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De Orbe Novo, Volume 1 (of 2) by Trans. by Francis Augustus MacNutt

T >> Trans. by Francis Augustus MacNutt >> De Orbe Novo, Volume 1 (of 2)




[Note 1: Pliny mentions this island, off the coast of Macedonia,
as having pearl fisheries.]

Vasco determined to have that part of the sea where Chiapes obtained
his pearls explored by swimmers. Although the weather was bad and a
storm threatened, the cacique, to please him, ordered thirty of his
divers to repair to the oyster beds. Vasco set six of his companions
to watch the divers, but without leaving the shore or exposing
themselves to risk from the storm. The men set out together for
the shore, which was not more than ten miles from the residence of
Chiapes. Although the divers did not venture to the bottom of the
ocean, because of the danger from the storm, nevertheless they
succeeded in gathering, in a few days, six loads of pearls,[2]
including the shells gathered near the surface or strewn by the
violence of the storm on the sands. They fed greedily on the flesh of
these animals. The pearls found were not larger than a lentil or a
little pea, but they had a beautiful orient, for they had been
taken out while the animal was still alive. Not to be accused of
exaggeration concerning the size of these shells, the Spaniards sent
the King some remarkable specimens, from which the meat had been
removed, at the same time as the pearls. It does not seem possible
that shells of such size should be found anywhere. These shells and
the gold which has been found pretty much everywhere are proof that
Nature conceals vast treasures in this country, though thus far the
exploration covered, so to speak, the little finger of a pigmy, since
all that is known is the neighbourhood of Uraba. What it will be when
the whole hand of the giant is known and the Spaniards shall have
penetrated into all the profound and mysterious parts of the
continent, no man can say.

[Note 2: _Sex attulerunt sarcinas brevi dierum numero_. The word
_sarcinas_ as an expression of measure is vague.]

Happy and satisfied with these discoveries, Vasco decided to return by
another route to his companions at Darien, who were gold-mining about
ten miles from their village. He dismissed Chiapes, charging him to
come no farther and to take good care of himself. They embraced one
another, and it was with difficulty that the cacique restrained his
tears while they shook hands at parting. Vasco left his sick there
and, guided by the sailors of Chiapes, he set out with his able-bodied
men. The little company crossed a great river which was not fordable,
and entered the territory of a chief called Taocha who was very
pleased upon learning of their arrival, for he already knew the
customs of the Spaniards. He came out to meet them, receiving them
with honour, and making salutations as a proof of his affection. He
presented Vasco with twenty pounds (at eight ounces to the pound) of
artistically worked gold, and two hundred selected pearls; the latter
were not, however, very brilliant. They shook hands and Taocha,
accepting the gifts offered him, begged that the people of Chiapes
should be dismissed, as he himself wished to have the pleasure of
escorting his guests.

When the Spaniards left his village he not only furnished them guides,
but also slaves who were prisoners of war and who took the place of
beasts of burden in carrying on their shoulders provisions for the
march. They had to pass through lonely forests and over steep and
rocky mountains, where ferocious lions and tigers abounded. Taocha
placed his favourite son in command of the slaves, whom he loaded with
salt fish and bread made of yucca and maize; he commanded his son
never to leave the Spaniards and not to come back without permission
from Vasco. Led by this young man, they entered the territory of a
chief called Pacra, who was an atrocious tyrant. Whether frightened
because conscious of his crimes, or whether he felt himself powerless,
Pacra fled.

