De Orbe Novo Part 21

From various sources astonishing tales of the natives have been told me. Amongst others, Gonzales Fernando Oviedo,[5] who is a royal official with the t.i.tle of inspector, boasts that he has travelled extensively in the interior of the country. He found a piece of sapphire larger than a goose's egg, and upon the hills he explored with about twenty men, he claims that he has seen a large quant.i.ty of emerald matrix, chalcedon, jasper, and great lumps of mountain amber.

[Note 5: _Sommario dell'Indie Occidenti_, cap. lx.x.xii., in Ramusio.]

Attached to the tapestries woven with gold which the Caribs left behind them in their houses when they fled, were precious stones: Oviedo and his companions affirm that they saw them. The country also has forests of scarlet wood and rich gold deposits. Everywhere along the coast and on the banks of the rivers exist marcasites[6] which indicate the presence of gold. Oviedo further states that in a region called Zenu, lying ninety miles east of Darien, a kind of business is carried on for which there are found in the native houses huge jars and baskets, cleverly made of reeds adapted to that purpose. These receptacles are filled with dried and salted gra.s.shoppers, crabs, crayfish, and locusts, which destroy the harvests. When asked the purpose of these provisions, the natives replied they were destined to be sold to the people inland, and in exchange for these precious insects and dried fish they procure the foreign products they require.

The natives live in scattered fashion, their houses not being built together. This land, inhabited by the people of Caramaira, is an Elysian country, well cultivated, fertile, exposed neither to the rigours of winter nor the great heats of summer. Day and night are of about equal length.

[Note 6: A variety of iron pyrites.]

After driving off the barbarians, the Spaniards entered a valley two leagues in breadth and three long, which extended to the gra.s.sy and wooded slopes of the mountains. Two other valleys, each watered by a river, also open to the right and left at the foot of these mountains.

One is the Gaira, and the other has not yet received a name. There are, in these valleys, cultivated gardens, and fields watered by ingeniously planned ditches. Our Milanese and Tuscans cultivate and water their fields in precisely the same manner.

The ordinary food of these natives is the same as the others--agoes, yucca, maize, potatoes, fruits, and fish. They rarely eat human flesh, for they do not often capture strangers. Sometimes they arm themselves and go hunting in neighbouring regions, but they do not eat one another. There is, however, one fact sad to hear. These filthy eaters of men are reported to have killed myriads of their kind to satisfy their pa.s.sion. Our compatriots have discovered a thousand islands as fair as Paradise, a thousand Elysian regions, which these brigands have depopulated. Charming and blessed as they are, they are nevertheless deserted. From this sole instance Your Holiness may judge of the perversity of this brutal race. We have already said that the island of San Juan lies near to Hispaniola and is called by the natives Burichena. Now it is related that within our own time more than five thousand islanders have been carried off from Burichena for food, and were eaten by the inhabitants of these neighbouring islands which are now called Santa Cruz, Hayhay, Guadaloupe, and Queraqueira.

But enough has been said about the appet.i.tes of these filthy creatures.

Let us now speak a little of the roots destined to become the food of Christians and take the place of wheaten bread, radishes, and our other vegetables. We have already said several times that the yucca was a root from which the natives make a bread they like both in the islands and on the continent; but we have not yet spoken of its culture, its growth, or of its several varieties. When planting yucca, they dig a hole knee-deep in the ground, and pile the earth in heaps nine feet square, in each one of which they plant a dozen yucca roots about six feet long, in such wise that all the ends come together in the centre of the mound. From their joining and even from their extremities, young roots fine as a hair sprout and, increasing little by little, attain, when they are full grown, the thickness and length of a man's arm, and often of his leg. The mounds of earth are thus converted little by little into a network of roots. According to their description, the yucca requires at least half a year to reach maturity, and the natives also say that if it is left longer in the ground, for instance for two years, it improves and produces a superior quality of bread. When cut, the women break and mash it on stones prepared for the purpose, just as amongst us cheese is pressed; or they pack it into a bag made of gra.s.s or reeds from the riverside, afterwards placing a heavy stone on the bag and hanging it up for a whole day to let the juice run off. This juice, as we have already said in speaking of the islanders, is dangerous; but if cooked, it becomes wholesome, as is the case with the whey of our milk. Let us observe, however, that this juice is not fatal to the natives of the continent.

