Peru.
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 7, by
Hubert Howe Bancroft
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
Title: The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 7
History of Central America, Volume 2, 1530-1800
Author: Hubert Howe Bancroft
Release Date: January 11, 2019 [EBook #58669]
Language: English
Character set encoding: UTF-8
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKS OF HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT, VOL 7 ***
Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)
Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
In many cases, Bancroft uses both "u" and "v" to spell an author's name. Examples include:
Other archaic letter substitutions include "b" for "v" and "i" for "y" and vice versa. These have been left as printed.
Possible printers errors include:
Italics in the footnote citations were inconsistently applied by the typesetter.
Accents and other diacritics are inconsistently used.
This volume contains references to the previous six volumes of this work. They can be found at:
THE WORKS
OF
HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT.
VOLUME VII.
SAN FRANCISCO:
A. L. BANCROFT & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS.
1883.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1883, by
HUBERT H. BANCROFT,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
All Rights Reserved.
|
CHAPTER I. PIZARRO AND PERU. 1524-1544. |
|
| PAGE. | |
| Origin and Character of the Conqueror—The Triumvirate Copartnership of Pizarro, Friar Luque, and Diego de Almagro for Continuing the Discovery of Andagoya—Departure—Attitude of Pedrarias—Slow Development of their Plans—Return and Reëmbarkation—Persistence of Pizarro—Sufferings on Gallo Island—Fate Defied—Discovery of Tumbez and the Coast Beyond—Return to Panamá—Pizarro Visits Spain—A New Expedition—Aboriginal History of Peru—The Rival Incas—Establishment of the Spaniards at San Miguel—Atahualpa at Caxamalca—The Spaniards Visit Him there—Seizure of the Inca—Pacification of Peru—Arrival of Almagro—Death of Father Luque—Judicial Murder of the Inca—A King's Ransom—Downfall of the Peruvian Monarchy—Disputes and Violent Deaths of the Almagros and Pizarros | 1 |
| CHAPTER II. CASTILLA DEL ORO. 1527-1537. |
|
| Administration of Pedro de los Rios—He is Superseded by the Licentiate Antonio de la Gama—Barrionuevo's Reign—A Province in Nueva Andalucía Granted to Pedro de Heredia—He Sails for Cartagena—Conflicts with the Natives—Treasure Unearthed—The Devil's Bohío—Prosperity of the Settlement—Alonso Heredia Sent to Rebuild San Sebastian—Is Opposed by Julian Gutierrez—Capture of Gutierrez—The Golden Temple of Dabaiba Once More—Expeditions in Search of the Glittering Phantom, Francisco César and Others—Audiencia Established at Panamá—Maleadministration—Complaints of the Colonists—Destitution in the Province—Bishops of Castilla del Oro—Miraculous Image of the Virgin—Bibliographical vi | 44 |
| CHAPTER III. THIRD ATTEMPTED COLONIZATION OF VERAGUA. 1535-1536. |
|
| The Dukes of Veragua—María de Toledo Claims the Territory for her Son Luis Colon—Felipe Gutierrez Appointed to the Command—Landing on the Coast of Veragua—Sickness and Famine—The Cacique Dururua Enslaved—He Promises to Unearth his Buried Treasures—Messengers Sent in Search of It—They Return Empty-handed—But Warn the Chief's Followers—He Guides the Spaniards to the Spot—They are Surrounded by Indians—Rescue of the Cacique—Cannibalism among the Christians—Sufferings of the Few Survivors—The Colony Abandoned | 63 |
| CHAPTER IV. THE CAKCHIQUELS AGAIN IN REVOLT. 1525-1526. |
|
| Alvarado Sets forth to Honduras to Join Cortés—Mutiny among his Men—Gonzalo de Alvarado Appointed Lieutenant-governor—His Meeting with Marin and his Party—The Second Revolt of the Cakchiquels—Gonzalo the Cause of the Insurrection—Massacre of the Spaniards—Alvarado Returns to Guatemala—He Captures the Peñol of Xalpatlahua—He Marches on Patinamit—His Return to Mexico—His Meeting with Cortés | 74 |
| CHAPTER V. SUBJUGATION OF ZACATEPEC AND CAPTURE OF SINACAM'S STRONGHOLD. 1527-1528. |
|
| Puertocarrero in Charge of Affairs—Revolt at Zacatepec—Escape of the Spanish Garrison—The Place Recaptured—Execution of the High Priest Panaguali—Sinacam's Stronghold—Its Siege and Capture—Jorge de Alvarado Appointed Governor—The City of Santiago Founded in the Almolonga Valley—Prosperity of the new Settlement | 87 |
| CHAPTER VI. INDIAN REVOLTS AND CIVIL FACTIONS IN GUATEMALA. 1529-1530. |
|
| Alvarado Returns to Spain—He is Arraigned before the Council of the Indies—His Acquittal—His Marriage—He Returns to Mexico—His Trial before the Audiencia—Francisco de Orduña Arrives at Santiago—And Takes the Residencia of Jorge de Alvarado—The Confederated Nations in Revolt—Juan Perez Dardon's Expedition to the Valley of Xumay—The Spaniards Attack the Stronghold of vii Uspantan—Their Repulse and Retreat—The Place Afterward Captured by Francisco de Castellanos—The Circus of Copan Besieged by Hernando de Chaves—Gallant Conduct of a Cavalry Soldier—Alvarado's Return to Santiago—Demoralized Condition of the Province | 100 |
| CHAPTER VII. ALVARADO'S EXPEDITION TO PERU. 1531-1536. |
|
| Ship-building in Guatemala—Alvarado Prepares an Expedition to the Spice Islands—But Turns his Attention toward Peru—Opposition of the Treasury Officials—The Pilot Fernandez Brings News of Atahualpa's Ransom—Strength of Alvarado's Armament—He Lands at Puerto Viejo—Failure of his Expedition—His Return to Guatemala—Native Revolts during his Absence—The Visitador Maldonado Arrives at Santiago—He Finds No Fault in the Adelantado—But is Afterwards Ordered to Take his Residencia—Alvarado in Honduras | 122 |
| CHAPTER VIII. THE ECCLESIASTICS IN GUATEMALA. 1529-1541. |
|
| Francisco Marroquin Arrives at Santiago—He is Appointed Bishop—Godlessness of the Colonists—The Prelate Invites Las Casas to Join Him—Marroquin's Consecration in Mexico—The Church at Santiago Elevated to Cathedral Rank—Difficulty in Collecting the Church Tithes—The Merced Order in Guatemala—Miraculous Image of Our Lady of Merced—Bibliographical | 133 |
| CHAPTER IX. AFFAIRS IN HONDURAS. 1527-1536. |
|
| Diego Mendez de Hinostrosa Appointed Lieutenant-governor—Salcedo Returns to Trujillo—His Office Usurped by Vasco de Herrera—Death of Salcedo—Three Rival Claimants for the Governorship—Expeditions to the Naco and Jutigalpa Valleys—Diego Mendez Conspires against Herrera—Assassination of the Latter—A Reign of Terror—Arrest and Execution of the Conspirator—Arrival of Governor Albitez at Trujillo—His Death—Andrés de Cereceda at the Head of Affairs—Distress of the Spaniards—Exodus of Settlers from Trujillo—They Establish a Colony in the Province of Zula—Cereceda Appeals for Aid to Pedro de Alvarado—He is Roughly Used by his own Followers—Alvarado Arrives in Honduras—He Founds New Settlements—His Departure for Spain | 144 viii |
| CHAPTER X. ADMINISTRATION OF AFFAIRS IN NICARAGUA. 1531-1550. |
|
| Malefeasance of Castañeda—Diego Álvarez Osorio the First Bishop of Nicaragua—A Convent Founded at Leon—Las Casas Arrives—Castañeda's Flight—Arrival of Contreras—Proposed Expedition to El Desaguadero—Opposition of Las Casas—Departure with All the Dominicans—The Volcano of El Infierno de Masaya—Fray Blas Believes the Lava to be Molten Treasure—His Descent into the Burning Pit—Exploration of the Desaguadero—Doctor Robles Attempts to Seize the New Territory—Contreras Leaves for Spain—His Arrest, Trial, and Return—His Son-in-law Meanwhile Usurps the Government—Antonio de Valdivieso Appointed Bishop—Feud between the Ecclesiastics and the Governor—Alonso Lopez de Cerrato Takes the Residencia of Contreras—Missionary Labors in Nicaragua | 166 |
| CHAPTER XI. EXPEDITION OF DIEGO GUTIERREZ TO COSTA RICA. 1540-1545. |
|
| Diego Gutierrez Appointed Governor—Desertion of his Soldiers—He Proceeds to Nicaragua—The Advice of Contreras—The Expedition Sails for the Rio San Juan—Friendly Reception by the Natives—His Men Desert a Second Time—Reënforcements from Nicaragua and Nombre de Dios—The Historian Benzoni Joins the Party—Gutierrez as an Evangelist—He Inveigles Camachire and Cocori into his Camp—He Demands Gold under Pain of Death—Noble Conduct of the Cacique Cocori—The Spaniards March into the Interior—Their Sufferings from Hunger—They are Attacked and Massacred—Benzoni and Five Other Survivors Rescued by Alonso de Pisa | 187 |
| CHAPTER XII. ALVARADO'S LAST EXPEDITION. 1537-1541. |
|
| The Adelantado's Match-making Venture—Its Failure—Alvarado's Commission from the Crown—He Lands at Puerto de Caballos—And Thence Proceeds to Iztapa—His Armament—He Sails for Mexico—His Defeat at Nochistlan—His Penitence, Death, and Last Will—Character of the Conqueror—Comparison of Traits with Those of Cortés—While above Pizarro He was far beneath Sandoval—His Delight in Bloodshed for its own Sake—The Resting-place and Epitaph—Alvarado's Progeny | 201 ix |
| CHAPTER XIII. THE CONQUEST OF CHIAPAS. 1520-1529. |
|
| Origin of the Chiapanecs—They Submit to the Spaniards after the Mexican Conquest—But Rise in Arms when Required to Pay Tribute—Captain Luis Marin Undertakes the Conquest of the Province—His Battles with the Natives—The Panic-stricken Artillerymen—Capture of the Stronghold of Chiapas—The Chamulans Rise in Revolt—Their Fortress Besieged—Repulse of the Spaniards—Bernal Diaz in Peril—Flight and Surrender of the Chamulans—Marin Returns to Espíritu Santo—Second Revolt of the Chiapanecs—Their Subjugation by Diego de Mazariegos—Third Rebellion—Their Self-destruction—Pedro Puertocarrero in the Field—His Discomfiture—Founding of Villa Real—Juan Enriquez de Guzman Takes the Residencia of Mazariegos—His Maleadministration | 213 |
| CHAPTER XIV. THREATENED DESTRUCTION OF THE INDIES. 1526-1543. |
|
| Decrease of Indian Population at the Isthmus—And in Honduras—Treatment of Spanish Allies in Guatemala—Torture and Butchery of Hostile Natives—Terror Inspired by Alvarado—Early Legislation—Its Non-observance—The New Laws—The Audiencia of Panamá Abolished—The Audiencia of Los Reyes and Los Confines Established—Disgust Caused by the New Code—The First Viceroy of Peru Arrives at the Isthmus—He Takes Charge of Treasure Acquired by Slave Labor—And Liberates a Number of Indians | 232 |
| CHAPTER XV. PANAMÁ AND PERU. 1538-1550. |
|
| Administration of Doctor Robles—Interoceanic Communication—Proposed Change of the Site of Panamá—Nombre de Dios and its Trade—The Isthmus the Highway of Commerce between the Hemispheres—Vasco Nuñez Vela Lands in Peru—Gonzalo Pizarro at the Head of a Rebellion—Dissolution of the Audiencia of Los Reyes and Arrest of the Viceroy—His Release—His Defeat and Death at Añaquito—Gonzalo's Dreams of Conquest—He Despatches Bachicao to Panamá—Hinojosa's Expedition—His Bloodless Conquest of the Province—Melchor Verdugo's Invasion—Pedro de la Gasca—His Negotiations with the Revolutionists—Gasca Lands in Peru—Execution of Gonzalo Pizarro | 245 x |
| CHAPTER XVI. REVOLT OF THE CONTRERAS BROTHERS. 1550. |
|
| Cause of the Revolt—Preparations of the Conspirators—Assassination of Bishop Valdivieso—The Rebels Defeat the Men of Granada—Their Plan of Operations—The Expedition Sails for Natá—Gasca Arrives at the Isthmus with the King's Treasure—Capture of Panamá—Blunders of the Rebel Leaders—Hernando de Contreras Marches to Capira—He is Followed by his Lieutenant Bermejo—Gasca's Arrival at Nombre de Dios—Uprising of the Inhabitants of Panamá—Bermejo's Attack on the City—His Repulse—His Forces Annihilated—Fate of Hernando and his Followers | 274 |
| CHAPTER XVII. AFFAIRS IN HONDURAS. 1537-1549. |
|
| Francisco de Montejo Appointed Governor—Revolt of the Cacique Lempira—Dastardly Artifice of the Spaniards—Establishment of New Colonies—Condition of the Settlements—Mining in Honduras—Return of Pedro de Alvarado—Montejo Deposed from Office—Alonso de Maldonado the First President of the Audiencia of the Confines—Maltreatment of the Natives—Rival Prelates in Honduras—Their Disputes—Las Casas Presents a Memorial to the Audiencia—He is Insulted by the Oidores—His Departure for Chiapas—Maldonado's Greed—He is Superseded by Alonso Lopez de Cerrato—The Seat of the Audiencia Moved to Santiago de Guatemala | 289 |
| CHAPTER XVIII. PROGRESS OF AFFAIRS IN GUATEMALA. 1541-1550. |
|
| Mourning for Alvarado—Grief of Doña Beatriz—An Anomalous Government—A Female Ruler—A Beautiful but Treacherous Mountain—A Night of Horrors—Death of Doña Beatriz—Destruction of Santiago—A Ruined City—Burial of the Dead—Gloom of Conscience-stricken Survivors—Joint Governors—Removal of the City Resolved upon—A New Site Discussed—Another Santiago Founded—Maldonado Appointed Governor—Action of the Audiencia Relative to Encomiendas—Controversies and Recriminations—Removal of the Audiencia to Santiago—President Cerrato Offends the Settlers—His Mode of Action | 311 xi |
| CHAPTER XIX. THE ECCLESIASTICS IN CHIAPAS. 1550. |
|
| A Convent Founded by the Merced Order—Ciudad Real Appointed a Cathedral City—Las Casas a Bishop—He Attempts to Enforce the New Laws—He Refuses Absolution during Holy Week—His Controversy with the Audiencia of the Confines—He Departs for Spain—His Dispute with Sepúlveda—His Appeal to the Conscience of Philip—The Audiencia Transferred from Panamá to Guatemala—Death of the Apostle of the Indies—His Character—The Dominicans in Chiapas | 328 |
| CHAPTER XX. MARROQUIN AND LAS CASAS IN GUATEMALA AND VERA PAZ. 1541-1550. |
|
| A New Cathedral Wanted—A Poor Prelate and Unwilling Tithe-payers—Two Contentious Bishops—Charitable Institutions Founded—Dominican Convent Organized—Franciscans Arrive—Their Labors—Motolinia Founds a Custodia—Disputes between Franciscans and Dominicans—La Tierra de Guerra—Las Casas' System—His First Efforts in Vera Paz—He Goes to Spain—Decrees Obtained by Him and an Indignant Cabildo—Las Casas Returns—Progress in Vera Paz—Peaceful Submission and Heavy Tributes—Cancer's Expedition to Florida—Ominous Opinions—An Indifferent Captain—A Dominican Martyr | 341 |
| CHAPTER XXI. GUATEMALA AND CHIAPAS. 1551-1600. |
|
| Quesada's Administration—The Oidor Zorita Gathers the Natives into Towns—Expedition against the Lacandones—Its Failure—Landecho Appointed Quesada's Successor—His Residencia Taken by the Licentiate Brizeño—Famine, Pestilence, and Earthquake in Guatemala—The Audiencia of the Confines Removed to Panamá—And Again Transferred to Guatemala—Gonzalez Appointed President—He is Succeeded by Villalobos—Changes in Church Affairs—Death of Bishop Marroquin—Quarrels between the Dominicans and Franciscans—Bishops Villalpando and Córdoba—Fracas between two Ecclesiastics—Administration of President Valverde, Rueda, Sandé, and Castilla—Industrial Condition of the Province | 358 xii |
| CHAPTER XXII. AFFAIRS IN PANAMÁ. 1551-1600. |
|
| Revolt of the Cimarrones—Pedro de Ursua Sent against Them—A Second Revolt—Bayano Caught and Sent to Spain—Regulations concerning Negroes—Commercial Decadence—Restrictions on Trade—Home Industries—Pearl Fisheries—Mining—Decay of Settlements—Proposed Change in the Port of Entry—Its Removal from Nombre de Dios to Portobello—Changes in the Seat of the Audiencia—Tierra Firme Made Subject to the Viceroy of Peru—Defalcations in the Royal Treasury—Preparations for Defence against Corsairs and Foreign Powers | 386 |
| CHAPTER XXIII. DRAKE AND OXENHAM'S EXPEDITIONS. 1572-1596. |
|
| Drake's Attack on Nombre de Dios—Panic among the Inhabitants—Stores of Treasure—Retreat of the English—They Sail for Cartagena—And Thence for the Gulf of Urabá—Visit to the Isle of Pinos—The Ships Moved to the Cabezas Islands—Second Expedition to Cartagena—March to the Isthmus—Drake's First Glimpse of the South Sea—Ambuscade Posted near Cruces—The Bells of Approaching Treasure Trains—The Prize Missed through the Folly of a Drunken Soldier—Capture of Cruces—Thirty Tons of Gold and Silver Taken near Nombre de Dios—Voyage on a Raft—The Expedition Returns to England—Oxenham's Raid—Drake's Circumnavigation of the Globe—His Second Voyage to the West Indies—His Final Expedition—His Death and Burial off Portobello | 404 |
| CHAPTER XXIV. NICARAGUA AND COSTA RICA. 1551-1600. |
|
| Revolt of Juan Gaitan—His Defeat by the Licentiate Juan de Caballon—Expedition of Caballon and Juan de Estrada Rábago to Costa Rica—Settlements Founded—Distress of the Spaniards—Juan Vazquez Coronado Comes to their Relief—Further Expeditions—Flight of the Natives—Capture of the Stronghold of Cotu—Administration of Diego de Artiega Cherino—The Franciscans in Costa Rica—Martyrdom of Juan Pizarro—The Ecclesiastics in Nicaragua—Fray Juan de Torres—Condition of the Settlements—Slow Growth of Trade | 424 xiii |
| CHAPTER XXV. NICARAGUA AND COSTA RICA. 1601-1700. |
|
| Leon Abandoned—Another Site Selected—Description of the New City—The Sacrilegious Mouse—The Trade of Granada—Freebooters in Nicaragua—Church Matters—The Jesuits Enter the Province—They are Recalled—The Diocese Subject to the Archbishop of Lima—Succession of Prelates—Eruption of El Infierno de Masaya—Massacre of Spaniards in Costa Rica—Maldonado's Expedition to Talamanca—Verdelete's Mission to Tologalpa—Its Failure—His Further Attempts to Christianize the Natives—Massacre of Soldiers and Ecclesiastics | 439 |
| CHAPTER XXVI. BUCCANEERS AND BUCCANEERING RAIDS. 1518-1664. |
|
| Buccaneers at Santo Domingo—Tortuga the Head-quarters of the Pirates—Their Modes of Life—François L'Olonnois the Filibuster—His Vessel Cast on the Shore of Campeche—He Escapes to Tortuga—And Reappears in the Bay of Honduras—He Captures San Pedro—He Plans a Raid on Guatemala—His Comrades Desert Him—His Vessel Wrecked off Cape Gracias á Dios—His Expedition to Desaguadero—And to Costa Rica—He is Hacked to Pieces—Mansvelt Captures the Island of Santa Catarina—And Attacks Cartago—Santa Catarina Retaken by the Spaniards | 451 |
| CHAPTER XXVII. PANAMÁ, PORTOBELLO, AND PIRACY. 1601-1670. |
|
| An Audiencia again Established in Panamá—Its Presidents—Captain Parker's Raid on Portobello—Growth of Portobello and Decadence of Panamá—Malefeasance of Officials—Interoceanic Communication—Contraband Trading—Church Matters in Panamá—Disputes between the Bishops and the Oidores—The Ecclesiastics in Evil Repute—Destructive Conflagration—Bazan's Administration—His Downfall and its Cause—The Annual Fair at Panamá | 464 |
| CHAPTER XXVIII. MORGAN'S RAIDS ON THE ISTHMUS. 1664-1671. |
|
| Morgan's Early Career—He Resolves to Attack Portobello—The Castle of Triana Blown into the Air—Capture of the City—Atrocities xiv Committed by the Buccaneers—The President of Panamá Marches against Them—He is Driven Back—Morgan Sends Him a Specimen of his Weapons—Ransom of the City and Return to Jamaica—The Buccaneers Prepare Another Armament, and Resolve to Attack Panamá—Capture of Fort San Lorenzo—March across the Isthmus—Morgan Arrives in Sight of Panamá—Cowardice of the Governor—Battle with the Spaniards—Burning of the City—Torture of Prisoners—Bravery of a Captive Gentlewoman—The Buccaneers Recross the Isthmus—Division of the Booty | 482 |
