book 1, chapter 1.

AMERICA: A. D. 1503-1504. The Fourth Voyage of Americus Vespucius. First Settlement in Brazil.

In June, 1503, "Amerigo sailed again from Lisbon, with six ships. The object of this voyage was to discover a certain island called Melcha, which was supposed to lie west of Calicut, and to be as famous a mart in the commerce of the Indian world as Cadiz was in Europe. They made the Cape de Verds, and then, contrary to the judgment of Vespucci and of all the fleet, the Commander persisted in standing for Serra Leoa." The Commander's ship was lost, and Vespucci, with one vessel, only, reached the coast of the New World, finding a port which is thought to have been Bahia. Here "they waited above two months in vain expectation of being joined by the rest of the squadron. Having lost all hope of this they coasted on for 260 leagues to the Southward, and there took port again in 18° S. 35° West of the meridian of Lisbon. Here they remained five months, upon good terms with the natives, with whom some of the party penetrated forty leagues into the interior; and here they erected a fort, in which they left 24 men who had been saved from the Commander's ship. They gave them 12 guns, besides other arms, and provisions for six months; then loaded with brazil [wood], sailed homeward and returned in safety. ... The honour, therefore, of having formed the first settlement in this country is due to Amerigo Vespucci. It does not appear that any further attention was as this time paid to it. ... But the cargo of brazil which Vespucci had brought home tempted private adventurers, who were content with peaceful gains, to trade thither for that valuable wood; and this trade became so well known, that in consequence the coast and the whole country obtained the name of Brazil, notwithstanding the holier appellation [Santa Cruz] which Cabral had given it."

_R. Southey, History of Brazil, volume 1, chapter 1._

{59}

AMERICA: A. D. 1509-1511. The Expeditions of Ojeda and Nicuesa to the Isthmus. The Settlement at Darien.

