iii. 46, asserts that Panciaco joined Pocorosa in the attack

on Santa Cruz, and that not a single Spaniard escaped. Andagoya, in _Nar._, 12, says that all were killed save one woman, whom Pocorosa kept several years as his wife. She was finally killed through jealousy by an Indian woman who reported her to have been eaten by a crocodile while bathing.

[X-23] Oviedo calls this place Tamao.

[X-24] This was the site of old Panamá. Aboriginally fish in large quantities were dried there. 'Que es provincia adonde los ayres son buenos quando vienen dela mar,' says Herrera, ii. ii. x., 'y malos quando procedẽ de tierra.' In _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, iv. 883, is written, 'It might haue had a better seate, and more wholesome, and to the purpose for the trafficke of the South Sea, not going very farre from whence the Citie now stands.' See _Juan_ and _Ulloa_, _Voy._, i. 99; _Heylyn's Cosmog._, 1085; _Lloyd_, in _London Geog. Soc., Jour._, i. 85; _Findlay's Direct._, i. 213; _Griswold's Panama_, 11; _Viagero Univ._, xii. 303-30; _Andagoya's Nar._, 23. Ambiguously Gomara writes, _Hist. Ind._, 254, 'Deste golfo a Panama ay mas de cinquenta, que descubrio Gaspar de Morales Capitan de Pedrarias de Auila.' Still more indefinite is Benzoni, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 81, 'Questa prouincia di Panama soleua essere habitata da molti popoli Indiani, e per tutti quei siu mi v'era abbondanza d'oro; ma gli Spagnuoli hanno consumato ogni cosa.'

[X-25] It may be the same as Poncra; from the authorities it is impossible with certainty to determine.

[X-26] Peter Martyr speaks of four attempts to gain the golden temple. The first attained a distance up the river of forty leagues, the second of fifty leagues, and the third of eighty leagues. Again they crossed the river and proceeded by land, 'but oh! wonderful mischance, the unarmed and naked people always overcame the armed and armored.' Jacobo Álvarez Osorio, a friar of the priory of Darien, spent many years in search of the province of Dabaiba.

[X-27] Balboa says eighty. _Carta_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ii. 530.

[X-28] Gomara, _Hist. Ind._, 84, gives the island or the chieftain yet another name, 'y diose buena maña en la ysla de Terarequi a rescatar perlas.' Oviedo, iii. 16, calls the island Toe.

[X-29] Writing the king, Vasco Nuñez tells the tale somewhat differently. 'No sooner had they arrived at Isla Rica,' he says, 'than entering a village they captured all the Indians they could. The cacique prepared for war, but retired for several days, during which time the Christians burned half the houses with all the provisions. Afterward the cacique peaceably returned with fifteen or sixteen marks of pearls and four thousand pesos in gold. Then he took the Spaniards to the place where they obtained the pearls, and made his people gather them, and remain at peace. Notwithstanding all this the captain without conscience gave away as slaves all the men and all the women whom he brought away from the Rich Island.' The statement may be taken with allowance as from a man smarting under wrong; and it is not a little amusing to see how suddenly tender becomes the conscience of the ingenuous Vasco, who never stole anything from the natives, or burned their houses, or made them slaves!

[X-30] Erroneously supposed by some to be the origin of the word Peru.

[X-31] Some of the pearls were of extraordinary size and beauty. One, in particular, attained no small celebrity. It was pear-shaped, one inch in length, and nine lines in its largest diameter. Vasco Nuñez describes it as weighing 'ten tomines'—a _tomin_ is about one third of a drachm—'very perfect, without a scratch or stain and of a very pretty color and lustre and make; which, in truth,' artlessly intimating what would be his course under the circumstances, 'is a jewel well worthy of presentation to your Majesty, more particularly as coming from these parts. It was put up at auction and sold for 1,200 pesos de oro to a merchant, and finally fell into the hands of the governor.' Oviedo, iii. 49, says it weighed 31 carats. Subsequently it was presented through Doña Isabel to the queen, and was valued in Spain at 4,000 ducats. Pedrarias is further charged with divers misdemeanors. _Carta del Adelantado Vasco Nuñez de Balboa_, October 16, 1515, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ii. 526, and _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 375; _Ovalle_, _Hist. Rel. Chile_, in _Pinkerton's Voy._, xiv. 146-7.

[XI-1] Peter Martyr, dec. iii. cap. x., says he set out in May with 80 men, and was afterward joined by Mercado with 50 men.

[XI-2] On Mercator's atlas there is a town and river south-west from Panamá named _Nata_. Hondius, Dampier, Jefferys, and De Laet give _Nata_; _West-Indische Spieghel_, _Nato_; _Kiepert_, _Nata de los Caballeros_, and thence eastward, _R. Aguablanca_, and opposite this river, _I Chiru_.

[XI-3] Nearly all the gold found here was wrought into plates and various kinds of utensils.

[XI-4] It is groundless speculation on the part of Herrera to find in this word, as many do in others, the origin of the term Peru. 'Y prosiguiendo su descubrimiento hàzia el Ocidente, llegaron a la tierra del Cazique dicho Birùquete, de quien se dize que ha deriuado el nombre de Piru.' _Hist. Ind._, ii. i. xiv.

[XI-5] Paris was an Indian province and gulf twelve leagues from Natá. Oviedo authorizes us to write, _Pariza_ or _Parita_. The large square peninsula which forms the western bound to the gulf of Panamá, is sometimes called by modern writers _Parita_, and the gulf which cuts into the peninsula _Gulfo de Parita_. See Humboldt's _Atlas of New Spain_. Ribero gives _G. de Paris_, Vaz Dourado, _G∴ de Paris naca_ and _b∴ de Paris naqua_; De Laet, _Golfo de Parita_, as well as the city Parita, south of which is _Iubraua_, and north, _Escoria_.

[XI-6] Town and province, beside being the name of the first prominent point west of Panamá. Colon and Ribero have it, _p de Chame_; Vaz Dourado writes it the same once, and again, _p∴ de Cane_; Colom gives _P de Chane_; De Laet, and others after him, _Chame_, with _Otoque_ east of it.

[XI-7] 'Donde despues Pedrarias pobló un pueblo de cristianos que se dice Acla, y antes que hobiese esta batalla tenia otro nombre, porque Acla en la lengua de aquella tierra quiere decir huesos de hombres ó canillas de hombres.' _Andagoya_, _Relacion_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 397. See also _Carta de Alonso de la Puente y Diego Marquez_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ii. 538-49; Robert FitzRoy, in _London Geog. Soc., Jour._, xxiii. 179, gives us a fair specimen of historical writing by an intelligent gentleman, who knows nothing of what he is saying when he describes 'Acla, or Agla,' as settled 'in 1514, a few miles inland from that port or bay now famed in history and romance, called by Patterson Caledonian Harbour.' Acla was on the coast, three or four leagues north of Caledonian Bay, as we find in _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, iv. 883, 'right against the Iland of _Pinos_, whereof at this present there is no more memory than that there was the death of that famous Captaine, whose name will last eternally, the President _Basco Nunnez_ of _Balnoa_, and of his company.' Fernando Colon, 1527, calls the town _ocara_; Diego de Ribero, _acra_; Vaz Dourado, 1571, _Munich Atlas_, No. x., _axca_, and on No. xi., _azca_; De Laet, Colom, and others, _Acla_.