During this month of November the Spaniards suffered greatly from the
heat and from the torments of thirst, for very little water is found
in that mountainous region. They would all have perished, had not two
of them who went to search for water, carrying the pumpkins Taocha's
people brought with them, found a little spring which the natives had
pointed out, hidden in a remote corner of the forest. None of the
latter had ventured to stray from the main body, for they were afraid
of being attacked by wild beasts. They recounted that on these heights
and in the neighbourhood of this spring, ferocious beasts had carried
off people in the night, and even from their cabins. They were,
therefore, careful to put bolts and all kinds of bars on their doors.
It may perhaps not be out of place, before going farther, to relate a
particular instance. It is said that last year a tiger ravaged Darien,
doing as much damage as did formerly the raging boar of Calydon or
the fierce Nemaean lion. During six entire months, not a night passed
without a victim, whether a mare, a colt, a dog, or a pig being taken,
even in the street of the town. The flocks and the animals might
be sacrificed but it was not safe for people to quit their houses,
especially when it sought food for its whelps; for when they were
hungry the monster attacked people it found rather than animals.
Anxiety led to the invention of a means of avenging so much bloodshed.
The path it took when leaving its lair at night in search of prey, was
carefully studied. The natives cut the road, digging a ditch which
they covered over with boughs and earth. The tiger, which was a male,
was incautious, and, falling into the ditch, remained there, stuck
on the sharp points fixed in the bottom. Its roarings filled the
neighbourhood and the mountains echoed with piercing howls. They
killed the monster stuck on the points, by throwing great stones from
the banks of the ditch. With one blow of its paw it broke the javelins
thrown at it into a thousand fragments, and even when dead and no
longer breathing, it filled all who beheld him with terror. What would
have happened had it been free and unhurt! A civilian called Juan de
Ledesma, a friend of Vasco, and his companion in danger, says that he
ate the flesh of that tiger; he told me that it was not inferior to
beef. When one asks these people who have never seen tigers why they
affirm that this beast was a tiger, they reply that it was because it
was spotted, ferocious, sly, and offered other characteristics which
others have attributed to tigers. Nevertheless the majority of
Spaniards affirm that they have seen spotted leopards and panthers.

After the male tiger was killed, they followed its track through the
mountains, and discovered the cave where it lived with its family. The
female was absent; but two little ones, still unweaned, were lying
there, and these the Spaniards carried away; but changing their minds
afterwards and wishing to carry them to Spain when they were a little
larger, they put carefully riveted chains round their necks and took
them back to the cave, in order that their mother might nurse them.
Some days later they went back and found the chains still there, but
the cave was empty. It is thought the mother, in a fury, tore the
little ones to pieces, and took them away, in order that nobody should
have them; for they could not possibly have got loose from their
chains alive. The dead tiger's skin was stuffed with dried herbs and
straw, and sent to Hispaniola to be presented to the Admiral and other
officials, from whom the colonists of those two new countries obtain
laws and assistance.

This story was told me by those who had suffered from the ravages of
that tiger,[3] and had touched its skin; let us accept what they give
us.

[Note 3: As has been observed, there were no tigers in America.
The animal described may have been a jaguar.]

Let us now return to Pacra, from whom we have somewhat wandered. After
having entered the boios (that is to say, the house) abandoned by the
cacique, Vasco sought to induce him to return by means of envoys who
made known the conditions already proposed to other caciques; but for
a long time Pacra refused. Vasco then tried threats, and the cacique
finally decided to come in, accompanied by three others. Vasco writes
that he was deformed, and so dirty and hideous that nothing more
abominable could be imagined. Nature confined herself to giving him a
human form, but he is a brute beast, savage and monstrous. His morals
were on a par with his bearing and physiognomy. He had carried off
the daughters of four neighbouring caciques to satisfy his brutal
passions. The neighbouring chiefs, regarding Vasco as a supreme judge
or a Hercules, a redresser of injuries, complained of the debaucheries
and the crimes of Pacra, begging that he should be punished by death.
Vasco had this filthy beast and the other three caciques, who obeyed
him and shared his passions, torn to pieces by dogs of war, and the
fragments of their bodies were afterwards burnt. Astonishing things
are said about these dogs the Spaniards take into battle. These
animals throw themselves with fury on the armed natives pointed out to
them, as if they were timid deer or fierce boars; and it often happens
that there is no need of swords or javelins to rout the enemy. A
command is given to these dogs who form the vanguard, and the
natives at the mere sight of these formidable Molossians[4] and the
unaccustomed sound of their baying, break their ranks and flee as
though horrified and stupefied by some unheard-of prodigy. This does
not occur in fighting against the natives of Caramaira or the Caribs,
who are braver and understand more about war. They shoot their
poisoned arrows with the rapidity of lightning, and kill the dogs in
great numbers; but the natives of these mountains do not use arrows
in warfare; they only use machanes,[5] that is to say, large wooden
swords, and lances with burnt points.

[Note 4: _Torvo molossorum adspectu_. Referring to the dogs of
Epirus, called by the Romans, Molossi.]

[Note 5: The _maquahuitle of the Mexicans; a flat wooden club, in
which blades of _iztli_, or flint, were set on the opposite edges; it
was their most formidable weapon in hand-to-hand encounters.]

