Narrative of the Proceedings of Pedrarias Davila in the Provinces of Tierra Firme or Castilla del Oro

And of the Discovery of the South Sea and the Coasts of Peru and Nicaragua. Written by the Adelantado Pascual de Andagoya

Clements R. Markham, Clements R. Markham

• Verlag: Routledge
• Jahr: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781317090519
• Auflage: 1
• Thema: Storia
• Thema: Primordi della storia moderna

Translated and Edited, with Notes and an Introduction, from the Text written c. 1514. The supplementary material includes the 1865 annual report. This is a new print-on-demand hardback edition of the volume first published in 1865.

Narrative of Pascual De Andagoya.

IN the year 1514 Pedrarias de Avila, who had been appointed governor of the mainland called Castilla del Oro,¹ by the Catholic king of glorious memory, embarked at Seville, with nineteen ships and fifteen hundred men—the most distinguished company that had yet set out from Spain.¹ The first land of the Indies at which he arrived was the island of Dominica. This island has a very large and beautiful harbour.² The land is for the most part hilly and wooded. Here he disembarked with his troops, and desired to find out whether there were any inhabitants. Some of the Spaniards, entering the woods, met with Indians armed with poisoned arrows, who were wandering about in the forests which surrounded the camp, watching for an opportunity to kill a stray Spaniard. These Indians are a warlike people. They eat human flesh, and both men and women go about stark naked. This island has not been occupied, because the conquest would be very dangerous, and of little value.¹

Thence, continuing his way to the mainland,. Pedrarias arrived at the province of Santa Martha, where he landed all his men. He wished to learn the secrets of the land, and a company of his troops came to a village deserted by its inhabitants, where they captured some spoil, and found a certain quantity of gold in a tomb. The people of this land are almost the same as those of Dominica, they are armed with arrows, and the arrows are poisoned.² Here they found certain cloths and the seats on which the devil sat. He was figured on them in the form in which he appeared to the people, and although they did not worship him, as being a thing which appeared to and conversed with them, they noted his form, and represented it on their cloths. Thence Pedrarias sailed for Tierra Firme, without stopping anywhere except at Isla Fuerte, which is in front of Carthagena. The Indians get their salt from this island, and a great number of bags of salt were found. Continuing his voyage, he arrived at a province called Darien, which is at the end of the gulf of the same name. Here he found a certain quantity of Spaniards, who had Vasco Nuñez de Balboa for their captain and alcalde mayor.³ Their setttlement was on the banks of a river, a league and a half from the sea. A year before these people arrived at that province, the captains Diego de Nicuesa and Alonzo de Ojeda departed from San Domingo, each one with his fleet. Ojeda went to the coasts of Paria and Santa Martha, where most of his people perished in the wars with the Indians or from disease. The survivors took Francisco Pizarro, who was afterwards governor of Peru, as their captain or leader, and followed the coast until they reached Darien, where they established themselves, and sent a ship to San Domingo, with the news of what had happened. The judges who were there, appointed the said Yasco Nuñez as alcalde mayor. Diego de Nicuesa went with his fleet to the coast of Yeragua, where he was lost.¹ Leaving the remainder of his people on a hill called the hill of Nicuesa, where Nombre de Dios stands, ho took a brigantine with some of his men, not knowing where to go, the whole coast being marshy, covered with forest, unhealthy, and thinly peopled. He sailed along the coast in search of the people left by Ojeda, and to discover some country where he might settle, for the coast of Veragua as far as Darien was under his jurisdiction. Ojeda had received the other coast of Santa Martha and Carthagena. Having arrived at Darien, he found Vasco Nunez and his followers, who received him as a stranger, and would neither give him provisions, nor receive him as their governor. Not desiring to let him remain with them, they made him embark in a boat with some sailors, and it is even said that this boat was caulked with a blunt tool only. I heard this from the caulker himself who did the work.¹ Thus the said Nicuesa was lost, and it was never known what became of him.¹ When the people, whom he had left in Nombre de Dios, found that their captain did not return, obliged by necessity, they followed him, and, arriving at Darien, submitted to the authority of the others.