[XI-8] _Relacion hecha por Gaspar de Espinosa, alcalde mayor de Castilla del Oro, dada á Pedrarias de Avila, lugar teniente general de aquellas provincias, de todo lo que le sucedió en la entrada que hizo en ellas, de órden de Pedrarias_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ii. 467-522. The licentiate begins his verbose narrative with a flourish of trumpets before the king and queen, in a lengthy saying of Quintilian, and an apology, saying that had he sufficient time he would give the particulars of his raid. The document is signed, El Licenciado Espinosa; Gerónimo Valenzuela; Pablo Mexia; Pedro de Gamez; Bartolomé Hurtado, capitan; Gabriel de Roxas; Por su mandado, Martin Salcedo. The editors of the collection in which the paper appears complain of its errors in regard to places, which they have endeavored to rectify whenever possible. The truth of its incidents they of course could not dispute.

[XI-9] Probably the Rio Chepo, or Bayano.

[XI-10] The licentiate's narrative here becomes as confused as his sense of justice. The names of towns, provinces, and chiefs are now brought together and then scattered as if flung at random from the hand, making it in no wise difficult to imagine either that the licentiate never made the journey, or that he did not write the relation. There is no doubt, however, on either of these points. There is this to say; language was not then what it is now, and there were men who knew how best to use it even in those days.

[XI-11] Named by Espinosa, Puerto de las Agujas.

[XI-12] Colon and Ribero both write _ya de Cebaco_; Mercator places a town on the mainland opposite, _Sebaco_; Ogilby, _I. de S. Maria_; De Laet, _Isles del Zebaco_; Colom and Jefferys, _Zebaco_; Kiepert, _I. Cebaco_, and near it _I. del Gobernador_.

[XI-13] If Coiba was meant we find connected the ancient name of _Gatos_, _ya gatos_, _y de gatos_, etc. Then the name changes, and we have by Vaz Dourado _I∴ de quofõque_; Mercator, _Quicare_; Dampier, _Keys of Quicara_ or _Quibo_; I. de Laet gives, _Cobaya_, _Quicaro_, and _La Montuosa_; Colom, _Coyba_, _Quicaro_, and _Lamatuosa_; Jefferys, _Coyba_, _Quicaro_, and opposite Coiba, _Pt. Bianco_, and west _Coco_, and _Honda_. Herrera calls the island _Cobayos_.

[XI-14] Not so called at the time, however. According to Herrera the native name was Chira. The gulf was first known to civilization as San Lúcar, and San Lázaro; before this, even, we have by Colon, _G. de S. Vicenite_. Vaz Dourado gives _Sao llucar_; Mercator, in 1574, places in the interior the town _Nicoia_, and on the eastern shore of the gulf the town _Pari_. Ogilby gives on the _Golfo de Salinas_, as well as on the land, perhaps town and province, _Nicoya_, and a little to the west, _Paro_. Dampier gives _G. of Nicoya_, and the town of _nicoya_. De Laet locates the town of _Nicoya_, east of which is _Paro_. _West-Indische Spieghel_, _G. Goca_; and Jefferys, _Nicova_, and near it emptying into the gulf, _R. Dispensa_, _R. Taminsco_, _R. de Costarica_, _R. de las Canas_, and _R. Solano_.

[XI-15] Called the bay of _Osa_ by Herrera; _baia de oqua_ by Vaz Dourado; _Munich Atlas_, no. xi., b∴ _deoqua_; De Laet, _Golfo de Salinas_; and by Dampier, and Jefferys, _G. Dulce_, and _Gulfe Dulce_.

[XI-16] With singular fidelity to its original, this name has retained its proper orthography without regard to time or place. The chart-makers of every name and nation give only _Panamá_. Fernando Colon applies the word as to a province, but usually it is given as to a town. Dampier gives the _Bay of Panama_ as well as the city. De Laet sends flowing into this bay _R. Chiepo_, _R. Pacora_, _R. Tubanama_, _R. de la balsa_, while to the north are _R. Pequi_, _Venta de Cruzes_, and _Limaret_.

[XI-17] Herrera, dec. ii. lib. ii. cap. x., places Ponce at Panamá in 1516. Although the chronicles and relations are all exceedingly confused, yet I am satisfied that the establishment of a post at Panamá was not effected before January, 1517, since Espinosa was hunting for Paris in January, during the absence of Hurtado and Ponce upon the coast toward the north-west.

[XII-1] Authorities thus far for this chapter are for the most part the same as those last quoted. _Las Casas_, _Hist. Ind._, iv. 169-248, who, I think, gives the best account of any by contemporary writers; _Herrera_, dec. ii. lib. i. cap. iii.; _Oviedo_, iii. 6-8; _Peter Martyr_, dec. iii. cap. iii. and dec. iv. cap. ix.; _Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 50. For Balboa's complaints to the king, see _Carta dirigida al Rey_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 375. Brief or extended general accounts may be found in _Voyages, Curious and Entertaining_, 470-1; _Panamá, Descr._, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ix. 80; _Morelli_, _Fasti Novi Orbis_, 16; _Andagoya's Nar._, ii.-iii.; _Galvano's Discov._, 125-8; _Ovalle_, _Hist. Rel. Chile_, in _Pinkerton's Voy._, xiv. 151; _Acosta_, _Hist. Compend. Nuevo Granada_, 62; _March y Labores_, _Marina Española_, i. 400, portrait; _Du Perier_, _Gen. Hist. Voy._, 166; _Martire_, _Summario_, in _Ramusio_, _Viaggi_, iii. 349; _Dic. Enc. de la Lengua Esp._, i. 308; _Carta_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, iii. 526; _Puente_, _Carta_, in _id._, 538-49; _Maglianos_, _St. Francis and Franciscans_, 537-8; _Pedrarias_, _Reys-Togten_, 3-175, and _Cordua_, _Scheeps-Togt_, 26-35, in _Aa_, vii.; _Hesperian Mag._, ii. 32-3; _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, 83-5; _Irving's Columbus_, iii. 232-86; _Uitvoerige Reys-Togten_, 33-50, in _Gottfried_, _Reysen_, iii.; _Remesal_, _Hist. Chyapa_, 163; _Gonzalez Dávila_, _Carta al Rey_, _Squier's MS._, i. 16.