While Pacra was still alive they asked him where his people obtained
gold, but neither by persuasion nor threats nor tortures could they
drag this secret from him. When asked how he had procured what he had
possessed,--for he had offered a present of thirty pounds of gold out
of his treasury--he answered that those of his subjects who, either
in the time of his parents or in his own, had mined that gold in the
mountain were dead, and that since his youth he had not troubled
to look for gold. Nothing more could be obtained from him on this
subject.

The rigorous treatment of Pacra secured Vasco the friendship of the
neighbouring caciques, and when he sent for the sick, whom he had left
behind to join him, a cacique, called Bononiama, whose country the
route directly traversed, received them kindly and gave them twenty
pounds of wrought gold and an abundance of provisions. Nor would he
leave them until he had accompanied them from his residence to that of
Pacra, as though they had been confided to his fidelity. He spoke thus
to Vasco: "Here are your companions in arms, Most Illustrious Warrior;
just as they came to me, so do I bring them to you. It would have
pleased me had they been in better health, but you and your companions
are the servants of him who strikes the guilty with thunder and
lightning, and who of his bounty, thanks to the kindly climate, gives
us yucca and maize." While speaking these words he raised his eyes to
Heaven and gave it to be understood that he referred to the sun. "In
destroying our proud and violent enemies you have given peace to us
and to all our people. You overcome monsters. We believe that you and
your equally brave companions have been sent from Heaven, and under
the protection of your machanes we may henceforth live without fear.
Our gratitude to him who brings us these blessings and happiness
shall be eternal." Such, or something like this, was the speech of
Bononiama, as translated by the interpreters. Vasco thanked him for
having escorted our men and received them kindly, and sent him away
loaded with precious gifts.

Vasco writes that the cacique Bononiama has disclosed to him many
secrets concerning the wealth of the region, which he reserves for
later, as he does not wish to speak of them in his letter. What he
means by such exaggeration and reticence I do not understand. He seems
to promise a great deal, and I think his promises warrant hope of
great riches; moreover, the Spaniards have never entered a native
house without finding either cuirasses and breast ornaments of gold,
or necklaces and bracelets of the same metal. If anyone wishing to
collect iron should march with a troop of determined men through Italy
or Spain, what iron articles would they find in the houses? In one a
cooking stove, in another a boiler, elsewhere a tripod standing
before the fire, and spits for cooking. He would everywhere find iron
utensils, and could procure a large quantity of the metal. From which
he would conclude that iron abounded in the country. Now the natives
of the New World set no more value on gold than we do on iron ore. All
these particulars, Most Holy Father, have been furnished me either by
the letters of Vasco Nunez and his companions in arms, or by verbal
report. Their search for gold mines has produced no serious result,
for out of ninety men he took with him to Darien, he has never had
more than seventy or at most eighty under his immediate orders; the
others having been left behind in the dwellings of the caciques.

Those who succumbed most easily to sickness were the men just arrived
from Hispaniola; they could not put up with such hardships, nor
content their stomachs, accustomed to better food, with the native
bread, wild herbs without salt, and river water that was not always
even wholesome. The veterans of Darien were more inured to all these
ills, and better able to resist extreme hunger. Thus Vasco gaily
boasts that he has kept a longer and more rigorous Lent than Your
Holiness, following the decrees of your predecessors, for it has
lasted uninterruptedly for four years; during which time he and his
men have lived upon the products of the earth, the fruits of trees,
and even of them there was not always enough. Rarely did they eat fish
and still more rarely meat, and their wretchedness reached such a
point that they were obliged to eat sick dogs, nauseous toads, and
other similar food, esteeming themselves fortunate when they found
even such. I have already described all these miseries. I call
"veterans of Darien" the first comers who established themselves in
this country under the leadership of Nicuesa and Hojeda, of whom there
remains but a small number. But let this now suffice, and let us bring
back Vasco and the veterans from their expedition across the great
mountain-chain.



