Part 21

THE following day Captain Francisco de Ribera appeared before the governor with the six other Spaniards who had accompanied him. He gave an account of his exploration, and said: that after he left him in the forest he marched, following the guide for twenty-one days, without resting, through a country so thickly covered with trees and brushwood that it was impossible to advance without cutting a path. Some days they went one league, on others only half a league in two days, owing to the obstacles they encountered, the dense forests, and projecting rocks. The direction they followed was continually west; all the time they marched they sustained themselves on venison, wild boars' flesh, and tapirs, which the Indians killed with their arrows; game was so abundant that they knocked down with sticks all they required for food. They found a great supply of honey in cavities of trees, and quantities of wild fruit. After twenty-one days they arrived at a river running to the west, and this river, according to their guide, flowed past Tapuaguazú and the Indian settlements. They caught much fish in it of a kind called by the natives _piraputanas_, which are a kind of _sabalos_,[356] and are excellent. The Spaniards crossed this river, and, following their guide, came upon the fresh tracks of Indians; for it had been raining that day, and the ground was moist. It was evident that the Indians were a party of hunters. Following their footprints, they came upon two large stacks of maize which was then being harvested. At this moment an Indian, who had not time to conceal himself, came towards them. He spoke a language they could not understand, wore a large silver disc in his lower lip, and gold earrings. He took Francisco de Ribera by the hand and signed to him to accompany him, which he did. They now observed a large house made of straw and wood. On approaching it, they saw women and other Indians carrying out of the house cotton stuffs and other articles, which they placed in front of the stacks. The Indian made them enter the house, where men and women were carrying out all it contained. In order to avoid passing the Christians, they made an opening in the straw, and passed the things out that way. Our people saw them taking from some large vessels full of maize, plates, hatchets, and bracelets of silver which they carried outside the straw walls. This Indian appeared to be the head of the family from the respect shown him. He took them inside, and signed to them to be seated, and ordered two _Orejones_ (Indians with large ears), whom they supposed to be his slaves, to give them maize wine to drink out of some jars, which stood in the house buried up to their necks in the earth. They poured the wine into large gourds, and handed these to the Spaniards. The two Orejones said that at three days' journey from that place there were Christians living with a tribe called Payzunoes; they then told the way to Tapuaguazú, which is a high mountain. Soon many natives arrived in their war-paint and feathers, with bows and arrows. The Indian spoke very volubly to them, and he also took a bow and arrows; he sent men, who came and went, with messages, by which the Spaniards knew that he was summoning the population from the neighbouring villages, and intended killing them. The captain told the Christians who were with him to come out of the house altogether, and return by the way they came, before more Indians had assembled; by this time there were over three hundred. Ribera gave the natives to understand that he would go and fetch many other Christians who were close at hand, and, as they were expecting more to arrive, they had only to wait till he came back. By this ruse our people escaped, but, at a stone's throw from the house, the Indians, who saw they were escaping, pursued them with cries, and shot many arrows at them. They followed them into the forest, where the Christians defended themselves, and the Indians, thinking there were a larger number of them here, durst not pursue further, but let them go; all the Spaniards, however, were wounded. They came back the way they went, and it took them only twelve days to return to the place where they had left the governor, whence they had marched in twenty-one days. The captain estimated the distance from the Port of Los Reyes to the villages of those Indians at seventy leagues.

[356] Shad.

A lagoon twenty leagues from this port, in crossing which they had the water knee-deep, was, upon their return, so greatly increased that it covered a league of land, and was two pikes deep. They crossed it in rafts with great danger and difficulty. The captain added that, before attempting to enter that country, it would be necessary to wait till the waters subsided. The Indians he had seen were called _Tarapecosies_; they have plenty of provisions, and they rear geese and poultry like ours. This was the account given by Francisco de Ribera and by the Spaniards who accompanied him, and by the guide, all of whom confirmed what Francisco de Ribera had said.