| CHAPTER XXIX. CORSAIRS IN THE SOUTH SEA. 1671-1682. |
|
| The New City of Panamá—Portobello Sacked by Pirates—A Buccaneer Fleet Assembles at Boca del Toro—The Corsairs Plan a Raid on Panamá—They Capture Santa María—And Thence Sail for Plantain Island—Massacre of their Captives—Desperate Conflict in Panamá Bay—Some of the Marauders Return across the Isthmus—The Remainder Proceed to the Island of Taboga—And there Capture Several Prizes—They are Asked to Show their Commissions—The Answer—They Sail for the Coast of Veragua—Their Repulse at Pueblo Nuevo—Their Operations on the Coast of South America—Some of Them Return to England—They are Tried and Acquitted | 517 |
| CHAPTER XXX. FURTHER PIRATICAL RAIDS. 1681-1687. |
|
| Dampier and his Comrades on the Santa María River—They Meet with Spanish War Vessels—Their March to the North Sea—They Fall in with a French Ship—And Sail round Cape Horn to the South Sea—They Attack Realejo—They Sail for the Island of La Plata—Here They are Reënforced—They Proceed to the Coast of South America—Where they Gain Intelligence of the Treasure-fleet—The Pirates Sail for the Pearl Islands—Their Defeat in the Bay of Panamá—Raids on Leon, Realejo, and Granada—Piety of the Filibusters—Further Operations of the Pirates | 543 |
| CHAPTER XXXI. PANAMÁ. 1672-1800. |
|
| The Scots Colony—They Propose to Establish Settlements in Darien—Subscriptions for the Enterprise—Departure of the Expedition—Its Arrival at Acla—Sickness and Famine among the Colonists—They xv Abandon their Settlement—A Second Expedition Despatched—Its Failure—Cartagena Sacked by Privateers—Indian Outbreaks—Conflagrations in Panamá—Pearl Fisheries—Mining—Spanish Commerce Falling into the Hands of the British—Seizure of British Vessels and Maltreatment of their Crews—Jenkins' Ears—Declaration of War—Vernon's Operations on the Isthmus—Anson's Voyage round the World—Vernon's Second Expedition—Its Disastrous Result | 570 |
| CHAPTER XXXII. MOSQUITIA, NICARAGUA, AND COSTA RICA. 1701-1800. |
|
| The Sambos of Mosquitia—Their Territory—A Mosquito Chieftain Crowned King—Treaties between Spain and England—The British Occupy Mosquitia—Galvez Captures an English Settlement on the Black River—An Armament Despatched from Jamaica to Mosquitia—Surrender of the Spaniards—Colonists Ordered to Leave the Coast—The Governors of Nicaragua—The British Defeated at Fort San Cárlos—They Capture Fort San Juan—But are Compelled to Retreat—Church Matters—Missionary Expeditions to Talamanca—Affairs in Costa Rica | 595 |
| CHAPTER XXXIII. BELIZE. 1650-1800. |
|
| Buccaneer Settlements in Yucatan—The Pirates Engage in Wood-cutting—Governor Figueroa Ordered to Expel them—Raid of the Wood-cutters on Ascension Bay—They are Driven Back by the Governor—Their Settlement in Belize Destroyed by Figueroa—They Return in Stronger Force—Further Expeditions against Them—The Wood-cutters under British Protection—They are Attacked by Governor Rivas—The Boundaries of Belize Defined by the Treaty of Versailles—Stipulations of a Later Treaty—Further Encroachments of the English | 623 |
| CHAPTER XXXIV. HONDURAS. 1550-1800. |
|
| Piratical Raids on Trujillo and Puerto de Caballos—Condition of the Settlements—Church Matters—Missionary Expedition to Tegucigalpa—Martyrdom of the Missionaries—Labors of the Franciscans in Honduras—Interference of the Bishop—Trujillo Destroyed by the Dutch—Fort San Fernando de Omoa Erected—Its Capture by the English—And Recovery by President Galvez—Roatan Several Times Occupied by Buccaneers—Their Final Expulsion | 637 xvi |
| CHAPTER XXXV. GUATEMALA AND CHIAPAS. 1601-1700. |
|
| President Castilla—Port Santo Tomás Founded—Factions—A Gambling President—Condition of the Colonists—Grievances—Patronage of the Crown, the Audiencia, and the Cabildo—Disputes—Defensive Measures—Rule of President Caldas—Reorganization of the Audiencia—President Barrios and Bishop Navas—Political Dissensions—A Troublesome Visitador—The Berropistas and Tequelies—A Line of Bishops—Wealth of the Regular Orders—A Prelate Bewitched—The Bethlehemites—Royal Order concerning Curacies—The New Cathedral and Festivities—Succession—The Progress of Chiapas | 649 |
| CHAPTER XXXVI. THE ITZAS AND LACANDONES. 1601-1700. |
|
| Early Efforts at Pacification—Priests and Soldiers Sacrificed—Massacre of Mirones and his Party—El Prospero Expedition—Indifference of the Orders—Bishop Navas in the Field—A Tripartite Campaign Determined upon—Expedition of President Barrios—Meeting with Mazariegos—Velasco's Operations—The Expeditions Return—Further Expeditions—Fate of Velasco and his Command—Failure—Ursua's Enterprise—Progress of Paredes—Negotiations with the Canek—Opposition of Soberanis—Ursua Takes Command—Treacherous Allurements—The Itzas Conquered—Peten Garrisoned—Jealousy of Soberanis—Unsatisfactory Operations—Questionable Possession | 672 |
| CHAPTER XXXVII. GUATEMALA AND CHIAPAS. 1701-1800. |
|
| The Tzendal Rebellion—A New Miracle—Atrocities—A Novel Hierarchy—The Tzendales Repulsed—Segovia's Operations—President Cosío Assumes Command—Fall of Cancuc—Spread of the Rebellion—Its Suppression—Decadence of Chiapas—Earthquakes—Riots—Venality of the Clergy—Establishment of the Archbishopric—Heresy—Boundaries of Provinces—Abolition of Corregimientos—Another Great Earthquake—Quarrels over Removal—Expulsion of the Jesuits | 696 |
Origin and Character of the Conqueror—The Triumvirate Copartnership of Pizarro, Friar Luque, and Diego de Almagro for Continuing the Discovery of Andagoya—Departure—Attitude of Pedrarias—Slow Development of their Plans—Return and Reëmbarkation—Persistence of Pizarro—Sufferings on Gallo Island—Fate Defied—Discovery of Tumbez and the Coast Beyond—Return to Panamá—Pizarro Visits Spain—A New Expedition—Aboriginal History of Peru—The Rival Incas—Establishment of the Spaniards at San Miguel—Atahualpa at Caxamalca—The Spaniards Visit him There—Seizure of the Inca—Pacification of Peru—Arrival of Almagro—Death of Father Luque—Judicial Murder of the Inca—A King's Ransom—Downfall of the Peruvian Monarchy—Disputes and Violent Deaths of the Almagros and Pizarros.
In a society like that of Panamá, where politics were so unjust and morality so diabolical, we could expect nothing else than that the worst men should prove the most successful. Among those who came early to Darien, and whom we have frequently encountered in the wars upon the natives, was one who now enters the arena as the conqueror of Peru. His origin was of the lowest. Born in bastardy, he was laid by his mother on the church steps, whence he 2 was taken by a swine-herd to be suckled by a sow. Escaping this master he fled to Seville and lived no one knows how, until he took ship to Santo Domingo, no one knows when. Thenceforward to the day of his assassination, his merciless courage found congenial occupation; neither his ignorance nor his beastly instincts nor his infamous cruelty and treachery standing in the way of fame and fortune.
He was now not far from fifty-three, having been born at Trujillo, in Estremadura, about 1471. After both had become famous a distant kinship was traced between Pizarro and Hernan Cortés. The development had been, in every respect, in keeping with the origin and environment. Except Pedrarias there was not a man in all the Indies more detestable. Innately he was the coarsest of all the conquerors. I have not seen of his a single noble sentiment expressed or a single noble action recorded. The Christianity which as a Spaniard he was obliged to wear had in it not the slightest tincture of piety or pity, and the civilization under which his genius grew developed in him only the savage cunning which he afterward displayed when in pursuit of human prey. Under this same influence Cortés and other captains of a generous, lordly nature might wade through horrors to a determined goal, while appalling tragedies and blood-reeking treacheries were not what their souls delighted in. But incarnate vulgarity was Francisco Pizarro, and a devouring sea of iniquity, beside whom beasts were heavenly beings; for when man sinks to his lowest, we must enter the domain of hideous fancy to find his prototype.
Up to this time Pizarro had displayed little of that signal ability, that marvellous determination and readiness of resource which carried through one of the most remarkable undertakings of any age. Soldier of fortune and petty farmer were the only distinctions he could boast. No talents of a higher order than those exhibited by the other captains in Darien had 3 as yet appeared, except perhaps a cooler cruelty in his treatment of the natives, and a more selfish heartlessness in his intercourse with his comrades. He was made of admirable stuff for an executioner, brave, obedient, merciless, remorseless; and as he had not manifested sufficient ambition to excite the jealousy even of Pedrarias he had been a useful tool of the governor. Great deeds do not always spring from greatness of soul. It may have been merely owing to the decline of physical powers with advancing age that Pizarro's mind was led to serious reflection on what at various times he had heard of the region southward of the Isthmus, of what Panciaco had said, and the Pearl Islanders, and Tumaco, and last of all of what Andagoya had reported concerning Birú. It was known what Cortés had done in the north; might not the same feat be accomplished in the south?
Whencesoever sprang the purpose, on the return of Andagoya unsuccessful from Birú, Pizarro determined if possible to undertake an expedition in that direction. Notwithstanding a long career of successful robbery he had little to venture, except that worthless article his life. Two requirements were necessary, money and the consent of the governor, both of which might be obtained through Fernando de Luque, acting vicar of Panamá, and formerly school-master of the cathedral of Darien. Father Luque, or Loco as he was later called for this folly, had influence with Pedrarias, and the proceeds of his piety thus far amounted to twenty thousand castellanos. He joined with himself a comrade, Diego de Almagro, and winning over the priest and the governor by a promise of one fourth each, the company was complete. Almagro was a few years older than Pizarro, and with an origin perhaps as low, for he was likewise a foundling. Ill-favored by nature, the loss of an eye but increased a sinister expression that had played from infancy over his features. It is but faint praise to say of him that his 4 impulses were nobler than those of Pizarro. Though fiery he was frank, and abhorred treachery; nor could he nurse a wrong more easily than his colleague. Pizarro was to command the expedition; Almagro to take charge of the ships; the vicar, besides his money, was to contribute his prayers, while the governor was to have an eye watchful for himself.
In a small caravel with about a hundred men and four horses,[I‑1] Pizarro sailed from Panamá November 14, 1524, leaving Almagro to follow as soon as he could equip another vessel. After touching at Toboga and at the Pearl Islands, Pizarro coasted southward past Puerto de Piñas where terminated the voyages of Vasco Nuñez and Andagoya, and entered the river Birú in search of provisions, but finding none put to sea, and after buffeting a storm for ten days again landed, and again failed to procure food. The ground was soft, and the foragers suffered severely. At a place subsequently called El Puerto del Hambre he waited for six weeks with part of the men, all on the verge of starvation, while the ship, in command of Gil de Montenegro, went back to the Pearl Islands for supplies. When his forces were again united he put to sea and landing at various points found food and gold abundant. Presently the vessel required repairs, and fearful lest if he should return the expedition would be broken up, Pizarro caused himself and all his followers, save only those needed to manage the ship, to be put ashore, while Nicolás de Ribera, the treasurer, went with the vessel and the gold collected to Panamá.
Three months after the departure of Pizarro from Panamá, Almagro followed with seventy men, and 5 after some search, and the loss of an eye in fighting savages, he found his colleague, left with him his surplus men, and returned with his vessel to the assistance of Ribera. By this time Pedrarias, although he had invested nothing, was dissatisfied and sullen over the result. The ships were wanted for Nicaragua, he said, and half the men embarked in this mad southern venture were dead. Almagro was finally glad to get rid of him by paying him a thousand pesos. Pizarro was obliged to return, and the three associates bound themselves by oath, solemnized by the sacrament, that the entire returns and emoluments of the expedition should be equally divided; Father Luque dividing the wafer into three parts and each partaking of one.
Nearly two years were thus occupied when the two captains, made equal by the new contract, and each in command of a ship, embarked a second time with Bartolomé Ruiz as pilot and one hundred and sixty men, and standing well out sailed directly to the Rio San Juan, the farthest point yet discovered. Meeting here with fair success, Almagro was sent to Panamá with the plunder; Pizarro with most of the men remained on shore; while Ruiz with the other vessel continued the discovery beyond the equator, and returning reported a more opulent people with a higher culture than any yet found in the Indies. Among other wonderful objects which he had seen was a large trading balsa, or raft, made by lashing together with vines porous timbers, which were overlaid with a floor of reeds, and navigated by lateen cotton sails. The people of the raft displayed spun and raw wool, and scales for weighing gold, while those upon the shore ran to and fro leaping and shouting to the homeless wanderers, the hairy exiles, children of the sea-foam, descendants of the sun, as they called the glittering serpents that were so soon to envenom their land.
Soon afterward Almagro appeared. He too had 6 been successful. Pedrarias was deposed; and with Pedro de los Rios, the new governor, had come fresh aspirants for adventure and a grave, eighty of whom were soon launched with Father Luque's blessing in the Peruvian expedition.
During the absence of the vessels death had taken fourteen of Pizarro's men, and the remainder now clamored loudly to be carried to Panamá. But this was not to be considered. Refreshed by Almagro's stores and cheered by Ruiz' tale hope revived, the phantom of despair took flight, and joyous expectation thrilled the hearts of those who had so lately dreamed of death.
How happy was Pizarro as he went to prove the golden report of good Ruiz! A storm which drove him under the lee of Gallo Island, and obliged him to repair at San Mateo Bay, only made the populous cities and cultivated fields of maize and cacao the more beautiful to behold. And the gems and precious metals that glistened everywhere, how they made the black blood of the pirate to tingle! But little could be done with such a force as his against ten thousand warriors that opposed his landing; for with increase of wealth and intelligence was increased power to defend possession. The soldiers were not pleased to have the ships go back to Panamá without them, and the leaders came almost to blows over the quarrel; but it was finally arranged that Pizarro should remain with the men on Gallo Island, while Almagro with one of the ships should seek a stronger force. Some sent letters denouncing the commanders, and begging that the governor might be informed of the miserable condition of the men; which letters, of course, were not delivered, none save one which Juan de Sarabia inclosed in a ball of cotton which was to be presented to the wife of the governor as a specimen of native industry.[I‑2] 7
Fearful lest the men might seize the remaining ship, Pizarro despatched it also to Panamá for recruits, leaving himself with only eighty-five men. But the missile projected by the verse-maker struck home. The governor was indignant that the king's subjects should be held in continued jeopardy of their lives by their unprincipled leaders, ordered the expedition stopped, and sent the licentiate Tafur with two ships to bring the wanderers home. Father Luque, however, wrote to Pizarro not to abandon the enterprise. The arrival of Tafur at the island places Pizarro in a most trying position. And we can almost forget the hideousness of the man's nature, which assumes yet darker deformity as we proceed, when he rises under the inspiration of his energy in defiance of destiny. The very impudence of his obstinacy commands our admiration. What is the situation? Here stands a single Spaniard. Yonder are the organized armies of Peru with their tens of thousands of fighting men. The rupture between the ruling powers, preliminary to yet more dire convulsions, has not yet occurred. Humanly regarded it as insensate folly for Pizarro to dream of seizing this powerful realm, or any part of it, with his handful of vagabonds as would be his attempt to drink the ocean dry, or to pocket Parnassus. Yet what shall we say in view of the result? And sure I am it is no upright deity that aids him.
When Tafur landed and told the men to get on board the ships, Pizarro cried "Stop!" Drawing his 8 sword he marked a line from west to east. Then pointing toward the south he said: "Countrymen and comrades! Yonder lurk hunger, hardships, and death; but for those who win, fame and wealth untold. This way is Panamá, with ease, poverty, and disgrace. Let each man choose for himself. As for me, sooner will I hang my body from some sun-smitten cliff for vultures to feed on, than turn my back to the glories God has here revealed to me!" Thus saying he stepped across the line, and bade those who would to follow. The pilot Ruiz was the first; then Pedro de Candia; and finally eleven others. All the rest went back with Tafur to Panamá. Ruiz was ordered to accompany him and lend the associates his assistance. Pizarro then crossed his army of twelve on a raft to the small island of Gorgona, at a safer distance from the main shore, and there awaited Almagro. Alone, anchored on a cloud-curtained sea, near a fearfully fascinating shore, they waited five months.
This rash act of the now thoroughly inspired Pizarro was viewed differently by different persons at Panamá. The governor was angry at what he deemed suicidal obstinacy. Father Luque was enthusiastic, and Almagro was not idle. The general sentiment was that in any event these Spaniards, so chivalrous in the service of their king, should not be abandoned to certain destruction. To permit it would be infamous on the part of the governor, and a disgrace to every man in Panamá. Thus forcibly persuaded, Pedro de los Rios permitted Luque and Almagro to despatch a vessel to their relief, but stipulated that unless it returned within six months they should be subject to heavy penalties.
Peru.
