De Orbe Novo Part 20

Beyond a distance of fifty leagues, gold is no longer found. Only three leagues away stands a rock which, as we have already stated in our description of Nicuesa's unfortunate voyage, the Spaniards called Penon and which the natives call Vibba.

In the same neighbourhood and about two leagues distant is the bay Columbus discovered and named Porto Bello. The country, which has gold and is called by the natives Xaguaguara is very populous but the inhabitants are naked. The cacique of Xaguaguara paints himself black, and his subjects are painted red. The cacique and seven of his princ.i.p.al followers wore leaves of gold in their noses, hanging down to their lips, and in their opinion no more beautiful ornament exists.

The men cover their s.e.xual organs with a sea-sh.e.l.l, and the women wear a band of cotton stuff.

There is a fruit growing in their gardens which resembles a pine-nut;[9]we have elsewhere said that it grows upon a plant, resembling an artichoke, and that the fruit, which is not unworthy of a king's table, is perishable; I have spoken elsewhere at length concerning these. The natives call the plant bearing this fruit _hibuero_. From time to time crocodiles are found which, when they dive or scramble away, leave behind them an odour more delicate than musk or castor. The natives who live along the banks of the Nile relate the same fact concerning the female of the crocodile, whose belly exhales the perfumes of Araby.

[Note 9: The pineapple.]

From this point the Admiral put his fleet about, and returned over his course, for he could no longer battle against the contrary currents.[10] Moreover, his ships were rotting from day to day, their hulks being eaten into by the sharp points of worms engendered by the sun from the waters of these regions situated near the equator. The Venetians call these worms _bissa_, and quant.i.ties of them come into life in both the ports of Alexandria, in Egypt. These worms, which are a cubit long and sometimes more, and never thicker than your little finger, undermine the solidity of ships which lie too long at anchor.

The Spanish sailors call this pest _broma_. It was therefore because he feared the _bromas_ and was wearied out with struggling against the currents that the Admiral allowed his ships to be carried by the ocean towards the west. Two leagues distant from Veragua he sailed up the river Hiebra, since it was navigable for the largest vessels. Though it is less important, yet the Veragua gives its name to the country, since the ruler of that region, which is watered by both rivers, has his residence on the bank of the Veragua.

[Note 10: Columbus describes the storms which prevailed during that entire month of December as the most formidable he had ever experienced; on the thirteenth his vessels had the narrowest possible escape from a waterspout.]

Let us now relate the good and ill fortune they there encountered.

Columbus established himself on the banks of the Hiebra, sending his brother Bartholomew Columbus, Adelantado of Hispaniola, in command of sixty-eight men in ships' boats to Veragua. The cacique of the country came down the river with a fleet of canoes to meet the Adelantado.

This man was naked and unarmed, and was accompanied by a numerous following. Hardly had a few words been exchanged when the followers of the cacique, fearing that he might weary himself or forget his royal dignity by standing while he talked, carried a stone from the neighbouring bank, and after washing and polishing it with care, respectfully tendered it to their chief to serve as a chair. When seated, the cacique seemed to convey by signs to the Spaniards that he permitted them to sail on the rivers of his territory.

The sixth of the ides of February the Adelantado marched along the banks of the river Veragua, leaving his boats behind. He came to the Duraba, a stream richer in gold than the Hiebra or the Veragua; moreover, in all these regions gold is found amongst the roots of the trees, along the banks and amongst the rocks and stones left by the torrents. Wherever they dug a palm deep, gold was found mingled with the earth turned out. This decided the attempt to found a colony, but the natives opposed this project, for they foresaw their own prompt destruction. They armed themselves, and, uttering horrible cries, they attacked our men who were engaged in building cabins. This first attack was, with difficulty, repelled. The natives threw darts from a distance and then, gradually drawing nearer, they used their wooden swords and machanes, in a furious a.s.sault. So greatly enraged were they that, astonishing as it may seem, they were not frightened either by bows, arquebuses, or the noise of the cannon fired from the ships.

