioning the actions of the Spaniards, "We have done; we have seen; we have been"; when, as a matter of fact, he has neither done nor seen any more than any other Venetian. Cadamos...o...b..rrowed and plagiarised whatever he wrote, from the first three books of my first three Decades, that is to say, those which I addressed to the Cardinals Ascanio and Arcimboldo, who were living at the time when the events I described were happening. He evidently thought that my works would never be given to the public, and it may be that he came across them in the possession of some Venetian amba.s.sador; for the most ill.u.s.trious Senate of that Republic sent eminent men to the Court of the Catholic Kings, to some of whom I willingly showed my writings. I readily consented that copies should be taken. Be that as it may, this excellent Aloisio Cadamosto has sought to claim for himself what was the work of another. He has related the great deeds of the Portuguese, but whether he witnessed them, as he pretends, or has merely profited by the labour of another, I am unable to state. _Vivat et ipse marte suo_.

n.o.body, who had not been enrolled by the royal agents, as a soldier, in the King's pay was allowed to go on board the vessels of Pedro Arias. In addition to these regulars there were some others, including one Francisco Cotta, a compatriot of mine, and thanks to a royal order I obtained for him, he was allowed to go to the New World as a volunteer with Pedro Arias. But for this he would not have been permitted to depart. Now let the Venetian, Cadamosto, go on and write that he has seen everything, while I, who for twenty-six years have lived, not without credit, at the Court of the Catholic King, have only been able by the greatest efforts to obtain authorisation for one foreigner to sail. Some Genoese, but very few, and that at the instance of the Admiral, son of the first discoverer of those countries, succeeded in obtaining a like authorisation; but to no one else was permission granted.

Pedro Arias sailed from Seville on the Guadalquivir to the sea, in the first days of the year 1514.[2] His departure took place under evil auspices, for such a furious storm broke over the fleet that two vessels were shattered to pieces, and the others were obliged to lighten themselves by throwing overboard some of their stores. The crews which survived returned to the coast of Spain, where the King's agents promptly came to their a.s.sistance and they were enabled again to set forth. The pilot of the flagship appointed by the King was Giovanni Vespucci, a Florentine, nephew of Amerigo Vespucci, who had inherited his uncle's great ability in the art of navigation and taking reckonings. We recently learned from Hispaniola that the crossing had been favourable, and a merchant ship, returning from the neighbouring islands, had encountered the fleet.

[Note 2: The expedition sailed on April 14, 1514.]

As Galeazzo Butrigario and Giovanni Accursi who, to please Your Holiness, constantly urge me on, are sending a courier who will deliver my ocean Nereids, however imperfect they may be, to Your Beat.i.tude, I shall save time by leaving out many particulars and shall only mention what, in my opinion, is worthy to be recorded and which I have not reported at the time it happened.

The wife of the captain Pedro Arias, by name Elizabeth Bobadilla, is the grandniece on the father's side of the Marchioness Bobadilla de Moia, who opened the gates of Segovia to the friends of Isabella when the Portuguese were invading Castile, thus enabling them to hold out and later to take the offensive against the Portuguese; and still later to defeat them. King Henry, brother of Queen Isabella, had in fact taken possession of the treasures of that town. During her entire life, whether in time of war or in time of peace, the Marchioness de Moia displayed virile resolution, and it was due to her counsels that many great deeds were done in Castile. The wife of Pedro Arias, being niece of this marchioness, and inspired by courage equal to that of her aunt, spoke to her husband on his departure for those unknown lands, where he would encounter real perils, both on sea and on land, in the following terms:

"My dear husband, we have been united from our youth, as I think, for the purpose of living together and never being separated. Wherever destiny may lead you, be it on the tempestuous ocean or be it among the hardships that await you on land, I should be your companion.