The Admiral Colon discovered these coasts, both the one and the other.²

Pedrarias arrived at Darien in the end of July of the said year 1514, where he was received by the people who were there, and where he landed all his troops. The settlement was small, and there were few resources in the land. The provisions which were on board the ships were disembarked, and divided amongst all the people. The flour and other stores were injured by the sea, and this, added to the evil nature of the land, which is woody, covered with swamps, and very thinly iuhabited, brought on so much sickness among the people, that they could not be cured, and in one month seven hundred men died of sickness and hunger. Our arrival weighed so much on those who were already settled at Darien, that they would do no act of charity for any one. As in united enterprises, until experience has shown the way, the correct method of acting is very seldom adopted, so now Pedrarias was appointed jointly with the bishop and officers (without whom he could do nothing). These, seeing how the people were dying, began to send out captains in various directions, not to make settlements, but to bring as many Indians as possible to Darien.¹ They seldom succeeded, but lost many of their people in fights with the Indians, some returning defeated, and others with prisoners. As there were so many voices in every measure, each one given from motives of interest or wilfulness, neither was good order preserved, nor was any evil doer punished.²

It was but a short time since Yasco Nuñez had reached a point near the South Sea, whence he had seen it. The captains anc1 troops who went forth in that direction, where the country is healthier and more thickly peopled, brought back great troops of captive natives in chains, and all the gold they could lay their hands on. This state of things continued for nearly three years. The captains divided the captive Indians amongst the soldiers, and brought the gold to Darien. They gave each man his share. To the bishop, the officers who had a vote in the government, and the governor, they gave a share of the Indians; and, as they were appointed as captains by the favour of those who governed, from among their relations and friends, although they had committed many evil deeds, none were punished. In this manner the land suffered for a distance of more than a hundred leagues from Darien. All the people who were brought there, and there was a great multitude, were immediately sent to the gold mines, for they were rich in that land; and as they came from a great distance, and were worn out and broken down by the great burdens they had to carry, and as the climate was different from their own, and unhealthy, they all died. In these transactions the captains never attempted to make treaties of peace, nor to form settlements, but merely to bring Indians and gold to Darien, and waste them there.

About thirty leagues from Darien there was a province called Careta,¹ and another, at a distance of five leagues from it, called Acla. In these two provinces there were two lords who were brothers, and, one of them desiring to possess all, there were great wars, so that a battle was fought in a place called Acla, where Pedrarias afterwards established a town of Christians. Before the battle this place had another name; for Acla, in the language of that land, means “the bones of men” and the province retained that name because of the quantity of bones strewn on the battle field.¹ After this war there was so small a number of Indians, that when we arrived they made no resistance. These people were more civilised than those of the coast of Santa Martha; for the women were very well dressed, in embroidered cotton mantles which extended from the waist downwards, and they slept on beds of the same material. These dresses of the women reached down so as to cover the feet, but the arms and bosom were uncovered. The men went about with their private parts covered with a bright coloured sea shell very well carved, which was secured round the loins by cords. In this way they were able to run and walk with great freedom.² These shells were used as articles of barter with the inner lands, for they were not found any where except on the sea coast. The land is covered with forest, like that of Darien, though it is more healthy, and there are gold mines in many parts of it.

At this time a captain named Gŕaspar de Morales set out to discover the South Sea, and he went out on it as far as the islands of Pearls, where the lord was friendly, and gave him rich pearls. He was the first man who visited them.³ The first province to the westward of Acla is Comogre,¹ where the country begins to be flat and open. From this point forward the country was populous, though the chiefs were of small account, being from a league to two leagues apart from each other. In this country there is a province called Peruqueta, extending from one sea to the other, and including the Pearl Islands and the gulf of San Miguel. And another province, which was called the land of confusion, because there was no chief in it, is also called Cueva. The people are all one, speaking one language, and are dressed like those of Acla. From this province of Peru-queta to Adechame, a distance of forty leagues still in a westerly direction, the country is called Ooiba, and the language is the same as that of Cueva, only more polished, and the people haye more self-assertion. They differ also in the men not wearing the shells, like those of Cueva; for they go quite naked, without any covering. The women are adorned like those of Acla and Cueva. From these provinces most of the Indians were taken, who were brought to Darien, for as they were the nearest and most populous, no sooner had one captain returned from them, than another set out.

One of the captains of Pedrarias, named Meneses, established a settlement called Santa Cruz, in the territory of a chief named Pocorosa, in the province of Cueva, on the north sea. From this settlement he advanced into the province of Cueva with part of his forces, and was defeated by the Indians, several of his people being killed. Then, seeing that the Spaniards in Santa Cruz were defeated and reduced in numbers, the Indians attacked them, and killed them all, so that no one remained alive except a woman, whom the chief took for himself, and lived with as his wife for several years. His other wives, being zealous that the chief liked her better than them, killed her, and gave their lord to understand that an alligator had eaten her, when she went to bathe in the river. Thus this settlement was destroyed.