Once they drew off, but soon returned to the charge in greater numbers and more furiously than before. They preferred to die rather than see their land occupied by the Spaniards whom they were perfectly willing to receive as guests, but whom they rejected as inhabitants. The more the Spaniards defended themselves, the more did the mult.i.tude of their a.s.sailants increase, directing their attack sometimes on the front, sometimes on the flank, without cessation both day and night.

Fortunately the fleet at anchorage a.s.sured the Spaniards a secure retreat and, deciding to abandon the attempt to colonise there, they returned on board.

Their return to Jamaica, which is the island lying south and near to Cuba and Hispaniola was accomplished with great difficulty, for their ships had been so eaten by bromas,--to use a Spanish word--that they were like sieves and almost went to pieces during the voyage. The men saved themselves by working incessantly, bailing out the water that rushed in through great fissures in the ship's side and finally, exhausted by fatigue, they succeeded in reaching Jamaica. Their ships sank; and leaving them there stranded, they pa.s.sed six months in the power of the barbarians, a more wretched existence than that of Alcimenides as described by Virgil. They were forced to live on what the earth produced or what it pleased the natives to give them. The mortal enmities existing amongst the savage caciques were of some service to the Spaniards; for to secure their alliance the caciques distributed bread to the starving whenever they were about to undertake a campaign. O how sad and wretched it is, Most Holy Father, to eat the bread of charity! Your Holiness may well understand, especially when man is deprived of wine, meat, different kinds of cheeses, and of everything to which from their infancy the stomachs of Europeans are accustomed.

Under the stress of necessity the Admiral resolved to tempt fortune.

Desiring to know what destiny G.o.d reserved for him, he took counsel with his intendant, Diego Mendez,[11] and two islanders of Jamaica who were familiar with those waters. Mendez started in a canoe, although the sea was already ruffled. From reef to reef and from rock to rock, his narrow skiff tossed by the waves, Diego nevertheless succeeded in reaching the extreme point of Hispaniola which is some forty leagues distant from Jamaica. The two natives returned joyously, antic.i.p.ating the reward promised them by Columbus. Mendez made his way on foot to Santo Domingo, the capital of the island, where he rented two boats and set out to rejoin his commander. All the Spaniards returned together to Hispaniola, but in a state of extreme weakness and exhaustion from their privations. I do not know what has since happened to them.[12] Let us now resume our narrative.

[Note 11: The events of this fourth voyage are related in the interesting _Relacion hecha par Diego Mendez de algunos aconticimientos del ultimo viaje del Almirante Don Christobal Colon_.

King Ferdinand afterwards granted Mendez a canoe in his armorial bearings, in memory of the services he had rendered.]

[Note 12: Columbus reached Santo Domingo on August 18th, and there rested until September 12th, when he embarked for Spain landing at San Lucar on November 7.]

According to his letters and the reports of his companions, all the regions explored by Columbus are well wooded at all seasons of the year, shaded by leafy green trees. Moreover, what is more important, they are healthy. Not a man of his crew was ever ill or exposed to the rigours of cold nor the heats of summer throughout the whole extent of fifty leagues between the great harbour of Cerabaro and the Hiebra and Veragua rivers.

All the inhabitants of Cerabaro and the neighbourhood of Hiebra and Veragua only seek gold at certain fixed periods. They are just as competent as our miners who work the silver and iron mines. From long experience, from the aspect of the torrent whose waters they divert, from the colour of the earth and various other signs, they know where the richest gold deposits are; they believe in a tradition of their ancestors which teaches that there is a divinity in gold, and they take care only to look for this metal after purifying themselves. They abstain from carnal and other pleasures, also eating and drinking in great moderation, during the time they seek gold. They think that men live and die just like animals, and have, therefore, no religion.

Nevertheless they venerate the sun, and salute the sunrise with respect.

Let us now speak of the mountains and the general aspect of the continent.

Lofty mountains[13] which end in a ridge extending from east to west are seen in the distance towards the south from all along the coast.