We may well imagine that Pizarro was glad to see the faithful Ruiz, although his force was not greatly increased thereby. And now he would go forward; with an army of ten thousand or alone he would match his destiny against that of Peru. Passing 10 Gallo, Tacames, and the Cabo Pasado, the limits of former discovery, twenty days after leaving Gorgona they anchored off an island sacred to sacrificial purposes, opposite the town of Tumbez. More brilliant than had been their wildest hopes was the scene surrounding them. Stretching seaward were the bright waters of Guayaquil, while from the grand cordillera of the Andes, Chimborazo and Cotopaxi lifted their fiery front into the regions of frozen white. Tame enough, however, were a new earth and a new heaven to these souls of saffron hue, without the evidences of wealth that here met their greedy gaze, of wealth weakly guarded by the unbaptized. All along the shore by which they had sailed were verdant fields and populous villages, while upon the persons and among the utensils of the inhabitants, seen principally in the trading balsas that plied those strange waters, were emeralds, gold, and silver in profusion.
Two natives captured in the former voyage and kindly treated for obvious reasons, were put on shore to pave the way, and soon maize, bananas, plantains, cocoa-nuts, pineapples, as well as fish, game, and llamas were presented to the strangers by the people of Tumbez. Shortly afterward a Peruvian nobleman, or orejon, as the Spaniards called him, from the large golden pendants which ornamented his ears, visited the ship with a retinue of attendants. Pizarro gave him a hatchet and some trinkets, and invited him to dine. Next day Alonso de Molina and a negro were sent on shore to the cacique with a present of two swine and some poultry. A crowd of wonder-stricken spectators surrounded them on landing. The women were shy at first, but presently could not sufficiently admire the fair complexion and flowing beard of the European, and the crisp hair of the ebony African, whose laugh made them dance with delight. Never were pigs so scrutinized; and when the cock crew they asked what it said. Molina was promised a beautiful bride if he would remain, and he was half inclined to 11 accept the offer. The cacique of Tumbez was equally pleased and astonished. He lived in some state, having vassals at his doors and gold and silver among his utensils. Conspicuous among the buildings of Tumbez was the temple built of rough stone. There was a fortress surrounded by a triple row of walls. In the valley without the town was a palace belonging to Huayna Capac, the reigning inca, near which was a temple with its sacred virgins, glittering decorations, and beautiful gardens dedicated to the sun.
More witnesses to such facts as these must be obtained before leaving this place. So next day Pedro de Candia was permitted to go ashore armed cap-à-pie. Candia was a Greek cavalier of extraordinary size and strength; and when he presented himself in bright mail, with his clattering steel weapons, and arquebuse vomiting fire and smoke, there is little wonder these simple people should take him for one of their children of the sun. Returning to the ship Candia testified to the truth of all Molina had said, and more. He was received as a heavenly guest, and conducted through the temple which he affirmed was laid with plates of gold; whereat the Spaniards were wild with delight, says an ancient chronicler. Pizarro thanked God that it had been permitted him to make this great discovery, and he cursed the luckless fortune which prevented his landing and taking immediate possession. But God did for Pizarro better than Pizarro could do for himself. Had the five hundred he then so desired been five thousand, the probability is all would have been lost as soon as ventured.
Continuing southward some distance beyond the site of Trujillo, a city subsequently founded by him, the evidences of wealth and intelligence meanwhile diminishing, and the reports of an imperial city where dwelt the ruler of all that region becoming fainter, Pizarro returned to Panamá, carrying back with him two native youths, one of whom, called by the Spaniards Felipillo, became notorious during the conquest. 12 The men had been ordered to treat gold with indifference, that the future harvest might be greater.[I‑3]
The pirate's paradise was found; it next remained to enter it. Pizarro reached Panamá late in 1527, and instantly the town was wild with excitement. Father Luque wept tears of joy. But although Pedro de los Rios forgot his threats of punishment he did not regard with favor another expedition, which would tend to depopulate his own government and establish a rival colony. This selfish policy of the governor hastened the defeat of its own aims. Unable to do more at Panamá, early in 1528 Pizarro set out for Spain. Through the aid of Father Luque fifteen hundred ducats had been raised to defray his expenses. It was not without misgivings that Alamagro saw him go, and the ecclesiastic himself was not without his suspicions that foul play might come of it. "God grant, my sons," he said at parting, "that you do not defraud yourselves of his blessing." Pedro de Candia accompanied Pizarro, and they took with them specimens of the natives, llamas, cloth, and gold and silver utensils of Peru.
Two notable characters were encountered by Pizarro immediately on his arrival in Spain. One was Hernan Cortés, revelling in the renown of an overthrown northern empire as Pizarro was about to revel in the overthrow of a southern. Cortés told Pizarro how he had conquered Mexico and gave him many valuable hints in empire-snatching.[I‑4] The other was no less a 13 personage than the Bachiller Enciso, who, still nursing revenge, seized the now famous discoverer of Peru and imprisoned him on the old charge of injuries at Antigua. Released by royal order, Pizarro presented himself before the emperor at Toledo with all the impudence of unlettered merit, and received the appointment of governor, captain general, and alguazil mayor of all lands which he had discovered or might discover for a distance of two hundred leagues south from Santiago. His government was to be independent from that of Panamá, with the right to erect fortresses, maintain forces, grant encomiendas, and enjoy the rights and prerogatives of absolute authority. His salary was to be 725,000 maravedís, to be drawn from the resources of his own government and without cost to the crown. In return for these privileges he was to enlist and equip for a Peruvian expedition two hundred and fifty men, one hundred of whom he was at liberty to draw from the colonies. For his associates he was satisfied with much less; though it had been stipulated that for Almagro should be asked the office of adelantado, thus dividing the honors. As it was, he obtained for Almagro only the post of captain of the fortress of Tumbez, with an income of 300,000 maravedís, and for Father Luque the bishopric of Tumbez, with a salary of one thousand castellanos. Bartolomé Ruiz was to be grand pilot of the South Sea; Pedro de Candia, commander of artillery, and the brave thirteen who so gallantly stood by their captain at the Isle of Gorgona were elevated to the rank of knights and cavaliers.
Pizarro's commission was signed at Toledo July 26, 1528. Thence he proceeded to Trujillo, his native place, where he was joined by four brothers, Fernando, Juan, and Gonzalo Pizarro, and Francisco Martin de Alcántara, all except the first like himself illegitimate, 14 all poor, ignorant, and avaricious. Fernando, however, possessed some superiorities, and played a conspicuous part in the conquest. He was a man of fine form, repulsive features, and infamous character. As arrogant, jealous, and revengeful as he was capable, he soon acquired unbounded influence over his brother, and was the scourge of the expedition.
Small as was the force required by his capitulation with the crown, Pizarro was unable to raise it. With the assistance of Cortés he managed to make ready for sea three small vessels, in one of which, by eluding the authorities, he embarked, and awaited his brothers at the Canary Islands. By liberal bribery and the solemn assurance of Fernando that all requirements of the king had been complied with, and that the specified number of men were with his brother who had gone before, the other two ships were allowed to depart, and the three vessels arrived at Nombre de Dios in January 1530. There Pizarro was met by Almagro and Father Luque, who when they learned how the royal honors had been distributed, and saw the insolent bearing of the vulgar brothers, upbraided him for his perfidy; and it was with difficulty that Almagro was prevented by fresh promises from withdrawing from the partnership and engaging in conquest on his own account.
Crossing to Panamá, an expedition was organized with one hundred and eighty men, thirty horses, and three ships, though all had been procured with no small difficulty. On the day of St John the evangelist imposing ceremonies were held in the cathedral; the royal banner and the standard of the expedition were unfurled and consecrated; a sermon was preached, and to every one of the pirates the holy sacrament was administered, thus giving this marauding expedition the color of a religious crusade. The Pizarros set sail early in January 1531, leaving Almagro, as in the first instance, to follow with reënforcements. Tumbez was their objective point; but turned from 15 their purpose by adverse winds, and eager for a trial of their steel, the Spaniards landed at a bay which they called San Mateo, surprised a village in the province of Coaque, and secured, besides provisions, gold, silver, and emeralds to the value of twenty thousand pesos, which enabled them to send back the ships at once, one to Nicaragua and the other to Panamá, for reënforcements.
The Spaniards then continued their course toward Tumbez by land; and burdened as they were by weapons and armor, marching over hot sands under an equatorial sun, the journey soon became painful in the extreme. To add to their torments, an ulcerous epidemic broke out among them, from which many died, with curses on their commander. But their hearts were gladdened one day by the approach of a ship from Panamá having on board the royal officers appointed to accompany the expedition, whom Pizarro in his haste had left in Spain, and soon they were joined by thirty men under Captain Benalcázar. Meeting with no resistance from the natives, Pizarro continued his march until he arrived at the gulf of Guayaquil, opposite the isle of Puma. Possession of this island was deemed desirable preparatory to the attack on Tumbez. While meditating on the best method of capturing the island, Pizarro was gratified by a visit from its cacique, who invited the Spaniards to take up their abode with him. It appears that there existed an hereditary feud between the people of Puma and those of the mainland; and although forced to submission by the powerful incas, the islanders never ceased to inflict such injuries as lay in their power on the town of Tumbez. The friendship of the strangers would give them great advantages; hence the invitation. Pizarro gladly accepted the proffered hospitality, and passing over to the island with his army he awaited the arrival of reënforcements before attacking Tumbez.
By their arrogance and apparent intimacy with 16 the people of Tumbez, the strangers soon became intolerable to the islanders, who caught in a conspiracy were attacked and driven to hiding-places by their guests. Nevertheless, but for the opportune arrival of Fernando de Soto with one hundred men and some horses it would have gone hard with the Spaniards. Pizarro now resolved to cross at once to the mainland and set the ball in motion.
Not least among the speculations that stirred the breast of the Spanish commander was the rumor that from time to time had reached his ear of discord between the rival candidates for the throne of the monarch lately deceased. Civil war would be a providence indeed at this juncture, not less kind than that which gave Montezuma's throne to Cortés.
Tradition refers the aborigines of Peru to a time when the entire land was divided into petty chiefdoms, composed of wild men who like wild beasts roamed primeval forests. After the lapse of ages, time marking no improvement, there appeared one day on the bank of Lake Titicaca two personages, male and female, Manco Capac and Mama Ocollo, of majestic mien and clad in glistening whiteness. They declared themselves children of the sun, sent by the parent of light to enlighten the human race. From Lake Titicaca they went northward a few leagues and founded the city of Cuzco, whither the chiefs throughout that region assembled and acknowledged the sovereignty of the celestial visitants. Under the instruction of Manco Capac the men became skilled in agriculture; Mama Ocollo taught the women domestic arts, and the migratory clans of the western slope of the cordillera thus became cemented under the beneficent rule of the heavenly teachers. Originally the dominion of Manco Capac extended no more than eight leagues from Cuzco, but in the twelve succeeding reigns, which formed the epoch prior to the advent of the Spaniards, the empire 17 of the incas, or lords of Peru, was greatly extended.
It naturally followed from their celestial origin and superior intelligence that the incas were adored as divinities, as well as obeyed as sovereigns. Not alone their person, but everything coming beneath their touch was sacred. Their blood was never contaminated by mortal intermixtures, and their dress it was unlawful for any to assume. The empire under Huayna Capac, twelfth monarch from the foundation of the dynasty, embraced more than five hundred leagues of western sea-coast, and extended to the summit of the Andes. This politic and warlike prince died about the beginning of the year 1526. His father, Tupac Inca Yupanqui, during whose reign the imperial domain had been enlarged by the addition of Quito on the one side and of Chile on the other, exhibited martial and administrative talents of a high order. This vast inheritance, together with the wisdom and virtues of the father, descended to the son. In addition to a wife, who was also his sister, Huayna Capac had many concubines. The lawful heir to the throne, son of his sister-wife, was named Huascar, next to whom as heir apparent stood Manco Capac, son of another wife who was his cousin. But his favorite son was Atahualpa, whose mother was the beautiful daughter of the last reigning monarch of Quito, and concubine of Huayna Capac. From boyhood Atahualpa had been the constant companion of his father, who on his death-bed, contrary to custom, divided the realm, or ordered rather that Quito, the ancient kingdom of his vanquished ancestors, should be given to Atahualpa, while all the rest should belong to Huascar. Four years of tranquillity elapsed, and the impolitic measure of Huayna Capac bid fair to prove successful. Huascar was satisfied, and his brother appeared content. But now a martial spirit was manifest in Atahualpa. Gradually drawing to his standard the flower of the 18 Peruvian army, he marched against Huascar, overthrew him near the base of Chimborazo, and pressing forward again defeated the Peruvians before Cuzco, captured his brother, and took possession of the imperial city of the incas.
It was in the midst of this struggle that the Spaniards gathered before Tumbez bent on plunder. We see clearly now, that had they attempted invasion before the opening of the war between the rival brothers, their effort would have been what it appeared to be, chimerical and absurd. But these few swift years had ripened this land for hellish purposes, and the demons were already knocking at the door. Crossing to the mainland, not without some slight opposition, Pizarro found Tumbez deserted. Gone were the gold of the temple and the rich ornaments of the merry wives. "And is this your boasted Tumbez?" exclaimed the disappointed cavaliers. "Better far and richer are the elysian fields of Nicaragua; better have remained at home than to come so far for so barren a conquest." After some search the cacique was found. He charged the destruction of the town to the islanders of Puma. As he professed willingness to submit to the Spaniards, and as Pizarro deemed it prudent to hold Tumbez peaceably, he gave the cacique his liberty. This was in May 1532. Keeping a watchful eye on his disaffected soldiers, Pizarro set about planting a colony. He selected for his operations the valley of Tangarala, some thirty leagues south of Tumbez and near the sea, and thither repairing with his men erected a fortress, church, and other buildings, partitioned the adjacent lands, distributed repartimientos, organized a municipality, and called the place San Miguel. So thoroughly had the work of devastation been carried on by the islanders on one side, and the soldiery of Atahualpa on the other, that the Spaniards met with little opposition.
But these were not the men to waste time in establishing friendship upon a devastated seaboard when 19 there was a world of wealth somewhere thereabout. One thing troubled Pizarro, however. By late arrivals he had been informed that Almagro still thought seriously of establishing for himself a colony. Pizarro needed Almagro's aid, and he wanted no rival there. So drawing in his talons he wrote Almagro begging him for the love of God and the king, if such were his plans to change them and come to his assistance. This letter with the gold thus far collected he despatched by ship to Panamá.
Meanwhile the rumors of battle between the rival princes become more defined. It is known that when the Spaniards landed at San Mateo the war was raging. While Pizarro was marching southward toward Tumbez with one hundred and eighty men, Atahualpa was also marching southward toward Cuzco with 140,000 men to meet Huascar with a force of 130,000. And Atahualpa the victor now rests in the vale of Caxamalca, beyond the cordillera, but not more than twelve days' journey hence. Pizarro resolves to visit him; peradventure there to throw the die which is to determine many fates.[I‑5] 20
It is the 24th of September when Pizarro sets out from San Miguel with one hundred and ten foot-soldiers, sixty-seven horsemen, and two Indian interpreters. Atahualpa is well aware of the presence of the Spaniards, of their works within Peruvian domain, and of their approach. And he is curious to behold them. There is nothing to fear, unless indeed they be gods, in which case it were useless to oppose them. Along the way the natives cheerfully provide every requirement for the courteous strangers.
Arrived at the western base of the cordillera the sixth day, permission is given to all who may choose to withdraw from the hazardous venture beyond. Nine, four foot and five horsemen, avail themselves of the opportunity and return to San Miguel. On the march next day Pizarro is informed that the general in charge of Atahualpa's forces garrisoned at Caxas, a village lying directly on the route to Caxamalca, is prepared to question his progress should he attempt to pass that way. Hernando de Soto, with a small detachment, is sent forward, while the main body of the little army await results at Zaran. Proceeding wonderingly by the great upper road or causeway of the incas, which extends along the rugged Andes the entire length of the empire from Quito to Cuzco, and so wide that six horsemen can ride there abreast, 21 Soto finds the Peruvian general, recites the stale story of the world's greatest monarch who sends his master information of the maker of the universe and this earth's saviour, and begs permission on behalf of the Spanish captain to proceed on his heavenly and peaceable errand. At this juncture a messenger arrives with an invitation from the inca for the Spaniards to visit him. While on the way presents are exchanged by the heads of the respective powers, and, as the Spaniards draw near the Peruvian encampment, another messenger from the inca wishes to know on what day the strangers will enter Caxamalca, that a suitable reception may be prepared.
At length from the terraced heights above Caxamalca, through the openings of the foliage, the white tents of the Peruvian host are seen stretching for miles along the fertile valley. It is a sight at which the heart of the stoutest cavalier might beat despondingly, and that without prejudice. But these audacious Spaniards halt only to don their brightest armor, and unfurling their banner they march down the mountain. Next day, the 15th of November, Pizarro divides his force into three companies and enters the town about the hour of vespers. Some two thousand houses surround a triangular plaza of extraordinary size, walled in by solid masonry and low adobe barracks, and entered from the streets through gates. From a large stone fortress broad steps descend to the plaza on one side, while on the other a secret staircase leads to the street. Without the now deserted town stands the temple of the sun, and on an eminence near by is another and more formidable fortress of hewn stone. A spiral wall, which thrice encloses the citadel, renders the place impregnable to native soldiery, while ascent from the plain is made by a winding staircase. Between the village and the Peruvian encampment, a league distant, a causeway runs, forming a fine road over the soft fertile lands intervening.
As with heavy tread the Spaniards march through 22 the silent streets in which no living thing is visible save a few knots of ancient, witch-like crones who predict in low mournful regrets the destruction of the strangers, the adventure at this point assumes ghostly shape, like the confused manœuvrings of a dream and Caxamalca a phantom city. Quartering his troops in the plaza, Pizarro sends Hernando de Soto with fifteen horsemen,[I‑6] and the interpreter Felipillo, to ask the inca the time and place of the approaching interview; and lest accident should befall the embassy Hernando Pizarro is ordered to follow and assist as occasion requires. Over the causeway toward the imperial camp rushes first one cavalcade and then the other, past manly men and modest women who gaze in mute astonishment as the apparitions emerge from the murky twilight and sweep by and disappear midst clatter of hoofs and clang of arms never before heard in this quarter of the earth. Presently is encountered the Inca's army drawn up in distinct battalions, archers, slingers, clubmen, and spearmen, standing expectantly.[I‑7] The royal pavilion occupies an open space near the centre of the encampment. Within a short distance are the bath-houses, and a rustic dwelling, with plastered walls colored in various tints and surrounded by corridors. On one side is a stone fountain, and a reservoir into which flows water, both hot and cold, from rivulets and springs through aqueducts which intersect the valley in every direction. On the other side are the royal gardens and pleasure-grounds.
As the horsemen draw up before the royal quarters 23 the inca is discovered seated on an ottoman in front of his tent and surrounded by groups of courtiers, while beautiful damsels in brilliant attire flit about the grounds. Elegance, discipline, and the profound deference of the nobles toward their chief are apparent at the first glance. The inca, although arrayed less gaudily than his attendants, is easily distinguished by the famous imperial head-dress, or borla, worn by Peruvian monarchs in place of a crown, consisting of a crimson woollen fringe, which Oviedo describes as a tassel of the width of the hand, and about one span in length, gathered upon the crown in the form of a flat brush, the fringe descending over the forehead down to the eyes, and partially covering them, so that the wearer can scarcely see without raising the lower part of it with his hand. The Christians who have heard many tales of his craft and ferocity, look in vain for traces of extraordinary passion or cunning. The borla, according to Jeres, throws a shade of melancholy over the features of Atahualpa; aside from this, however, his face is grave, passionless, and cold. With a single horseman on either side, Hernando de Soto rides forward a few paces, and without dismounting respectfully addresses the inca through Felipillo, the interpreter. "I come, most mighty prince, from the commander of the Christians, who through your courtesy now rests at Caxamalca, ardently longing to kiss your royal hand, and deliver you a message from his puissant master, the king of Spain." Immovable, silent, with eyes downcast, sits the inca as if listening he hears not, as if unaware of any extraordinary occurrence. After an embarrassing pause, a nobleman who stands nearest the august monarch answers, "It is well."