There are several varieties of yucca, one of which being dearer and more agreeable, is reserved for making the bread of the caciques.

Other varieties are set aside for the n.o.bles, and certain others for the common people. When the juice has all run off, the pulp is spread out and cooked on slabs of earthenware made for the purpose, just as our people do cheese. This sort of bread is the most used and is called _cazabi_. It is said there are also several kinds of agoes and potatoes, and the natives use these more as vegetables than for breadmaking, just as we do radishes, turnips, mushrooms, and other similar foods. Most of all do the natives like potatoes, which indeed are preferable to mushrooms, because of their flavour and softness, particularly when of a superior quality. We have now spoken enough of roots, so let us come to another kind of bread. The natives have another kind of grain similar to millet, save that the kernels are larger. When there is a shortage of yucca, they grind it into flour by mashing it between stones; the bread made from this is coa.r.s.er. This grain is sown three times a year, since the fertility of the soil corresponds to the evenness of the seasons. I have already spoken of this in preceding places. When the Spaniards first arrived, all these roots and grains and maize, as well as various other kinds of fruit trees were cultivated.

In Caramaira and Saturma there are such broad, straight roads that one might think they had been drawn with a lead pencil. Among this people are found cups with handles, jugs, jars, long platters, and plates of earthenware, as well as amphoras of different colours for keeping water fresh.

When ordered to tender obedience to the King of Castile and to embrace our religion, or get out, the Indians replied with flights of poisoned arrows. The Spaniards captured some of them, whom they immediately set at liberty after giving them some clothing. Some others they took on board the ships and displayed our grandeur before them, so that they might tell their compatriots; after which they released them, hoping thus to win their friendship. Gold has been proven to exist in all the rivers. Here and there in the native houses fresh meat of deer and wild boar was found; a food which they eat with great pleasure. These natives also keep numbers of birds which they rear either for food or for their pleasure. The climate is healthy; I may cite as a proof the fact that the Spaniards slept at night on the river banks and in the open air, without anybody suffering from headache or pains.

The Spaniards likewise found huge b.a.l.l.s of spun cotton and bunches of divers coloured feathers from which headdresses, similar to those of our cuira.s.siers, or mantles of state are made. These are elegancies among the natives. There was also a large number of bows and arrows.

Sometimes the bodies of their ancestors are burned and the bones buried, and sometimes they are preserved entire in their _boios_, that is to say houses, and treated with great respect; or again, they may be ornamented with gold and precious stones. It was noted that the breast ornaments, which they call _guanines_ were made of copper rather than gold, and it was surmised that they dealt with tricky strangers who sold them these guanines, palming off upon them vile metal for gold. Neither did the Spaniards discover the trick till they melted these supposed valuables.

Some architects who had wandered a short distance from the coast came upon some fragments of white marble, and they think that strangers must at some time have landed there and quarried this marble from the mountains, leaving these fragments scattered about the plain. It was at this place that the Spaniards learned that the river Maragnon flows from the snow-covered mountains, its volume being increased by numerous streams flowing into it. Its great size is due to the fact that its course is long, and that it only reaches the sea after having traversed well-watered regions.

The signal for departure was finally given. Nine hundred men who had been landed, a.s.sembled shouting joyfully, marching in order, loaded with plunder, and quite showy with crowns, mantles, feathers, and native military ornaments. The anchor was hoisted on the sixteenth day of the calends of July. The ships, damaged in frequent gales, had been repaired, the flag-ship having especially suffered the loss of her rudder, as we have already mentioned. The fleet put out to sea in the direction of Carthagena, and in obedience to the King's instructions ravaged some islands inhabited by ferocious cannibals which lay in the course. The strong currents deceived Juan Serrano, chief pilot of the flag-ship, and his colleagues, though they boasted that they were well acquainted with the nature of these currents. In one night, and contrary to the general expectation, they made forty leagues.