We believe this range separates the two seas of which we have already spoken at length, and that it forms a barrier dividing their waters just as Italy separates the Tyrrhenian from the Adriatic Sea. From wherever they sail, between Cape San Augustins, belonging to the Portuguese and facing the Atlas, as far as Uraba and the port of Cerabaro and the other western lands recently discovered, the navigators behold during their entire voyage, whether near at hand or in the distance mountain ranges; sometimes their slopes are gentle, sometimes lofty, rough, and rocky, or perhaps clothed with woods and shrubbery. This is likewise the case in the Taurus, and on the slopes of our Apennines, as well as on other similar ranges. As is the case elsewhere, beautiful valleys separate the mountain peaks. The peaks of the range marking the frontier of Veragua are believed to rise above the clouds, for they are very rarely visible because of the almost continuous density of mists and clouds.

[Note 13: The Cordilleras on the Isthmus of Panama.]

The Admiral, who first explored this region, believes these peaks rise to a height of forty miles, and he says that at the base of the mountains there is a road leading to the South Sea. He compares its position with that of Venice in relation to Genoa, or Janua, as the inhabitants who boast that Ja.n.u.s was their founder, call their city.

The Admiral believes that this continent extends to the west and that the greater part of its lands lies in that direction. In like manner we observe that the leg forming Italy branches out beyond the Alps into the countries of the Gauls, the Germans, the Pannonians, and ultimately those of the Sarmats and the Scythians extending to the Riphe Mountains and the glacial sea, not to mention Thrace, all Greece, and the countries ending towards the south at Cape Malea and the h.e.l.lespont, and north at the Euxine and the Palus Maeotidus. The Admiral believes that on the left and west, this continent joins on to the India of the Ganges, and that towards the right it extends northwards to the glacial sea and the north pole, lying beyond the lands of the Hyperboreans; the two seas, that is to say the southern and the northern ocean, would thus join one another at the angles of this continent. I do not believe all its coasts are washed by the ocean, as is our Europe which the h.e.l.lespont, the Tanais, the glacial ocean, the Spanish sea and the Atlantic completely surround. In my opinion the strong ocean currents running towards the west prevent these two seas from being connected, and I suppose, as I have said above, that it does join on to northern lands.

We have spoken enough about longitude, Most Holy Father; let us see what are the theories concerning lat.i.tude.

We have already stated that the distance separating the South Sea from the Atlantic Ocean is a very small one; for this fact was demonstrated during the expedition of Vasco Nunez and his companions. Just as our Alps in Europe, narrow in some places and broaden out over a greater extent in others, so by an a.n.a.logous arrangement of nature this new continent lengthens in some places, extending to a great distance, and in others it narrows by gulfs which, from the opposite seas, encroach on the land between them. For example: at both Uraba and Veragua the distance between the two oceans is trifling, while in the region of the Maragnon River, on the contrary, it is vastly extended. That is, if the Maragnon is indeed a river and not a sea. I incline nevertheless to the first hypothesis, because its waters are fresh.

The immense torrents necessary to feed such a stream could certainly not exist in a small s.p.a.ce. The same applies in the case of the river Dobaiba,[14] which flows into the sea at the gulf of Uraba, by an estuary three miles wide and forty-five ells deep; it must be supposed that there is a large country amongst the mountains of Dobaiba from which this river flows. It is claimed that it is formed by four streams descending from these mountains, and the Spaniards have named it San Juan. Where it falls into the gulf, it has seven mouths, like the Nile. In this same Uraba region the continent diminishes in size in an astonishing manner, and it is said that in places its width is not more than fifteen leagues. The country is impa.s.sable because of its swamps and quagmires which the Spaniards call _tremelaes_ or _trampales_, or by other names _cenegales_, _sumineros_, and _zahoudaderos_.[15]

[Note 14: The Dobaiba may be either the Magdalena or the Atrato.]

[Note 15: All words meaning practically the same thing, viz., bog, quagmire, swamp, quicksand, etc., some of them evidently obsolete, as they are not found in modern Spanish dictionaries.]

Before going farther it may not be useless to explain the derivation of the name of these mountains. According to native tradition there formerly lived a woman of great intelligence and extraordinary prudence, called Dobaiba. Even during her lifetime she was highly respected, and after her death the natives of the country venerated her; and it is her name the country bears. She it is who sends thunder and lightning, who destroys the crops when she is vexed, for they childishly believe, that Dobaiba becomes angry when they fail to offer sacrifices in her honour. There are deceivers who, under the pretence of religion, inculate this belief among the natives, hoping thereby to increase the number of gifts offered by the latter to the G.o.ddess, and thus augment their own profits. This is enough on this subject.