At this juncture Hernando Pizarro rides up and joins in the parley. When informed that a brother of the Spanish captain has arrived, Atahualpa raises his eyes and speaks: "Say to your commander that to-day I fast, but to-morrow I will visit him at Caxamalca." 24 Hereupon the ambassadors turn to depart; but the inca, slow to speak, is slower still to cease speaking, and the Spaniards are motioned to pause. "My cacique Mayzabilica informs me," continues Atahualpa, "that the Christians are cowards, and not invincible as they would make us believe; for on the banks of the Turicara he himself had killed three Spaniards and a horse in revenge for outrages on his people." Checking his rising choler with the thought of the stake for which he played, Hernando Pizarro explains: "Your chieftain tells you false when he says that the Christians dare not fight, or even that they can be overcome. Ten horsemen are enough to put to flight ten thousand of the men of Mayzabilica. My brother comes to offer terms of amity. If you have enemies to be subdued direct us to them, and we will prove the truth of this I say." With an incredulous smile Atahualpa drops the subject and offers refreshments to his visitors. But at this moment the attention of all is directed to another scene.
Hernando de Soto is an expert horseman and superbly mounted. He marks the smile of incredulity with which the broad boast of his comrade had been received by the Peruvians, and in order to inspire a more healthful terror, he drives his iron heel into the flanks of his impatient steed, and darting off at full speed, sweeps round in graceful curves, prancing, leaping, running; then riding off a little distance he wheels and dashes straight toward the royal pavilion. The nobles throw up their hands to shield the sacred person of the inca; a moment after they fly in terror. But when with one more bound the horse would be upon the monarch, the rider reins back the animal to a dead stop. Not the twitching of a muscle is discernible in the features of the inca; though for their cowardice in the presence of strangers, we are told that the nobles next day suffered death. The cavaliers decline food, saying that they, too, are holding a fast; but chicha, or wine of maize, being offered 25 them in golden goblets by dark-eyed beauties, and Atahualpa brooking no refusal, the Spaniards without dismounting drink it off, and then slowly ride back to Caxamalca.
As the night wears away, while Atahualpa lies dreaming of the twilight apparition, Francisco Pizarro matures his plans. Little as there was in the brief survey of the inca's camp to inspire confidence in attempting here the seizure trick, the Spaniards nevertheless determine to venture it. The details of the proposed perfidy and butchery are arranged with consummate audacity and executed with a cool indifference to human rights and human suffering which would do honor to the chief of anacondas. In issuing to his officers their instructions for the day, which are nothing less than to seize the inca and murder his attendants, Pizarro says: "The project is more feasible than at first glance one might imagine. To administer to us the rites of hospitality, the Indians will not come arrayed in hostile humor. No more can be admitted to the plaza than may be easily vanquished; and with the inca, whom his soldiers worship as a god, within our grasp, we may dictate terms to the empire. Farther than this our case is desperate. Atahualpa has permitted our insignificant force, which he could crush at pleasure, to advance even to the border of his sacred presence; he will scarcely suffer us to depart in peace, did we wish it. Of your hearts make a fortress; for though we be few in number, God will never forsake those who fight his battles."
Mass, attended by pious chants, follows the early clarion call the 16th of November, and dread-dispelling action soon clears the atmosphere of every gloomy foreboding. Arms and armor are put in order and burnished; the horses are decorated with bells and jingling trappings, that they may present a terrifying appearance. A sumptuous repast is spread in one of the halls opening into the plaza in which the inca is to be received. The cavalry is divided into three squadrons 26 under Hernando de Soto, Hernando Pizarro, and Sebastian de Benalcázar, and stationed within the halls on the three sides of the plaza. The foot-soldiers, with the exception of twenty men reserved by Pizarro as his body-guard, occupy rooms adjoining the court, but few being visible. Two small field-pieces are planted opposite the avenue by which the Peruvians approach. Near the artillerymen are stationed the cross-bowmen, and in the tower of the fortress a few musketeers are placed. Thus the Spaniards await their victim till late in the afternoon, when from the tower they behold that which causes trepidation not less than courage-cooling delay. Three hundred warriors in gay uniforms clear the way of sticks or stones or other obstruction for the royal procession, which is headed by Atahualpa, seated on a throne of gold, in a plumed palanquin garnished with precious stones, and borne on the shoulders of his vassals. On either side and behind the royal litter walk the counsellors of the realm, and behind it follows battalion after battalion of the forces of the inca until thirty thousand soldiers in martial array occupy the causeway from the Peruvian camp half way to Caxamalca. Surely the projected seizure in the midst of such a host were madness, and without a miracle it would seem that the Christians must abandon their pious purpose. The miracle, however, is not wanting. Just before reaching the entrance in the city, Atahualpa pitches his tents with the intention of passing there the night and entering Caxamalca the next morning. This, the death-blow to the high hopes of the day, Pizarro determines if possible to prevent. Despatching a messenger to the inca, he beseeches him to change his purpose, and to sup with him that night. The inca assents, saying that in view of the lateness of the hour he will bring only a few unarmed attendants. And to his subjects he remarks, "Arms are unnecessary in our intercourse with those engaged in so holy a mission." Hence the miracle. 27
Though few in comparison with his entire army, the attendants of Atahualpa numbered several thousands, as just before sunset, slowly and with measured tread, they march up the main avenue toward the plaza keeping step to the sonorous music of the singers and with the dancers who amble before the royal litter. Nearest the person of the monarch are the orejones, as the Spaniards styled the Peruvian noblemen, richly attired with armor and crowns of gold and silver, some walking, others in litters, according to their several ranks. Around his neck over a sleeveless waistcoat, the inca wears a band of large emeralds; under the magic borla, the dull, cold, listless look of the preceding evening had given place to an expression of enkindled majesty. Entering the plaza the royal procession deploy to right and left, Atahualpa and his nobles taking their station in the centre, and the Peruvian soldiery filling the remaining space. Profound quiet fills the place, and so hidden behind the forms of his own swarthy warriors are the few Spaniards appearing that Atahualpa, without descending from the litter, casts about him an inquiring glance and asks an attendant, "Have the strangers fled?"[I‑8] At this moment a priest, Vicente de Valverde, accompanied by the interpreter, emerges from one of the halls. In one hand he bears a bible and in the other a crucifix.[I‑9] Approaching the royal litter, the ecclesiastic harangues the inca, beginning with the doctrines of the trinity, creation, redemption, 28 and delegation of authority,[I‑10] and ending with faith, hope, and charity, as manifest in the person of the pirate Pizarro.
The contemptuous smile which mounts the features of the inca at the opening of the address, changes to looks of dark resentment as he is told to renounce his faith and to acknowledge the sovereignty of the king of Spain. "Your sovereign may be great," he exclaims, fire flashing from his eye, "but none is greater than the inca. I will be tributary to no man.[I‑11] As for your faith, you say your god was slain and by men whom he had made. Mine lives," pointing proudly to the setting sun, "omnipotent in the heavens.[I‑12] Your pope must be a fool to talk of giving away the property of others."[I‑13] Then after a moment's pause he demands, "By what authority do you speak thus to me?" The priest places in his hand the bible. "In this," he says, "is given all that is requisite for man to know." The inca takes the book and turns the leaves. "It tells me nothing," he exclaims. Then exasperated by what he deems intentional insult he throws the book upon the ground,[I‑14] saying, "You shall dearly pay for this indignity, and for all the injuries you have done in my dominions." It is enough. 29 God and the king rejected, and the holy evangelists trampled under foot.[I‑15] "Why do you delay?" cries the enraged monk to Pizarro as he picks up the sacred volume. "In God's name at them! Kill the impious dogs!"[I‑16]
The zealous commander needs no second exhortation. Unfurling a white banner, the signal for assault, he springs from his retreat; the sentinel in the tower discharges his musket, and loud rings the war-cry Santiago! as every Spaniard rushes to the charge. To their brutal instinct was added a spiritual drunkenness which took them out of the category of manhood and made them human fiends. We wonder how men could so believe; but greater still is our wonder how men so believing could so behave. The guns fill the place with reverberating noise and smoke; with shrill blast of trumpets and jingling of bells the horsemen ride upon the panic-stricken crowd; the infantry with clang of arms appear and all unite in quick succession in sheathing their sharp swords in the unprotected bodies of the natives. At first they turn to fly, but at every point they are met by a blood-thirsty foe. Those nearest the gates escape, but soon the passages are blocked by heaps of dead bodies. The carnage is fearful. And above all the din of slaughter is heard the shrill voice of the man of God crying to the soldiers, "Thrust! thrust! thrust with the point of your swords, lest by striking you break your weapons."[I‑17] 30 When the first fierce charge is made, Pizarro, who with twenty chosen men had assumed the task of capturing the inca, rushes for the royal litter, but quick as are their movements the devoted followers of Atahualpa are before him, and crowding round their imperilled sovereign, struggle to shield his person. As one drops dead another hastens to take his place. Each one of Pizarro's guard strives for the honor of the capture; but for a time they are prevented by the surges of the crowd which carry the monarch hither and thither and by the desperate defence made by the Peruvians.
Fearful lest in the darkness which is now coming on the victims should escape, one of the Spaniards strikes with his sword at the inca. In warding off the blow, Pizarro receives a slight wound in the hand; then threatening death to any who offer violence to Atahualpa, he hews his way through the fortress of faithful hearts which guard the royal person, and thrusting his sword into the bearers of the litter brings down the monarch, whom he catches in his arms. The borla is torn from Atahualpa's forehead and he is led away to the fortress, where he is manacled and placed under a strong guard.[I‑18] Meanwhile the butchery continues in and beyond the plaza. And in the slaughter of about five thousand men which occupied not more than half an hour it is said that no Spanish blood was spilled save that drawn from the hand of Pizarro by one of his own men.[I‑19] Following 31 their instincts these fiends incarnate spend the night in rioting and drunkenness.[I‑20] Thus during the swift glimmer of a tropical twilight, the conquest of Peru is accomplished; the sun of the inca sets lurid, blood-colored; true to their engagement, Pizarro and Atahualpa sup together that night![I‑21]
We have seen how the opulent empire of Peru was found; how its powerful chieftain was treacherously taken captive by a crew of Spanish invaders; now witness for a moment how peace was made by ambassadors of the Prince of Peace.
So suddenly fell the blow that Atahualpa failed to realize his situation. It was but an affray of the hour; the idea of his subjugation had not yet even occurred to him. At the banquet he praised the skill with which the bloody work was done, and to his lamenting followers he said, "Such are the vicissitudes of war, to conquer and to be conquered." By Pizarro and his comrades the august prisoner was treated as a dish fit for the gods. His women and his nobles were permitted to attend him, and for his life or prolonged imprisonment he was told to have no fear. 32 Meanwhile the Spaniards were exhorted to watchfulness; they were reminded that they were but a handful of men surrounded by millions of foes. "Our success," said Pizarro, "was miraculous, for which God who gave it us should be devoutly praised." The Peruvians made no effort to rescue their chief; and while the sacred person of their inca was a prisoner they were powerless and purposeless. Thirty horsemen were sufficient to scatter the imperial army and rifle the encampment. And while Pizarro preached[I‑22] Christianity to his chained captive, his soldiers were out gold-gathering, desecrating the Peruvian temples, killing the men, and outraging the women.[I‑23] It was quickly discovered that the wealth of the country far exceeded the wildest dreams of the conquerors, and soon gold and silver ornaments and utensils to the value of one hundred thousand castellanos were heaped up in the plaza.[I‑24]
Atahualpa was not slow to perceive that neither loyalty nor their vaunted piety was the ruling passion of his captors, but the love of gold. And herein was a ray of hope; for as the days went by a dark suspicion of their perfidy and evil intention concerning him had filled his mind. Calling Pizarro to him he said: "The affairs of my kingdom demand my attention. Already my brother Huascar, having heard of my misfortune, is planning his escape. If gold will satisfy you, I will cover this floor with vessels of solid gold, so you but grant me my freedom." Pizarro made no reply. The Spaniards present threw an incredulous glance around the apartment. The room 33 was twenty-two feet in length by sixteen in width. Inferring from their silence that the ransom was too small and distressed at the prospect of long confinement, he exclaimed: "Nay, I will fill the room as high as you can reach with gold, if you will let me go." And to make the offer the more tempting he stepped to the wall and on tiptoe stretching out his arm made a mark nine feet from the floor. Still his tormentors were silent. At last he burst out excitedly: "And if that is not enough," pointing to a smaller apartment adjoining, I will fill that room twice full with silver."[I‑25] The proposal was accepted. It was safe enough to do so, although the infamous Pizarro never for a moment intended his royal prisoner should leave his hands alive; for by this means might the wealth of the empire be most speedily collected, and if successful a pretext for breaking the promise of liberation might easily be found. Two months were allowed the captive in which to gather this enormous treasure. Hollow vessels and all utensils were to be contributed in manufactured form, not melted down. Valuable jewels were to enrich the collection, and the friendship of the inca was to crown the visionary ransom.
Immediately after the recording of this stipulation by the notary, Atahualpa sent out in every direction messengers with instructions to gather and bring to Caxamalca with the least possible delay, the requisite articles for the ransom. The treasures of the inca were chiefly lodged in the royal palaces of Cuzco and Quito and in the temples of the sun throughout the empire. All governors and subalterns were urged to use the utmost alacrity in the execution of this order. Meanwhile the pirates were masters of the situation. Each beastly boor of them was a lord waited on by male and female attendants. They drank from vessels 34 of gold and shod their horses with silver. Their captain was king of kings; one king his prisoner, another his prisoner's prisoner. One of the chroniclers states that shortly after his capture Atahualpa received intelligence of an important battle won by his army on the day of his fall. "Such are the mysteries of fate," exclaimed the unhappy monarch, "at the same moment conquered and a conqueror." Huascar who was at this time confined at Andamarca not far distant from Caxamalca hearing of the capture of Atahualpa and of the immense ransom offered for his release sent to Pizarro offering a much larger amount for his own liberation. Pizarro saw at once the advantage to be derived in acting the part of umpire between these rival claimants to the throne, and consequently the overtures of Huascar were encouraged. But Atahualpa although closely confined was kept fully informed of the events transpiring throughout the empire, and his word was yet law. Pizarro imprudently remarked to him one day, "I wait with impatience the arrival of your brother in order that I may judge between you and render justice where it may be due."[I‑26] Shortly afterward Huascar was secretly put to death; and Pizarro had the mortification of finding himself outwitted by a manacled barbarian.
While waiting the gathering of the gold, Hernando Pizarro with twenty horsemen raided the country with rich results. Three soldiers, it is said, were sent by Pizarro under the inca's protection to Cuzco, where after desecrating the temples and violating the sacred virgins they returned to Caxamalca with two hundred cargas of gold and twenty-five of silver, the transportation of which required no less than nine hundred Indians.
Time passed wearily with the imprisoned monarch. The influx of gold at first rapid, soon fell off, and unfortunately 35 for Atahualpa much of it was in flat plates which increased the bulk but slowly. Nevertheless as the matter went Pizarro felt justified in granting the prisoner an extension of time. In February 1533 Almagro arrived at Caxamalca with two hundred men, fifty of whom were mounted, and demanded for himself and company equitable participation in the spoil, according to compact. This Pizarro refused, but agreed to divide what should be thereafter taken. The dispute was finally settled by allowing Almagro for his expenses one hundred thousand pesos, and for his men twenty thousand.
Yet more slowly came in the gold; the people were now hiding it; the Spaniards desired the death of Atahualpa with the liberty to devastate and pillage after the old manner. They determined the inca should die;[I‑27] but first they would melt down and divide the gold; they determined to kill the inca, but first he should have a fair trial. It was no difficult matter to frame an indictment. Huascar's death, pretended insurrections, delay in the ransom, refusal to accept baptism; these charges, or any of them, were amply sufficient. Then Felipillo desired one of Atahualpa's wives, and did what he could to hasten his death.[I‑28]
The native artisans to whom the task was allotted were occupied more than a month in running into bars the immense mass of gold and silver collected. It was in value 1,326,539 castellanos,[I‑29] equal in purchasing 36 power to over twenty millions of dollars at the present day. "It is the most solemn responsibility of my life," exclaimed Pizarro, as he seated himself in the golden chair of the inca, to act as umpire in the partition, "and may God help me to deal justly by every man;" after which prayer the pirate's dealings might well be watched. And first he gave himself the golden chair in which he sat, valued at 20,000 castellanos, golden bars, 57,222 castellanos, and 2,350 marks of silver. Next his brother Hernando received 31,080 castellanos of gold, and 2,350 marks of silver, nearly twice as much as was given to Hernando de Soto, his equal in rank and talent. Horsemen received 8,880 castellanos in gold and 362 marks of silver. Some of the infantry received half that amount, others less. To the church of San Francisco was given 2,220 castellanos of gold.[I‑30] Father Luque had died shortly before the departure of Almagro from Panamá; no mention is made of him or of his legal representative, Gaspar de Espinosa, in the distribution.
Hernando Pizarro and Hernando de Soto were both opposed to harsh measures with regard to the inca, treating with the contempt they deserved the thickening rumors of revolt. But Pizarro and Almagro, impatient to pursue their ambitious schemes, had long since determined Atahualpa's fate. The accusations 37 and the trial would both be laughable were they not so diabolical. Pizarro and Almagro acted as judges. Among the charges were attempted insurrection, usurpation and putting to death the lawful sovereign, idolatry, waging unjust warfare, adultery, polygamy, and the embezzlement of the public revenues since the Spaniards had taken possession of the country! What more cutting irony could words present of the Christian and civilized idea of humanity and the rights of man then entertained than the catalogue of crimes by which this barbarian must unjustly die, every one of which the Spaniards themselves had committed in a tenfold degree since entering these dominions. The opinion of the soldiers was taken.[I‑31] It is unnecessary to say that the prisoner was found guilty. He was condemned to be burned alive in the plaza.
At the appointed hour the royal captive, heavily chained, was led forth. It was nightfall, and the torch-lights threw a dismal glare upon the scene. By the inca's side walked the infamous Father Vicente, who never ceased pouring into the unwilling ear of his victim his hateful consolations. Upon the funeral pile, Atahualpa was informed that if he would accept baptism he might be kindly strangled instead of burned. "A cheap escape from much suffering," thought the monarch, and permitted it to be done. The name of Juan de Atahualpa was given him. The iron collar of the garrote was then tightened, the Christians recited their credos over the new convert, 38 and the spirit of the inca hied away to the sun. Thus one more jewel was added to the immortal crown of Father Vicente de Valverde![I‑32]
With the death of Atahualpa the empire of the incas fell to pieces, and the Spaniards were not slow to seize upon the distracted country. It is said that the gold and silver obtained by the conquerors at Cuzco equalled that furnished by the inca. Official statements place the amount at 580,200 castellanos of gold, and 215,000 marks of silver.[I‑33] After another distribution government was organized by the Spaniards with Manco Capac crowned inca of Peru for a figure-head, behind whom and in whose name the grim conquerors might unblushingly pursue their work of destruction. Sebastian Benalcázar took possession of Quito, where he was shortly afterward confronted by Pedro de Alvarado, one of the conquerors of Mexico and governor of Guatemala.