[XII-2] 'La llegada del obispo á Castilla no se verificó hasta en 1518; y por cierto que no guardó aquí á su amigo los respetos y consecuencia que le debia. En su disputa con Casas delante del emperador aseguró que el primer gobernador del Darien habia sido malo, y el segundo muy peor.' _Quintana_, _Vidas_, 'Balboa,' 35. In the matter of definite dates for the events of this chapter, authorities differ. All are more or less vague. Most of them end the career of Vasco Nuñez with the end of 1517; which, if correct, would fix the time of his departure from Antigua about May, 1516, for in his agreement with Pedrarias it was arranged that the time of absence on the South Sea expedition should be limited to eighteen months, and one of the principal charges of the governor was that Balboa had failed in this. Among the collection of documents in the royal archives of the Indies appears a petition presented by Fernando de Argüello to Pedrarias and his council, in behalf of Vasco Nuñez, requesting an extension of the time. At the foot of the petition is a decree, dated January 13, 1518, granting an extension of four months. Either the document is fictitious, or its date erroneous, or contemporary writers are in error. I am quite sure that Pedrarias never gave any extension, since the authorities are clear and positive on that point, and the incidents of the narrative hinge upon it. Compare copy of this document in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ii. 556-8; _Carta de Alonso de la Puente y Diego de Marquez_, in _id._, 538-49; Moreri and Miravel y Casadevante in _El Gran. Dic._; _Burney's Discov. South Sea_, i. 12; _Naharro_, _Relacion_, in _Doc. Inéd. para Hist. Esp._, xxvi. 232. As to the date of Quevedo's leaving Darien and his arrival in Spain there are grave differences. Herrera sends the bishop to Spain in 1518, to report the misgovernment of Pedrarias. Oviedo states that Quevedo left Darien soon after the reconciliation of Vasco Nuñez and Pedrarias, and yet does not speak of his being in Spain until 1519, 'era llegado.' It is known that Quevedo spent some time in Cuba, urging Diego Velazquez to apply for the governorship of Castilla del Oro. The petition of Argüello for the extension of the time of absence of Vasco Nuñez, before mentioned, contains the name of Quevedo as one of those who acted upon it, which only the more conclusively proves that document fictitious. Stranger than all this, however, is the statement in the royal cédula, dated June 18, 1519, ordering the ships of Balboa to be delivered to Gil Gonzalez, that Vasco Nuñez was then a prisoner. So singular is this culpable ignorance, or carelessness, or deception, regarding the death of Vasco Nuñez, on the part of the royal officials, as at first to raise grave doubts regarding the date of his death, were it not proved by many collateral incidents.

[XII-3] There are several streams of this name between the Atrato and the Colorado, but none of them suit the occasion. Modern maps give a Rio Balsas flowing into the gulf of San Miguel from the south, its source turned the farthest possible away from Acla. On a map of Joannis de Laet, 1633, _Nov. Orb._, 347, midway between the gulf of San Miguel and Panamá, are the words _R de la balsa_. They are placed opposite Acla; the mouth of a river only is given, the stream not being laid down. The same may be said of the _R. de la balse_ of Montanus, _Nieuwe Weereld_, 1671, which is in about the same locality. The Rio Chepo is the only stream approaching the description in that vicinity. In my opinion both of these map-makers were wrong; neither the Rio Chepo nor any other stream in that neighborhood was the Rio Balsas of Vasco Nuñez. The head-waters of the Rio Chucunaque are nearer the old site of Acla than those of the Rio Chepo, or of any other southward flowing stream; and yet I do not think the Chucunaque the Balsas of Vasco Nuñez. Says Pascual de Andagoya, _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 404, 'Le envió á la provincia de Acla á poblar un pueblo, que es el que agora está que se dice Acla, y de allí le dió gente que fuese al rio de la Balsa, y hiciese dos navíos para bajar por él á la mar del sur ... y bajados al golfo de S. Miguel se anegaban,' etc.; from which, and from the objects and incidents of the enterprise, as given by various authors, I am inclined to believe the Rio de las Balsas of Vasco Nuñez to be the stream now known as the Rio Sabana. The fact of distance alone, commonly estimated at 22 leagues, but which Las Casas makes '24 y 25 leguas de sierras altísimas,' inclines me to this opinion, not to mention several others pointing in the same direction, which will clearly appear in the text.

[XII-4] 'Yo ví firmado de su nombre del mismo Obispo, en una relacion que hizo al Emperador en Barcelona el año de 1519, cuando él de la tierra firme vino, como más largo adelante, placiendo á Dios, será referido, que habia muerto el Vasco Nuñez, por hacer los bergantines, 500 indios, y el secretario del mismo Obispo me dijo que no quiso poner más número porque no pareciese cosa increible, pero que la verdad era que llegaban ó pasaban de 2,000.' _Las Casas_, _Hist. Ind._, iv. 233-4. 'No se hallo que Castellano ninguno muriesse, ni negro, aunque de los Indios fueron muchos los que perecieron.' _Herrera_, dec. ii. lib. ii. cap. xi.

[XII-5] Pascual de Andagoya asserts that the worm-eaten timber was put together on the Balsas and navigated, though with great difficulty, to the gulf of San Miguel, and thence to the Pearl Islands; and that there they soon foundered. _Relacion de los sucesos de Pedrarias Dávila_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 404. This statement, though entitled to great weight, is not sustained by the other authorities.

[XII-6] If I have applied strong terms of denunciation to Pedrarias Dávila, it is because he unquestionably deserves it. He is by far the worst man who came officially to the New World during its early government. In this all authorities agree. And all agree that Vasco Nuñez was not deserving of death. Andagoya, _Relacion_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 403-5, is an excellent authority. Says Las Casas, _Hist. Ind._, iv. 240, 'Dijeron que esta falsedad ó testimonio falso, ó quizá verdad, escribió Garabito á Pedrarias porque Vasco Nuñez, por una india que tenia por amiga, le habia de palabra maltratado.' Some of the more knowing among the chroniclers say that God punished Vasco Nuñez with this death for his treatment of Nicuesa. Will they at the same time tell us for what God permitted Pedrarias to live? 'Desta manera acabó el adelantamiento de Vasco Nuñez, descubridor de la mar del Sur, é pagó la muerte del capitan Diego de Nicuesa; por la qual é por otras culpas permitió Dios que oviesse tal muerte, é no por lo quel pregon deçia, porque la que llamaban traycion, ninguno la tuvo por tal.' _Oviedo_, iii. 60. Herrera everywhere speaks in the highest terms of Vasco Nuñez, and pronounces the character and conduct of Pedrarias detestable. Says Gomara, _Hist. Ind._, 85, 'Ni pareciera delante del gouernador, aunque mas su suegro fuera. Juntosele con esto, la muerte de Diego de Nicuesa, y sus sesenta compañeros. La prision del bachiller Enciso, y que era vãdolero reboltoso, cruel, y malo para Indios.' Of Balboa's denial of guilt, in _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, i. 51, Benzoni writes, 'Valboa con giuramento negò, dicendo, che in quanto toccaua alla informatione che contra lui s'era fatta di solleuargli la gente che l'era à torto, e falsamente accusato, e che considerasse bene quello che faceua, e se lui hauesse tal cosa tentata, non saria venuto alla presentia sua, e similmente del resto, si difese il meglio che puote ma dove regnano le forze, poco gioua defendersi con la ragione.' And Peter Martyr, dec. iv. cap. ix., testifies, 'Vaschum ab Austro accersit Petrus Arias: paret dicto Vaschus, in catenas conjicitur. Negat Vaschus tale consilium cogitasse. Testes quæruntur malefactorum, quæ patraverat: ab initio dicta colliguntur, morte dignus censetur, perimitur.' And 'what stomach' he further adds, 'Pedrarias Dávila may have, should he ever return to Spain, let good men judge.'

[XIII-1] The city or town council, composed of the alcalde, regidores, and other officers having the administration or economical and political management of municipal affairs. The word _cabildo_ has essentially the same signification as _ayuntamiento_, _regimiento_, _consejo_, _municipalidad_, and _consejo municipal_. A _cabildo eclesiástico_ is a bishop's council or chapter. The authority invested in this body at Antigua at this time, to check Pedrarias, was wholly unusual and extraordinary.

[XIII-2] First by the hand of Pedrarias de Ávila, the governor's nephew, February 16, 1515, and again January 28, 1516. See _Puente_, _Carta_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, 541-8; _Gonzalez Dávila_, _Teatro Ecles._, ii. 57.