There were some Indians in the port of Los Reyes belonging to the same tribe of Tarapecosies, from whose village de Ribera had just returned. They had come with Garcia, the interpreter, when he made his journey into the interior and returned defeated by the Guaranís of the Paraguai. These Indians had escaped with the Chaneses, who had also fled and lived all together in the port of Los Reyes. The governor, wishing for further information, sent for them. They immediately recognised the arrows that Francisco de Ribera had brought with him, which had been shot at him by the Tarapecosies, as those used in their native country. The governor asked them why their fellow-tribesmen had wished to kill those who had gone to see them. They answered that the Tarapecosies were no enemies of the Christians; on the contrary, they were their friends since Garcia had visited their country and trafficked with them. The reason why they had tried to kill the Spaniards was because these had taken Guaranís with them whom they regarded as enemies; for in former times these people had invaded their territory and sought to destroy them. The Christians, they said, should have taken an interpreter with them who knew their language, to let them know the object of their visit, for they were not in the habit of making war upon those who did them no injury. If they take an interpreter, they added, they will be well treated and supplied with provisions, and gold and silver, which are obtained from the tribes of the interior. Asked from what tribe and how they acquired their gold and silver, they answered that the Payzunos, who lived three days' journey off, gave them these precious metals in exchange for bows and arrows and slaves, which they took from other tribes; the Payzunos obtained them from the Chaneses, Chimenos, Carcaraes, Candirées, and other Indian nations who possess an abundance of them. They were shown a brass candlestick very bright and shiny, to see if the gold they had in their land was like that. They said that the metal of the candlestick was hard and base, but their metal was soft and without smell, and more yellow. Then they were shown a gold ring, and asked if that were the metal of their country, and they said it was. They were also shown a tin plate, very bright and shiny, and asked if the silver in their country was of that kind. They answered that this metal stank, and was base and soft; theirs was whiter, harder, and had no bad smell. A silver cup was then put in their hands, and they were greatly pleased with it, and said that of that metal they had quantities in their land in the form of small vases and other things in use among the Indians, such as plates, bracelets, crowns, small hatchets, and other objects.

CHAPTER THE SEVENTY-FIRST.

_How the governor sent for Gonzalo de Mendoza._

THE governor, in order to provide what was necessary for the exploration of this country as it beseemed the service of His Majesty, sent, without delay, for Gonzalo de Mendoza to recall him and his men from the land of the Arianicosies. Before leaving their village, however, he was to endeavour to get the Indians to return to their houses and pacify them.

Soon after the arrival of Francisco de Ribera and his six Spaniards at the port of Los Reyes, all the people there began to suffer from fevers, so that there were not sufficient men to mount guard in camp. Even the Guaranís were sick of this malady, and several died.

Gonzalo de Mendoza wrote that all his people were also ill of the fever, and that he was sending in the brigantines all the sick and infirm. He had not been able to make peace with the Arianicosies, though he had several times made friendly overtures and offered them presents. Yet in spite of this they came every day and attacked him. The country, he said, abounded in provisions, both in the fields and lakes. Besides the provisions he had sent in the brigantines, a large quantity was left for the natives. The sickness that had attacked all the people was attributable to the pollution of the water, which had become brackish as it rose.

About this time the Indians living in an island about one league from port Los Reyes, who are called Socorinos and Xaqueses, seeing how sick and weak the Christians were, began to make war upon them. They no longer came to traffic and barter with the Christians as they had hitherto done, nor informed them of the evil designs of the Guaxarapos; they even joined these latter, and prepared for a campaign against the Spaniards. The Indian Guaranís whom the Spaniards had brought in their armada were in the habit of going out in their canoes, in company with some Christians, to fish in the lagoon, a stone's-throw from the camp. One morning five Christians, four of whom were boys, had gone in the canoes with these Guaranís, when the Xaqueses, Socorinos, and many other Indians of that island, came out and captured the five Christians, killed the newly-converted among the Guaranís, and brought the rest to their island, where they hacked the five Christians in pieces and distributed them among the Guaxarapos, Guatos, and other natives of the environs of port _Viejo_ (the ancient). Other tribes, who were associated with them for the purpose of making war upon the Christians, had their share of the flesh of these unfortunate people. Not content with this, as the people were ill and weak, they came with great daring to attack the settlement where the Christians were, and set fire to it. These shouted, "To arms, to arms, the Indians are killing the Christians." As the whole settlement was now under arms, they went out to meet the Indians, who, nevertheless, succeeded in capturing more Christians, and among them one called Pedro Mepen, and some others who were fishing in the lagoon, and ate these as they had done the first five.