It is related that in the swamps of this narrow part of the continent numerous crocodiles, dragons, bats, and gnats exist, all of the most formidable description. In seeking to reach the southern sea, it is necessary to go through the mountains, and to avoid the neighbourhood of these swamps. Some people claim that a single valley separates in two ranges the mountains facing the southern sea, and that in this valley rises the river which the Spaniards have named Rio de los Perdidos, in memory of the catastrophe of Nicuesa and his companions.

It is not far distant from Cerabaro; but as its waters are fresh, I believe the people who sustain this theory are telling fables.

Let us close this chapter with one last topic. To the right and left of Darien flow about a score of gold-producing rivers. We here repeat what has been told to us, and about which everybody agrees. When asked why they did not bring more considerable quant.i.ties of gold from that country, the Spaniards answer that miners are required, and that the explorers of the new countries are not men inured to fatigue. This explains why much less gold is obtained than the wealth of the soil affords. It would even seem that precious stones are found there.

Without repeating what I have said concerning Cariai and the neighbourhood of Santa Marta, here is another proof. A certain Andreas Morales, a pilot of these seas, who was a friend and companion of Juan de la Cosa during his lifetime, possessed a diamond which a young native of Paria in c.u.mana had discovered. It was of the greatest rarity and is described as being as long as two middle finger joints.

It was as thick as the first thumb joint, was pointed at both ends, and had eight well-cut facets. When struck upon an anvil, it wore the files and hammers, itself remaining intact. This young man of c.u.mana wore it hanging round his neck, and he sold it to Andreas Morales for five green gla.s.s beads because their colour pleased him. The Spaniards also found topazes on the beach, but as they only think of gold, they turn their backs on these precious stones; for only gold attracts them, only gold do they seek. Thus the majority of Spaniards despise people who wear rings and precious stones, regarding it as almost a contemptible thing to decorate one's self with precious stones. Our people above all hold this opinion. Sometimes the n.o.bles, for a wedding ceremony or a royal festival, like to display jewels in their golden necklaces, or to embroider their costumes with pearls mixed with diamonds; but on all other occasions they abstain, for it is considered effeminate to decorate one's self in this wise, just as it would be to be perfumed with the odours of Araby. Any one they meet smelling of musk or castor, they suspect of being given to guilty pa.s.sions.

Fruit plucked from a tree argues that the tree bears fruit; a fish taken from a river warrants the affirmation that fish live in the river. In like manner a bit of gold or a single precious stone justifies the belief that the earth where they are found, produces gold and precious stones.

This must certainly be admitted. We have already related what the companions of Pedro Arias and some officials discovered at the port of Santa Marta in the Cariai region when they penetrated there with the whole fleet. Every day the harvest increases, and overtops that of the last. The exploits of Saturn and Hercules and other heroes, glorified by antiquity, are reduced to nothing. If the incessant efforts of the Spaniards result in new discoveries, we shall give our attention to them. May Your Holiness fare well, and let me know your opinion upon these aggrandis.e.m.e.nts of your Apostolic Chair, and thus encourage me in my future labours.

BOOK V

Every creature in this sublunary world, Most Holy Father, that gives birth to something, either immediately afterwards closes the womb or rests for a period. The new continent, however, is not governed by this rule, for each day it creates without ceasing and brings forth new products, which continue to furnish men gifted with power and an enthusiasm for novelties, sufficient material to satisfy their curiosity. Your Holiness may ask, "Why this preamble?" The reason is that I had scarcely finished composing and dictating the story of the adventures of Vasco Nunez and his companions during their exploration of the South Sea, and had hardly despatched that narration to Your Holiness by Giovanni Ruffo di Forli, Archbishop of Cosenza and Galeazzo Butrigario, Apostolic nuncios and stimulators of my somnolent spirits, than new letters[1] arrived from Pedro Arias whose departure last year as commander of a fleet bound for the new continent we have already announced. The General duly arrived with his soldiers and his ships. These letters are signed by Juan Cabedo whom Your Holiness, upon the solicitation of the Catholic King, appointed Bishop of the province of Darien, and his signature is accompanied by those of the princ.i.p.al officials sent to administer the government, viz.: Alonzo de Ponte, Diego Marques, and Juan de Tavira. May Your Holiness, therefore, deign to accept the narrative of this voyage.