BOOK III


During the thirty days he stopped in Pacra's village, Vasco strove to
conciliate the natives and to provide for the wants of his companions.
From there, guided by subjects of Taocha, he marched along the banks
of the Comogra River, which gives its name both to the country and to
the cacique. The mountains thereabouts are so steep and rocky, that
nothing suitable for human food grows, save a few wild plants and
roots and fruits of trees, fit to nourish animals. Two friendly and
allied caciques inhabit this unfortunate region. Vasco hastened to
leave behind a country so little favoured by man and by Nature, and,
pressed by hunger, he first dismissed the people of Taocha, and
took as guides the two impoverished caciques, one of whom was named
Cotochus and the other Ciuriza. He marched three days among wild
forests, over unsealed mountains and through swamps, where muddy
pitfalls gave way beneath the feet and swallowed the incautious
traveller. He passed by places which beneficent Nature might
have created for man's wants, but there were no roads made; for
communication amongst natives is rare, their only object being
to murder or to enslave one another in their warlike incursions.
Otherwise each tribe keeps within its own boundaries. Upon arriving at
the territory of a chief called Buchebuea, they found the place empty
and silent, as the chief and all his people had fled into the woods.
Vasco sent messengers to call him back, notifying them not to use
threats, but, on the contrary, to promise protection. Buchebuea
replied that he had not fled because he feared harsh treatment, but
rather because he was ashamed and sorry he could not receive our
compatriots with the honour they deserved, and was unable even to
furnish them provisions. As a token of submission and friendship he
willingly sent several golden vases, and asked pardon. It was thought
this unfortunate cacique wished it to be understood that he had
been robbed and cruelly treated by some neighbouring enemy, so the
Spaniards left his territory, with mouths gaping from hunger, and
thinner than when they entered it.

During the march, some naked people appeared on the flank of the
column. They made signs from a hilltop and Vasco ordered a halt to
wait for them. Interpreters who accompanied the Spaniards asked them
what they wanted, to which they replied "Our cacique, Chiorisos,
salutes you. He knows you are brave men who redress wrongs and punish
the wicked, and though he only knows you by reputation he respects and
honours you. Nothing would have pleased him better than to have you as
his guests at his residence. He would have been proud to receive such
guests, but since he has not yet had this good fortune and you have
passed him by, he sends you as a pledge of affection these small
pieces of gold." With courteous smiles they presented to Vasco thirty
_patenas_ of pure gold, saying they would give him still more if he
would come to visit them. The Spaniards give the name _patena_ to
those balls of metal worn on the neck, and also to the sacred utensil
with which the chalice is covered when carried to the altar. Whether
in this instance plates for the table or balls are meant, I am
absolutely ignorant; I suppose, however, that they are plates, since
they weighed fourteen pounds, at eight ounces to the pound.

These natives then explained that there was in the neighbourhood a
very rich cacique, who was their enemy, and who yearly attacked them.
If the Spaniards would make war upon him, his downfall would enrich
them and would deliver friendly natives from incessant anxiety.
Nothing would be easier, they said through their interpreters, than
for you to help us, and we will act as your guides. Vasco encouraged
their hopes and sent them away satisfied. In exchange for their
presents he gave them some iron hatchets, which they prize more
than heaps of gold. For as they have no money--that source of all
evils--they do not need gold. The owner of one single hatchet feels
himself richer than Crassus.[1] These natives believe that hatchets
may serve a thousand purposes of daily life, while gold is only sought
to satisfy vain desires, without which one would be better off.
Neither do they know our refinements of taste, which demand that
sideboards shall be loaded with a variety of gold and silver vases.
These natives have neither tables, tablecloths, or napkins; the
caciques may sometimes decorate their tables with little golden vases,
but their subjects use the right hand to eat a piece of maize bread
and the left to eat a piece of grilled fish or fruit, and thus satisfy
their hunger. Very rarely they eat sugar-cane. If they have to wipe
their hands after eating a certain dish, they use, instead of napkins,
the soles of their feet, or their hips, or sometimes their testicles.
The same fashion prevails in Hispaniola. It is true that they often
dive into the rivers, and thus wash the whole of their bodies.

[Note 1: Possibly a mis-copy of Croesus.]

Loaded with gold, but suffering intensely and so hungry they were
scarcely able to travel, the Spaniards continued their march and
reached the territory of a chief called Pochorroso, where during
thirty days they stuffed themselves with maize bread, which is similar
to Milanese bread. Pochorroso had fled, but, attracted by coaxing and
presents, he returned, and gifts were exchanged. Vasco gave Pochorroso
the usual acceptable articles, and the cacique gave Vasco fifteen
pounds of melted gold and some slaves. When they were about to depart,
it transpired that it would be necessary to cross the territory of
a chief called Tumanama, the same formerly described by the son of
Comogre as the most powerful and formidable of those chiefs. Most of
Comogre's servants had been this man's slaves captured in war. As is
the case everywhere, these people gauged the power of Tumanama by
their own standard, ignorant of the fact that these caciques, if
brought face to face with our soldiers commanded by a brave and
fortunate leader, were no more to be feared than gnats attacking
an elephant. When the Spaniards came to know Tumanama they quickly
discovered that he did not rule on both sides of the mountain, nor was
he as rich in gold as the young Comogre pretended. Nevertheless they
took the trouble to conquer him. Pochorroso, being the enemy of
Tumanama, readily offered Vasco his advice.