[XIII-3] Juan de Quevedo was a friar of the order of St Francis, a native of Bejori in Old Castile; was consecrated bishop by Leo X., and died December 24, 1519. He was a double-faced divine, mercenary, but with good-natured proclivities. Gonzalez Dávila who gives his biography, _Teatro Ecles._, ii. 58, says that he was defeated in the discussions with Las Casas. See also _Remesal_, _Hist. Chyapa_, 73-6.

[XIII-4] Herrera, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii. lib. iii. cap. iii., gives the erroneous impression that, when Pedrarias retired to Panamá, Espinosa was left to govern at Antigua as captain-general. Acosta, _Compend. Hist. Nueva Granada_, 75-6, copies the error.

[XIII-5] In fact, neither Nombre de Dios nor Panamá, as at this time located, remained; the former, by order of Philip II., being removed five leagues to the westward, to Portobello, and the city of Panamá being refounded two leagues west of the original site, each port, at the time of its depopulation, claiming over 40,000 Spaniards as victims to the unwholesomeness of the climate, during a period of twenty-eight years. It was not until after these places had become the entrepôts for a large traffic with Peru and the north-western coast that the changes were made.

[XIII-6] It was in the former instance that Pedrarias sought to pluralize his ownership by taking possession, quasi possession, and repossession, as fully related in that curious document by Mozolay, _Testimonio_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ii. 549-56, of which I have made an abstract in a previous chapter.

[XIII-7] A better anchorage, owing to the wide stretch of shelving beach at Panamá, which was uncovered at low tide. Herrera says that in his day vessels in summer rode in the strand, and in the winter in the haven of Perico, two leagues from the port of Panamá.

[XIII-8] As Pascual de Andagoya, _Relacion_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 406, says, 'Panamá se fundó el año de 19, dia de Ntra. Sra. de Agosto, y en fin de aquel año pobló al Nombre de Dios un capitan Diego Alvites por mandado de Pedrarias.' And Herrera writes, dec. ii. lib. iii. cap. iii., 'Concordandose todos en esto, llamò Pedrarias a un escrivano, y le pidio por testimonio como alli de positiva una villa q̃ se llamasse Panamá en nõbre de Dios y de la Reyna doña Iuana, y don Carlos su hijo, y protestava dela defender en el dicho nombres a qualesquier cõtrarios.' See further _Las Casas_, _Hist. Ind._, v. 200-20; _Morelli_, _Fasti Novi Orbis_, 17; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, iii. 61-4; _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, 85; _Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 51; _Du Perier_, _Gen. Hist. Voy._, 167; _Panamá, Descrip._ in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ix. 89-90; _Zuazo_, _Carta_, in _id._, xi. 312-19; _Gonzalez Dávila_, _Teatro Ecles._, ii. 56; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, iv. 882.

[XIII-9] Morelli, _Fasti Novi Orbis_, 16, states that Albites entered the Rio Chagre in 1515. 'Didacus Albitez itidem Hispanus Chagre fluvium subiit.' In 1516 were put forward his pretensions to conquest in the direction of Veragua. _Herrera_, dec. ii. lib. ii. cap. xi.; _Andagoya's Nar._, 23; _Oviedo_, iii. 61-71; _Galvano's Discov._, 31.

[XIII-10] Peter Martyr says the road was wide enough to give passage for two carts side by side, 'to the intent that they might passe ouer with ease to search ye secrets of either spacious Sea;' but at the writing of his sixth decade the road was not completed.

[XIII-11] Lying north of Nicoya, and so called to-day, that is to say Puerto de Culebra. South of Lake Nicaragua, on Colon's and Ribero's maps we find _G. de S. tiago_; Vaz Dourado, _b∴ de Samtiago_. By some chart-makers the results and names of one discovery were known, by others, those of another; the final appellation depended on circumstances.

[XIII-12] Oviedo's statements concerning himself during this period of angry excitement must be taken with due allowance. The chronicler gives himself and his affairs at great length; but I will endeavor, in my curtailment of his account, not to forget that there were at this time, and before and after, twenty equally important issues of which there are less full records. See _Oviedo_, iii. 41-56 and 72-88; _José Amador de los Rios_, _Vida y Escritos de Oviedo_, in _id._, i. pp. ix.-cvii.; _Herrera_, dec. ii. lib. ii. cap. x.

[XIII-13] 'From which it may be seen,' says Oviedo, 'with what justice Vasco Nuñez was condemned, when his chief accomplice comes back not only acquitted but with honors.'

[XIV-1] There were three of this name whom we shall encounter, the contador of Española; the licenciado, who was alcalde mayor of the Spanish main under Diego de Ordaz, in 1530; _Simon_, _Conq. Tierra Firme_, 106-27; and the clergyman and chief chronicler, in 1655, of the Indies, and of both Castiles.

[XIV-2] The royal agreement was made specially with Niño, 'piloto de su magestad para el descubrimiento,' Gil Gonzalez being named captain-general. Niño was to explore 1,000 leagues to the westward for spices, gold, silver, pearls, and precious stones, in three ships, furnished half by the crown and half by the explorers, who were to receive for the purpose 4,000 castellanos de oro, from the sums to the credit of the crown in the hands of the factor of Castilla del Oro. One twentieth of what God might thus give them, after the king should have received his fifth, was to be devoted to pious purposes. The net proceeds to be divided equally between the crown and the discoverers, according to the amount contributed by each. Wages paid the crew to be counted in the costs; or if they went on shares, two thirds should go to the king and Niño, and one third to the captain, officers, and men. Supplies were to be exempt from duty, and the explorers should have an interest in the lands discovered by them. The crown agreed to furnish at Jamaica 2,000 loads of cassava-root, and 500 hogs; also ten negro slaves, the explorer to pay the owners for ten Indian slaves to serve as interpreters. For the faithful performance of these and other obligations, the explorer was required to give bonds in the sum of 2,000 ducats. Herrera, dec. ii. lib. iv. cap. i., gives only a part of the contract; in _Squier's MSS._, i. 12-14, is the document in full.

[XIV-3] A copy of this cédula may be found in _Squier's MSS._, i.

[XIV-4] In the Expediente sobre el Cumplimiento de la Cédula—see _Los Navíos de Vasco Nuñez_, in _Squier's MSS._—is given at wearisome length the ceremony and sayings at this delivery and the results. Briefly, on the 4th of February, 1520, Pedrarias humbled himself to the dust before the sacred cédula; February 5th, he talked much, saying that he had finished the ships begun by Vasco Nuñez; that they had cost more than 50,000 ducados, beside sweat and blood; that with them the great city of Panamá—'la cibdad de Panamá'—with its gold mines on one side and pearl fisheries on the other, had been founded and the country thereabout pacified, and that if the king knew all this he would not take the ships from those who had built them and give them to another; February 7th, Juan del Sauce declared that, unless the ships were surrendered, all the gold, pearls, or other property taken in them would belong, under the king's order, to the fleet of Gil Gonzalez; February 8th, Pedrarias replied that without the ships the city could neither be sustained nor labor be continued, and he called on the royal officers present, Puente, the treasurer, Marquez, the contador, and Juan de Rivas, factor, to say that these things were so; but the royal officers answered that Pedrarias must obey the king's command and give Gil Gonzalez the ships, keeping one, perhaps, with which to protect the city, and selling the others to Gil Gonzalez on such terms as he and the owners might arrange. In regard to withholding the ships Pedrarias was certainly in the right, though it was dangerous, and he claimed that he would obey and was obeying the king; but when, on February 9th, he demanded that Gil Gonzalez should appear in person and lay before him the instructions and plans of the expedition, he became most coolly impudent.

