Part 16 (2/2)
The adjacent country was, moreover, particularly rich in gold, which, collected from the was.h.i.+ngs of the streams, still forms one of the staple products of Barbacoas. Here, too, was the fair River of Emeralds, so called from the quarries of the beautiful gem on its borders, from which the Indian monarchs enriched their treasury. *21
[Footnote 20: Pizarro's secretary speaks of one of the towns as containing 3,000 houses. ”En esta Tierra havia muchos Mantenimientos, i la Gente tenia mui buena orden de vivir, los Pueblos con sus Calles, i Placas: Pueblo havia que tenia mas de tres mil Casas, i otros havia menores.” Conq. del Peru, ap.
Barcia, tom. III. p. 181.]
[Footnote 21: Stevenson, who visited this part of the coast early in the present century, is profuse in his description of its mineral and vegetable treasures. The emerald mine in the neighbourhood of Las Esmeraldas, once so famous, is now placed under the ban of a superst.i.tion, more befitting the times of the Incas. ”I never visited it,” says the traveller, ”owing to the superst.i.tious dread of the natives, who a.s.sured me that it was enchanted, and guarded by an enormous dragon, which poured forth thunder and lightning on those who dared to ascend the river.”
Residence in South America, vol. II. p. 406.]
The Spaniards gazed with delight on these undeniable evidences of wealth, and saw in the careful cultivation of the soil a comfortable a.s.surance that they had at length reached the land which had so long been seen in brilliant, though distant, perspective before them. But here again they were doomed to be disappointed by the warlike spirit of the people, who, conscious of their own strength, showed no disposition to quail before the invaders. On the contrary, several of their canoes shot out, loaded with warriors, who, displaying a gold mask as their ensign, hovered round the vessels with looks of defiance, and, when pursued, easily took shelter under the lee of the land. *22
[Footnote 22: ”Salieron a los dichos navios quatorce canoas grandes con muchos Indios dos armados de oro y plata, y trahian en la una canoa o en estandarte y encima de el un bolto de un mucho desio de oro, y dieron una suelta a los navios por avisarlos en manera que no los pudiese enojar, y asi dieron vuelta acia a su pueblo, y los navios no los pudieron tomar porque se metieron en los baxos junto a la tierra.” Relacion sacada de la Biblioteca Imperial de Vienna, Ms.]
A more formidable body mustered along the sh.o.r.e, to the number, according to the Spanish accounts, of at least ten thousand warriors, eager, apparently, to come to close action with the invaders. Nor could Pizarro, who had landed with a party of his men in the hope of a conference with the natives, wholly prevent hostilities; and it might have gone hard with the Spaniards, hotly pressed by their resolute enemy so superior in numbers, but for a ludicrous accident reported by the historians as happening to one of the cavaliers. This was a fall from his horse, which so astonished the barbarians, who were not prepared for this division of what seemed one and the same being into two, that, filled with consternation, they fell back, and left a way open for the Christians to regain their vessels! *23
[Footnote 23: ”Al tiempo del romper los unos con los otros, uno de aquellos de caballo cayo del caballo abajo; y como los Indios vieron dividirse aquel animal en dos partes, teniendo por cierto que todo era una cosa, fue tanto el miedo que tubieron que volvieron las espaldas dando voces a los suyos, diciendo, que se habia hecho dos haciendo admiracion dello: lo cual no fue sin misterio; porque a no acaecer esto se presume, que mataran todos los cristianos.” (Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms.) This way of accounting for the panic of the barbarians is certainly quite as credible as the explanation, under similar circ.u.mstances, afforded by the apparition of the militant apostle St. James, so often noticed by the historians of these wars.]
A council of war was now called. It was evident that the forces of the Spaniards were unequal to a contest with so numerous and well-appointed a body of natives; and, even if they should prevail here, they could have no hope of stemming the torrent which must rise against them in their progress - for the country was becoming more and more thickly settled, and towns and hamlets started into view at every new headland which they doubled. It was better, in the opinion of some, - the faint-hearted, - to abandon the enterprise at once, as beyond their strength. But Almagro took a different view of the affair. ”To go home,” he said, ”with nothing done, would be ruin, as well as disgrace.
There was scarcely one but had left creditors at Panama, who looked for payment to the fruits of this expedition. To go home now would be to deliver themselves at once into their hands. It would be to go to prison. Better to roam a freeman, though in the wilderness, than to lie bound with fetters in the dungeons of Panama. *24 The only course for them,” he concluded, ”was the one lately pursued. Pizarro might find some more commodious place where he could remain with part of the force, while he himself went back for recruits to Panama. The story they had now to tell of the riches of the land, as they had seen them with their own eyes, would put their expedition in a very different light, and could not fail to draw to their banner as many volunteers as they needed.”
[Footnote 24: ”No era bien bolver pobres, a pedir limosna, i morir en las Carceles, los que tenian deudas.” Herrera, Hist.
General, dec. 3, lib. 10, cap. 2.]