BOOK VI

The time has come, Most Holy Father, to philosophise a little, leaving cosmography to seek the causes of Nature's secrets. The ocean currents in those regions run towards the west, as torrents rushing down a mountain side. Upon this point the testimony is unanimous. Thus I find myself uncertain when asked where these waters go which flow in a circular and continuous movement from east to west, never to return to their starting-place; and how it happens that the west is not consequently overwhelmed by these waters, nor the east emptied. If it be true that these waters are drawn towards the centre of the earth, as is the case with all heavy objects, and that this centre, as some people affirm, is at the equinoctial line, what can be the central reservoir capable of holding such a ma.s.s of waters? And what will be the circ.u.mference filled with water, which will yet be discovered? The explorers of these coasts offer no convincing explanation. There are other authors who think that a large strait exists at the extremity of the gulf formed by this vast continent and which, we have already said, is eight times larger than the ocean. This strait may lie to the west of Cuba, and would conduct these raging waters to the west, from whence they would again return to our east. Some learned men think the gulf formed by this vast continent is an enclosed sea, whose coasts bend in a northerly direction behind Cuba, in such wise that the continent would extend unbrokenly to the northern lands beneath the polar circle bathed by the glacial sea. The waters, driven back by the extent of land, are drawn into a circle, as may be seen in rivers whose opposite banks provoke whirlpools; but this theory does not accord with the facts. The explorers of the northern pa.s.sages, who always sailed westwards, affirm that the waters are always drawn in that direction, not however with violence, but by a long and uninterrupted movement.

Amongst the explorers of the glacial region a certain Sebastiano Cabotto, of Venetian origin, but brought by his parents in his infancy to England, is cited. It commonly happens that Venetians visit every part of the universe, for purposes of commerce. Cabotto equipped two vessels in England, at his own cost, and first sailed with three hundred men towards the north, to such a distance that he found numerous ma.s.ses of floating ice in the middle of the month of July.

Daylight lasted nearly twenty-four hours, and as the ice had melted, the land was free. According to his story he was obliged to tack and take the direction of west-by-south. The coast bent to about the degree of the strait of Gibraltar. Cabotto did not sail westward until he had arrived abreast of Cuba, which lay on his left. In following this coast-line which he called Bacallaos,[1] he says that he recognised the same maritime currents flowing to the west that the Castilians noted when they sailed in southern regions belonging to them. It is not merely probable, therefore, but becomes even necessary to conclude that between these two hitherto unknown continents there extend large openings through which the water flows from east to west.

I think these waters flow all round the world in a circle, obediently to the Divine Law, and that they are not spewed forth and afterwards absorbed by some panting Demogorgon. This theory would, up to a certain point, furnish an explanation of the ebb and flow.

[Note 1: The word _Bacallaos_ is thought to be of Basque origin.

This designation for codfish is extremely ancient, and the land thus named appears on the earliest maps of America.]

Cabotto calls these lands Terra de Bacallaos, because the neighbouring waters swarm with fish similar to tunnies, which the natives call by this name. These fish are so numerous that sometimes they interfere with the progress of ships. The natives of these regions wear furs, and appear to be intelligent. Cabotto reports that there are many bears in the country, which live on fish. These animals plunge into the midst of thick schools of fish, and seizing one fast in their claws they drag it ash.o.r.e to be devoured. They are not dangerous to men. He claims to have seen the natives in many places in possession of copper. Cabotto frequents my house, and I have him sometimes at my table.[2] He was called from England by our Catholic King after the death of Henry, King of that country, and he lives at court with us.

He is waiting, from day to day, to be furnished with ships with which he will be able to discover this mystery of nature. I think he will leave on this expedition towards the month of March of next year, 1516. If G.o.d gives me life, Your Holiness shall hear from me what happens to him. There are not wanting people in Spain who affirm that Cabotto is not the first discoverer of Terra de Bacallaos; they only concede him the merit of having pushed out a little farther to the west.[3] But this is enough about the strait and Cabotto.

[Note 2: Again we see Peter Martyr's system of collecting information ill.u.s.trated. Cabot's discoveries on this voyage are indicated on Juan de la Cosa's map, of 1500. Henry VII. gave little support, and Cabot, therefore, withdrew from England. In 1516 he was given an appointment by King Ferdinand, with 50,000 maravedis yearly and an estate in Andalusia.]

[Note 3: The Bacallaos coast was discovered by the Scandinavians in the tenth century, and was known to the Venetians in the fourteenth. Basque, Breton, and Norman fishermen visited it in the following century.]

Let us now return to the Spaniards. Pedro Arias and his men pa.s.sed the length of the harbour of Carthagena and the islands inhabited by Caribs, named San Bernardo's Islands. They left the entire country of Caramaira behind them, without approaching it. They were driven by a tempest upon an island which we have already mentioned as Fuerte, and which is about fifty leagues distant from the entrance of the gulf of Uraba. In this island they found, standing in the houses of the islanders, a number of baskets made out of marine plants and filled with salt. This island is indeed celebrated for its salines and the natives procure whatever they need by the sale of salt.

