Chapter 23

PETER MARTYR, OF MILAN, APOSTOLIC PRONOTARY AND ROYAL COUNSELLOR TO THE SOVEREIGN PONTIFF LEO X

I had closed the doors of the New World, Most Holy Father, for it seemed to me I had wandered enough in those regions, when I received fresh letters which constrained me to reopen those doors and resume my pen. I have already related that after expelling the Captain Nicuesa and the judge Enciso from the colony of Darien, Vasco Nuñez, with the connivance of his companions, usurped the government. We have received letters[1] both from him and from several of his companions, written in military style, and informing us that he had crossed the mountain-chain dividing our ocean from the hitherto unknown south sea. No letter from Capri concerning Sejanus was ever written in prouder language. I shall only report the events related in that correspondence which are worthy of mention.

[Note 1: Two of Balboa's letters are published by Navarrete (tom, iii.,) and may also be read in a French translation made by Gaffarel and published in his work, _Vasco Nuñez de Balboa_.]

Not only is Vasco Nuñez reconciled to the Catholic King, who was formerly vexed with him, but he now enjoys the highest favour. For the King has loaded him and the majority of his men with privileges and honours, and has rewarded their daring exploits.[2] May Your Holiness lend an attentive ear to us and listen with serene brow and joyful heart to our narration, for it is not a few hundreds or legions that the Spanish nation has conquered and brought into subjection to your sacred throne but, thanks to their various achievements and the thousand dangers to which they expose themselves, myriads who have been subdued.

[Note 2: Balboa had been named Adelantado of the South Sea, and of the Panama and Coiba regions. Pedro Arias was also enjoined to counsel with him concerning all measures of importance.]

Vasco Nuñez ill endured inaction, for his is an ardent nature, impatient of repose, and perhaps he feared that another might rob him of the honour of the discovery, for it is believed that he had learned of the appointment given to Pedro Arias.[3] It may well be that to these two motives was added fear, knowing the King was vexed with his conduct in the past. At all events he formed the plan to undertake, with a handful of men, the conquest of the country for whose subjection the son of the cacique of Comogra declared not less than a thousand soldiers to be necessary. He summoned around him some veterans of Darien and the majority of those who had come from Hispaniola in the hope of finding gold, thus forming a small troop of a hundred and ninety men, with whom he set out on the calends of September of the past year, 1513.

[Note 3: This was the case; his friend Zamudio had notified Balboa of the appointment of Pedro Arias.]

Desiring to accomplish as much of the journey as possible by sea, he embarked on a brigantine and ten native barques dug out of tree trunks, and first landed in the country of his ally Careca, cacique of Coiba. Leaving his ships, he implored the divine blessing upon his undertaking and marched directly towards the mountains. He traversed the country subject to the cacique Poncha, who fled, as he had done on other occasions. Acting on the advice of the guides furnished by Careca, Vasco sent messengers to Poncha, promising his friendship and protection against his enemies, and other advantages. The cacique, won by these promises and amiabilities and by those of the people of Careca, joined the Spaniards, and with great alacrity concluded an alliance with them. Vasco entreated him to have no further fears. They shook hands and embraced and exchanged numerous presents, Poncha giving about one hundred and ten pesos of gold valued at a castellano each; this was not a large amount, but he had been robbed the preceding year, as we have above related.

Not to be outdone, Vasco made him a present of some glass beads, strung in the form of necklaces and bracelets; also some mirrors, copper bells, and similar European trifles. The natives cherish these things highly, for whatever comes from abroad is everywhere most prized. Vasco pleased them still further by presenting them with some iron hatchets for cutting down trees. There is no instrument the natives appreciate so much, for they have no iron, nor any other metals than gold; and they have great difficulty in cutting wood for the construction of their houses or their canoes without iron. They do all their carpenter work with tools of sharp stone, which they find in the rivers.

Thenceforth Poncha became his ally, and Vasco Nuñez, having no further fear of danger from behind, led his men towards the mountain. Poncha had supplied him with guides and bearers who went on ahead and opened the trail. They passed through inaccessible defiles inhabited by ferocious beasts, and they climbed steep mountains.