The following morning at daybreak a large number of canoes were seen filled by warriors, who were running away to the opposite side of the lagoon; they uttered loud cries, pointed their bows and arrows, and held them up to make us understand that they had made the assault. They penetrated into the island situated in the lagoon of Los Reyes, and killed this time fifty-eight Christians. The governor having witnessed this disaster, told the natives of the port of Los Reyes to demand from the Indians of the island the release of the Christians they had captured. These people having gone and demanded their release, were told that the Guaxarapos had taken the prisoners away. From that time they continually came at night, made incursions on the lagoon to see if they might capture any Christians or Indians fishing there, so as to prevent their fishing; for they declared the land was theirs and that the Christians had no right to fish there; that we must leave the country, otherwise they would kill us. The governor sent to try and appease them, and to tell them to keep the peace they had made, and restore the Christian and Indian captives they had taken, promising in such case to treat them as friends, but that if they refused, he would act against them as enemies. He repeated this message several times, but they would not submit, and did not cease hostilities, and doing us all the mischief they could. Seeing these measures were of no avail, the governor ordered that an inquiry should be held, and when this had been done in accordance with the advice of the officers and clergy, these people were proclaimed enemies, war was declared against them, and the country was protected from the ravages daily committed.

CHAPTER THE SEVENTY-SECOND.

_How Hernando de Ribera returned from his exploration along the river._

ON the 30th January 1543, Captain Hernando de Ribera returned with the vessel and men entrusted to him for the exploration of the higher reaches of the river. But when he returned he found the governor and all his people sick with fever and shivering fits, so he could not make his report.[357] By that time the water in the river had so swollen that all the land was inundated, and it was impossible to renew the exploration. The natives say that the floods continue for four months, and rise five or six fathoms, and that they then enter their canoes with their houses and provisions, as I have related above, and are not able to land. The natives of this country kill and eat one another. When the waters subside they set up their houses again on shore in the same places as before. The land is about this time infected with malaria, arising from the putrefaction of fish, which are left in large numbers on the dry land, and with the high temperature then prevailing it is impossible to endure the stench.

[357] This report will be found at the end of the Commentaries.

CHAPTER THE SEVENTY-THIRD.

_What befell the governor and his people in the port of Los Reyes._

THE governor remained three months in this port of Los Reyes with all his people ill with fever, waiting till God should be pleased to restore them to health, and the waters should subside to enable them to undertake the exploration of the country. But every day the sickness increased and the waters rose. We were, therefore, obliged to withdraw from the port of Los Reyes in great trouble. Besides the illness by which we were attacked, there were so many mosquitoes of various kinds that we could neither sleep nor rest day and night; the sufferings we endured from this plague were even worse than the fever. Because of these inconveniences, and as the officers had requested him to abandon the port and to return to the city of Ascension, where the people could recover, the governor having referred to the clergy and officers, decided on withdrawing. Yet he would not allow the Christians to take with them about a hundred girls, whom the natives of Los Reyes, upon the governor's arrival, had offered to the captains and officers of distinction, so as to be on good terms with them, leaving them to do what they pleased with the girls. The motive of this refusal was to avoid the offence against God done in this way. He ordered, at the moment of departure, the fathers of these girls to receive them back into their houses till our return, being unwilling that their parents should be dissatisfied and the country scandalised because of this. To give more importance to this action of his, he published a rescript of His Majesty, forbidding, under the severest penalty, anybody from removing natives from their homes. The natives were well satisfied with this measure, but the Spaniards were greatly discontented, some of them felt ill-disposed towards him, and from that time he was detested by the majority. This was the motive or pretext for their subsequent conduct, as I shall relate further on. All the people, Christians and Indians, having embarked, he came in twelve days to the port of Ascension, though it had taken two months to ascend the same way. Though sick to death, the people derived strength from their desire to return home. The perils and difficulties of this voyage were certainly not light, for the men were not strong enough to handle their arms to resist the enemy, or make use of an oar to help to steer the vessels; and had it not been for the culverins we carried, our trouble would have been greater. We drew the canoes of the Indians into the midst of the brigantines to protect them from the enemy's attacks till we came to their homes, and for better security the governor distributed some Christians in the canoes.

We took every precaution, and kept a sharp look-out for the enemy, when, as we were passing the lands of the Guaxarapos, these natives attacked us suddenly with a number of canoes. They assailed some rafts that were being taken in reserve, and wounded a Christian with a dart, which pierced him in the breast, so that he fell dead on the spot. His name was Miranda, and he came from Valladolid. They also wounded some of our Indians, and would have caused us more losses had it not been for our culverins. The weakness of the soldiers was the cause of it.

On the 8th April of the same year we arrived at the town of Ascension with our troops, our Guaranís, and our vessels. The Governor and the Christians that were with him were all sick and weak. On his arrival, Captain Salazar told him that he had assembled over 20,000 Indians and a large number of canoes to go out against the Agaces, for, since the departure of the governor, they had not ceased making war upon the Christians and the natives, plundering and slaying them, taking from them wives and children, burning villages and committing every kind of excess. When the governor arrived, the expedition to punish the Agaces had not yet started. We found the caravel ordered by the governor nearly finished. He had intended sending it, as soon as it was ready, to bear information to His Majesty of all that had happened in his voyage of discovery and all that had passed in the country. Orders were now given to complete the caravel.