There is nothing I would more fear, nor any kind of death that might threaten me, which would not be more supportable than for me to live without you and separated by such an immense distance. I would rather die and even be eaten by fish in the sea or devoured on land by cannibals, than to consume myself in perpetual mourning and in unceasing sorrow, awaiting--not my husband--but his letters. My determination is not sudden nor unconsidered; nor is it a woman's caprice that moves me to a well-weighed and merited decision. You must choose between two alternatives. Either you will kill me or you will grant my request. The children G.o.d has given us (there were eight of them, four boys and four girls) will not stop me for one moment. We will leave them their heritage and their marriage portions, sufficient to enable them to live in conformity with their rank, and besides these, I have no other preoccupation."

Upon hearing his wife speak such words from her virile heart, the husband knew that nothing could shake her resolution, and therefore, dared not refuse her request. She followed him as Ipsicratea, with flowing hair, followed Mithridates, for she loved her living husband as did the Carian Artemisia of Halicarna.s.sia her dead Mausolus. We have learned that this Elizabeth Bobadilla brought up, as the proverb says, on soft feathers, has braved the dangers of the ocean with as much courage as her husband or the sailors who pa.s.s their lives at sea.

The following are some other particulars I have noted. In my First Decade I spoke, and not without some praise, of Vincent Yanez Pinzon, who had accompanied the Genoese, Christopher Columbus, the future Admiral, on his first voyage. Later, he undertook, by himself and at his own cost, another voyage, with but one ship for which he received the royal license. During the year preceding the departure of Hojeda and Nicuesa, Vincent Yanez undertook a third exploration, sailing from Hispaniola. His course was from east to west, following the southern sh.o.r.e of Cuba, which, owing to its length, many people at that time thought a continent; and he sailed round it. Many other persons have since reported that they have done the same.

Having demonstrated by this expedition that Cuba was indeed an island, Vincent Yanez sailed farther, and discovered other lands west of Cuba, but such as the Admiral had first touched. He kept to the left and, following the continental coasts towards the east, he crossed the gulfs of Veragua, Uraba, and Cachibacoa, touching finally with his ship at the region which, in our First Decade, we have explained was called Paria and Boca de la Sierpe. He sailed into an immense gulf noted by Columbus as remarkable for its fresh waters, the abundance of fish, and the many islands it contained. It is situated about thirty miles east of Curiana. Midway in this course c.u.mana and Manacapana are pa.s.sed; and it is at these places, not at Curiana, where the most pearls are found.

The kings of that country, who are called _chiaconus_ just as they are called caciques in Hispaniola, sent messengers when they learned of the Spaniards' arrival, to ascertain who the unknown men might be, what they brought with them, and what they wanted. They launched upon the sea their barques dug out of tree trunks which are the same mentioned in our First Decade, and are called canoes in Hispaniola; but here the natives called them _chicos_. What most astonished them was to see the swelling sails of the ship, for they did not understand the use of sails; and if they did they would only require small ones, because of the narrowness of their barques. They approached the ship in great numbers and even ventured to shoot some arrows at the men who defended the ship's sides as though they were walls, hoping either to wound or frighten them.

The Spaniards fired their cannon, and the natives, alarmed by the detonation and by the slaughter that resulted from the well-aimed shot, took to flight in various directions. Pursuing them with a ship's boat, the Spaniards killed some and took many prisoners. The noise of the cannon and the report of what had happened so alarmed the caciques, who feared their villages would be robbed and their people ma.s.sacred if the Spaniards landed to take vengeance, that they sent messengers to Vincent Yanez. As far as could be understood from their signs and gestures they sought peace; but our compatriots report that they did not understand a word of their language. The better to demonstrate their desire for peace, the natives made them beautiful presents, consisting of a quant.i.ty of gold, equal in weight to three thousand of the kind of coins we have said are called castellanos, and in vulgar language pesos; also a wooden tub full of precious incense, weighing about twenty-six hundred pounds, at eight ounces to the pound. This showed the country was rich in incense, for the natives of Paria have no intercourse with those of Saba; and in fact they know nothing of any place outside their own country. In addition to the gold and the incense, they presented peac.o.c.ks such as are not found elsewhere, for they differ largely from ours in the variety of their colours. The hens were alive, for they kept them to propagate the species, but the c.o.c.ks, which they brought in great numbers, were dressed to be immediately eaten. They likewise offered cotton stuffs, similar to tapestries, for household decoration, very tastefully made in various colours. These stuffs were fringed with golden bells such as are called in Italy _sonaglios_ and in Spain _cascabeles_. Of talking parrots, they gave as many of different colours as were wanted; these parrots are as common in Paria as pigeons or sparrows are amongst us.