But this recommendation, however judicious, was not altogether to the taste of the latter commander, who did not relish the part, which constantly fell to him, of remaining behind in the swamps and forests of this wild country. ”It is all very well,” he said to Almagro, ”for you, who pa.s.s your time pleasantly enough, careering to and fro in your vessel, or snugly sheltered in a land of plenty at Panama; but it is quite another matter for those who stay behind to droop and die of hunger in the wilderness” *25 To this Almagro retorted with some heat, professing his own willingness to take charge of the brave men who would remain with him, if Pizarro declined it. The controversy a.s.suming a more angry and menacing tone, from words they would have soon come to blows, as both, laying their hands on their swords, were preparing to rush on each other, when the treasurer Ribera, aided by the pilot Ruiz, succeeded in pacifying them. It required but little effort on the part of these cooler counsellors to convince the cavaliers of the folly of a conduct which must at once terminate the expedition in a manner little creditable to its projectors. A reconciliation consequently took place, sufficient, at least in outward show, to allow the two commanders to act together in concert. Almagro's plan was then adopted; and it only remained to find out the most secure and convenient spot for Pizarro's quarters.
[Footnote 25: ”Como iba, i venia en los Navios, adonde no le faltaba Vitualla, no padecia la miseria de la hambre, i otras angustias que tenian, i ponian a todos en estrema congoja.”
(Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 3, lib. 10, cap. 2.) The cavaliers of Cortes and Pizarro however doughty their achievements, certainly fell short of those knights-errant, commemorated by Hudibras, who,
”As some think, Of old did neither eat nor drink; Because, when thorough deserts vast And regions desolate they past, Unless they grazed, there's not one word Of their provision on record; Which made some confidently write, They had no stomachs but to fight.”]
Several days were pa.s.sed in touching at different parts of the coast, as they retraced their course; but everywhere the natives appeared to have caught the alarm, and a.s.sumed a menacing, and from their numbers a formidable, aspect. The more northerly region, with its unwholesome fens and forest, where nature wages a war even more relentless than man, was not to be thought of.
In this perplexity, they decided on the little island of Gallo, as being, on the whole, from its distance from the sh.o.r.e, and from the scantiness of its population, the most eligible spot for them in their forlorn and dest.i.tute condition. *26
[Footnote 26: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Relacion sacada de la Biblioteca Imperial de Vienna, Ms. - Naharro, Relacion Sumaria, Ms. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 1, cap. 1. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 3, lib. 10, cap. 2.]
It was singularly unfortunate, that Pizarro, instead of striking farther south, should have so long clung to the northern sh.o.r.es of the continent. Dampier notices them as afflicted with incessant rain; while the inhospitable forest and the particularly ferocious character of the natives continued to make these regions but little known down to his time. See his Voyages and Adventures, (London, 1776,) vol. I. chap. 14.]
But no sooner was the resolution of the two captains made known, than a feeling of discontent broke forth among their followers, especially those who were to remain with Pizarro on the island.
”What!” they exclaimed, ”were they to be dragged to that obscure spot to die by hunger? The whole expedition had been a cheat and a failure, from beginning to end. The golden countries, so much vaunted, had seemed to fly before them as they advanced; and the little gold they had been fortunate enough to glean had all been sent back to Panama to entice other fools to follow their example. What had they got in return for all their sufferings?
The only treasures they could boast were their bows and arrows, and they were now to be left to die on this dreary island, without so much as a rood of consecrated ground to lay their bones in!” *27
[Footnote 27: ”Miserablemente morir adonde aun no havia lugar Sagrado, para sepultura de sus cuerpos.” Herrera, Hist General, dec. 3, lib. 10, cap. 3.]
In this exasperated state of feeling, several of the soldiers wrote back to their friends, informing them of their deplorable condition, and complaining of the cold-blooded manner in which they were to be sacrificed to the obstinate cupidity of their leaders. But the latter were wary enough to antic.i.p.ate this movement, and Almagro defeated it by seizing all the letters in the vessels, and thus cutting off at once the means of communication with their friends at home. Yet this act of unscrupulous violence, like most other similar acts, fell short of its purpose; for a soldier named Sarabia had the ingenuity to evade it by introducing a letter into a ball of cotton, which was to be taken to Panama as a specimen of the products of the country, and presented to the governor's lady. *28
[Footnote 28: ”Metieron en un ovillo de alG.o.don una carta firmada de muchos en que sumariamente daban cuenta de las hambres, muertes y desnudez que padecian, y que era cosa de risa todo, pues las riquezas se habian convertido en flechas, y no havia otra cosa.” Montesinos, Annales, Ms., ano 1527.]
The letter, which was signed by several of the disaffected soldiery besides the writer, painted in gloomy colors the miseries of their condition, accused the two commanders of being the authors of this, and called on the authorities of Panama to interfere by sending a vessel to take them from the desolate spot, while some of them might still be found surviving the horrors of their confinement. The epistle concluded with a stanza, in which the two leaders were stigmatized as partners in a slaughter-house; one being employed to drive in the cattle for the other to butcher. The verses, which had a currency in their day among the colonists to which they were certainly not ent.i.tled by their poetical merits, may be thus rendered into corresponding doggerel:
”Look out, Senor Governor, For the drover while he's near; Since he goes home to get the sheep For the butcher, who stays here.” *29
[Footnote 29: Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p.
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