It appears that Alvarado, having fitted out a fleet of twelve ships for a voyage to the Spice Islands, was turned from his purpose as will be hereafter related, by the reported marvellous successes of the Peruvian adventures. Believing or affecting to believe that the province of Quito was without the jurisdiction of Pizarro, he determined to conquer that country for himself. His army on landing presented the strongest front of any in Peru, but the march across the snowy sierra was one of the most disastrous in Spanish colonial history.[I‑34] Although the distance was short the entire 39 way was strewn with the dead; more than one hundred Spaniards and two thousand Indians perished. Enough however survived to enable Alvarado to make equitable arrangements with Almagro and Benalcázar. A portion of the vessels and the entire forces of Alvarado were transferred to the associates for one hundred thousand castellanos. Alvarado then visited Pizarro at Pachacamac, where the latter was awaiting the development of events at Quito; after which Alvarado took his departure. Benalcázar remained at Quito and eventually became governor of that province.
After this in the history of Peru comes the feud between the associate conquerors; for here as elsewhere no sooner are the savages slain than their destroyers fall to fighting among themselves. Almagro and Pizarro are old men, old friends, copartners; yet instead of dividing their immense acquisition and devoting the brief remainder of their days to peaceful pursuits, so deadly becomes their hatred that each seems unable to rest while the other lives. Hernando Pizarro reports proceedings in Spain, and Almagro is placed in command of Cuzco, while Pizarro founds his capital at Lima. The king confirms Pizarro in his conquest and makes him Marqués de los Atavillos, and grants Almagro two hundred leagues along the sea-shore commencing from the southern limit of Pizarro's territory. Hernando Pizarro takes Almagro's place at Cuzco. While Benalcázar is at Quito, Almagro in Chile, and the forces of Pizarro divided between Cuzco and Lima, the inca, Manco Capac, revolts. With two hundred thousand men he besieges Cuzco, Lima, and San Miguel simultaneously, and massacres the settlers on plantations. The Spaniards are reduced to the greatest extremity. Cuzco is laid in ashes, and Pizarro, unable to coöperate with his brother Hernando, despatches ships to Panamá and Nicaragua for aid.
The chief point of dispute between the associates 40 is the partition line dividing their respective governments. Each claims the ancient capital of Cuzco as lying within his territory. Almagro, returning from a disastrous expedition into Chile, makes overtures to gain the friendship of Manco Capac; failing in this he defeats the inca in a pitched battle, takes possession of Cuzco, makes Hernando Pizarro his prisoner, and captures his army. Instead of striking off his head as urged to do by Orgoñez, and marching at once on Lima, Almagro falters and thereby falls.
Meanwhile Hernan Cortés sends his imperilled brother-conqueror a vessel laden with provisions; a kingly gift. Gaspar de Espinosa, Father Luque's successor, presents himself about this time in Peru, and is sent to Almagro by Pizarro to effect a settlement of their difficulties, but the latter remains firm, and the sudden death of Espinosa terminates the present overtures. Finally by many solemnly sworn promises, which are broken immediately, his point is gained, Francisco Pizarro obtains the release of his brother; then with seven hundred men, on the plain before Cuzco, he engages and defeats Almagro's force of five hundred men under Orgoñez, captures Almagro, whom he places in chains, and after a mock trial puts him to death. Hernando Pizarro is afterward arrested in Spain for the murder of Almagro, kept confined a prisoner for twenty years, is liberated, and dies at the age of one hundred years.
And now appears on the scene, as heir to the feud, Almagro's illegitimate son Diego, who henceforth lives but to avenge his father's death. There are those who will not serve the murderer of their master, 'men of Chile,' they are called, and so they see distress and carry thin visages and tattered garments about the streets of Cuzco. These to the number of twenty, with Juan de Rada their leader, meet at the house of young Almagro, and bind themselves by oath to kill Francisco Pizarro on the following Sunday the 26th of June 1541. Almagro's house adjoins the church, 41 while Pizarro's is on the other side of the plaza. They will slay him as he leaves the church after mass. But the governor does not attend church that day; so they cross the square and enter through an open gate into the court-yard, from which stairs lead to an upper room, where Pizarro is at dinner with several friends. Suddenly the diners hear a shout from below, "Long live the king! Death to tyrants!"
Accustomed to danger Pizarro acts on the instant, directs his chief officer Francisco de Chaves to make fast the door, and steps into an adjoining room with his half-brother, Martinez de Alcántara, to arm himself. Chaves springs forward and closes the door, but instead of securing it he parleys with the assailants who are now at the top of the stairs. A sword thrust into the officer's breast cuts short the conference, and the body is flung below. Perceiving blood, most of the guests fly, climbing over a corridor and dropping to the ground; two or three who had come forward with Chaves are quickly despatched by the conspirators. Although his armor is ill-adjusted Pizarro springs forward sword in hand. "How now, villains! would you murder me?" cries this veteran of a hundred fights. Then to Alcántara, "Let us hold bravely against these traitors, for I swear to God we two are enough to slay them all." The men of Chile fall back before him, but only for a moment; again crowding forward one after another of the conspirators is stretched on the ground. The conquest however is too unequal to continue; yet after Alcántara, the two pages of the governor, and every person present except the chief lie dead upon the floor, Pizarro still fights on. At length Rada, exasperated, grasps one of his comrades, named Narvaez, and hurls him against Pizarro's sword. It is death to Narvaez, but it is victory for Almagro; for while the sword of Pizarro is sheathed in the body of the luckless conspirator, the weapon of another strikes him in the throat, and brings him to the floor. "Kill him! kill him!" cry 42 the assailants as they close round the fallen chieftain, thrusting into his body their swords.[I‑35] True to his religious instincts, the expiring hero raises himself on his arm, traces with his own blood upon the floor the sacred emblem of his faith, sighing "Jesu Cristo!" then while he bows his head to kiss the cross which he had made, a blow more dastardly than all the rest terminates his eventful life. Thus perish in sanguinary brawl, each by the hand of the other, these renowned chieftains, whose persistent steadfastness of purpose and manly courage under difficulties were equalled only by their avarice, treachery, and infamous cruelty.
The bloody work accomplished, the conspirators rush forward and cry, "Long live the king! The tyrant is dead! Long live our lawful governor Almagro!" The Almagroists continue in power till the latter part of 1542, when they are exterminated by Vaca de Castro, sent as commissioner by the crown to quiet the country. Almagro is executed, and the name becomes extinct. Juan Pizarro is killed by the Indians while capturing the fortress of Cuzco, and after the defeat of Vasco Nuñez Vela at Añaquito had been avenged by the execution of Gonzalo Pizarro at Xaquixaguana, the affairs of Peru lapse into the hands of the viceroys.[I‑36] 44
Administration of Pedro de los Rios—He is Superseded by the Licentiate Antonio de la Gama—Barrionuevo's Reign—A Province in Nueva Andalucía Granted to Pedro de Heredia—He Sails for Cartagena—Conflicts with the Natives—Treasure Unearthed—The Devil's Bohío—Prosperity of the Settlement—Alonso Heredia Sent to Rebuild San Sebastian—Is Opposed by Julian Gutierrez—Capture of Gutierrez—The Golden Temple of Dabaiba Once More—Expeditions in Search of the Glittering Phantom, Francisco César and Others—Audiencia Established at Panamá—Maleadministration—Complaints of the Colonists—Destitution in the Province—Bishops of Castilla del Oro—Miraculous Image of the Virgin—Bibliographical.
Mention has already been made of the appointment of Pedro de los Rios as governor of Castilla del Oro in place of Pedrarias Dávila, of the arrival of his fleet at Nombre de Dios in 1526, and of the death of Pedrarias at Leon in 1530. The new governor was instructed that the conversion of the natives rather than their conquest should be his main purpose; they were to be treated indeed as vassals of the crown but not as slaves; and his Majesty the emperor Charles V. was pleased to declare that in the foundation of new colonies he had less regard for his own aggrandizement than for the spread of the holy Catholic faith. Pedro de los Rios was a man unfit to govern a community of wild and turbulent adventurers in a strange and half-settled territory. Instead of pursuing the right course at the right moment, he seemed to go out of his way to commit blunders. As occurred 45 at his meeting with Salcedo in Nicaragua, when the mere threat of a fine made him beat a hasty retreat to Panamá, he was often found wanting in the hour of trial. His lack of ambition and ever-present regard for his own personal ease and safety, caused his administration to prove tame and uneventful.
The auri sacra fames was a vice so prevalent among the rulers of Castilla del Oro that it is but a tiresome iteration again to allude to it; but Rios' thirst for riches far surpassed the greed of all his predecessors. His avarice was only exceeded by that of his wife, who, as Oviedo tells us, held him under complete control and governed the province through the governor. He appropriated all that he could lay hands on, whether public or private property, and his malefeasance in office soon became so notorious as to attract the attention of the emperor. He was enjoined from crossing the boundaries of his province, ordered to surrender to the royal treasurer the Pearl Islands, the revenues of which, it will be remembered, were placed under his control by the crown, and to give all needful aid to Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro in the prosecution of their exploring expeditions.
But it was no part of the policy of Rios to build up other territories at the expense of his own, and his neglect of these instructions, united with the malign influence of the crafty Pedrarias, whom the slender-witted Rios never ceased to persecute, soon wrought his downfall.[II‑1] Such, finally, were the complaints laid before the council of the Indies, that some time before the expiration of his three years' term of office, the licentiate Antonio de la Gama was sent to take his residencia, and the governor, dissatisfied with the result, proceeded to Spain and demanded justice. His cause came up before the council of the Indies, Oviedo acting as attorney for the city of Panamá, and Pedro 46 de los Rios was fined, despoiled of office, ordered home, and forbidden ever to return to the Indies.[II‑2] His wife, whom he had left behind, refused to make the journey to Spain without the company of her husband, and as he declined to return for her, she remained at Panamá to the day of her death.
After the condemnation of Rios in 1529, the licentiate refused to surrender his badge of office, retaining his post as governor for about five years. Notwithstanding some complaints of his summary method of dealing with judicial matters, a few even going so far as to say that if Rios chose to return he might do so with impunity, the general verdict of the colonists was in his favor, and during his administration many public improvements were made. An inordinate craving for wealth was, as usual, the cause of his removal,[II‑3] and in the spring of 1534 he was superseded by Captain Francisco de Barrionuevo, a soldier who had gained some distinction at Cartagena. Barrionuevo had received his commission nearly two years before, and set sail from Spain in command of a force of two hundred men, furnished at the expense of the crown. He was ordered to touch at Española, where the governor was instructed to furnish all needed supplies; and the expedition arrived at Nombre de Dios with ranks somewhat thinned by disease, and by casualties incurred through rendering assistance in quelling an Indian revolt in Santo Domingo.
Amidst the throng of adventurers who, dazzled by marvellous reports of the wealth of the incas and of the fabled treasures of Dabaiba, petitioned the emperor for grants of territory south of Castilla del Oro was Pedro de Heredia, who had already done good service at the settlement of Santa Marta and elsewhere in the Indies. To him was assigned in Nueva Andalucía 47 a province whose limits extended from the River Atrato to the Magdalena, and from the North Sea to the equator. Sailing from Spain in 1532 with three vessels and about one hundred men, he landed at a port then called Calamari, but to which he gave the name of Cartagena.[II‑4] It was hereabout that Ojeda's command was annihilated in 1509, and here that Nicuesa avenged the defeat of his late rival by putting to the sword the people.
After a brief rest the Spaniards marched inland and came ere long to a town where they met with stout resistance. The natives made good use of their poisoned arrows and clubs of hard wood, man, matron, and maid fighting side by side, and though all destitute of clothing or any defensive armor, confronted the fire-arms and swords of the Europeans without flinching. A few prisoners were taken during the skirmish, one of whom, on the return of the party to Cartagena, offered to act as guide to some of the largest towns in that vicinity, thinking that his captors must surely be there overpowered and exterminated. On the way they were attacked by a large body of natives who, after a sharp contest, were driven into a neighboring stronghold, enclosed with several thickly planted rows of trees. In hot pursuit the Spaniards followed, and forced their way into the enclosure side by side with the fugitives. Fresh bands of Indians soon arrived and, turning the scale, drove out the invaders, and in the plain beyond, where was room for the use of artillery and cavalry, even here pressed them so hard that they held their ground with difficulty. During the fight Heredia, becoming separated from his men, was surrounded, and would surely have been killed had not one of his soldiers forced his way through the enemy's ranks, and thrusting his sword through the body of one, and cutting the bowstring of another, held the foe in check till others could come 48 to his assistance. Finally the savages were driven back, leaving their town in the hands of the captors, who found there provisions and a little gold.
Returning to Cartagena, Heredia fell in with a vessel newly arrived from Española with troops on board that raised his command to one hundred foot and as many horse. Thus reënforced, he penetrated the province as far as the town of Cenú, in the valley of a river which still bears that name. Here was found in two boxes or chests gold to the value of 20,000 pesos, and in a place which went by the name of "El bohío del diablo,"[II‑5] a pit with three compartments, each about two hundred and fifty feet in length, was a hammock supported by four human figures, and containing gold to the value of 15,000 pesos, amid which, according to Indian tradition, his sable majesty was wont to repose. In a sepulchre near by, gold-dust was unearthed to the amount of 10,000 pesos.
Well satisfied with the results of his expedition Heredia returned to head-quarters, and was soon afterward joined by a fresh reënforcement of three hundred men. The tidings of his success soon attracted numbers of dissatisfied colonists from Castilla del Oro, and toward the close of the sixteenth century Cartagena became a place of considerable note,[II‑6] the fleet that supplied the New World with the merchandise of Spain touching there on the way to Portobello. The latter was but a small village, tenanted chiefly by negroes, and possessing, next to Nombre de Dios, the most sickly climate of all the settlements in Tierra Firme. So deadly were the exhalations from its rank and steaming soil that a small garrison maintained there to guard the fleet was changed four times a year. Notwithstanding its unwholesome atmosphere 49 an annual fair was held there lasting forty days, during which time its streets were crowded with merchants from every quarter of the Indies. Not many years afterward the Peruvian herder, climbing the mountain side in quest of his stray llama, discovered the silver-mines of Potosí,[II‑7] and the place became, for a few weeks in the year, the most redundant mart of commerce in the world. A fleet, freighted with all that was required to supply the real and artificial wants of an opulent community, called there once a year, and as soon as it appeared in sight the treasures of the mines and pearl-fisheries were conveyed by land from Panamá to Cruces, and thence down the Rio Chagre to Portobello.
Castilla del Oro.
When the conquest and exploration of his territory had been partially effected, Pedro de Heredia despatched his brother Alonso to the gulf of Urabá 50 to rebuild there the town of San Sebastian.[II‑8] The site selected was some leagues south of the ruins of the settlement which Ojeda had founded, and where his lieutenant Francisco Pizarro and his band suffered from hunger and pestilence before Vasco Nuñez led them to the South Sea. On a spot distant about half a league from the eastern shore of the gulf, among some hillocks near which were groves of tall cocoa-nut palms,[II‑9] the settlement was founded, sorely against the will of Julian Gutierrez, who, having married the sister of the cacique Urabá, had accumulated a fortune by bartering for gold such cheap baubles as the natives most preferred.[II‑10] Inciting the natives to harass Heredia's party at every opportunity, Gutierrez proceeded to build a fort on the banks of the Rio Caiman, at no great distance from San Sebastian. In this enterprise he was joined by a number of malecontents from Castilla del Oro, who had been on the point of embarking for Peru, but were persuaded to take service under Gutierrez. Chief among them was one Francisco César, who soon afterward figures prominently in the history of Cartagena.
Heredia at once marched with all his forces against Gutierrez, and bid him withdraw from the limits of his province. The latter replied that he was acting under instructions from the governor of Castilla del Oro and could not neglect his orders. Heredia pretended to be satisfied with this answer and withdrew his troops, but returning after nightfall stormed the enemy's camp and put most of the garrison to the sword. Gutierrez and his Indian wife were carried 51 captives to Cartagena. César with a few of the survivors escaped to the woods and afterward took service under Heredia. News of the disaster soon reached Panamá, whereupon Barrionuevo immediately crossed over to Nombre de Dios, took ship for Cartagena, procured the release of his lieutenant, and concluded an arrangement with Pedro de Heredia by which the Atrato was made the southern boundary of Castilla del Oro.
In the vicinity of a temple in the valley of the Cenú River the colonists of San Sebastian discovered numerous tombs, some of them of such ancient date that their contents betokened the lapse of centuries. Here the natives buried their caciques in a sitting posture, side by side with their favorite wives, best trusted servants, and dearest friends; and in the vaults which contained the remains were placed all their gold, gems, and armor. This, perchance, may have been the golden temple of Dabaiba, the quest of which had already cost the lives of so many Spaniards, and was yet to cost the lives of hundreds more as they pursued this glittering phantom far south toward the verge of the province. South-east of the gulf of Urabá lay the territory of the cacique Dabaiba, whose name is still applied to the sierra that skirts the bank of the Atrato, forming a western spur of the cordillera. Between the gulf and the town of the cacique was a forest ten or twelve leagues in length, dense with palm-trees, and matted with tropical undergrowth, through which flowed to the sea mountain streams, dammed in places with fallen trees, and covering the neighborhood with vast tracts of lagoon and marsh land. Through this region the natives, with their light portable canoes, made their way with little difficulty, but to the Spaniard with his heavy armor and cumbersome accoutrements the forest was almost impervious. Beyond it lay a rugged and broken country in which roads were unknown and where the 52 tortuous bed of a mountain torrent afforded for a brief space during the dry season the only means of access to the realms of the Indian chief. The sierra of Dabaiba had for many years barred the progress of Spanish exploration and conquest, but there, if report were true, lay hidden stores of gold that outshone even the riches of an Atahualpa or a Montezuma. Closely guarded indeed must be the treasure that could escape the keen scent of the Spaniard, and great the obstacles that could stay his path when in search of his much loved wealth.
The first to attempt the conquest of this territory was Francisco César, now a captain of infantry, and one whose skill and gallantry had gained for him the confidence of his men. Starting from San Sebastian in 1536, in command of eighty foot and twenty horse, he travelled southward through a pathless wilderness. Ten months the party journeyed, and arriving at length at the Guaca[II‑11] Valley were suddenly attacked by an army of twenty thousand natives. While thus surrounded and cut off from all hope of retreat, there appeared above them in the heavens the image of Spain's patron saint. Three hours thereafter the enemy was routed, and the Spaniards proceeded at once to look for gold. After much tedious search, a crumbling sepulchre was discovered, wherein was hidden treasure to the value of thirty thousand castellanos. The remnant of César's band then returned to San Sebastian, accomplishing their homeward journey in seventeen days.
Less fortunate was Pedro de Heredia, who in the same year organized an expedition to invade the realms of the cacique Dabaiba and to gain possession of his treasures. At the head of two hundred and ten mail-clad men, Heredia set out from San Sebastian, and directed his course along the banks of the Atrato. 53 He soon arrived at the verge of the forest through which he must cut his way as best he could, with frequent and vexatious delays for the felling of trees and the construction of rafts to bridge the marshy ground, impassable else for man or beast. Rain fell in torrents; poisonous snakes and swarms of wasps and mosquitoes haunted the gloomy solitudes. No fires could be kindled, and famine and pestilence soon became familiar guests in the Spanish camp. Some natives who served as guides were accused of having purposely led them astray. They answered: "We go from the river to the mountains in three days, while you and your horses require as many months."