[XIV-5] Squier, _Dis. Nic._, MSS., 13, says the worms destroyed them, but Gil Gonzalez himself only remarks, _Carta al Rey_, MSS., 1, 'Despues de hechos otros navios en la Ysla de las perlas porque los 4 primeros que se hizieron en la tierra firme se perdieron.'

[XIV-6] Some say from 200 to 80. Both numbers, however, should be larger; for the expedition gained men at Acla, and 100 are mentioned as constituting one land party during the expedition. _Gil Gonzalez_, _Carta al Rey_, MSS., 3.

[XIV-7] Tararequi Island, Galvano, _Discov._, 148, calls it; others, Terequeri Islands. Gil Gonzalez writes plainly enough, _Carta al Rey_, MS., 2, 'Me bolbí á la dicha Ysla de las Perlas ... i de aí me partí a hazer el descubrimiento que V M me mando hazer.' The same authority states that the second four vessels were built at the Pearl Islands, the others having been 'lost in the river 40 leagues distant.'

[XIV-8] For conflicting statements concerning this, compare _Gil Gonzalez_, _Carta al Rey_, MS., 16, 36; _Andagoya's Nar._, 31-2; _Niño_, _Asiento_, MS., in _Squier's MSS._, i. 14, and in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, xiv. 5-19; _Oviedo_, iii. 65-71; _Las Casas_, _Hist. Ind._, v. 200-4; _Herrera_, dec. ii. lib. iii. cap. xv.; dec. ii. lib. iv. cap. i.; dec. iii. i. cap. xvi.; _Helps' Span. Conq._, iii. 69, 70, 74-6; _Gordon's Anc. Mex._, ii. 204-8; _Squier's Dis. Nic._, MSS., 7-10.

[XIV-9] I follow the commander's own statement, made to the royal authorities from Santo Domingo, March 6, 1524. Of this, which I quote as _Carta de Gil Gonzalez Dávila al Rey_, I have several copies in manuscript, the best being a part of the first volume of the Squier Collection. This collection, consisting of twenty-three volumes of manuscripts, beside separate pieces on various early affairs in Central America and Mexico, fell into my hands at the sale of the library of the late E. G. Squier, so widely known as an antiquarian and historical writer, a review of whose works will appear in a subsequent volume. The opportunities afforded Mr Squier by his official position as _chargé d'affaires_ to Central America, in 1849, and by his researches, combined with a natural bent as student and author, prompted the collection of books and manuscripts relative to Central America, a large proportion of which I found useful in filling gaps in my own sixteenth-century material. It seems that Mr Squier intended the publication of a series of documents for history, of which the _Carta de Palacio_ was printed at Albany, 1859, and numbered I. The first volume of the Squier Collection of Manuscripts contains, beside the _Carta de Gil Gonzalez_, several documents on Nicaraguan discovery certified by Navarrete, Buckingham Smith, and Squier, as true copies of the originals in the archives at Seville and in the Hydrographic Collection, notable among which are _Real Cedula de S. M. expedida en 18 de Junio de 1519, á Pedrarias Dávila, para que entregase los Navios de Basco Nuñez a Gil Gonzales de Avila y los requerimientos que pasaron sobre ello_; and _Relacion Del Asiento y Capitulacion que se tomó con Andres Niño, Piloto de su Magestad para el descubrimiento que prometió hazer en el Mar del Sur con 3 Navios, y por Capitan de ellos á Gil Gonzales Dávila_.

[XIV-10] Peter Martyr states that they passed over a body of water to get to it; Herrera and Oviedo both testify to a large island, which we might believe were any such island there. The truth is, parts of the land were inundated at this time by the heavy rains, so that the peninsula being cut off from the mainland by the water made it appear an island.

[XIV-11] Later called Nicoya, from the cacique of that country, which name it bears to-day. This was the San Lúcar of Hurtado. See chap. xi., note 11, this volume. Kohl thinks it may have been the 5th of April, the day of San Vicente Ferrer, that the Spaniards arrived here. Gomara states that in early times it was also called Golfo de Ortiña, and Golfo de Guetares; _Goldschmidt's Cartography of the Pacific Coast_, MS., ii. 111-13.

[XIV-12] Which was received by 9,017 natives, large and small, in one day, and with such enthusiasm that the Spaniards even wept. This is as much as one having only ordinary faith can be expected to believe at once, yet the strain on one's credulity becomes more severe when the right honorable Gil Gonzalez calls heaven to witness that he told each man and woman, apart from the others, that God did not want unwilling service, and that each for himself expressed a desire for it. If we allow him 15 hours for his day's work, it makes 61 persons an hour, or one a minute, who were examined and baptized.

[XIV-13] The Spaniards were at this time ignorant of the use to which these mounds were put. Had they known them to be great altars upon which were sacrificed human beings, the mild and philosophic Nicaragua might have had occasion to prove the valor of his warriors.

[XIV-14] 'I digo mar,' says Gil Gonzalez, _Carta al Rey_, MS., 'porque creze i mengua.'

[XIV-15] 'Los pilotos qve conmigo llebaba certifican qve sale a la mar del norte; i si asi es, es mui grand nueba, porqve abra de vna mar a otra 2 o 3 legvas de camino mui llano.' Thus it will be seen that the question of interoceanic communication attracted the attention of the first Europeans who saw Lake Nicaragua, and this very naturally; for it must be remembered that Gil Gonzalez was in search of a strait or passage through the continent, and if perchance he should find the Moluccas thereabout, his whole object would be attained.

[XIV-16] The word Nicaragua was first heard spoken by Europeans at Nicoya, where Gil Gonzalez had been notified of the country and its ruler. In the earliest reports it is found written _Nicaragua_, _Micaragua_, _Nicorragua_, and _Nicarao_. Upon the return of Gil Gonzalez the name Nicaragua became famous, and beside being applied to the cacique and his town, was gradually given to the surrounding country, and to the lake. It was by some vaguely used to designate the whole region behind and between Hibueras and Veragua. Later there was the Provincia de Nicaragua, beside El Nuevo Reyno de Leon. Herrera and many others mention the Indian pueblo by the lake. For a time the lake was known as the _Mar Dulce_. Thus Colon lays it down on his map, in 1527, as the _mar duce_, and the town or province _micaragua_. Ribero, 1529, calls the lake _mar dulce_ and the town _nicaragua_. Munich Atlas, No. vi., gives only _micaragua_, which No. vii. makes _nicaragua_. Ramusio, _Viaggi_, iii. 455, gives _Nicaragva_ as a province. Mercator, in his Atlas of 1574, gives the town of _Nicaragua_. Iudocus Hondius, in _Drake's World Encomp._, applies the term _Nicaragva_ to a province or large extent of country. Ogilby, Dampier, De Laet, and other contemporary and later authorities extend the name to the lake.

[XIV-17] The narrative says 3,000 or 4,000; I name the lowest number, giving the reader the right of reducing at pleasure.

[XIV-18] The name of the bay remains; that of the island is lost. The early names of the islands in this bay were _S. Miguel la Possession_, _La Possession_, and _Esposescion_; _Amapalla_, _Amapala_, or _I del Tigre_; _y. de flecheros_, _Mangera_, or _Manguera_. Jefferys calls the bay _Fonseca_ or _Amapalla_. East of _b: de fomsequa_ Vaz Dourado places the wood _monic_. Mercator locates the town _Canicol_ on the southern shore. Ogilby places the town _Xeres_, De Laet _Xerez_, near _B. de Fonseca_. On one map there is _Xeres_ or _Chuluteca_, on the eastern shore, and _El viejo las Salinas_ river flowing into the bay.