Communication amongst the natives is infrequent, for naked men who have no money have very few wants. Whatever trading they do is with their neighbours, and they exchange gold for ornaments or useful articles. It follows, therefore, as practically no communication exists, there are no roads. Their scouts are familiar with hidden trails, which they use to make ambuscades or night forays or to massacre and enslave their neighbours. Thanks to Poncha's men and the labours of the bearers, Vasco scaled rugged mountains, crossed several large rivers, either by means of improvised bridges or by throwing beams from one bank to another, and always succeeded in keeping his men in health. Rather than become wearisome and incur the reproach of prolixity, I make no mention of some of the trials and fatigues they endured, but I judge that I should not omit to report what took place between them and the caciques whom they encountered on their march.

Before reaching the summit of the mountain-chain, the Spaniards traversed the province of Quarequa, of which the ruler, who bears the same name, came to meet them; as is customary in that country, he was armed with bows and arrows, and heavy, two-handed swords of wood. They also carry sticks with burnt points, which they throw with great skill. Quarequa's reception was haughty and hostile, his disposition being to oppose the advance of such a numerous army. He asked where the Spaniards were going and what they wanted, and in reply to the interpreter's answer, he responded: "Let them retrace their steps, if they do not wish to be killed to the last man." He stepped out in front of his men, dressed, as were all his chiefs, while the rest of his people were naked. He attacked the Spaniards who did not yield; nor was the battle prolonged, for their musket-fire convinced the natives that they commanded the thunder and lightning. Unable to face the arrows of our archers, they turned and fled, and the Spaniards cut off the arm of one, the leg or hip of another, and from some their heads at one stroke, like butchers cutting up beef and mutton for market. Six hundred, including the cacique, were thus slain like brute beasts.

Vasco discovered that the village of Quarequa was stained by the foulest vice. The king's brother and a number of other courtiers were dressed as women, and according to the accounts of the neighbours shared the same passion. Vasco ordered forty of them to be torn to pieces by dogs. The Spaniards commonly used their dogs in fighting against these naked people, and the dogs threw themselves upon them as though they were wild boars or timid deer. The Spaniards found these animals as ready to share their dangers as did the people of Colophon or Castabara, who trained cohorts of dogs for war; for the dogs were always in the lead and never shirked a fight.

When the natives learned how severely Vasco had treated those shameless men, they pressed about him as though he were Hercules, and spitting upon those whom they suspected to be guilty of this vice, they begged him to exterminate them, for the contagion was confined to the courtiers and had not yet spread to the people. Raising their eyes and their hands to heaven, they gave it to be understood that God held this sin in horror, punishing it by sending lightning and thunder, and frequent inundations which destroyed the crops. It was like wise the cause of famine and sickness.

The natives worship no other god than the sun, who is the master and alone worthy of honour. Nevertheless, they accepted instruction and they will rapidly adopt our religion when zealous teachers come to instruct them. Their language contains nothing rough or difficult to understand, and all the words of their vocabulary may be translated and written in Latin letters, as we have already said was the case in Hispaniola. They are a warlike race, and have always been troublesome neighbours. The country is neither rich in gold mines, nor does it possess a fertile soil, being mountainous and arid. Because of its precipitous mountains the temperature is cold, and the chiefs wear clothes, but the bulk of the people are content to live in a state of nature. The Spaniards found negro slaves in this province.[4] They only live in a region one day's march from Quarequa, and they are fierce and cruel. It is thought that negro pirates of Ethiopia established themselves after the wreck of their ships in these mountains. The natives of Quarequa carry on incessant war with these negroes. Massacre or slavery is the alternate fortune of the two peoples.

[Note 4: This mysterious fact has been asserted by too many authors to be refused credence. The author's explanation of the existence of these Africans in America is possibly the correct one.]

Leaving some of his companions who had fallen ill from the incessant fatigue and hardships to which they were not inured, at Quarequa, Vasco, led by native guides, marched towards the summit of the mountain-chain.[5]

[Note 5: On September 26, 1513; the men who accompanied him numbered sixty-six.]