[Note 1: If still in existence these letters have yet to be found.]

On the eve of the ides of April, 1514, Pedro Arias gave the signal to start and sailed from the port of San Lucar de Barrameda, a fortified place at the mouth of the Boetis, called by the Spaniards the Guadalquivir. From the mouth of the Boetis, to the seven Canary Islands the distance is about four hundred miles. Some people think these islands correspond to the Fortunate Isles, but others hold a contrary opinion. These islands are named as follows: Lancelota and Fortaventura are the first sighted, after which the Grand Canary, followed by Teneriffe: Gomera lies a short distance to the north of Teneriffe and the islands of Palma and Ferro seem to form a rear-guard. After a voyage of eight days, Pedro Arias landed at Gomera. His fleet consisted of seventeen vessels, carrying fifteen hundred men, to which number he had been restricted; for he left behind him more than two thousand discontented and disconsolate men, who begged to be allowed to embark at their own expense; such was their avidity for gold and such their desire to behold the new continent.

Pedro Arias stopped sixteen days at Gomera, to take on a supply of wood and water, and to repair his ships damaged by a storm, especially the flag-ship, which had lost her rudder. The archipelago of the Canaries is indeed a most convenient port for navigators. The expedition left the Canaries the nones of May, and saw no land until the third day of the nones of June, when the ships approached the island of the man-eating cannibals which has been named Domingo. On this island, which is about eight hundred leagues from Gomera, Pedro Arias remained four days and replenished his supply of water and wood.

Not a man or a trace of a human being was discovered. Along the coast were many crabs and huge lizards. The course afterwards pa.s.sed by the islands of Madanino and Guadeloupe and Maria Galante, of which I have spoken at length in my First Decade. Pedro Arias also sailed over vast stretches of water full of gra.s.s[2]; neither the Admiral, Columbus, who first discovered these lands and crossed this sea of gra.s.s, nor the Spaniards accompanying Pedro Arias are able to explain the cause of this growth. Some people think the sea is muddy thereabouts and the gra.s.ses, growing on the bottom, reach to the surface; similar phenomena being observed in lakes and large rivers of running waters.

Others do not think that the gra.s.ses grow in that sea, but are torn up by storms from the numerous reefs and afterwards float about; but it is impossible to prove anything because it is not known yet whether they fasten themselves to the prows of the ships they follow or whether they float after being pulled up. I am inclined to believe they grow in those waters, otherwise the ships would collect them in their course,--just as brooms gather up all the rubbish in the house,--which would thus delay their progress.

[Note 2: The _Mare Sarga.s.sum_ of the ancients: also called _Fucus Natans_, and by the Spaniards _Mar de Sarga.s.so_. A curious marine meadow nearly seven times larger than France, in extent, lying between 19 and 34 north lat.i.tude. There is a lesser _Fucus_ bank between the Bahamas and the Bermudas. Consult Aristotle, _Meteor_, ii., I, 14; _De mirabilibus auscutationibus_, p. 100; Theophrastus, _Historia Plantarum_, iv., 7; Arienus, _Ora Maritima_, v., 408; Humboldt, _Cosmos_, tom. ii.; Gaffarel, _La Mer des Sarga.s.ses_; Leps, _Bulletin de la Soc. Geog_., Sept., 1865.]

The fourth day of the ides of March snow-covered mountains were observed. The sea runs strongly to the west and its current is as rapid as a mountain torrent. Nevertheless the Spaniards did not lay their course directly towards the west, but deviated slightly to the south. I hope to be able to demonstrate this by one of the tables of the new cosmography which it is my intention to write, if G.o.d gives me life. The Gaira River, celebrated for the ma.s.sacre of the Spaniards during the voyage of Roderigo Colmenares, which I have elsewhere related, rises in these mountains. Many other rivers water this coast.