[XIV-19] Further references to this voyage, unimportant, however, are made in _Galvano's Discov._, 148-9, where it is stated that 'Nigno' reached 'Tecoantepec'; _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, i. 440; _Ogilby's Am._, 238; _Crowe's Cent. Am._, 58; _Gordon's Anc. Mex._, ii. 204-8; _Peter Martyr_, dec. vi. cap. ii.-v.; _Conder's Mex. and Guat._, ii. 301; _Juarros_, _Guat._, passim; _Pim's Gate of Pacific_, 34; _Morelli_, _Fasti Novi Orbis_, 18; _Andagoya's Nar._, 31-2.

[XV-1] [Illustration]

In making settlements, as in all things relating to the New World, it was the aim of the Spanish government to reduce details to law. At p. 19, vol. ii. et seq., _Recop. de Indias_, we find the ordenanzas de la poblacion de ciudades y villas begun by Charles V., in 1523, and continued by Philip II., Felipe III., and Felipe IV., down to 1656. Therein it was ordered that in choosing a site for settlement, which always implied the building of a town or city, care must be taken that the place be suitable in every respect. It should be ascertained if it was a healthy locality, if the young natives were well and strong, if many of the people attained old age, if the country was favorable to agriculture or mining, and of easy access by land and sea; if by the sea, there should be a good harbor, and, if possible, the town must be placed by a river. Open pueblos must not be built on the seashore because of corsairs. The site being chosen, a plan of the place must be made, the squares formed, and the streets and lots laid out, and measured by cord and rule. The location of the plaza, or public and official square, was of primary import, since from it to the principal entrances ran the most important streets. After the land had been set apart for town lots and ejidos, or commons, the country adjacent was to be divided into four parts, one of them for the person making the settlement, and the remainder to be assigned by lot to the settlers. In inland settlements, the church should be located at a distance from the plaza, and on the street running from the plaza to the church were to be placed the _casas reales_, or offices and dwelling of the crown officials, the _cabildo_, _consejo_, or the city-hall, the _aduana_, or custom-house, and the _atarazana_, or arsenal. Or the church was placed on one side of the plaza; the royal houses and the municipal house on another; the custom-house on the third; while the remaining side might be devoted to business houses or dwellings. Thus a stranger entering any Spanish town could find without direction all the principal places. Marketing-stalls, usually with an awning, were admitted in the plaza. If a seaboard town, the church must be so placed that it could be seen on entering the harbor, and so constructed as to serve for purposes of defence. In this case the plaza must be at the landing; if inland, in the centre of the town. In form it must be a parallelogram, the length to be at least one and a half times the width, as the best shape for feats of horsemanship; its size should be, according to population, not less than 200 by 300 feet, nor more than 800 by 532 feet, a good size being 600 by 400 feet. From the plaza, whose corners stood toward the four cardinal points, issued four principal streets, one from the middle of each side, and two smaller streets from each corner. In cold countries the streets had to be wide; in hot countries, narrow. Houses not to be built within 300 _pasos_ or 750 feet, of the walls or stockade. Town lots and lands not distributed to settlers belonged to the king, and were reserved for future settlers. Then the law states how first settlers must hasten with their house-building, after having planted and assured themselves of food for the season, building with economy and strength, and throwing round the town palisades and intrenchments. The houses must be uniform, and with good accommodations for horses.

Any ten or more married men might unite to form a new settlement, and might elect annually from among themselves _alcaldes ordinarios_ and other municipal officers. When it was possible to establish a _villa de Españoles_ with a council of alcaldes ordinarios and regidores, and there was a responsible person with whom to make an agreement for settlement, the agreement was to be as follows: Within a time specified there must be from ten to thirty settlers, each with one horse, ten milch cows, four oxen, one brood mare, one sow, twenty ewes of Castile, six hens, and a cock. A clergyman must be provided, the first incumbent to be named by the chief of the colony, and his successors in accordance with the royal right of patronage. A church must be built, which the founder of the settlement supplied with ornaments, and to which were granted lands. Any one agreeing to form a settlement, and conforming to the regulations, had given him land equivalent to four square leagues, distant at least five leagues from any other Spanish settlement; and he was himself to enter into agreement with each enrolled settler to give a town lot, lands for pasturage and cultivation, and as many _peonías_, or shares of foot-soldiers, and _caballerías_, or shares of cavalrymen, as each would obligate himself to work, provided that to no one was to be given more than five peonías or three caballerías. The principal with whom an agreement for settling was made, to hold civil and criminal jurisdiction in first instance, during life, and for that of one son or heir, and from him appeal might lie to the alcalde mayor or the audiencia of the district. He might appoint alcaldes ordinarios, regidores, and other municipal officers. Those going from Spain as first settlers were exempted from the payment of _almojarifazgo_, or export duty, or other crown dues, on what they took for their household and maintenance during the first voyage to the Indies. Bachelors should be persuaded to marry.

When a colony was about to leave a city to make a settlement, the _justicia_ and _regimiento_ should file with the _escribano del consejo_ a list of the persons migrating; and lest the mother city should be depopulated, those only were eligible who had no town lots or agricultural lands. The number of colonists being complete, they were to elect officers, and each colonist to register the sum he intended to employ in the enterprise. And even after the settlement had been begun, whether as _colonia_, that is, colonists in voluntary association, or _adelantamiento_, _alcaldía mayor_, _corregimiento_, enterprises headed respectively by an adelantado, alcalde mayor, or corregidor, or _villa_, or _lugar_, the fathers of it were forbidden to wholly leave the people to themselves.

Discoverers, pacificators, first settlers and their immediate descendants, possessed advantages over others. They were made _hijosdalgo de solar conocido_, with all the honors, according to law and custom, of hijosdalgo and gentlemen of Spain. They might bear arms, by giving bonds, before any justice, that they would use them solely in self-defence. And that it might be known who were entitled to reward, viceroys and presidents of audiencias were directed to examine into the merits of cases, and see that a book was kept by the _escribano de gobernacion_, in which were recorded the services and merits of every person seeking preferment.

For the government of the settlement, the governor in whose district it might be, had to declare whether it was to be _ciudad_, _villa_, or _lugar_, that is to say, a town less than a _villa_, and greater than _aldea_. A _ciudad metropolitana_, or capital of the province, to have a _juez_ with the title of _adelantado_, that is to say, a military and political governor of a province; or _alcalde mayor_, governor of a pueblo not the capital of the province; or _corregidor_, a magistrate with criminal jurisdiction only; or _alcalde ordinario_, mayor with criminal jurisdiction. This _juez_ was to have jurisdiction _in solidum_, and jointly with the _regimiento_. The administration of public affairs was vested in two or three treasury officials, twelve _regidores_, or members of the town council, appointed, not elected; two _fieles ejecutores_, or regidores having charge of weights; in each parish two _jurados_, who saw that people were well provided, especially with provisions; a _procurador general_, attorney with general powers; a _mayordomo_, having charge of public property; an _escribano de consejo_, notary of the council; two _escribanos públicos_; one _escribano de minas y registros_; a _pregonero mayor_, official vendue-master; a _corredor de lonja_, merchants' broker, and two _porteros_, or janitors of the town council. If the city was _diocesana_, or _sufragánea_, it must have eight regidores, and the other officers in perpetuity; villas and lugares only to have an alcalde ordinario, say, four regidores, an alguacil, or bailiff, an _escribano de consejo y público_, and a mayordomo.

