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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 9: This was everywhere the case on the mainland; while it
does not excuse the cruelties inflicted by the Spaniards upon the
native populations in their rapacious struggle for wealth, it may
temper the undiscriminating sympathy of the emotional to reflect that
oppression, torture, extortion, and slavery, not to mention human
sacrifices and cannibalism were practised among them with a hideous
ingenuity upon which no refinement introduced by the Spaniards could
improve.]

In this wise the excellent Gonzales de Badajoz and his companions
wandered, without any fixed plan, until they came to the territory
of Anata; and during their journey they had collected piles of gold,
girdles, women's breast ornaments, earrings, headdresses, necklaces,
and bracelets, to the value of eighty thousand castellanos more. This
they had acquired, either by trading their merchandise or by pillage
and violence; for the majority of the caciques had opposed their
passage and had sought to resist them. They had in addition forty
slaves, whom they used as beasts of burden to carry their provisions
and baggage, and also to care for the sick.

The Spaniards traversed the country of a cacique, Scoria, and arrived
at the residence of another called Pariza. They did not expect to be
attacked, but the cacique closed about them with a great number of
armed men, surprising them at a moment when they were off their guard
and scattered. They had no time to seize their weapons; seventy of
them were wounded or killed, and the rest fled, abandoning their gold
and all their slaves. Very few of them ever came back to Darien.

The opinion of all the sages upon the vicissitudes of fortune and the
inconstancy of human affairs would prove unfounded if this expedition
had terminated profitably and happily; but the ordering of events is
inevitable, and those who tear up the roots, sometimes find sweet
liquorice and sometimes bitter cockle. Woe, however, to Pariza! for he
shall not long rest quietly. This great crime will soon be avenged.
The governor was preparing to lead a campaign against him in person at
the head of three hundred and fifty men when he fell ill. The learned
jurisconsult, Caspar Espinosa, royal judge at Darien, took his place
and acted as his lieutenant; at the same time the Spaniards sent to
the island called Rica to collect the tribute of pearls imposed upon
its cacique. We shall in due course learn what happened.

Other leaders marched against the dwellers on the other side of the
gulf; one of whom, Francisco Bezerra, crossed the head of the gulf and
the mouth of the Dabaiba River. His band consisted of two officers and
a hundred and fifty well-armed soldiers. His plan was to attack the
Caribs in the country of Caribana itself. He first marched against the
village of Turufy, of which I have spoken when describing the arrival
of Hojeda. He was provided with engines of war, three cannon firing
lead bullets larger than an egg, forty archers, and twenty-five
musketeers. It was planned to fire upon the Caribs from a distance
because they fight with poisoned arrows. It is not yet known where
Bezerra landed nor what he did; but it was feared at Darien when the
vessels were leaving for Spain, that his expedition had turned out
badly.

Another captain, called Vallejo, carried on operations along the lower
part of the gulf, crossing over by another route than that taken by
Bezerra; thus one of them menaced Caribana from the front and the
other from behind. Vallejo has come back, but out of seventy men he
took with him, forty-eight wounded were left in the power of the
Caribs. This is the story told by those who reached Darien, and I
repeat it.

On the eve of the ides of October of this year, 1516, Roderigo
Colmenares, whom I have above mentioned, and a certain Francisco de la
Puente belonging to the troop commanded by Gonzales de Badajoz came to
see me. The latter was amongst those who escaped the massacre executed
by the cacique Pariza. Colmenares himself left Darien for Spain after
the vanquished arrived. Both of them report, one from hearsay and the
other from observation, that a number of islands lie in the South Sea
to the west of the gulf of San Miguel and the Isla Rica and that on
these islands trees, bearing the same fruits as in the country of
Calicut, grow and are cultivated. It is from the countries of Calicut,
Cochin, and Camemor that the Portuguese procure spices. Thus it is
thought that not far from the colony of San Miguel begins the country
where spices grow. Many of those who have explored these regions only
await the authorisation to sail from that coast of the South Sea;
and they offer to build ships at their own cost, if they only be
commissioned to seek for the spice lands. These men think that ships
should be built in the gulf of San Miguel itself, and that the idea of
following the coast in the direction of Cape San Augustin should be
abandoned, as that route would be too long, too difficult, and too
dangerous. Moreover it would take them beyond the fortieth degree of
the southern hemisphere.