From the village of Poncha to the spot where the southern ocean is visible is a six days' ordinary march, but he only covered the distance in twenty-five days, after many adventures and great privations. On the seventh day of the calends of October, a Quarequa guide showed him a peak from the summit of which the southern ocean is visible. Vasco looked longingly at it. He commanded a halt, and went alone to scale the peak, being the first to reach its top. Kneeling upon the ground, he raised his hands to heaven and saluted the south sea; according to his account, he gave thanks to God and to all the saints for having reserved this glory for him, an ordinary man, devoid alike of experience and authority. Concluding his prayers in military fashion, he waved his hand to some of his companions, and showed them the object of their desires. Kneeling again, he prayed the Heavenly Mediator, and especially the Virgin Mother of God, to favour his expedition and to allow him to explore the region that stretched below him. All his companions, shouting for joy, did likewise. Prouder than Hannibal showing Italy and the Alps to his soldiers, Vasco Nuñez promised great riches to his men. "Behold the much-desired ocean! Behold! all ye men, who have shared such efforts, behold the country of which the son of Comogre and other natives told us such wonders!" As a symbol of possession he built a heap of stones in the form of an altar, and that posterity might not accuse them of falsehood, they inscribed the name of the King of Castile here and there on the tree trunks on both slopes of that summit, erecting several heaps of stones.[6]

[Note 6: In conformity with Spanish usage, a notary, Andrés Valderrabano, drew up a statement witnessing the discovery, which was signed, first by Balboa, next by the priest, Andres de Vera, and by all the others, finishing with the notary himself.]

Finally the Spaniards arrived at the residence of a cacique called Chiapes. This chief, fully armed and accompanied by a multitude of his people, advanced menacingly, determined not only to block their way but to prevent them crossing his frontier. Although the Christians were few they closed up their ranks and marched towards the enemy, discharging their guns and unleashing a pack of hounds against Chiapes. The sound of the cannon reverberated amongst the mountains, and the smoke from the powder seemed to dart forth flames; and when the Indians smelt the sulphur which the wind blew towards them, they fled in a panic, throwing themselves on the ground in terror, convinced that lightning had struck them. While lying on the ground or wildly scattering, the Spaniards approached them with closed ranks and in good order. In the pursuit they killed some and took the greater number prisoners. It was their original intention to treat those Indians kindly and to explore their country in an amicable manner. Vasco took possession of the house of Chiapes, and seized most of those who had been captured while attempting to escape. He sent several of them to invite their cacique to return; they were told to promise him peace, friendship, and kind treatment, but if he did not come, it would mean his ruin and the destruction of his people and country.

In order to convince Chiapes of his sincerity, Vasco Nuñez sent with his messengers some of the natives of Quarequa, who were serving him as guides. These latter spoke to him in their own name and that of their cacique, and Chiapes, allowing himself to be persuaded by their arguments and the entreaties of his own subjects, confided in the promise made to him. Leaving his hiding-place, he returned to the Spaniards, where a friendly agreement was made, hand-clasps and mutual vows exchanged, the alliance being confirmed by reciprocal presents. Vasco received four hundred pesos of wrought gold from Chiapes. We have remarked that a peso was equal to rather more than thirty ducats. The cacique received a number of articles of European manufacture, and the greatest mutual satisfaction prevailed. A halt of several days was decided upon, to await the arrival of the Spaniards who had been left behind.

Dismissing the people of Quarequa with some gifts, the Spaniards, under the guidance of the people of Chiapes and accompanied by the cacique himself, made the descent from the mountain-ridge to the shores of the much-desired ocean in four days. Great was their joy; and in the presence of the natives they took possession, in the name of the King of Castile, of all that sea and the countries bordering on it.

Vasco left some of his men with Chiapes, that he might be freer to explore the country. He borrowed from the cacique nine of those barques dug out of single tree trunks, which the natives call _culches_; and accompanied by eighty of his own men and guided by Chiapes, he sailed on a large river which led him to the territory of another cacique called Coquera. This chief, like the others, wished at first to resist and drive out the Spaniards. His attempt was vain, and he was conquered and put to flight. Acting upon the counsel of Chiapes, Coquera returned, for the envoys sent by the latter spoke to him thus: "These strangers are invincible. If you treat them kindly, they are amiable, but if you resist them, they turn hard and cruel. If you become their friend, they promise assistance, protection, and peace, as you may see from our own case and that of the neighbouring caciques; but if you refuse their friendship, then prepare for ruin and death."