An enormous pelican, larger than a vulture and remarkable for the dimensions of its throat, fell upon the flagship. It is the same bird, which, according to the testimony of several writers, formerly lived domesticated in the marshes of Ravenna. I do not know if this is still the case. This pelican let itself be easily caught, after which they took it from one vessel to another: it soon died. A flock of twenty such birds were seen on the coast in the distance.

The flag-ship was larger than the other vessels, but as she had been damaged and was no longer serviceable, she was left behind; she will rejoin the fleet when the sea is calmer. The eleventh day of the calends of July the fleet reached Darien, the flag-ship arriving four days later, but without cargo. The colonists of Darien under the leadership of Vasco Nunez Balboa, of whom we have elsewhere written at length, came down to meet the new arrivals singing the psalm _Te Deum Laudamus_. Each of them offered voluntary hospitality in his house, built after the plan of native cabins.

This country may very properly be called a province, because it has been conquered and all of its chiefs dethroned. The Spaniards refreshed themselves with native fruits and bread made either of roots or of maize. The fleet brought other provisions, for example salt-meats, salt-fish, and barrels of wheat flour.

Behold the royal fleet at anchor in these strange countries and behold the Spaniards established, not only in the Tropic of Cancer, but almost on the equator,--contrary to the opinion of many scientists,--ready to settle and to found colonies.

The day after landing, four hundred and fifty colonists of Darien were invited to a meeting. Both in public and in private, by groups or singly, they were questioned concerning the report of Vasco, Admiral of the South Sea, or, as this officer is termed in Spanish, the Adelantado. The truth of all he had reported to the King concerning this South Sea was admitted. According to the opinion of Vasco himself, the first thing to be done was to build forts in the territories of Comogre, Pochorrosa, and Tumanama, which would later form centres of colonisation. A _hidalgo_ of Cordova, Captain Juan Ayora, was chosen to carry out this plan, for which purpose he was given four hundred men, four caravels, and a small boat. Ayora first landed in the port of Comogra, described in letters that have been received, as distant about twenty-five leagues from Darien. From that point he despatched one hundred and fifty of his men by a more direct road than the one indicated, in the direction of the South Sea. It was said that the distance between the port of Comogra and the gulf of St.

Miguel was only twenty-six leagues. The other company of two hundred and fifty men would remain at Comogra to render a.s.sistance to those coming and going. The hundred and fifty men chosen to march to the South Sea took with them interpreters, some of whom were Spaniards who had learned the language spoken in the region of the South Sea, from slaves captured by Vasco when he explored the country; while others were slaves who already understood the Spanish tongue. The harbour of Pochorrosa is seven leagues distant from that of Comogra. Ayora, the lieutenant of Pedro Arias, was to leave fifty men and the small boat, which would serve as a courier, at Pochorroso, so that these boats might serve to carry news to the lieutenant and to the colonists of Darien, just as relays are arranged on land. It was also intended to form a station in the territory of Tumanama, of which the capital is twenty leagues distant from that of Pochorrosa.

Out of the hundred and fifty men a.s.signed to Ayora, fifty were chosen among the older colonists of Darien, they being persons of large experience who would take charge of the newcomers and serve them as guides.

When these measures were adopted, it was determined to report to the King, and at the same time to announce to him as a positive fact that there existed in the neighbourhood a cacique called Dobaiba, whose territory had rich gold deposits, which had till then been respected because he was very powerful. His country extended along the great river which we have elsewhere mentioned. According to common report, all the countries under his authority were rich in gold. Fifty leagues divided Darien from the residence of Dobaiba. The natives affirmed that gold would be found immediately the frontier was crossed. We have elsewhere related that only three leagues from Darien the Spaniards already possessed quite important gold mines, which are being worked.

Moreover, in many places gold is found by breaking the soil, but it is believed to be more abundant in the territories of Dobaiba. In the First Decade I addressed to Your Holiness, I had mentioned this Dobaiba, but the Spaniards were mistaken concerning him, for they thought they had met fishermen of Dobaiba and believed that Dobaiba was the swampy region where they had encountered these men. Pedro Arias, therefore, decided to lead a selected troop into that country.