In these provinces there were no large villages, but each chief had three or four houses or more on his land. These were close together, and each man built his house in the place where he sowed his crop. The chiefs in these provinces were of small account, because there were many of them, and they had great disputes concerning their fishing and hunting grounds, in which many were killed. The country is very beautiful. The chiefs, in their language, are called Tibet,; and the principal men of the family of a chief are called Piraraylos. The brave men renowned in war, who had killed an adversary, or had come wounded from the battle, received the name Gabra, as their title. The people lived according to natural laws of justice, without any ceremonies or worship. The chiefs, in these provinces, settled disputes in person, and there were no other judges or officers, except those who apprehended prisoners. Their manner of judging was this:—The parties appeared, and each stated the facts of the case. Then, without evidence from witnesses, and holding it for certain that the parties would speak the truth (for he who lied to a chief was put to death), the suit was determined, and there was no further dispute respecting it. In these provinces the chiefs received no rent nor tribute from their subjects, except personal service; but whenever a chief wished to build a house, sow a crop, procure fish, or wage war, every one had to assist without receiving any reward beyond food and drink, and thus they neither exacted anything from their people, nor did they want for anything. They were feared and loved, and the gold they possessed was either obtained by barter, or dug out of mines by the Indians. They had laws and regulations by which he who killed another, or committed robbery, was put to death. No other offences were committed by these people. They married one wife, and they held a festival on the day of the wedding. All the relations assembled, among whom were the principal people in the country; there was much drinking, and the parents took the woman and delivered her to the chief, or to him who was to be her husband. The sons of this woman were those who inherited the lordship or house. The chiefs took many other women without this ceremony, who lived with the principal wife, and she in no way treated them ill or became jealous of them, but ruled over them, and they obeyed her as their mistress. The sons of these other women were looked upon as bastards, and inherited no share of their father’s property, like the sons of the principal wife; but those who inherited the house, looked upon the others and maintained them as sons of the house. Those women had to take care of each other on pain of death. The people had certain chosen men called Tecuria, who were said to converse with the devil, whom they called Turia. The Tecuria had a very small hut with no door, and no covering overhead. The chosen person went there at night, and talked with the devil, who conversed in divers tones; and the chosen person told the chief what he pleased afterwards, saying that the devil had given him such and such answers. In these provinces there were sorcerers and witches who did much harm to children, and even to grown up people, at the suggestion of the devil, who gave them his salves, with which they anointed those whom they bewitched. These salves were made from certain herbs. On inquiring in what form the devil appeared, it was stated that he took the form of a beautiful boy, in order that the people, being simple, might not be terrified, and might believe him. They did not see his hands, but on his feet he had three claws, like those of a griffin. And in all the mischief that these witches did, they were assisted by the devil, who entered the houses with them. These and many other things are contained in the information which I received from the witches themselves, who said that they anointed people with the salves which were given to them by the enemy. It was affirmed that, on a certain night, a witch was seen in a village with many other women, and that, at the same hour, she was seen at a farm where there were servants of her master, a league and-a-half distant.¹

Wishing to know whether these people had any notion of God, I learnt that they knew of the flood of Noah, and they said that he escaped in a canoe with his wife and sons; and that the world had afterwards been peopled by them. They believed that there was a God in heaven, whom they called Ohiļyiripa, and that he caused the rain, and sent down the other things which fall from heaven. There is no report con cerning the origin of these people, nor can they give any, except that they are natives of the country. There was a principal woman of this land who said that there was a belief among the chiefs (for the common people do not talk of these things), that there is a beautiful woman with a child in heaven; but the story goes no further.

The principal wives of the chiefs, whose sons inherit the lordships, have the title of Hespode, besides their own name, as who should say countess or marchioness. It was the custom in the land that, when a chief died, the wives whom it was supposed he loved best, should voluntarily be buried with their husband, and, if the chief had pointed them out, this was done whether they liked it or not. These were girls who had not been legitimate wives. When a chief died, he was adorned with gold, and wrapped in the richest cloths. His heir, who had become the chief, with all the family of his father, and the principal people of the land, then assembled and hung up the chief’s body by cords, placing many pans of charcoal round it. The body was melted by the heat of the fire, and two vases were placed underneath, to catch the grease. When it was quite dried, it was hung up ...