[XV-2] [Illustration: ARMS OF THE CITY OF PANAMÁ.]

The title was 'Nueva Ciudad de Panamá.' _Décadas_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, viii. 16. A second decree, dated from Lisbon December 3, 1581, added to the title 'muy noble y muy leal.' _Panamá_, _Descrip._, in _id._, ix. 80. A half-page representation of the arms is given in _Gonzalez Dávila_, _Teatro Ecles._, ii. 56—shield on golden field divided; on the right a handful of gray arrows with blue points and silvery feathers, and a yoke, the device of the Catholic kings. On the left three caravels, significant of Spice Island or other commerce, over which shines the north star. Above the golden field a crown, and round the field a border of castles and lions. 'Tambien le diò los Honores, y Titulos de muy Noble, y muy Leal, y que sus Regidores gozen del Titulo de Veintiquatros.'

[XV-3] The prior of Lora, chaplain of the king in 1522, was proposed to the pope for the office of bishop of the country lying between Nombre de Dios and Higueras. 'Siruenla cinco Dignidades, y dos Canonigos, tres Capellanes: y ocho Colegiales del Colegio. Tiene Sacristan Mayor con carga de Sochantre en el Coro; y tiene vna sola Parroquia en ella, y su comarca.' _Gonzalez Dávila_, _Teatro Ecles._, ii. 56. This author, as well as Alcedo in _Dic. Univ._, iv. 33, gives a list of bishops, but both are incorrect. It was somewhat later, the time of which is written in _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, iv. 882. 'The limits of the Counsell of _Panama_, which was first called _Castilla del Oro_, and afterwards _Terra Firme_, are very small; for the Counsell is principally resident there, for the dispatch of the Fleetes and Merchants, which goe and come to _Peru_: it hath in length East and West about ninetie leagues.' Further reference, _Morelli_, _Fasti Novi Orbis_, 96; _Oviedo_, iii. 57-117; _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. i. cap. xvi.; _Carta de la Audiencia de Santo Domingo_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, i. 413; _Enciso_, _Suma de Geografia_, 57.

[XV-4] As a discoverer, his talents were unequal to the attempt. As a writer, Andagoya figured with Oviedo, Enciso, and other noted men in the retinue of the unscrupulous Pedrarias. Born in Alava province, he came to the Isthmus in 1514, and took an active part in the various expeditions for its subjugation and settlement. Through the favor of Pedrarias, whose wife's maid he married, he rose to encomendero, to regidor of Panamá, and, in 1522, to inspector-general of the Isthmus Indians. The present expedition, which brought back wonderful reports of the Inca empire, might have gained him the glories of that conquest, or at least he might have shared them with Pizarro, had his health not broken down. As it was, he merely acquired wealth as agent for the Peruvian hero, and although he rose afterward to adelantado and governor of New Castile, his integrity and comparative want of audacity prevented him from reaping the benefits within reach of less scrupulous rivals. The original of his well-written narrative, relating the history of the Isthmus and adjoining region in connection with his career, was found by Navarrete in the Seville Archives, and published in his _Col. de Viages_, iii. 393-459, from which source Markham made the translation issued in 1865 by the Hakluyt Society. Oviedo's account of Andagoya's career, from a different source, iv. 126-32, confirms the general exactness of his narrative, although Acosta, _Comp. Hist. Nueva Granada_, 383, declares it colored with a view to advocate his claim to the governorship of New Castile. _Helps' Span. Conq._, iii. 426, and _March y Labores_, _Marina Española_, ii. 121, give Andagoya's voyage.

[XVI-1] [Illustration]

Called by Herrera, Ymabite, and by Juarros, _Guat._, following him, Imabite. 'Y poblò en medio de la provincia de Ymabite, la ciudad de Leon, con templo, y fortaleza.' dec. iii. lib. v. cap. xii. See also _Relacion de Andagoya_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 413; _Exposicion á S. M. por la justicia y regimiento de la ciudad de Granada_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, vii. 555-6; _Relacion de lo que escriben los oidores_, in _id._, xiv. 39; _Remesal_, _Hist. Chyapa_, 164; _Oviedo_, iii. 113-14, 119, iv. 100-1. Fray Gil Gonzalez Dávila, in _Teatro Ecles._, i. 233, gives a representation of what he calls the 'armas de la civdad de Nicaragva,' consisting of a shield bearing in its field a rampant lion with the left paw resting on a globe. The shield is surmounted by a crown. In view of the usual remoteness of this writer from the truth, we may apply the term city of Nicaragua to any city in Nicaragua, notwithstanding he affirms it to be the place discovered by Gil Gonzalez in 1522, and peopled by Hernandez and Pedrarias.

[XVI-2] Consisting of gold from 12 to 18 carats by actual assay, amounting to 17,000 pesos de oro; of an inferior quality, known as _hachas_, 15,363 pesos; in rattle-shaped pieces, said to be of no standard value, 6,182 pesos. _Gil Gonzalez Dávila_, _Carta al Rey_, MS. There were likewise 145 pesos worth of pearls, of which 80 pesos' worth were obtained from the Pearl Islands. _Relacion del viage que hizo Gil Gonzalez Dávila_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, xiv. 20-24. This document gives in detail, beside the quantity of pearls secured, the distance journeyed, the dimensions of the islands, the names of the provinces through which they passed, with their caciques, the gold taken from each, and the souls baptized. There are also here given, 5-20, _id._, _Andrés Niño_, _Relacion del asiento_, or agreement with the king; _Relacion de lo que va en la armada_, with the cost of outfit, etc.

[XVI-3] The 10th of March, 1524, the royal officers at Española, Miguel de Pasamonte and Alonso Dávila, write the king that Captain Gil Gonzalez Dávila is there about to embark 'to seek the strait from north to south'—'Torna agora á buscar el Estrecho de Norte á Sur.' _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, i. 440.

[XVI-4] 'El mal tiempo echo a la mar algunos de los cavallos que llevava, de donde le quedó el nombre.' _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. xii. Oviedo mentions the death of a horse which was buried with great secrecy, lest the natives should learn they were mortal. Fernando Colon, in 1527, writes _a: de cauallos_; Ribero, in 1529, _C∴ de cauallos_; Vaz Dourado, 1571, _p∴ de caualos_, with the name _triqueste_ next west; De Laet, 1633, _Po de Cavallos_; Ogilby, 1671, _Pta d. Cavallos_; Jefferys, 1776, _Pto Cavallos_; and to-day as in the text.

[XVI-5] Oviedo, iii. 114, says that two or three days afterward Soto and his companions were released upon parole, and their arms restored them.

[XVI-6] Town, port, and cape. Some English charts still retain the name _Cape Triunfo_. Ribero writes _t'ũfo de la c̃z_; Vaz Dourado, _triumfo dellai_, the next name west being _piita de la call_, and next to this, _rio de pochi_, which Ribero calls _R∴ d' pechi_. Next west of this name Ribero places _p∴o de hellados_. Ogilby, De Laet, Jefferys, and others give _Triumpho_ or _Triumfo de la Cruz_.

[XVII-1] See chapter iv., note 6, this volume.

[XVII-2] 'Una que llaman Hueitapalan y en otra lengua Xucutaco ... ocho ó diez jornadas de aquella villa de Trujillo.' _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 469. 'Higueras y Hõduras, que tenian fama de mucho oro y buena tierra.' _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 233.