All the natives wear cotton clothing, the men being covered to the knees, and the women to the calves of their legs. In time of war the men wear a carefully quilted coat of cotton, doubled in the Turkish style. I have used the word cotton for what I have otherwise called in the vulgar Italian _bombasio_. I have also used other a.n.a.logous terms which certain Latinists, dwelling along the Adriatic or Ligurian coasts, may attribute to my negligence or ignorance, when my writings reach them,[3] as we have seen in the case of my First Decade which was printed without my authorisation. I would have them know that I am a Lombard, not a Latin; that I was born at Milan,[4] a long way distant from Latium, and have lived my life still farther away, for I reside in Spain. Let those purists of Venice or Genoa who accuse me of improprieties of composition because I have written as one speaks in Spain of brigantines and caravels, of admiral and adelantado, understand, once for all, that I am not ignorant that he who holds these offices is called by the h.e.l.lenists _Archithala.s.sus_ and by the Latinists sometimes _Navarchus_ and sometimes _Pontarchus_. Despite all such similar comments, and provided I may nourish the hope of not displeasing Your Holiness, I shall confine myself to narrating these great events with simplicity. Leaving these things aside, let us now return to the caciques of Paria.

[Note 3: Peter Martyr was not ignorant of the jibes his Latin evoked amongst the purists in Rome. The cultivated tympanum of Cardinal Bembo and other Ciceronians at the Pontifical Court received painful shocks from certain corrupt expressions in his decades. His repeated explanations of his deflections from cla.s.sical nomenclature are, however, reasonable.]

[Note 4: Meaning, of course, in the duchy, not the city. The pa.s.sage reads: _Neutro cruciare statuo ad summum; voloque sciant, me insubrem esse non Latium; et longe a Latio natum, quia Mediolani; et longissime vitam egisse, quia in Hispania_.]

Vincent Yanez discovered that the chieftains were elected for only one year. Their followers obeyed them in making war or in signing peace.

Their villages are built around this immense gulf. Five of these caciques offered gifts to the Spaniards, and I have wished to record their names in memory of their hospitality: Chiaconus Chianaocho, Chiaconus Fintiguanos, Chiaconus Chamailaba, Chiaconus Polomus, Chiaconus Pot.

This gulf is called Bahia de la Natividad, because Columbus discovered it on the Feast of Christmas; but he only sailed by, without penetrating into the interior. The Spaniards simply call it Bahia.

Having established friendship with these chieftains, Vincent Yanez continued his voyage[5] and found to the east countries which had been abandoned because of frequent inundations, and a vast extent of marsh lands. He persisted in his undertaking until he reached the extreme point of the continent[6]; if indeed we may call points, those corners or promontories which terminate a coast. This one seems to reach out towards the Atlas, and therefore opposite that part of Africa called by the Portuguese the Cape of Good Hope, a promontory in the ocean formed by the prolongation of the Atlas Mountains. The Cape of Good Hope, however, is situated within thirty-four degrees of the antarctic pole, whereas this point in the New World lies within the seventh degree. I think it must be part of that continent which cosmographers have named the Great Atlantis, but without giving further details as to its situation or character.

[Note 5: Comparing this account of Pinzon's voyage with that of Vespucci, it is seen that Peter Martyr describes the itinerary reversed, making Pinzon finish where Vespucci makes him begin.]

[Note 6: Cape Sant Augustin.]