Convinced by these representations, Coquera gave the Spaniards six hundred and fifty pesos of wrought gold, receiving the usual presents in exchange. It was the same treatment that had been extended to Poncha.

After concluding peace with Coquera, Vasco returned to the country of Chiapes. He reviewed his soldiers, took some rest, and then resolved to visit a large gulf in the neighbourhood. According to the report of the natives, the length of this gulf, from the place where it penetrates into the country to its most distant shores, is sixty miles. It is dotted with islands and reefs, and Vasco named it San Miguel. Taking the nine barques he had borrowed from Chiapes, in which he had already crossed the river, he embarked with eighty of his companions, all at that time in good health. Chiapes did his best to discourage this enterprise, counselling Vasco on no account to risk himself in the gulf at that period of the year, as during three months it is so tempestuous that navigation becomes impossible. He himself had seen many culches swept away by the raging waves. Vasco Nuñez, unwilling to incur delay, affirmed that God and all the heavenly host favoured his enterprise, and that he was labouring for God, and to propagate the Christian religion, and to discover treasures to serve as the sinews of war against the enemies of the Faith. After pronouncing a brilliant discourse, he persuaded his companions to embark in the canoes of Chiapes. The latter, wishing to remove the last doubt from the mind of Vasco Nuñez, declared he was ready to accompany him anywhere, and that he would act as his guide, for he would not permit the Spaniards to leave his territory under other escort than his own.

Hardly had the Spaniards reached the open sea in their canoes than they were overtaken by such a violent tempest that they knew not whither to steer, nor where to find refuge. Trembling and frightened, they looked at one another, while Chiapes and the Indians were even more alarmed, for they knew the dangers of such navigation and had often witnessed wrecks. They survived the peril and, after fastening their canoes to rocks along the shore, they took refuge on a neighbouring island. But during the night, the tide rose and covered nearly the whole of it. At high tide the south sea rises to such an extent that many immense rocks which rise above low water are then covered by the waves. In the north sea, however, according to the unanimous testimony of those who inhabit its banks, the tide recedes hardly a cubit from the shore. The inhabitants of Hispaniola and the neighbouring islands confirm this fact.

When the coast was left dry, the Spaniards returned to their culches, but were dumfounded to find all of them damaged and filled with sand. Though dug out of tree trunks some were broken and split open, the cables that had held them having been snapped. To repair them they used moss, bark, some very tough marine plants and grasses. Looking like shipwrecked men and almost dead with hunger (for the storm had swept away almost all their stores), they set out to return. The natives say that at all times of the year the incoming and the outgoing tides fill the islands of the gulf with a frightful roaring sound; but that this principally happens during the three months indicated by Chiapes, and which correspond to October, November, and December. It was just within the month of October and, according to the cacique, it was under that and the two following moons that the tempest prevailed.

After devoting some days to rest, Vasco Nuñez crossed the territory of another unimportant cacique and entered the country of a second, called Tumaco, whose authority extended along the gulf coast. Tumaco, following the example of his colleagues, took up arms; but his resistance was equally vain. Conquered and put to flight, all of his subjects who resisted were massacred. The others were spared, for the Spaniards preferred to have peaceful and amicable relations with those tribes.

Tumaco was wanted, and the envoys of Chiapes urged him to come back without fear, but neither promises nor threats moved him. Having inspired him with fears for his own life, extermination for his family, and ruin for his town, if he held out, the cacique decided to send his son to the Spaniards. After presenting this young man with a robe and other similar gifts, Vasco sent him back, begging him to inform his father of the resources and bravery of the strangers.

Tumaco was touched by the kindness shown to his son, and three days later he appeared; he brought no present at first, but in obedience to his orders, his attendants gave six hundred and fourteen pesos of gold and two hundred and forty selected pearls and a quantity of smaller ones. These pearls excited the unending admiration of the Spaniards, though they are not of the finest quality, because the natives cook the shells before extracting them, in order to do so more easily, and that the flesh of the oyster may be more palatable. This viand is very much esteemed and is reserved for the caciques, who prize it more than they do the pearls themselves; at least this is the report of a certain Biscayan, Arbolazzo, one of Vasco Nuñez's companions, who was afterwards sent to our sovereign with pearl oysters. One must believe eye-witnesses.[7]

[Note 7: Arbolazzo's mission was successful in completely appeasing King Ferdinand's vexation and obtaining from him Balboa's nomination as Adelantado, and other privileges and favours for the participators in the discoveries.]