CHAPTER THE SEVENTY-FOURTH.

_How the governor, having arrived with his people at the town of Ascension, was made a prisoner._

FIFTEEN days after the arrival of the governor at Ascension, the officers of His Majesty, who hated him because he refused to consent to things done against the service of God and the king, seeing him arrive with the other Christians in this extremity, conspired with their friends on St. Mark's Day to take him prisoner that night. They had already depopulated the best and principal port of the province, with the intention of rebelling against the sovereign, as they have now done. In order to carry out their plans in the most effective way, they told a hundred men that they knew the governor was about to take from them their property, their houses, and their Indian girls, and would distribute these among the men who had returned from the exploring expedition; that it was a great injustice and contrary to the service of His Majesty. "This night", they added, "we will go and require him, in the name of the king, not to take away your houses, nor your lands, nor your Indian girls, and, as we fear the governor may have us arrested, arm yourselves and bring your friends, for you will be doing a great service to His Majesty in this way." It was arranged that at the Ave Maria these men should come armed to two houses which would be assigned to them, and should hold themselves in readiness there for further orders. So the insurgents, ten or twelve in number, entered the apartment where the governor was lying on his bed of sickness, with cries of "Liberty, liberty, long live the king!" They were the supervisor Alonso Cabrera, the accountant Philip de Caceres, Garcia Vanegas, acting treasurer, a servant of the governor named Pedro de Oñate (who was in the room with him, opened the door to the conspirators, and was an active promoter of the insurrection), Don Francisco de Mendoza, Jaime Rasquin (who held an arquebus and a poisoned dart at his breast), Diego de Acosta, Portuguese interpreter, and Solorzano, a native of Canaria. These men entered with arms in their hands and seized the governor, dragged him out of the room in his shirt, continuing to cry: "Liberty, liberty!" They called him a tyrant, levelled their arquebuses at him, saying such words as these: "Now you shall pay the penalty of your offences and the losses you have caused us." When they had come out into the street they were joined by others whom they had enlisted on their side, who, seeing they were carrying the governor off a prisoner in that fashion, said to Pedro Dorantes and the others: "Let the responsibility of this rest with the traitors who did the deed; you brought us here on the pretext that our goods, houses, and Indian girls would be taken from us, but your real object was to make us parties to your treason against the king"; upon this they drew their swords, and there was a serious scrimmage. As the insurgents were now approaching the houses of the officers some took refuge in the house of Garcia Vanegas, dragging the governor along with them. Others remained at the door, saying to those who had taken the part of the governor: "You are betraying us; don't say that you did not know what was going to be done; help us to put him into prison. If you attempt to deliver him we will cut you to pieces and chop off your heads. It is a matter of life and death to you; aid us, therefore, to complete what we have begun, and we will all share the goods, the Indian girls, and furniture of the governor." The officers then entered the small room in which the governor was confined, placed him in irons, and set a watch upon him. Having done this they repaired to the house of Juan Pavon, alcalde mayor, and to that of the alguazil, Francisco de Peralta. When they had come to the alcalde mayor's, Martin de Ure, a Biscayan, as leader, seized by force the staff of office. They did the same at the alguazil's, and, having struck these functionaries several blows with the fist and knocked them about, they called them traitors and took them to the public prison, where they were put in the stocks by the head. They set at liberty the prisoners, among whom was one sentenced to death for having murdered a certain Morales, a gentleman of Seville. Having done this, they took a drum and marched about the streets, exciting the people to rebel, and uttering loud cries of "Liberty, liberty! Long live the king!"

After they had made the circuit of the city in this way, the same individuals went to the house of Pero Hernandez, secretary of the province, who was ill at the time. They arrested him, as well as Bartolomé Gonzales, took possession of his property and documents, and carried him prisoner to the house of Domingo de Irala, where they placed him in chains, and, after insulting him, left him in the hands of the sentinels. Then they published the following proclamation: "The officers of His Majesty prohibit all persons from appearing in the streets; anyone going out of doors will be considered a traitor and condemned to death." Having done this they again shouted, "Liberty, liberty!" While posting this order, they pushed and hustled everyone they met in the streets, forcing people to enter their houses.