These men were to be chosen out of the entire company and should be in the flower of their age, abundantly furnished with darts and arms of every sort. They were to march against the cacique, and if he refused their alliance, they were to attack and overthrow him. Moreover, the Spaniards never weary of repeating, as a proof of the wealth they dream of, that by just scratching the earth almost anywhere, grains of gold are found. I only repeat here what they have written.

The colonists likewise counselled the King to establish a colony at the port of Santa Marta in the district called by the natives Saturma.

This would serve as a place of refuge for people arriving from the island of Domingo. From Domingo to this port of Saturma the journey could be made in about four or five days, and from Santa Marta to Darien in three days. This holds good for the voyage thither, but the return is much more difficult because of the current we have mentioned, and which is so strong that the return voyage seems like climbing steep mountains. Ships returning from Cuba or Hispaniola to Spain do not encounter the full force of this current; although they have to struggle against a turbulent ocean, still the breadth of the open sea is such that the waters have free course. Along the coasts of Paria, on the contrary, the waters are cramped by the continental littoral and the sh.o.r.es of the numerous islands. The same happens in the strait of Sicily where a current exists which Your Holiness well knows, formed by the rocks of Charybdis and Scylla, at a place, where the Ionian, Libyan, and Tyrrhenian seas come together within a narrow s.p.a.ce.

In writing of the island of Guana.s.sa and the provinces called Iaia, Maia, and Cerabarono, Columbus, who first noted the fact, said that while following these coasts and endeavouring to keep to the east, his ships encountered such resistance that at times he could not take soundings, the adverse current dragging the lead before it touched bottom. Even with the wind on his stern, he could sometimes make no more than one mile in a day. This it is that obliges sailors returning to Spain to first make for the upper part of Hispaniola or Cuba, and then strike out northwards on the high sea in order to profit by the north winds, for they would make no headway sailing in a direct line.

But we have several times spoken sufficiently about ocean currents. It is now the moment to report what is written concerning Darien and the colony founded on its banks which the colonists have named Santa Maria Antigua.

The site is badly chosen, unhealthy, and more pestiferous than Sardinia. All the colonists look pale, like men sick of the jaundice.

It is not exclusively the climate of the country which is responsible, for in many other places situated in the same lat.i.tude the climate is wholesome and agreeable; clear springs of water break from the earth and swift rivers flow between banks that are not swampy. The natives, however, make a point of living amongst the hills, instead of in the valleys. The colony founded on the sh.o.r.es of Darien is situated in a deep valley, completely surrounded by lofty hills, in such wise that the direct rays of the sun beat upon it at midday, while as the sun goes down its rays are reflected from the mountains, in front, behind, and all around, rendering the place insupportable. The rays of the sun are most fierce when they are reflected, rather than direct, nor are they themselves pernicious, as may be observed among the snows on high mountains. Your Holiness is not ignorant of this. For this reason the rays of the sun shining upon the mountains reach down, gradually falling to their base, just as a large round stone thrown from their summit would do. The valleys consequently receive, not only the direct rays, but also those reflected from the hills and mountains. If, therefore, the site of Darien is unhealthy, it is not the fault of the country but of the site itself chosen by the colony. The unwholesomeness of the place is further increased by the malodorous swamp surrounding it. To say the frank truth, the town is nothing but a swamp. When the slaves sprinkle the floor of the houses, toads spring into existence from the drops of water that fall from their hands, just as in other places I have seen drops of water changed into fleas. Wherever a hole one palm deep is dug, water bursts forth; but it is filthy and contaminated because of the river which flows through a deep valley over a stagnant bed to the sea. The Spaniards, therefore, considered changing the site. Necessity had first of all obliged them to stop there, for the first arrivals were so reduced by famine that they did not even think of moving it. Nevertheless they are tormented in this unfortunate place by the rays of the sun; the waters are impure and are pestiferous, the vapours malarious, and consequently everybody is ill. There is not even the advantage of a good harbour to offset these inconveniences, for the distance from the village to the entrance of the gulf is three leagues, and the road leading thither is difficult and even painful when it is a question of bringing provisions from the sea.