This same Francisco, who shared the labours and the perils of Gonzales
says, that in exploring those countries he saw veritable herds of deer
and wild boar, of which he captured many in the native fashion by
digging ditches across the trails followed by these animals and
covering them over with branches; this is the native method of
trapping these wild quadrupeds. In catching birds they use doves just
as we do. They tie a tame dove in the trees, and the birds of each
species which flock about it are then shot with arrows. Another way is
by spreading a net in an open space, sprinkling food round about it,
and placing the tame dove in the middle. The same system is used with
parrots and other birds. The parrots are so stupid that, while one
chatters on a tree in whose branches the bird-catcher is concealed,
the others flock thither, and allow themselves to be easily caught.
They are not frightened when they see the bird-catcher, but sit
looking until the noose is thrown round their necks. Even when they
see one of their companions captured and thrown into the hunter's bag,
they do not fly away.

There is another system of bird-hunting which is quite original and
diverting to relate. We have already stated that there exist in the
islands, and especially at Hispaniola, stagnant lakes and ponds upon
whose waters flutters a whole world of aquatic birds, because those
waters are covered with grasses, and little fish and a thousand
varieties of frogs, worms, and insects live in that liquid mud. The
work of corruption and generation ordained by the secret decree
of providence is promoted in these depths by the heat of the sun.
Different species of birds swarm in these waters: ducks, geese, swans,
divers, gulls, sea-mews, and countless similar.

We have elsewhere related that the natives cultivate a tree in their
gardens, whose fruit resembles a large gourd. The natives throw a
large quantity of these gourds into the ponds, after having carefully
stopped up the holes by which water is introduced into them, to
prevent their sinking. These gourds, floating about on the water,
inspire the birds with confidence; the hunter then covers his head
with a sort of cask made of a gourd, one in which there are little
holes for his eyes, like in a mask. He wades into the water up to his
chin, for from their infancy they are all accustomed to swim, and do
not fear to remain a long time in the water. As the birds find the
gourd which conceals the hunter similar to all the others floating
about, the man is able to approach the flock. Imitating with his head
the movements of the floating gourd, he follows the little waves
produced by the wind, and gradually approaches the birds. Stretching
out his right hand he seizes a bird by the foot, and without being
seen, quickly jerks it under the water and thrusts it into a bag he
carries. The other birds imagining their companion has dived in search
of food, as they all do, fearlessly continue their movements, and in
their turns become victims of the hunter.

I interrupted my narrative with this description of bird-hunting and
other sport, in order that these harmless tales might divert you from
the horror you must have felt in reading the story of so many crimes.
I should still like to speak to you concerning a new theory of the
current which drives the waters of the gulf of Paria towards the west;
and also of the system of gold-mining in Darien. These are particulars
which have just recently been furnished me. After this dual report,
which will be in no sense tragic, I shall take leave of Your Holiness.