"For several years after his ruinous, though successful lawsuit, we lose all traces of Alonzo de Ojeda, excepting that we are told he made another voyage to Coquibacoa [Venezuela], in 1505. No record remains of this expedition, which seems to have been equally unprofitable with the preceding, for we find him, in 1508, in the island of Hispaniola as poor in purse, though as proud in spirit, as ever. ... About this time the cupidity of King Ferdinand was greatly excited by the accounts by Columbus of the gold mines of Veragua, in which the admiral fancied he had discovered the Aurea Chersonesus of the ancients, whence King Solomon procured the gold used in building the temple of Jerusalem. Subsequent voyagers had corroborated the opinion of Columbus as to the general riches of the coast of Terra Firma; King Ferdinand resolved, therefore, to found regular colonies along that coast, and to place the whole under some capable commander." Ojeda was recommended for this post, but found a competitor in one of the gentlemen of the Spanish court, Diego de Nicuesa. "King Ferdinand avoided the dilemma by favoring both; not indeed by furnishing them with ships and money, but by granting patents and dignities, which cost nothing, and might bring rich returns. He divided that part of the continent which lies along the Isthmus of Darien into two provinces, the boundary line running through the Gulf of Uraba. The eastern part, extending to Cape de la Vela, was called New Andalusia, and the government of it given to Ojeda. The other to the west [called Castilla del Oro], including Veragua, and reaching, to Cape Gracias à Dios, was assigned to Nicuesa. The island of Jamaica was given to the two governors in common, as a place whence to draw supplies of provisions." Slender means for the equipment of Ojeda's expedition were supplied by the veteran pilot, Juan de la Cosa, who accompanied him as his lieutenant. Nicuesa was more amply provided. The rival armaments arrived at San Domingo about the same time (in 1509), and much quarreling between the two commanders ensued. Ojeda found a notary in San Domingo, Martin Fernandez de Enciso, who had money which he consented to invest in the enterprise, and who promised to follow him with an additional ship-load of recruits and supplies. Under this arrangement Ojeda made ready to sail in advance of his competitor, embarking November 10, 1509. Among those who sailed with him was Francisco Pizarro, the future conqueror of Peru. Ojeda, by his energy, gained time enough to nearly ruin his expedition before Nicuesa reached the scene; for, having landed at Carthagena, he made war upon the natives, pursued them recklessly into the interior of the country, with 70 men, and was overwhelmed by the desperate savages, escaping with only one companion from their poisoned arrows. His faithful friend, the pilot, Juan de la Cosa, was among the slain, and Ojeda himself, hiding in the forest, was nearly dead of hunger and exposure when found and rescued by a searching party from his ships. At this juncture the fleet of Nicuesa made its appearance. Jealousies were forgotten in a common rage against the natives and the two expeditions were joined in an attack on the Indian villages which spared nothing. Nicuesa then proceeded to Veragua, while Ojeda founded a town, which he called San Sebastian, at the east end of the Gulf of Uraba. Incessantly harassed by the natives, terrified by the effects of the poison which these used in their warfare, and threatened with starvation by the rapid exhaustion of its supplies, the settlement lost courage and hope. Enciso and his promised ship were waited for in vain. At length there came a vessel which certain piratical adventurers at Hispaniola had stolen, and which brought some welcome provisions, eagerly bought at an exorbitant price. Ojeda, half recovered from a poisoned wound, which he had treated heroically with red-hot plates of iron, engaged the pirates to convey him to Hispaniola, for the procuring of supplies. The voyage was a disastrous one, resulting in shipwreck on the coast of Cuba and a month of desperate wandering in the morasses of the island. Ojeda survived all these perils and sufferings, made his way to Jamaica, and from Jamaica to San Domingo, found that his partner Enciso had sailed for the colony long before, with abundant supplies, but could learn nothing more. Nor could he obtain for himself any means of returning to San Sebastian, or of dispatching relief to the place. Sick, penniless and disheartened, he went into a convent and died. Meantime the despairing colonists at San Sebastian waited until death had made them few enough to be all taken on board of the two little brigantines which were left to them; then they sailed away, Pizarro in command. One of the brigantines soon went down in a squall; the other made its way to the harbor of Carthagena, where it found the tardy Enciso, searching for his colony. Enciso, under his commission, now took command, and insisted upon going to San Sebastian. There the old experiences were soon renewed, and even Enciso was ready to abandon the deadly place. The latter had brought with him a needy cavalier, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa--so needy that he smuggled himself on board Enciso's ship in a cask to escape his creditors. Vasco Nuñez, who had coasted this region with Bastidas, in 1500, now advised a removal of the colony to Darien, on the opposite coast of the Gulf of Uraba. His advice, which was followed, proved good, and the hopes of the settlers were raised; but Enciso's modes of government proved irksome to them. Then Balboa called attention to the fact that, when they crossed the Gulf of Uraba, they passed out of the territory covered by the patent to Ojeda, under which Enciso was commissioned, and into that granted to Nicuesa. On this suggestion Enciso was promptly deposed and two alcaldes were elected, Balboa being one. While events in one corner of Nicuesa's domain were thus establishing a colony for that ambitious governor, he himself, at the other extremity of it, was faring badly. He had suffered hardships, separation from most of his command and long abandonment on a dc solate coast; had rejoined his followers after great suffering, only to suffer yet more in their company, until less than one hundred remained of the 700 who sailed with him a few months before. The settlement at Veragua had been deserted, and another, named Nombre de Dios undertaken, with no improvement of circumstances. In this situation he was rejoiced, at last, by the arrival of one of his lieutenants, Rodrigo de Colmenares, who came with supplies. Colmenares brought tidings, moreover, of the prosperous colony at Darien, which he had discovered on his way, with an invitation to Nicuesa to come and assume the government of it. He accepted the invitation with delight; but, alas! the community at Darien had repented of it before he reached them, and they refused to receive him when he arrived. Permitted finally to land, he was seized by a treacherous party among the colonists--to whom Balboa is said to have opposed all the resistance in his power--was put on board of an old and crazy brigantine, with seventeen of his friends, and compelled to take an oath that he would sail straight to Spain. "The frail bark set sail on the first of March, 1511, and steered across the Caribbean Sea for the island of Hispaniola, but was never seen or heard of more."

_W. Irving, Life and Voyages of Columbus and his Companions, volume 3._

ALSO IN _H. H. Bancroft, History of the Pacific States,