When the storm cleared away a detachment of Spaniards was sent in advance to reconnoitre, the rest remaining in camp to await their report. After a few days' march they arrived at a spot where the smoke of expiring embers and the skins of animals indicated a recent encampment of savages. After diligent search huts were discovered built amidst the boughs of the forest-trees, the natives thus securing themselves from venomous reptiles. After a slight resistance two of the natives were captured, and from their information the party brought back news to their comrades that they were travelling in a wrong direction. Heredia and his men, too much dispirited to make any further effort, turned their faces homeward and arrived at San Sebastian empty-handed and in sorry plight, the return journey occupying forty days, and the entire expedition about three months.
The survivors of the two Spanish companies soon became clamorous for fresh adventure, and in 1538 Francisco César, with Heredia's permission, equipped a force about equal in number to his first command, resolved this time to penetrate at all hazard the fastnesses of the mysterious sierra. After leaving San Sebastian, César marched along the coast in the direction of the Rio Verde, thence turning eastward toward 54 the cordillera. The party suffered severely, and on arriving at the Guaca Valley mustered but sixty-three men capable of bearing arms. Nevertheless César advanced boldly on the first town which fell in his way after ascending the sierra. The inhabitants, assured by interpreters that the invaders had no hostile intent, brought forth an abundant supply of roots, corn, fruit, and such other provisions as they possessed. The horses were treated with special care, and homage was paid to them as to superior beings.
While the Spaniards were enjoying here a few days of repose the chief of the district, Nutibara by name, quietly assembled an army of two thousand men, thinking to crush this presumptuous little band, for no tidings had yet reached him of the dread prowess of the strangers. A stubborn conflict ensued, terminated only by the death of Quinunchú, brother of Nutibara, who fell by the hand of César. Santiago on his white horse again appeared in behalf of his followers, and to him was ascribed the glory of the carnage that followed. The conquerors soon ascertained that the country for many leagues around was rising in arms against them, and having now secured treasure to the value of forty thousand ducats they returned by forced marches to San Sebastian.[II‑12]
News of César's expedition was soon carried to Cartagena, whence in December 1537 the licentiate Juan de Badillo set forth to explore further the region south of the gulf of Urabá. A force of three hundred and fifty men was collected, with five hundred and twelve horses, a number of Indians and negroes, and ample stores of provisions and munitions of war. Francisco César was second in command, and the treasurer Saavedra one of the captains. Starting from the port of Santa María near the mouth of the Atrato they arrived, with no adventure worthy of 55 note, at the valley of Los Pitos[II‑13] where was a fort defended by a large force of natives. Saavedra, leading an attack on this stronghold at the head of sixty men, was beaten back, and César, coming to his support about nightfall, posted his men in readiness to renew the assault at daybreak. The defenders, perceiving their design, determined to anticipate them, and fell on the Spaniards unawares, but after some sharp fighting were repulsed.
Badillo then continued his march through the Guaca Valley, arriving at the domains of the chief Quinachi. It was here that César, on his first expedition, had unearthed treasure to the value of thirty thousand castellanos, and hence one reason for selecting this route. In June the expedition arrived at the valley of Norí,[II‑14] with ranks somewhat thinned by famine and by ceaseless encounters with the natives. Meeting with a friendly cacique they questioned him as to the whereabouts of the great treasure of Dabaiba. He replied: "There is no treasure, for they have no need of any; but when they want gold to purchase food or redeem a captive, they pick it up in dry weather from under the rocks in the river-beds." Exploring parties were sent in all directions, but with little success. They could not scale the steep sierra or cross the treacherous marshes, and they were constantly harassed by bands of Indians. Acosta relates that one detachment sent out toward the mountains in a westerly direction passed underneath a village, built amidst the overhanging boughs of forest-trees, whence the natives plied them with arrows, rocks, hot water, and lighted fagots.
The cacique of Norí, anxious to be rid of the Spaniards, presented Badillo with gold to the value of two thousand pesos, and offered to conduct him to an auriferous region, then known as the Buritica 56 Valley. After a six days' march they came to a native stronghold, which was captured after a sharp struggle, the chieftain, with his young wife, being taken captive. The latter was released on payment of a large ransom, accompanied with a promise from her husband to act as guide to a spot where rich mines were known to exist. With a heavy iron collar round his neck, and fastened by chains between four stalwart soldiers, the cacique led the way till he came to the verge of a precipice, whence he threw himself headlong, dragging with him his guards. Unhappily the fall did not prove fatal, and the Spaniards, though sorely hurt, had yet life enough left to drag their bruised victim into the presence of Badillo, who at once ordered his slaves to burn him alive.
Want, sickness, and the ceaseless hostility of the natives had now spread havoc in the Spanish ranks. Many who had come in search of wealth had found a grave; and the survivors, worn with hardship and disgusted with the meagre results of their long-protracted toil, threatened to abandon the expedition and set their faces homeward. The discontent was greatly increased by the death of Francisco César, a much loved and well trusted officer, and one who, had fortune cast his lot in a wider or nobler sphere of action, might have become one of the foremost captains of his age. Nevertheless, the march was continued, and on Christmas-eve, after a journey lasting one year and three days, the expedition arrived at the province of Calí, in the valley of the Cauca River. Here the soldiers well nigh broke out into open mutiny. Badillo confronted them with drawn sword, exclaiming: "Let him return who chooses; I will go forward alone till fortune favors me." Nevertheless the men crowded around him still clamoring to be led back to Urabá, whereupon he ordered a division to be made of the spoil, hoping thus to put them in better heart. To complete his discomfiture it was found that the treasure-chest had disappeared. This last was a 57 heavy stroke, for the worthy licentiate was of course suspected of the theft. Alone and broken-hearted he stole away to Popayan, some twenty leagues to the south in the same valley. Thence he made his way to Panamá, was there arrested, and after being sent a prisoner to Cartagena, the city from which he had departed in pursuit of fame and riches, ended his days at Seville, before his trial was concluded, friendless and a pauper.
The charge of peculation against Badillo proved to be unfounded, for the chest containing two thousand six hundred castellanos was afterward discovered.
The share of each foot-soldier was ascertained to be five castellanos, from which it would appear that the Spaniards lost about half their number before arriving at Calí. The remainder of the band followed the course of the Cauca River northward as far as the Indian province of Umbrá, where most of them took service under one Jorge Robledo, who made further explorations on the right bank of the Cauca in the mountainous region which now bears the name of Antioquia.
In 1533[II‑15] the audiencia real y chancillería of the city of Panamá was established, the personnel of which included a president, four oidores, a fiscal, a relator, two secretaries, and for local government two alcaldes and three ministers of justice. The territory under the jurisdiction of the audiencia originally included Peru with the exception of the port of Buenaventura, but was afterward bounded by Costa Rica, Cartagena, and the two oceans, and was divided into the three provinces of Castilla del Oro, Darien, and Veragua, all of which were included under the one name of Tierra Firme. During the administration of Pedrarias, as we have seen, an interdict was passed forbidding lawyers and magistrates to reside in Castilla del Oro, 58 and the minions of the governor decided civil cases always in favor of the party who paid the heaviest bribe. There was no appeal but to the governor himself except in cases where the amount exceeded five hundred pesos. A transcript of proceedings might in such cases be sent to the audiencia of Española, which at that time held jurisdiction over the inferior courts of Castilla del Oro. Some few years after the demise of Pedrarias the prohibition was removed, when there fell upon the fated land an avalanche of lawyers. "A magistrate," writes Oviedo to the emperor, "is worse than a pestilence, for if the latter took your life it at least left your estate intact." After the establishment of the audiencia of Panamá certain changes were made, but they were of little benefit to the community, for in 1537 we find the alcalde mayor holding the threefold office of presiding judge and attorney both for plaintiff and defendant, "passing sentence," as Oviedo says, "on him whom he least favored."[II‑16] The government of the three provinces was in fact little else than a legalized despotism. Complaint was sometimes made to the emperor, but the colonists soon found that the complainant was only made to suffer the more for his presumption. "Only that an ocean lay between Charles and his downtrodden subjects," exclaims Vazquez, "nineteen out of twenty would have thrown themselves at his feet to pray for justice."
The corruption extended to the municipal officers, and the provinces became rapidly impoverished. To make matters worse, multitudes of vagrants, the scum of the Spanish population, had for years been swarming into the New World settlements. At one time the hospitals and churches of Panamá were insufficient to shelter the hordes of poverty-stricken and houseless vagabonds that crowded the city. As they would not work, many were near starving.
Charles knew little of all this, if indeed he cared. 59 As an instance of his ignorance as to the true condition of affairs in Tierra Firme, it may be mentioned that on the appointment of Fray Vicente de Peraza as the second bishop of Castilla del Oro, he was enjoined by the monarch to render aid to the faithful Pedrarias Dávila in securing the conversion and proper treatment of the natives. It is probable that the good bishop worked a little too conscientiously in the cause of the savage to suit the taste of Pedrarias, for as it has already been stated, he died of poison supposed to have been administered by that worthy ruler.
Of Fray Tomás de Berlanga, who filled the episcopal chair a few years after Peraza's decease,[II‑17] it is stated that during his return voyage to Spain, in 1537, being overtaken by a heavy storm, he arrayed himself in his pontifical robes, and kneeling with the rest of the company chanted a litany to the virgin. In response there appeared on the waves what seemed at first a small boat, but proved to be a box containing, as was supposed, merchandise. The gale moderated and the captain readily assented to the bishop's proposition that if the box contained a saint's image or other sacred thing, it should become the property of the prelate, but if it held anything of monetary value it should be claimed by the former. Soon the sea was calm; the box was opened, and there, sure enough, was the image of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. On his arrival in Spain Berlanga placed the image in the convent of Medina de Rioseco, where he afterward founded a similar institution, 60 chanting his first mass there on the 19th of January 1543.[II‑18]
With the trio of travellers and observers, Benzoni, Acosta, and Thevet, may be classed Juan de Castellanos, whose Elegías de Varones Ilustres de Indias recount not only the glories of the military, ecclesiastic, and civil conquerors who figured in the early annals of the region extending over the Antilles, the Isthmus, and the northern part of South America, but give special histories of the New Granada provinces. Himself one of the horde which came over from Spain for glory and plunder, he had as cavalry soldier taken active part in a number of the expeditions so graphically described. With the acquisition of a fortune came a sense of the injustice exercised in its accumulation, and remorse perhaps for ill-treatment of the Indians, mingled largely with discontent at the poor recognition of his services, caused him to join the church. He received the appointment of canónigo tesorero at Cartagena, but resigned it after a brief tenure for the curacy of Tunja, erroneously assumed by some writers to be his birthplace. Here he found ample time to seek solace by unlocking the gates of a natural eloquence, and letting forth the remembrances of glorious deeds and events. The gown is forgotten, and the old soldier dons again in fancy the rusty armor, though he modestly, too modestly, refrains from intruding himself. It is in prose that he first relates his story, but finding this too quiet for his theme of heroes and battles, he transposes the whole into verse, a work of ten years.
His is not the artificial refinement of the epic writer, whose form he follows from a love of rhythm, but merely versified narrative, with a generally honest adherence to fact, though form and metre suffer:
Iré con pasos algo presurosos,
Sin orla de poéticos cabellos
Que hacen versos dulces, sonorosos
A los ejercitados en leerlos;
Pues como canto casos dolorosos,
Cuales los padecieron muchos dellos,
Parecióme decir la verdad pura
Sin usar de ficcion ni compostura.
The ease and variety of the lines indicate the natural poet, however, and even when form departs the sentences retain a certain elegance. The first part was published as Primera Parte de las Elegías, etc., Madrid, 1589, 4o, used by De Bry in his eighth part on America, and given in the fourth volume of Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, 1850. The second and third parts, provided with maps and plans, and dedicated, like the first, to King Philip, remained in manuscript in the library of the Marqués del Carpio—Pinelo, Epitome, ii. 590—till issued by Ariban, together with the first part, in 1857, as a special volume of the above Biblioteca. A fourth part, perhaps the best and most important, as it must have recorded the latest and freshest recollections of Castellanos, was used by Bishop Piedrahita for his history, and has since disappeared. He found the original with Consejero Prado, and refers to "las otras tres partes impressas." Hist. Conq. Granada, preface. 61
The three published parts are divided into elegies, eulogies, and histories, according to the theme, though Castellanos evidently stretches a point to obtain so many subjects under the first heading, inscribing them, as a rule, 'to the death' of some noted captain. The subdivision forms octave stanzas of the Italian form, undecasyllabic triple measure, in feminine rhyme, of triple alternating lines, with a finishing couplet. Toward the end a continuous and chiefly blank verse is used. The facility for versification in Spanish can hardly find a better illustration than these sustained triplets of double rhyme, which reflect no small credit on Castellanos' patience and power of expression. The usual faults of writers of his age are, of course, to be found; incredulity, pedantry, and contradiction, chiefly due to the readiness with which he accepted statements from chroniclers and from participants in the events related. His own versions may, Muñoz' slurs notwithstanding, be regarded as faithful recitals, so far, at least, as memory and military ardor permitted, while everywhere are to be found clear, vivid descriptions of battles, scenes, and people.
An ambition with the monks and missionaries who assisted to develop the conquest was to become chroniclers of general history, of expeditions, or of provinces, and as brethren of the hood abounded narratives were numerous enough to form the most perfect record of events that could be desired; but the deplorable fact remains that so few have been preserved, in print or manuscript. New Granada, which includes the southern part of the Isthmus, was long without a public chronicle. The conqueror Quesada had prepared one, and Medrano had left a history just begun, which Aguado completed in two volumes, but neither saw the light, and Castellanos' poetical record was published only in part. They existed in manuscript, however, and with them for guide, Pedro Simon was encouraged to undertake the task anew. Born at La Parilla in 1574 he had early joined the Franciscan order, and came to New Granada 30 years later as teacher and missionary, rising in 1623 to the office of provincial. The same year he began the history for which he had during several years been gathering material and experience. Three stout folio volumes were speedily completed, each divided into seven historiales; but of these only the Primera Parte de las Noticias historiales de las Conquistas de tierra firme, Cuenca, 1627, relating to Venezuela, came to be published; the other two, on Santa Marta, and on the region adjoining Darien, remaining in manuscript at Bogotá, whence Muñoz obtained a copy for the Madrid Academy. The published volume opens with a dissertation on geographic knowledge among the ancients, and on the origin of the Indians, and proceeds with the discovery and naming of America. The Isthmus receives at first considerable attention, as one of the earliest explored portions, but soon the narrative concentrates upon the conquest and settlement of Venezuela, devoting a considerable space to the custom and condition of the natives, but entering very little upon religious affairs. The work is decidedly the most important history of the province for the sixteenth century, and the failure to publish that of the other provinces is highly to be regretted. The simple, verbose style is that common to the convent chroniclers of the period, and the only serious fault is in giving too ready credence to statements.
Simon's non-success with the printer gave the rank of leading historian of 62 the province to Bishop Lucas Fernandez Piedrahita, who wrote 50 years later. A creole of Bogotá by birth, his whole career as priest and prelate is bound up with his native country. While yet a student he gave evidence of a literary taste by writing comedies, of which no traces remain however. His ability procured rapid advancement in the church. While governor of the archdiocese, till 1661, he incurred the enmity of a visitador and was obliged to appear in Spain for trial, but passed the ordeal, and received in compensation the bishopric of Santa Marta. It was while waiting the slow progress of the trial that he found time to write the Historia General de las Conqvistas del Nvevo Reyno de Granada, 1688. In 1676 he was promoted to the see of Panamá, where he died, 1688, at an age of over 70 years, revered for his extreme benevolence and sanctity. In the preface to the volume, just then passing through the press, Piedrahita admits that it is merely a reproduction of Quesada's Compendio, and of the fourth part of Castellanos' Elegías, both now lost, and the text shows indeed but little of the research, speculation, and variety manifest in Simon, whom he excels however in beauty and clearness of style. He confines himself more to the special history of New Granada than Simon, and instead of learned dissertations on America in general, he devotes the first two of the 12 books to an account of native customs and ancient history. He then takes up the conquest and settlement of the provinces in question and carries the history to 1563. The first title is bordered with cuts of Indian battle scenes, and the portraits of seven leading kings and caciques, while that of the first libro has 12 minor chiefs in medallions. The title-page of the third libro, again, which begins the conquest, bears the likenesses of 12 Spanish captains. At the close of the work is promised a continuation, but this never appeared.
A modern publication covering the same field and period as the preceding is Joaquin Acosta's Compendio Histórico del Descubrimiento y Colonizacion de la Nueva Granada en el siglo decimo sexto. Paris, 1843. Lacking in critique it nevertheless fills the want of a popular chronologic review, and exhibits considerable labor. Acosta was an officer of engineers in the Colombian service who had taken an active part in scientific investigations, and written several archæologic essays.63
The Dukes of Veragua—María de Toledo Claims the Territory for her Son Luis Colon—Felipe Gutierrez Appointed to the Command—Landing on the Coast of Veragua—Sickness and Famine—The Cacique Dururua Enslaved—He Promises to Unearth his Buried Treasures—Messengers Sent in Search of It—They Return Empty-handed—But Warn the Chief's Followers—He Guides the Spaniards to the Spot—They are Surrounded by Indians—Rescue of the Cacique—Cannibalism among the Christians—Sufferings of the Few Survivors—The Colony Abandoned.
Thus far in North America we have followed the Spaniards in their pacification and settlement of Castilla del Oro, Nicaragua, and Honduras. Between these territories is situated the province of Veragua, subsequently called Nueva Cartago. Though rich in metals and near to Darien, such was the indomitable fierceness of the natives, and the ruggedness and sterility of the country, that this, the spot on Tierra Firme where the first attempt at settlement was made, was the last province of Central America that became subject to European domination. The New World was informed by the council of the Indies, in 1514, that permission was granted by the crown to Bartolomé Colon to plant a settlement upon the coast of Veragua, if he were so inclined. But this recognition of the eminent services of the adelantado in that quarter came too late, as he was then prostrated by an illness from which he never recovered.
In 1526 the admiral Diego Colon died in Spain, 64 and was succeeded by his son Luis in those hereditary rights which had been granted by Ferdinand and Isabella to the first admiral. In 1538, being then eighteen years of age, Luis Colon brought suit before the tribunal of the Indies to establish his right to his father's titles and dignities unjustly withheld by the emperor. Wearied with the interminable litigation received as an inheritance from his father and grandsire, Luis abandoned, in 1540, all claims to the viceroyalty of the Indies, receiving therefore the title of duke of Veragua and marquis of Jamaica.[III‑1] Not long after Don Luis died, leaving two daughters and an illegitimate son. From this time the lineal descendants of the great admiral were denominated dukes of Veragua, and after passing through several genealogical stages, the honors and emoluments of Columbus fell to the Portuguese house of Braganza, a branch of which was established in Spain. The heirs of this house are entitled De Portugallo, Colon, duke de Veragua, marqués de la Jamaica, y almirante de las Indias.