Observing that the Spaniards attached great value to pearls, Tumaco ordered some of his men to prepare to dive for some. They obeyed, and four days later came back bringing four pounds of pearls. This caused the liveliest satisfaction, and everybody embraced with effusion. Balboa was delighted with the presents he had received, and Tumaco was satisfied to have cemented the alliance. The mouths of the Spaniards fairly watered with satisfaction as they talked about this great wealth.

The cacique Chiapes, who had accompanied them and was present during these events, was also well satisfied, chiefly because it was under his leadership the Spaniards had undertaken such a profitable enterprise, and also because he had been enabled to show his more powerful neighbour, who perhaps was not agreeable to him, what valiant friends he possessed. He thought the Spanish alliance would be very useful to him, for all these naked savages cherish an inveterate hatred of each other and are consumed with ambition.

Vasco Nuñez flattered himself that he had learned many secrets concerning the wealth of the country from Tumaco, but declared that he would, for the moment, keep them exclusively to himself, for they were the cacique's gift to him. According to the report of the Spaniards, Tumaco and Chiapes said there was an island much larger than the others in the gulf, governed by a single cacique. Whenever the sea was calm, this cacique attacked their territories with an imposing fleet of canoes, and carried off everything he found. This island is about twenty miles distant from the shore, and from the hilltops of the continent its coasts were visible. It is said that shells as big as fans are found on its shores, from which pearls, sometimes the size of a bean or an olive, are taken. Cleopatra would have been proud to own such. Although this island is near to the shore, it extends beyond the mouth of the gulf, out into the open sea. Vasco was glad to hear these particulars, and perceived the profit he might derive. In order to attach the two caciques more closely to his interest and to convert them into allies, he denounced the chieftain of the island, with direful threats. He pledged himself to land there and to conquer, exterminate, and massacre the cacique. To give effect to his words, he ordered the canoes to be prepared, but both Chiapes and Tumaco amicably urged him to postpone this enterprise until the return of fair weather, as no canoe could ride the sea at that season of the year.

This was in November when storms and hurricanes prevail. The coasts of the island are inhospitable, and among the channels separating different islands is heard the horrible roaring of the waves battling with one another. The rivers overflow their beds, and, rushing down the mountain slopes, tear up the rocks and huge trees, and pour into the sea with unparallelled uproar. Raging winds from the south and southwest prevailing at that season, accompanied by perpetual thunder and lightning, sweep over and destroy the houses. Whenever the weather was clear, the nights were cold, but during the day the heat was insufferable. Nor is this astonishing, for this region is near the equator, and the pole star is no longer visible. In that country the icy temperature during the night is due to the moon and other planets, while the sun and its satellites cause the heat during the day. Such were not the opinions of the ancients, who imagined that the equinoctial circle was devoid of inhabitants because of the perpendicular rays of the sun. Some few authors, whose theories the Portuguese have shown by experience to be correct, dissented from this view. Each year the Portuguese arrive at the antartic antipodes, and carry on commerce with those people. I say the antipodes; yet I am not ignorant that there are learned men, most illustrious for their genius and their science, amongst whom there are some saints who deny the existence of the antipodes. No one man can know everything. The Portuguese have gone beyond the fifty-fifth degree of the other Pole, where, in sailing about the point, they could see throughout the heavenly vault certain nebulae, similar to the Milky Way, in which rays of light shone. They say there is no notable fixed star near that Pole, similar to the one in our hemisphere, vulgarly believed to be the Pole, and which is called in Italy _tramontane_, in Spain the North Star. From the world's axis in the centre of the sign of the Scales, the sun, when it sets for us rises for them, and when it is springtime there, it is autumn with us, and summer there when we have winter. But enough of this digression, and let us resume our subject.