[XVII-3] _Cartas_, 315, letter of 13 Oct., 1524. The letter of the emperor commanding him to search both coasts is dated 6 June, 1523.

[XVII-4] Soldiers, 370, including 100 archers and arquebusiers, and 22 horses, says _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 176. 'Por todos çinco navios gruessos ó caravelas é un bergantin.' _Oviedo_, iii. 459.

[XVII-5] Also written Oli, Olit, Olite, Dolid, Dolit. A hidalgo of Baeza. _Oviedo_, iii. 188. See chap. vi. vol. i., _Hist. Mexico_, this series.

[XVII-6] Bernal Diaz describes him as a well formed, strong-limbed man, with wide shoulders and a somewhat fair complexion. Despite the peculiarity of a groove in the lower lip, which gave it the appearance of being split, the face was most attractive. 'Era un Hector en el esfuerço, para combatir.' He was married to a Portuguese, Felipa de Araujo, by whom he had a daughter. _Hist. Verdad._, 176, 177, 240. Further references in chap. vi. vol. i., _Hist. Mexico_, this series.

[XVII-7] The lobes of his ears were shorn by captors, he said, of a fortress which he had aided too obstinately in defending. Bernal Diaz appears to doubt this explanation. _Hist. Verdad._, 176, 177.

[XVII-8] The agent, Alonso de Contreras, had received 8,000 pesos de oro for the purpose, in order that the expedition should not be hampered for want of means, nor be obliged to prey at once upon the natives. _Oviedo_, iii. 459. Cortés estimates the total cost of the expedition at over 50,000 ducats. _Mem._, in _Doc. Inéd._, iv. 227; _Instruc._, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, xiii. 5; _Gastos_, in _id._, xii. 386, with details of expenses. The purchases were made ere the presence of the fleet should raise prices at Habana, and yet a fanega of maize cost two pesos de oro, a sword eight pesos, a crossbow twenty, and a firelock one hundred; while a shipmaster received eight hundred pesos a month. _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 243.

[XVII-9] 'Se habia confederado el tal Cristóbal Dolit con Diego Velazquez, y que iba con voluntad de no me obedecer, antes de le entregar la tierra al dicho Diego Velazquez y juntarse con él contra mi.' _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 337. 'Cõcertarõ ... q̃ entre él, y Christoval de Oli, tuviesen aquella tierra de Higueras ... y q̃ el Diego Velazquez le proveeria de lo q̃ huviesse menester.' _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 177; _Oviedo_, iii. 113; _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 243.

[XVII-10] If not, he would return to Mexico to his wife and estates, and affirm before Cortés that his agreement with Velazquez was subterfuge on his part to obtain stores and men. _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 177.

[XVII-11] 'Con que començò a entender que se yua apartando de la obediencia de Cortés.' _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. xii.

[XVII-12] _Juarros_, _Guat._, 42-3. It was soon abandoned. See chap. xvi., note 5, this volume.

[XVII-13] This according to _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 269, and _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 467, who do not, however, clearly indicate that Valenzuela was one of Olid's officers. Informed of the wreck, by Casas probably, Cortés sent a vessel for them, which was also wrecked, on the Cuban coast. Bernal Diaz, _Hist. Verdad._, 208, alludes to this party as twenty-five men sent to kidnap Indians.

[XVII-14] 'Cum narium et venarum gutturis summo tumore præ ira, sæpe dedit de tanta animi perturbatione signa, neque a verbis id significantibus abstinuit.' _Peter Martyr_, dec. viii. cap. x.

[XVII-15] Cortés did not overlook the application of the act to his own escapade with Velazquez. In complaining to the emperor, he assumes that many will regard it as a _pena peccati_, but explains that Olid had no share in this expedition, as he himself had had in the one from Cuba. With respect to the present fleet, he regretted not so much the loss of 40,000 pesos de oro as the injury the rebellion must cause the imperial interest, in delay of exploration and settlement and in excesses against Indians. Further, he remarks pointedly, such revolts will deter loyal and enterprising men from embarking their fortune in the service of the crown. _Cartas_, 337.

[XVII-16] _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. xiii. Cortés, _Cartas_, 336, calls him 'primo,' which may bear the same interpretation. Oviedo, iii. 517, calls him brother-in-law.

[XVII-17] Fitted out with sails and rigging of vessels seized from traders, and with pressed crews; the fleet was ordered to intercept any communication and aid for Honduras. _Testimonio_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, xii. 274-7. They were all the vessels that could be obtained, it seems. One or both of the small craft deserted and took refuge in Cuba, there to leave testimony. See also _Relacion de los Oidores_, in _id._, xiv. 43; _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 336. Bernal Diaz places the number of vessels at five and the soldiers at 100, naming 3 conquistadores. _Hist. Verdad._, 194. Out of the 150 the soldiers probably did number 100, and there may have been five vessels, for Herrera states that Cortés sent a ship with stores under Pedro Gonzalez to follow Casas. Off the very coast of Honduras he was overtaken by a storm which drove him back to Pánuco with the belief that the fleet must have perished, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. xiii. Gomara, _Hist. Mex._, 243, mentions only two vessels.

[XVII-18] 'Assi estuuieron todo aquel dia,' says Herrera, _loc. cit._, who leaves the reader to suppose that at one time the advantage leant to Olid's side and caused Casas to hoist a flag of truce which was disregarded; but other authorities do not take this view.

[XVII-19] Four soldiers. _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 194; without loss, says Herrera.

[XVII-20] 'O esperando con intenciõ de se ir a otra baia a desembarcar,' is one of the suppositions of _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 194. 'Briones ... en teniendo auiso de Francisco de las Casas, se apartò de Christoual de Olid, y tomò la voz de Cortes.' _Herrera_, _ubi sup._ It appears that Briones had by this time gained an advantage over Gil Gonzalez, capturing over 50 of his men; but he now released them under certain conditions. _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 459. Bernal Diaz assumes that Briones' revolt occurred later and that he set out for Mexico.

[XVII-21] After convincing him by means of two or three days of exposure and starvation, as Bernal Diaz and Gomara seem to intimate. Herrera assumes that he won him by kind treatment.

[XVII-22] After the defeat by Briones, Gil Gonzalez seems to have become bewildered. Leaving a few followers at Nito under Diego de Armenta, he embarked in three vessels, touched at San Gil to hang Francisco Riquelme and a clergyman for having led a revolt, and thence proceeded to Choloma. Owing to Briones' defection his capture was intrusted to Juan Ruano. _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. xiii. The seizure was effected with the loss of his nephew Gil de Ávila and eight soldiers. _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 194; _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 459. Oviedo assumes that Gonzalez was entrapped by false promises, iii. 188.

[XVII-23] 'Con un cuchillo de escribanías, que otra arma no tenia ... diciendo: "Ya no es tiempo de sufrir mas este tirano."' _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 460.

[XVII-24] 'Aqui del Rey, e de Cortés contra este tirano, que ya no es tiempo de mas sufrir sus tiranias.' _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 195.

[XVII-25] According to Herrera, the confessor, awed by the proclamation, revealed the hiding-place, after exacting a promise that no harm should befall his protégé. The promise was disregarded on the principle that 'dead man wages no war,' and although Olid _was dead_ when the hour came for execution, yet the _corpse_ was publicly beheaded, dec. iii. lib. v. cap.