María de Toledo, vice-queen of the Indies and mother of the young admiral Luis Colon, after the death of her husband, Diego Colon, demanded from the royal audiencia of Española a license to colonize the province of Veragua.[III‑2] The audiencia referred the application to the emperor who ordered that the matter be held in abeyance until after the arbitration of the claim of Luis then pending before the crown. But the high-spirited vice-queen would not brook the delay. The right of her son to govern that land was beyond question; it was his by inheritance from his grandfather, confirmed by royal decree to his father. 65
But the Lady María lacked funds for the enterprise, and to enlist men and equip an armada without the royal sanction and without money was impossible. The mother, however, was equal to the emergency. Among the ecclesiastics of Santo Domingo who, as they avowed for the glory of God and the promulgation of the true faith had left the cloisters of Spain and embarked in a mission to the New World, was one Juan de Sosa. "I knew him," says Oviedo, "several years ago, when he was a poor man in Tierra Firme." But being more solicitous for gold than for souls, he went to Peru and after serving under Pizarro came in for a share at the distribution of the gold at Caxamalca, receiving as his portion the then enormous sum of ten thousand castellanos. Thence the worthy priest returned to Spain, and settled in Seville, where he resolved to spend the remainder of his life in ease and luxury. But alas for constancy of purpose in cavalier or clérigo when women and cupidity unite to undermine his resolve! The vice-queen soon gained for herself the sympathy of the wealthy ecclesiastic, and for her enterprise his money and coöperation. He advanced the necessary funds, and though prevented by the character of his calling from taking control of the expedition, he sailed with the fleet, which was placed under the command of a wealthy and honorable young man named Felipe Gutierrez,[III‑3] son of the treasurer Alonso Gutierrez. The chief captain of the expedition under Gutierrez was one Pedro de Encinasola who had resided in Tierra Firme for about two years. "And whom," says Oviedo, "I also knew, for he had grown rich by keeping a public house half way between Nombre de Dios and Panamá." With a fine squadron[III‑4] manned by 66 four hundred well armed men, Gutierrez embarked from Santo Domingo in September 1535.[III‑5] The pilot, whose name was Liaño, held a southerly course, and on approaching Tierra Firme turned to the westward and passed by Veragua without recognizing the coast. Continuing their search along Honduras, the vessels sailed around Cape Gracias á Dios and proceeded westward as far as Punta de Caxinas.
At length the pilot became aware that he was out of his course. The ships were put about, but soon encountered a heavy gale, during which they became separated. The fleet, once more united off the island of Escudo, cast anchor near the spot where Diego de Nicuesa suffered shipwreck. Gutierrez sent a boat's crew to reconnoitre. They returned in eight days, bringing hammocks, earthen pots, and other utensils. The exploring party affirmed that according to their belief the land was Veragua, but the pilot Liaño insisted that they had not yet reached that province. Another party went in boats to the Cerebaro Islands, where meeting an Indian they inquired by signs the direction toward Veragua. He pointed toward the west, thus indicating that they had again sailed past the ill-fated coast. The pilot treated the assertion of the Indian with contempt. In good Castilian he swore that the savage was a liar, and insisted on continuing an easterly course. Arriving off Nombre de Dios he confessed his error, and acknowledged that they had left Veragua far behind. Turning again toward the west they at length discovered a large river, which some said was the Belen; others declared it to be a stream west of the Belen.[III‑6] At the mouth of this river was a small island where Gutierrez disembarked his men, built some huts, and 67 landed the greater portion of the cargo. On the mainland adjacent a favorable site for a town was selected and men were sent to clear away the dense forest and build houses. A large and comfortable log cabin was erected for the governor, and this was soon followed by storehouses and dwellings for the men.
A series of disasters followed this third attempt to plant a settlement upon the coast of Veragua, similar to those which had attended Columbus and Nicuesa. The goods of the colonists were damaged by heavy storms; the sudden swelling of the streams carried away their houses, drowning some of the men; and the cultivation of the soil was prevented by frequent inundations. Their supply of provisions grew daily less; the men, unaccustomed to the climate, sickened and died, and soon the four hundred were reduced to two hundred and eighty. To add to their distresses the Spaniards drank copiously from a poisonous spring, before becoming aware of the deadly nature of its waters; in consequence of which their lips became swollen, their gums diseased, and the effect proved fatal in many instances.
The colonists felt greatly the necessity of an interpreter, and the clérigo Juan de Sosa with one of the vessels coasted as far as Nombre de Dios in search of one, but returned unsuccessful. Felipe Gutierrez named the town which he had built Concepcion, "but from the sufferings of the people," says Oviedo, "better to have called it Aflicion."[III‑7] It soon became evident that to remain in that locality was death to all concerned, and Gutierrez determined to remove to some more favorable spot farther from the marshy lowlands of the coast. Foraging expeditions were sent out in several directions for the double purpose of securing food and examining the country. 68
In one of these excursions the Spaniards encountered a cacique named Dururua who received them courteously, and entertained them, after his rude fashion, with bounteous hospitality. But the followers of Felipe Gutierrez proved no exception to the rule in their treatment of the natives. One of two evils was open to the heathen, either to submit and suffer wrong and robbery, or to resist and be slain or enslaved. Dururua placed at the disposal of the Spaniards his entire wealth, but even this was insufficient to satisfy their cupidity. After his resources were exhausted their demands did not cease, but heaping up the measure of their iniquity they invaded the homes of the natives, compelled them to search for gold, and after infamously burning their cornfields returned to the settlement. Open hostilities having broken out, the governor sent against Dururua a force of one hundred and fifty men under Alonso de Pisa,[III‑8] who captured the chief with many of his followers. The Spaniards demanded gold. Dururua answered that if they would give him liberty he would bring them four baskets of gold each containing 2,000 pesos. The cacique however was held a prisoner, while an Indian was sent under his direction to bring in the treasure. At the expiration of four days the messenger returned empty-handed. Others were despatched on the same errand, but all returned unsuccessful. The wily Dururua affected great indignation against his followers. He called them traitors, and requested that he might be allowed to go himself upon the mission, bound and attended, when he would not only make good his word respecting the gold, but secure to the Spaniards the friendship and service of all his people.
In chains and guarded by a band of thirty men 69 Dururua set forth to reveal the hiding-place of the treasure, and after a five days' march arrived at an abandoned village, where he directed the Spaniards to dig in a certain spot. The directions of the chief were followed, but only about half an ounce of gold was found. Encinasola, who had the matter in charge, then struck the cacique in the face, calling him dog, impostor, and other vile epithets. Dururua solemnly affirmed that he had left there a large store and that his people must have removed it on their departure from the village. He begged for one more trial, and Encinasola, blinded by cupidity, gave his assent.
All this while the shrewd cacique had not been idle. Each messenger had been despatched upon a mission to a certain quarter of his dominion to rally forces for his rescue, and an attack, which had been planned for the very night when the last attempt to find the gold was to be made, was carried into execution. The Spaniards were surrounded by a force of six hundred hostile Indians, their camp burned, eight of their number killed, and in the confusion which followed the chief was rescued. The natives then disappeared from the vicinity, removing all provisions and leaving behind a wasted country.
On their march homeward many of the survivors died of starvation. Some dropped by the way-side and were left to perish; others, notwithstanding the horror with which the act was regarded by their countrymen, fed upon the bodies of the Indians. One Diego Lopez Dávalos in a fit of choler drew his sword and slew a native servant. Two Spaniards who were following at some distance behind, on coming up to the body, cut off some portions which they cooked for their supper, their companions also partaking of the loathsome repast. On the day following another native was killed for food, and it is 70 related that even one of their own countrymen was slaughtered and devoured.[III‑9]
When the survivors arrived at Concepcion and presented themselves before the governor, but nine emaciated and haggard wretches could be counted, and these must ever be regarded as infamous from having so preserved their lives. The governor on being informed of their conduct placed every man of them except the informer under arrest, and tried and condemned them all. Two who were considered most culpable were burned. The others were branded with a hot iron in the face with the letter C, this being the initial of his Cæsarean majesty's name, and the mark used in branding criminals doomed to perpetual slavery in his service.
Thus we see in every attempt made by the Spaniards upon the coast of Veragua only a series of horrors, each fresh trial proving more calamitous if possible than the one preceding. Yet further the company of Felipe Gutierrez diminished. Oppressed by famine, forty at length revolted and set out for Nombre de Dios, the greater part of them perishing by the way. The governor finding it necessary to give employment to those who remained or else to abandon the settlement, sent Pedro de Encinasola with a few men eastward in search of food. Fortunately they found several fields of maize which had not yet been destroyed, and hearing of a great quantity of gold in that vicinity, started in quest of it. As soon as their hunger was appeased they sent a messenger to notify the governor of the proposed excursion. As life was more endurable while pillaging the natives, the governor and the remainder of the men also sallied in quest of adventure. They passed through several villages, but the inhabitants fled at their approach. Following an Indian guide, they arrived on the fourth day at a certain high hill 71 where they had been told were situated mines of surpassing richness. On reaching the spot they were informed that by digging in a certain place an abundance of gold could be gathered. The Spaniards did as directed, but found only a few nuggets, and turning fiercely upon the guide, accused him of trifling with them or of treachery. The poor savage totally at a loss whither to turn for relief, at length sprang upon a rock which overhung the brow of a precipice, threw himself headlong into the chasm, and thus terminated his miserable existence.
Meanwhile the famishing soldiers under Encinasola, despairing of life if they remained longer in that country, broke their ranks, many of them straggling off to Nombre de Dios. The governor determined to make one more attempt to relieve his people. He accordingly despatched Father Juan de Sosa and the alcalde Sanabria with six soldiers, four negroes, and two natives for Nombre de Dios, to obtain recruits and supplies. In three days this party reached the river Belen, and then, unable to cross, followed its course southward, cutting their way through thickets and struggling through morasses until after eleven days they succeeded in reaching the opposite bank. Continuing their journey they encountered along their pathway the dead bodies of their former companions who had perished while attempting to reach Nombre de Dios. A little stale food which had been washed ashore from some wreck or distressed ship saved them from starvation. At length they came upon the remnant of those who had deserted from Concepcion, now reduced to twenty-five men, and these gaunt, haggard, and naked as the natives. Their progress was barred by hostile bands, and themselves reduced to the last extremity. Unable to proceed farther, they fortified themselves from the attacks of the natives as best they were able, and awaited the development of events.
Meanwhile the sufferings of the Spaniards at Veragua, if possible, increased. "I was informed by 72 Marcos de Sanabria, one of the survivors," says Oviedo, "that the mortality at Veragua was at one time so great that dead bodies lay unburied within and around the huts, and that the stench arising from putrefaction was intolerable." He relates of one Diego de Campo, a native of Toledo, who seized with illness became convinced that death was near and that soon his own corpse would be added to those which lay strewn before him rotting in the sun, that he determined, if possible, to escape that horror. Wrapping himself in a cloak, he resorted to a spot where a grave had been prepared for another of those who were to die, and stretching himself within it soon breathed his last. Not long afterward the owner of the grave, being obliged himself to seek his last resting-place, found there another; but leaving the occupant undisturbed, he directed that his own body should be placed in the same grave, and thus the two found burial.
Failing of relief from any quarter, and receiving no tidings from Father de Sosa and his companions, Gutierrez was at last obliged to abandon the coast of Veragua. This of all others appeared the most difficult act for a Spaniard of those days to perform; he could die with less regret than he could give up a favorite enterprise. Taking ship for Nombre de Dios, he there obtained some intimation of the whereabouts and condition of Father de Sosa and the remnant of the Veragua colonists. A vessel was immediately sent to their relief with a supply of food and other necessaries which were contributed by the people of Nombre de Dios. The survivors, twenty-seven in number, were thus rescued, and the government of Felipe Gutierrez in the province of Veragua was at an end.[III‑10] He crossed over to Panamá, and 73 shortly afterward embarked for Peru, where he was made governor by Gonzalo Pizarro, but subsequently quarrelling with that ferocious adventurer, he was beheaded. The worthy Father Juan de Sosa in deep disgust also turned his face towards Peru, vowing that if ever he again fell heir to the spoils of an inca, his wealth should not be squandered in ambitious schemes of colonization. 74
Alvarado Sets Forth to Honduras to Join Cortés—Mutiny among his Men—Gonzalo de Alvarado Appointed Lieutenant-governor—His Meeting with Marin and his Party—The Second Revolt of the Cakchiquels—Gonzalo the Cause of the Insurrection—Massacre of the Spaniards—Alvarado Returns to Guatemala—He Captures the Peñol of Xalpatlahua—He Marches on Patinamit—His Return to Mexico—His Meeting with Cortés.
It will be remembered that of all the native tribes of Guatemala the Cakchiquels offered the stoutest resistance to the forces of Pedro de Alvarado. When the Spaniards took possession of Patinamit they preferred to abandon their capital rather than submit to the domination of the conqueror.[IV‑1] Sinacam, their chief, was still uncaptured, having taken refuge in the mountain fastnesses of Comalapa, and it may safely be concluded that he never ceased from his efforts to harass the Spaniards. The unsettled condition of affairs at this period may be inferred from the fact that there is no record of any session of the cabildo from May 6, 1525, to October 4th of the same year.[IV‑2] The numbers of the colonists were, however, being continually reënforced. The trouble which occurred in Mexico during the absence of Cortés, caused many of the settlers in Anáhuac to turn their faces toward 75 Guatemala, while those newly arrived from Spain or the West Indies also joined the followers of Alvarado, who now considering that his hold upon the country was secure, informed the municipality of Santiago that he intended to depart at once for Mexico.
Reports had reached Guatemala of the death of Cortés in Honduras, and if this were true he had lost a powerful patron and friend, and must needs hasten back to protect his own interests. His purpose was to proceed afterward to Spain and report his services to his sovereign from whom he hoped to obtain recognition and reward.[IV‑3]
Moreover, his brother Jorge and many other Spaniards of the Cortés party had secretly informed him of the usurpation by the factor Salazar of the governorship of Mexico, urging him not to absent himself longer, and promising to establish him as governor in place of the former, until positive information should be received whether Cortés were alive or dead. The chance that the mantle of his great master might perhaps fall upon his own shoulders, made him anxious not to miss this opportunity, and he lost no time in beginning the journey. But it was already reported in Mexico that he would arrive there before long, and he had proceeded but a short distance when he received an intimation from the factor that he had better approach no further. If, however, he preferred to revisit the capital, Salazar informed him that he would gladly meet him on the way, and have the satisfaction of putting him to death. He soon afterward learned that this was no idle threat, for a force of fifty horse and seventy foot had already been despatched against him, and he could not for a moment expect that the small band of soldiers which the colonists had been able to spare him as an escort should be able to compete with these troops. Venturesome 76 as he was, Alvarado was not the one to encounter almost certain death, and though sorely mortified he was compelled to retrace his steps.
About the close of 1525 he was informed of the safety of Cortés, and received from him despatches with instructions to join him in Honduras with all his available forces. At that time, it will be remembered, the latter proposed to return to Mexico by way of Guatemala, but afterward resolved to make the journey by sea, landing at Vera Cruz in May 1526.[IV‑4] Alvarado at once prepared to obey his orders, but his purpose was resolutely opposed by the colonists. Municipal and military officers, citizens and common soldiers all alike objected to his entering upon a campaign which would strip the province of most of its defenders. Even his own brothers endeavored to dissuade him. But remonstrance was of no avail. The alcaldes and regidores he addressed in intemperate and abusive language,[IV‑5] while to his brothers he hotly exclaimed: "Offer me no advice; all I possess was given me by Hernan Cortés, and with him will I die."[IV‑6] Discontent was, however, widely spread, and Alvarado's personal safety appears to have been in danger, for the cabildo requested him to enroll a body-guard for his own protection, as the stability of the colonies would be endangered should any harm happen to him.[IV‑7]
With great difficulty the adelantado levied troops for his expedition. His men were discontented, and utterly averse to engage in an enterprise which 77 offered no prospect of gain, but was certain to be attended with hardship and risk of life. When he was on the point of setting forth, fifty or sixty of them mutinied, and setting fire to the city by night[IV‑8] made their escape while the remainder of the soldiers were engaged in preventing the conflagration from spreading. It was a godless and ruffian band, that which issued forth from Patinamit under the veil of night and shrouded by the smoke of the burning city. Before their departure they stripped the chapel of all its ornaments and jewelry, and forcibly compelled the priest to accompany them. Taking the road to Soconusco they sacked the villages which lay on their route, and on their arrival in that province, considering themselves safe from pursuit, displayed their hatred of Alvarado by holding a mock trial and hanging in effigy their commander and those who had remained faithful to him. Then they passed on to Mexico plundering and destroying on their way.
Notwithstanding this defection, the adelantado soon afterward set forth to join Cortés,[IV‑9] leaving his brother Gonzalo to take command during his absence. Of his journey, which was probably an uneventful one, few incidents are narrated. He passed through the provinces of Cuzcatlan and Chaparristic, and entered Choluteca in Honduras, where, at a place called Choluteca Malalaca, as narrated by Bernal Diaz,[IV‑10] he 78 heard for the first time of the return of Cortés to Mexico.
It has already been mentioned that in 1525 the settlement of Natividad de Nuestra Señora was abandoned on account of the unhealthiness of its site and the refusal of the natives to furnish provisions, and that Cortés granted permission to the Spaniards to remove to Naco.[IV‑11] Captain Luis Marin, left in charge of the latter colony, after remaining for some time in doubt as to the fate of his commander, despatched thence a small band of horsemen to Trujillo to ascertain whether he yet survived, and, if that were so, to gather information as to his intended movements.[IV‑12] Bernal Diaz, who was one of the troop, relates that on reaching the Olancho Valley they learned that Cortés had already embarked from Trujillo, leaving Saavedra in command. Marin's brief sojourn in Honduras had already made him impatient to return to Mexico,[IV‑13] and he at once decided to return to that province by way of Guatemala. Thus it chanced that at Choluteca Malalaca, his party met with Alvarado, who expressed unbounded delight on hearing of the safety of his old comrade in arms, and felt much inward satisfaction that now his superior could not interfere with his own schemes of conquest and aggrandizement.
The lieutenant-general then commenced his homeward march, accompanied by Marin and about eighty of the colonists of Naco. Returning through the territory at present known as the province of San Miguel, they arrived at the Rio Lempa at a season of the year when the current was so greatly swollen by 79 the rains that to ford it was impossible. In this emergency they felled a huge ceiba-tree, out of which, with infinite labor, they fashioned an immense canoe,[IV‑14] and after toiling for five days, drenched with rain and ravenous with hunger, thus made good their crossing. They had now entered the province of Cuzcatlan,[IV‑15] where Alvarado found that during his delay in Choluteca the whole country had risen in rebellion. Several battles were fought, all resulting favorably to the Spaniards, and on the 6th of August 1526, after a final and desperate conflict, the Indians were routed with terrible carnage and soon afterward tendered their submission.[IV‑16] The Spaniards then continued their journey by forced marches and reached Guatemala without further adventure. As they drew near to Jalpatagua[IV‑17] they were met with the unwelcome tidings of the revolt of the Cakchiquels and other native nations.[IV‑18]
During the absence of Pedro de Alvarado in Honduras, his brother Gonzalo, left in charge as his lieutenant, had made good use of the opportunity to enrich himself, imposing excessive tribute and regarding 80 neither age nor condition in his inordinate craving for wealth. To him must be attributed the great and general uprising of the natives which occurred at this time.[IV‑19] His crowning act of oppression was to compel a large number of Indian boys to work in certain gold-washings near Patinamit,[IV‑20] requiring of them to procure daily a certain quantity of the precious metal.[IV‑21] For a few weeks the amount was punctually furnished, but on account of the tender age of the children, who were but from nine to twelve years old, the measure fell short, whereupon Gonzalo insisted that the deficiency should be made up by contribution, and threatened the natives with death, exclaiming with angry gesticulations: "Think not that I have come to this coast to dwell among a pack of hounds for any other purpose than to gather gold to take with me to Spain." This outrageous demand was also complied with, but the bitter hate of their oppressors, which had long smouldered in the hearts of the natives, was now about to break forth into a flame.