The province of Caramaira has two celebrated harbours, the first being Carthagena and the second Santa Marta, these being their Spanish names. A small province of the latter is called by the natives Saturma. The harbour of Santa Marta is very near the snow-covered mountains; in fact it lies at their foot. The port of Carthagena is fifty leagues from there, to the west. Wonderful things are written about the port of Santa Marta, and all who come back tell such. Among the latter is Vespucci,[3] nephew of Amerigo Vespucci of Florence who, at his death, bequeathed his knowledge of navigation and cosmography to his nephew. This young man has, in fact, been sent by the King as pilot to the flagship and commissioned to take the astronomical observations. The steering has been entrusted to the princ.i.p.al pilot, Juan Serrano, a Castilian, who had often sailed in those parts. I have often invited this young Vespucci to my table, not only because he possesses real talent, but also because he has taken notes of all he observed during his voyage.[4]

[Note 3: He was appointed cartographer of the _Casa de Contractacion_ at Seville, in 1512. Henry Harrisse makes frequent mention of the Vespucci in his work on the Cabots.]

[Note 4: One of many instances of Peter Martyr's hospitality to men of parts and activity, from whose conversation and narrations he set himself to glean the material for his writings. His information was first-hand, and was frequently poured out to him over his hospitable board, under which the home-coming adventurers were glad to stretch their legs, while their genial host stimulated their memories and loosed their tongues with the generous wines of his adopted country.]

According to the letters of Pedro Arias, and to the narrations of Vespucci, what happened is as follows: It is believed that the natives belong to the same race as the Caribs or Cannibals, for they are just as overbearing and cruel. They seek to repulse from their sh.o.r.es all Spaniards who approach for they consider them as enemies and are determined to prevent their landing, despite their attempts. These naked barbarians are so determined and courageous, that they ventured to attack the entire squadron and tried to drive it from their coasts.

They threw themselves into the sea, like madmen, showing not the slightest fear of the number and size of our vessels. They attacked the Spaniards with all sorts of darts; protected by the sides of the ships and by their shields, the latter resisted, though two of them were mortally wounded. It was then decided to fire cannon, and frightened by the noise and the effect of the projectiles, the natives fled, believing the Spaniards commanded the thunder; for they are frequently exposed to storms owing to the character of their country and the neighbourhood of lofty mountains. Although the enemy were conquered and dispersed, the Spaniards hesitated whether to go on sh.o.r.e or to remain on board their ships. A consultation was held in which different opinions were expressed. Fear counselled them to stop where they were, but human respect urged them to land. They feared the poisoned arrows which the natives shot with such sure aim, but on the other hand it seemed shameful, unworthy, and infamous to sail by with such a large fleet and so many soldiers without landing. Human respect carried the day, and after landing by means of light barques, they pursued the scattered natives.

According to the report of Pedro Arias and the narrative of Vespucci, the harbour is three leagues in circ.u.mference. It is a safe one, and its waters are so clear that at a depth of twenty cubits, the stones on its bottom may be counted. Streams empty into the harbour but they are not navigable for large ships, only for native canoes. There is an extraordinary abundance of both fresh- and salt-water fish, of great variety and good flavour. Many native fishing boats were found in this harbour, and also a quant.i.ty of nets ingeniously made from stout gra.s.ses worn by friction and interwoven with spun cotton cords. The natives of Caramaira, Cariai, and Saturma are all skilful fishermen, and it is by selling their fish to the inland tribes that they procure the products they need and desire.

When the barbarians withdrew from the coast, the Spaniards entered their boios, that is to say their houses. The natives frequently attacked our men with fury, seeking to kill them all with flights of poisoned arrows. When they realised that their houses were to be invaded and robbed, and particularly when they witnessed their women and the majority of their children carried into captivity, their fury increased. The furniture found in these houses was discovered to be made of large reeds gathered along the sh.o.r.e, or of various gra.s.ses resembling cords. Woven mats of various colours, and cotton hangings, upon which lions, eagles, tigers, and other figures were executed with great care and taste, were found. The doors of the houses and of the rooms inside were hung with snail-sh.e.l.ls strung upon fine cord, which the wind easily shook, producing a noise of rattling sh.e.l.ls which delighted them.