Leaving his sick in charge of the cacique, and summoning sixty
companions, all strong and brave men, Vasco explained his purpose to
them, saying: "The cacique Tumanama has often boasted that he was
the enemy of Vasco and his companions. We are obliged to cross his
country, and it is my opinion we should attack him while he is not on
his guard." Vasco's companions approved this plan, urging him to put
it into execution and offering to follow him. They decided to make
two marches without stopping, so as to prevent Tumanama from calling
together his warriors; and this plan was carried out as soon as
decided.

It was the first watch of the night when the Spaniards and the
warriors of Pochorroso invaded Tumanama's town, taking him completely
by surprise, for he expected nothing. There were with him two men, his
favourites, and eighty women, who had been carried off from different
caciques by violence and outrage. His subjects and allied caciques
were scattered in villages of the neighbourhood, for they dwell in
houses widely separated from one another, instead of near together.
This custom is due to the frequent whirlwinds to which they are
exposed by reason of sudden changes of temperature and the influence
of the stars which conflict when the days and nights are equal in
duration. We have already said that these people live near the
equator. Their houses are built of wood, roofed and surrounded with
straw, or stalks of maize or the tough grass indigenous to the
country. There was another house in Tumanama's village, and both were
two hundred and twenty paces long and fifty broad. These houses were
constructed to shelter the soldiers when Tumanama made war.

The cacique was taken prisoner and with him his entire Sardanapalian
court. As soon as he was found, the men of Pochorroso and the
neighbouring caciques overwhelmed him with insults, for Tumanama was
no less detested by the neighbouring caciques than that Pacra whom we
have mentioned in describing the expedition to the south sea. Vasco
concealed his real intentions towards the prisoner, but though he
adopted a menacing attitude, he really intended him no harm. "You
shall pay the penalty of your crimes, tyrant," said he; "you have
often boasted before your people that if the Christians came here you
would seize them by the hair and drown them in the neighbouring river.
But it is you, miserable creature, that shall be thrown into the river
and drowned." At the same time he ordered the prisoner to be seized,
but he had given his men to understand that he pardoned the cacique.

Tumanama threw himself at the feet of Vasco and begged pardon. He
swore that he had said nothing of the kind, and that if anybody had,
it must have been his caciques when they were drunk; for none of these
chiefs understand moderation, and he accused them of using insolent
language.

Their wines are not made from grapes, as I have already told Your
Holiness, when I began to cultivate this little field, but they are
intoxicating. Tumanama complained, weeping, that his neighbours had
invented these falsehoods to destroy him, for they were jealous of him
because he was more powerful than they. He promised in return for
his pardon a large quantity of gold, and clasping his hands upon his
breast, he said that he always both loved and feared the Spaniards,
because he had learned their machanes--that is to say, their
swords--were sharper than his and cut deeper wherever they struck.
Looking Vasco straight in the eyes, he said: "Who then, other than a
fool, would venture to raise his hand against the sword of a man like
you, who can split a man open from head to navel at one stroke, and
does not hesitate to do it? Let not yourself be persuaded, O bravest
of living men, that such speech against you has ever proceeded from my
mouth." These and many other words did he speak, feeling already the
rope of death around his neck. Vasco, affecting to be touched by these
prayers and tears, answered with calmness that he pardoned him and
gave him his liberty. Thirty pounds (at eight ounces to the pound) of
pure gold in the form of women's necklaces were at once brought from
the two houses, and three days later the caciques subject to Tumanama
sent sixty pounds more of gold, which was the amount of the fine
imposed for their temerity. When asked whence he procured this gold,
Tumanama replied that it came from very distant mines. He gave it
to be understood that it had been presented to his ancestors on the
Comogra River which flows into the south sea; but the people of
Pochorroso and his enemies said that he lied, and that his own
territory produced plenty of gold. Tumanama persisted, however, that
he knew of no gold mines in his domain. He added that it was true
enough that here and there some small grains of gold had been found,
but nobody had even troubled to pick them up, since to do so would
require tedious labour.