The Captain Andreas Morales and Oviedo, whom I have above mentioned,
came to visit me at Madrid, or to be more accurate, at Mantua
Carpetana; and in my presence they had a discussion on the subject of
this current. They agree that the Spanish possessions extend without
interruption towards the northern lands behind Cuba and the other
islands, and to the north-west of Hispaniola and Cuba; but they do not
hold the same opinion concerning the current. Andreas claims that the
force of these waters is broken by the great body of land believed to
be a continent, and which, as we have said, bends towards the north,
in such wise that, breaking against these obstacles, the waters turn
in a circle and are driven towards the northern coasts of Cuba and the
other lands lying outside the Tropic of Cancer. Thus, these waters,
which flow from narrow straits are absorbed, as it were, in the
immensity of the ocean, and their force is diminished as they spread
through immense spaces where they ultimately disappear. I might
compare this current to the eddies of water in a mill-race. Water
flowing, no matter how rapidly, through a narrow canal, and afterwards
falling into a lake, at once spreads out; the volume is broken, and
although an instant before it flowed riotously, and seemed capable of
sweeping away every obstacle, it is calmed. Even the direction of the
current is no longer perceptible. I once questioned Admiral Diego
Columbus, son and heir of the discoverer, who had crossed these seas,
coming and going, four times. When asked his opinion, he answered: "It
is difficult to return as one went; but upon sailing northwards on
the open ocean to return to Spain, the movement in the waters driving
towards the east is very perceptible. I think this is probably due to
the ordinary influence of ebb and flow, and should not be attributed
to those eddyings of the waters. The continent is open, and there must
exist between the two bodies a strait through which these turbulent
waters escape to the west. In obedience to a decree of Heaven, they
circulate throughout the entire universe."

Oviedo agrees with Andreas in thinking that the continent is closed,
but he does not believe that this western mass of the continent breaks
the current, driving it into the vast ocean. He likewise affirms that
he has carefully noted that the current running westwards, takes its
rise in the open sea; when following along the coast in small ships,
it is the current running eastwards that is struck, so that one may
be transported in two opposite directions at the same spot. This is
a phenomenon which may frequently be observed in rivers, where the
conformation of the banks gives rise to whirlpools. If straws or bits
of wood are thrown into the river at such a place, those which fall
into the middle are carried away by the current; on the contrary,
those which drop into some bend along the shore or by a slanting bank,
go up the current until they again drift into the middle of the river.

Such are their opinions, and I repeat them, although they are in
contradiction. We shall form no well-grounded opinion until the true
cause of this phenomenon has been verified. Meanwhile it is only
possible to set forth these different theories, until the day fixed
and the astronomical moment for the discovery of this secret of Nature
shall arrive. But enough concerning these pelagic currents.

Some few more words about gold mines at Darien, and we shall have
accomplished our task.

We have said that nine miles from Darien begin the hills and plains
containing gold deposits, either in the earth or in the bed or the
banks of the rivers. Any one who has been bitten by the gold fever
usually sets out as follows: the directors assign him a parcel of
ground twelve paces square, which he may choose as he pleases, on
condition that it is not land that has already been occupied or
abandoned by his companions. When he has made his choice, he settles
on that spot with his slaves, as though within a temple, whose limits
the Augurs have traced with their sacred staves. The Christians use
native labour both in the mines and in agriculture. This plot of land
may be held as long as the occupant wishes; and in case no gold, or
very little, should be found there, a request for a fresh square of
like dimensions is presented, and the parcel of abandoned land reverts
to the common demesne. This is the order followed by the colonists of
Darien who are engaged in gold-seeking. I think it is the same for the
others, but I have not questioned all of them. Sometimes such a parcel
of twelve paces square has netted its possessor the sum of eighty
castellanos. Such is the life people lead to satisfy the sacred hunger
for gold;[10] but the richer one becomes by such work, the more does
one desire to possess. The more wood is thrown on the fire, the more
it crackles and spreads. The sufferer from dropsy, who thinks to
appease his thirst by drinking, only excites it the more. I have
suppressed many details to which I may later return if I learn that
they afford pleasure to Your Holiness, charged with the weight of
religious questions and sitting at the summit of the honours to which
men may aspire. It is in no sense for my personal pleasure that I have
collected these facts, for only the desire to please Your Beatitude
has induced me to undertake this labour.

[Note 10: _Sic vivitur in sacra fame auri explenda_.]

May Providence, which watches over this world, grant to Your Holiness
many happy years.


END OF VOL. I.