But let us pa.s.s to other details. Hardly had the Spaniards landed when divers adventures overtook them. An excellent doctor of Seville, whom the authority of the bishop[4] and likewise his desire to obtain gold prevented from peacefully ending his days in his native country, was surprised by a thunderbolt when sleeping quietly with his wife. The house with all its furniture was burnt and the bewildered doctor and his wife barely escaped, almost naked and half roasted. Once when a dog eight months old was wandering on the sh.o.r.e, a big crocodile snapped him up, like a hawk seizing a chicken as its prey; he swallowed this miserable dog under the very eyes of all the Spaniards, while the unfortunate animal yelped to his master for help. During the night the men were tortured by bats, which bit them; and if one of these animals bit a man while he was asleep, he lost his blood, and was in danger of losing his life. It is even claimed that some people did die on account of these wounds. If these bats find a c.o.c.k or a hen at night in the open air, they strike them on their combs and kill them. The country is infested by crocodiles, lions, and tigers, but measures have already been taken to kill a large number of them. It is reported that the skins of lions and tigers killed by the natives are found in their cabins. Horses, pigs, and oxen grow rapidly, and become larger than their sires. This development is due to the fertility of the soil. The reports concerning the size of trees, different products of the earth, vegetables, and plants we have acclimatised, the deer, savage quadrupeds, and the different varieties of fish and birds, are in accordance with my previous descriptions.

[Note 4: Referring doubtless to Juan de Fonseca bishop of Burgos.]

The cacique Careta, ruler of Coiba, was the Spaniards' guest for three days. He admired the musical instruments, the trappings of the horses, and all the things he had never known. He was dismissed with handsome presents. Careta informed the Spaniards that there grew in his province a tree, of which the wood was suitable for the construction of ships, since it was never attacked by marine worms. It is known that the ships suffered greatly from these pests in the ports of the New World. This particular wood is so bitter that the worms do not even attempt to gnaw into it. There is another tree peculiar to this country whose leaves produce swellings if they touch the naked skin, and unless sea-water or the saliva of a man who is fasting be not at once applied, these blisters produce painful death. This tree also grows in Hispaniola. It is claimed that to smell its wood is fatal, and it cannot be transported anywhere without risk of death. When the islanders of Hispaniola sought in vain to shake off the yoke of servitude, either by open resistance or secret plots, they tried to smother the Spaniards in their sleep by the smoke of this wood.

Astonished at seeing the wood scattered about them, the Spaniards forced the wretched natives to confess their plot and punished the authors of it. The natives likewise are acquainted with a plant whose smell fortifies them, and serves as remedy against the odour of this tree, making it possible for them to handle the wood. These particulars are futile; and this enough on this subject.

The Spaniards hoped to find still greater riches in the islands of the South Sea. When the courier who brought this news started, Pedro Arias was preparing an expedition[5] to an island lying in the midst of the gulf the Spaniards have named San Miguel, and which Vasco did not touch, owing to a rough sea. I have already spoken at length of it in describing the expedition of Vasco to the South Sea. We daily expect to hear of fresh exploits excelling the former ones, for a number of other provinces have been conquered, and we sincerely hope that they will not prove useless nor devoid of claims to our admiration.

[Note 5: This expedition under the command of Gaspar Morales was unsuccessful.]

Juan Diaz Solis de Nebrissa, whom we have already mentioned, has been sent to double Cape San Augustin, which belongs to the Portuguese, and lies seven degrees below the equinoctial line. He should go towards the south, below Paria, c.u.mana, Coquibacoa, and the harbours of Carthagena, and Santa Marta, in order that our knowledge of the continent may be more precise and extensive. Another commander, Juan Pons, has been sent with three ships to ravage the islands of the Caribs and reduce to slavery these filthy islanders, who feed on men. The other islands in the neighbourhood, which are inhabited by mild-mannered people, will thus be delivered from this pest and may be explored, and the character of their products discovered.

Other explorers have been sent out in different directions: Gaspar de Badajoz, towards the west; Francis...o...b..zarra and Vallejo, the first by the extremity of the gulf and the other along the western sh.o.r.e of its entrance, will seek to lay bare the secrets of that country where formerly Hojeda sought, under such unhappy circ.u.mstances, to settle.

They will build there a fort and a town. Gaspar de Badajoz, with eighty well-armed men, was the first to leave Darien; Ludovico Mercado followed him with fifty others; Bezarra had eighty men under his orders, and Vallejo seventy. Whether they will succeed or will fall into dangerous places, only the providence of the Great Architect knows. We men are forced to await the occurrence of events before we can know them. Let us go on to another subject.

BOOK VII