Among the nations of Central America the name of the supreme being was represented by a word that signifies 'deceiver,' or in the Cakchiquel language 'demon.'[IV‑22] In time of need or peril this personage appeared to them, as Oviedo and Vazquez would have us believe, and until the Christian Spaniard made firm his footing in the land was consulted and obeyed in all 81 important matters. "Why wait you?" he exclaimed, as he now bid his votaries strike once more for freedom. "Tonatiuh has gone to Castile, and the strangers are few. What fear you? I am the thunderbolt and will make them dust and ashes. Both them and you will I destroy if you prove cowards. Live not as slaves, nor abandon the laws of your forefathers; convoke the nation and terminate your woes." The appeal was not in vain. From Chaparristic to Olintepec, a distance of one hundred and thirty-nine leagues, the Indians rose in revolt.[IV‑23] An army of thirty thousand warriors was quickly and secretly raised, and the Spaniards now scattered among the different settlements were taken completely by surprise. The confederated tribes divided their forces into two divisions, one of which occupied the mountain passes near Petapa for the purpose of holding Alvarado's band in check, while the other fell on the unsuspecting colonists, slaughtering the greater portion of them together with a number of their Indian allies. Those who escaped fled to Quezaltenango and Olintepec.[IV‑24] 82
Alvarado's March.
The Indians were now in possession of the country from its southern boundary to the district of Quezaltenango, but a swift and terrible vengeance was about to overtake them. Alvarado was already within their borders. Having crushed the rebellion in Cuzcatlan he swept northward with the fury of a tempest. Scattering like sheep the bands that first offered him resistance, he met with no serious opposition till he arrived at the peñol of Xalpatlahua, situated about three leagues from the present village of Jalpatagua. 83
At this point a huge rock, surrounded by a dry moat, formed an almost impregnable fortress, commanding not only the high-road, but also the pass through the mountain defiles, and here the natives had collected in force. For three days the Spaniards were detained in forcing the approaches and reducing the stronghold. Two furious assaults directed against it before daylight in hope of carrying it by surprise were repulsed, and it was only by stratagem that on the third day Alvarado succeeded in his attempt. Dividing his men into two parties, he assailed the peñol at two different points at the same moment. In the heat of the contest the adelantado, feigning retreat, suddenly withdrew the corps under his command; the others were ordered meanwhile to press the assault more closely. The ruse was successful. The defenders all collected at the point assailed, and Alvarado, rapidly wheeling round his column, crossed the ditch and gained the height.[IV‑25] The Indians, attacked in rear, were thrown into disorder, driven down the heights, and closely pursued by the Spaniards. Only when night closed upon their flying columns did pursuit and carnage cease.[IV‑26]
The army now continued its march unmolested, until it arrived at the plains of Canales. Here another obstinate and bloody battle was fought with a large body of natives collected from the surrounding districts. The contest was long maintained with doubtful result, but was at last decided by the arrival of the friendly cacique Cazhualan, who, although a portion of his tribe had forsaken their allegiance,[IV‑27] fell 84 on his countrymen with such forces as he could collect and caused their overthrow.
Alvarado now advanced rapidly toward Patinamit. Fighting his way through numerous bodies of the enemy who sought to oppose his passage, he arrived in a few days at the plain in front of the city. Here the combined forces of the confederated kings and chiefs, mustering in all about thirty thousand warriors, were drawn up to give him battle and strike one more blow in defence of their native soil. In vain their effort. These Spanish veterans were invincible, and the Indian hosts were almost annihilated in sight of their capital.[IV‑28] The Spaniards following up their victory at once forced their way along the narrow causeway that formed the only means of approach to Patinamit, and putting to the sword the few defenders left, took up their quarters there for the night.[IV‑29]
On the following morning, however, they evacuated the city and occupied a position on the plain, where building for themselves a number of huts,[IV‑30] they remained 85 for several days, during which Alvarado vainly endeavored to induce the revolted caciques to return to their allegiance.[IV‑31] Twice he sent proposals of peace; but no reply being vouchsafed, he hastened onward to Olintepec, where he arrived toward the end of August 1526. He was now at liberty to return to Mexico. Although he had not succeeded in either killing or capturing Sinacam and Sequechul, he considered that the late terrible punishments ensured safety.
Official business was promptly despatched. New alcaldes and regidores were elected, two of the former, named Hernan Carrillo and Pedro Puertocarrero, being nominated as Alvarado's lieutenants during his absence. A procurador, one Diego Becerra, was appointed by the cabildo to represent the interests of the city in Mexico; and, his arrangements being completed, he set forth on his journey accompanied by Marin, his brother Gonzalo,[IV‑32] and more than eighty soldiers. He passed through Soconusco and Tehuantepec, travelling with such breathless speed that two of his men, enfeebled by the hardships of the recent campaign, died on the march. As he drew near to the capital he was met by Cortés, whose friendship was soon to be cast aside, 86 and whose lofty pride was ere long to be humbled by the very man whom that great conqueror now welcomed with open arms and entertained with princely hospitality at his palace in Mexico.[IV‑33]
And here, for a time, we must leave him to tell of his great achievements; to gamble with old comrades, to cheat them and lie to them, just as he had done three years before. Then he will bid farewell to Cortés forever, as it will prove, and go on his voyage to Spain, where we shall hear of his reaping honor and distinction. We shall hear of him also, under the consciousness of broken faith and dishonorable conduct, shrinking from and glad to avoid a meeting with his old comrade to whom he owed all that he possessed on earth.[IV‑34] 87
Puertocarrero in Charge of Affairs—Revolt at Zacatepec—Escape of the Spanish Garrison—The Place Recaptured—Execution of the High Priest Panaguali—Sinacam's Stronghold—Its Siege and Capture—Jorge de Alvarado Appointed Governor—The City of Santiago Founded in the Almolonga Valley—Prosperity of the New Settlement.
Of the two lieutenant-governors appointed by Alvarado on his departure from Olintepec, Puertocarrero was the one in whom he had most reliance. The ability which he had displayed as a soldier and a magistrate fully justified this confidence. A near relative to Alvarado, he was second only to that great captain in valor and military skill; and the most important posts in the field were usually assigned to him, while the fact that he was elected a regidor of the first cabildo, and filled that office by re-appointment till his promotion to the rank of alcalde and lieutenant-governor, is evidence of his capacity for government. In character he was in one respect too like his commander, being severe and ruthless in his treatment of the natives.[V‑1] His high breeding was displayed by a fine deportment and courteous mien, while as a companion he could be either most charming or exceeding 88 disagreeable; his flashes of wit and humor were as much enjoyed as the lash of his sarcasm was dreaded.
With the assistance of his colleague Hernan Carrillo, he began vigorously to establish order throughout the province. His first care was to carry out the instructions of Alvarado relative to the suppression of a revolt in the town of Zacatepec, news of which had arrived before the captain general's departure. Though a portion of the natives of the Zacatepec province had joined in the general insurrection, the garrison stationed in the town itself had hitherto been able to overawe the inhabitants; but toward the end of August 1526, incited by their high priest, named Panaguali, one inspired by the presiding genius of the nation, they suddenly rose upon the Spaniards. Threats of the displeasure of their god Camanelon outweighed with them even the dread of their conquerors; and the chief priest, taking advantage of a violent earthquake which occurred a short time before, so wrought upon the fears of his countrymen that he prevailed on them to attempt the extermination of the foreigners. The garrison barely escaped a general massacre, being compelled to make their escape from the town by cutting their way through a dense crowd of assailants, who attacked them one evening about sunset. In the struggle one of their number, together with three of the Tlascaltecs, were captured and sacrificed. Next day the fugitives were joined by one hundred friendly Zacatepecs, and by rapid marches reached Olintepec the 31st of August.[V‑2]
At daybreak on the following morning Puertocarrero marched against the insurgents. His force consisted of sixty horse, eighty arquebusiers, five hundred and fifty Tlascaltecs and Mexicans, and one hundred Zacatepecs. He had also two pieces of artillery. 89 On arriving within sight of the town the army encamped in a small valley two leagues from the village of Ucubil,[V‑3] to rest and reconnoitre. Hernando de Chaves being sent forward with the cavalry captured two natives, who gave information that Ucubil was peaceably deposed and that in Zacatepec a portion of the inhabitants had declared for the Spaniards, and having made their escape, were scattered among the neighboring corn lands. Puertocarrero now moved to Ucubil, and thence sent messages of encouragement to the friendly natives, eight hundred of whom shortly afterward joined him. The Spanish army now mustered fifteen hundred and ninety men, and with this force the commander was quite ready to meet the opposing eight thousand. He advanced, therefore, toward the town, and when about half a league distant sent messengers to offer peace on condition of surrender. They were received with disdain, and when others were despatched on a similar errand, they were on the point of being seized and sacrificed, and only made their escape by trusting to the speed of their horses.
The Spaniards now took up their position on rising ground a quarter of a league from Zacatepec. There they were almost immediately assailed by a body of two thousand natives who, issuing from a neighboring wood, attacked them briskly, but after a brief struggle were forced to retire. Early next morning three thousand warriors, advancing from the direction of the town, came down upon them, taking good aim with poisoned arrows, while the fire of the arquebusiers was for some time rendered almost harmless by a strong breeze, which drove the smoke into their eyes. Later their weapons were used with more effect, and the Indians began to retire with loss, whereupon the Spaniards incautiously advanced, thereby suffering defeat; for when the Spanish forces 90 were in the center of the plain, the detachment from the town, suddenly wheeling round, attacked them in front, while those who remained under cover of the woods assailed their rear. Puertocarrero was compelled to withdraw from the field with all possible haste; but this could only be done by traversing the greater portion of the plain, and was attended with great loss, the troops becoming entangled during the hottest part of the engagement, in canebrakes and creepers. At length the retreating army reached a secure position between two converging eminences, and here the conflict ceased for the night.
On the following day the Spanish commander, drawing up his infantry in a hollow square with the artillery in front and the cavalry on the wings, gave the enemy battle on the plain. His lines were too strong to be broken by the Zacatepec warriors who rushed in a dense mass to the attack, but were driven back by a well directed fire of artillery and small arms. Forming into two columns, they next assailed both wings simultaneously, but with no better success. Again massing themselves in a single phalanx, they made a furious attack on the right of the Spanish army. The struggle was long but not doubtful. Volley after volley mowed down their ranks in front, while the horsemen charged repeatedly on either flank. At length they took to flight and were pursued to the entrance of the town, where Panaguali and two other priests with eight of the principal caciques were made prisoners.
Guatemala.
The campaign was now at an end. Puertocarrero, aware that the loss of their priests and their chieftains would assure the submission of the rebels, retired to Ucubil, whence one of the captives was sent to the town with a final summons to allegiance, and with strict injunctions to return as soon as possible. A submissive reply was returned, and on the fourth day after the battle the Spaniards entered the town with all necessary precautions against attack. Having 91 occupied the guard-house and public square, Puertocarrero ordered the caciques and other leading men to appear before him, to witness the closing scene of the revolt. The Spaniards were marshalled in the plaza, and Panaguali was placed on trial in the presence of his deluded people, as being the promoter of the insurrection. All that the poor wretch could urge in his defence was that he had acted in obedience to the orders of his god; but Camanelon had now no power to save. As a matter of course the high priest was condemned to death, and immediately executed in full view of the awe-stricken natives who but now had confidently hoped to capture the Spaniards for sacrifice.[V‑4] 92
The suppression of the Zacatepec rebellion being completed, Alvarado's lieutenant[V‑5] next turned his attention to the stronghold of Sinacam. This fortress, built of stone and lime, was situated in an almost inaccessible position in the Comalapa mountains.[V‑6] In the fastnesses of this range, seamed with gloomy cañons, numbers of the Cakchiquels had taken refuge. Far down in the sierra is a precipitous ravine through which flows the Rio Nimaya.[V‑7] The stream when it reaches the valley below is of great depth, abounds in fish, and is fringed in places with beautiful glades and stretches of fertile land, which can be approached only by difficult and dangerous paths.[V‑8] Here Sinacam's followers planted and gathered their maize in safety, while river and forest supplied them with additional food. No better place for a stronghold could have been selected than that to which the chief of the Cakchiquels had withdrawn the remnant of his once powerful nation.[V‑9]
At the head of a numerous and well appointed 93 force[V‑10] Puertocarrero took up a suitable position before it,[V‑11] and for two months prosecuted the siege in vain. During this time he made frequent overtures of peace, which were answered only with contempt,[V‑12] while his men, smarting under the taunts of the foe, who felt secure in his position and had no fear of hunger, were repulsed at every attack, rocks and trunks of trees being hurled down on them from the overhanging heights. Meanwhile they were harassed by repeated sorties from the natives, who, whenever they perceived any want of vigilance in the camp of the Spaniards, swept down from the mountains with inconceivable rapidity, fell upon the weakest point of their lines, and as quickly regained the shelter of their stronghold.[V‑13]
But failure only roused the Spaniards to more determined effort. There were among them many who had taken part in the storming of Mexico, and had fought under Alvarado at Patinamit. The mettle of the adelantado's veterans had been tested on many a doubtful field, and they were now about to give fresh evidence of their valor. It may be that a traitor revealed to the besiegers some secret path,[V‑14] or even served as guide; but the storming of the fortress 94 was none the less a desperate undertaking. Its fate was sealed however. Puertocarrero divided his forces into four bodies and stationed them at the most favorable points; but before ordering the assault sent in his last summons to surrender. The messengers who bore the letter to Sinacam narrowly escaped death. On receiving it the chieftain tore the paper to shreds, and throwing the pieces on the ground with many expressions of scorn and contempt ordered the envoys to be put to death. At this moment, however, the attack was made. Puertocarrero who had observed all that was transpiring suddenly advanced his men. The ramparts were scaled, and a foothold won within the fortifications. No hope now for the garrison; the struggle which followed was severe but brief. The discolored ground was soon heaped with the dead and dying, on whose prostrate forms the triumphant Spaniards trampled as they pressed on in pursuit of the panic-stricken natives. Sinacam and Sequechul, together with a larger number of their followers, were captured, and few of those who survived the massacre made good their escape to the mountains.[V‑15] 95
The storming of the Cakchiquel stronghold occurred on Saint Cecilia's day, the 22d of November 1526, and long afterward the event was yearly celebrated by an imposing procession. On the anniversary of the saint and on the eve preceding, the standard-bearer displayed the royal colors in the presence of the president, the royal audiencia, the municipality, and nobles, while the Mexicans and Tlascaltecs, who had contributed to the victory in no small degree, joined in the procession, decked in bright colors and armed with the weapons of their ancestors.
In the month of March 1527, a new governor arrived in Guatemala in the person of Jorge de Alvarado,[V‑16] brother of the great conqueror, and a man gifted with abilities of no common order. He had already won repute in the conquest of Mexico, and had taken a prominent part in the political dissensions which occurred in the capital during the absence of Cortés in Honduras. During the military operations in Guatemala, more especially in the first campaign in Salvador, he had proved himself possessed of true soldierly qualities. The preferment was bestowed on him by the governor of Mexico, and that he should have been permitted to supersede Puertocarrero was probably due to his brother's favor and to the friendship of Cortés. Nevertheless he was a man eminently fitted to rule. His appointment was at once recognized by the cabildo, and he was requested immediately to take the oath of office. 96
Soon after his arrival the cabildo met to discuss a matter of general interest, which had long engaged the attention of the colonists. This was the selection of a permanent site for their hitherto unstable city. The choice lay between the valleys of Almolonga and Tianguecillo,[V‑17] and after a long and wordy discussion the question was decided in favor of the former locality. A spot was chosen which had the advantages of a cool and healthful climate, a plentiful supply of wood, water, and pasture, and where the slope of the ground would allow the streets to be cleansed by the periodical rains. The governor then presented to the municipality a document, signed by his own hand, conveying his instructions as to the laying-out of the future city. The streets were to intersect at right angles, their direction corresponding with the cardinal points of the compass; space was to be reserved for a plaza; and ground adjoining the public square was set apart for the erection of a church to be dedicated to Santiago, who was chosen as the patron saint of the city which was henceforth to bear his name, and whose heart was to be gladdened in after years, when the day of his anniversary recurred, by religious ceremonies and festivities, by tilting, and by bull-fights whenever a supply of bulls could be procured.[V‑18] Locations were 97 to be assigned for a hospital, a chapel and shrine,[V‑19] and a fortress; appropriations adjoining the plaza were to be marked out for the municipal and civic buildings and for a prison; and the remainder of the site was then to be divided among present or future citizens according to the customs prevailing in New Spain.
After this document had been publicly read and entered by the notary in the books of the cabildo, all formalities were completed except that of taking possession of the future city as though it already existed. According to the usual formality a post was erected, and the governor, placing his hand upon it, proclaimed with great solemnity, "I take and hold possession, in the name of his Majesty, of the city and province, and of all other adjacent territory."[V‑20]
Four days after the completion of this ceremony twenty-four persons enrolled themselves as citizens; and so prosperous, at first, were the affairs of the new settlement that within six months one hundred and fifty additional householders joined the community.[V‑21] During the remainder of the year 1527 and for many months afterward the Spaniards were occupied with municipal affairs, or busied themselves with the erection 98 of dwellings and with dividing and putting under cultivation the rich lands of the adjoining valley.
In March 1528 Jorge de Alvarado, in virtue of the authority granted to him by the governor of Mexico, claimed the right to appoint new members of the municipality. As no valid objection could be offered by the cabildo, the nominations were immediately made, and eight regidores were elected in place of four. The most important measure adopted by the new corporation during the year was the redivision of lands and the adjustment of questions that would necessarily arise from such a change. The grants were so unfairly distributed that, while many citizens had far more than their share, others had none at all. The discontent of the latter made it imperative for the municipality to take action. On the 18th of April all previous regulations were revoked and all divisions of land cancelled. An order was then issued for the redivision of the valley into caballerías and peonías,[V‑22] and a committee appointed to redistribute the grants.
A measure of this kind could not fail to meet with much opposition, and as will be seen later the division of lands and the system of repartimientos caused much dissension among the colonists; yet in the present instance the cabildo acted with all possible discretion and fairness in the matter. Those grants of land which were less fertile, were of greater extent than the more barren portions; men distinguished for their services received larger shares to correspond with the degree of their merit; growing crops were the property of those in possession at the time of the redistribution; and if any occupant had made 99 improvements and was removed to another grant, his successor was required to make others of equal value on the new land assigned to him. Complete title-deeds were promised by the cabildo in the name of his Majesty;[V‑23] the citizens were ordered to enclose and keep in good condition the portion of the street corresponding with their allotments; the exorbitant charges of artisans were regulated; and such was the thrift of the inhabitants that within little more than a year after its foundation the town was surrounded with cornfields and orchards, and the valley of Almolonga soon became one of the most flourishing colonies throughout the breadth of Central America. 100
Alvarado Returns to Spain—He is Arraigned before the Council of the Indies—His Acquittal—His Marriage—He Returns to Mexico—His Trial before the Audiencia—Francisco de Orduña Arrives at Santiago—And Takes the Residencia of Jorge de Alvarado—The Confederated Nations in Revolt—Juan Perez Dardon's Expedition to the Valley of Xumay—The Spaniards Attack the Stronghold of Uspantan—Their Repulse and Retreat—The Place Afterward Captured by Francisco de Castellanos—The Circus of Copan Besieged by Hernando de Chaves—Gallant Conduct of a Cavalry Soldier—Alvarado's Return to Santiago—Demoralized Condition of the Province.
Soon after his meeting with Cortés in Mexico Pedro de Alvarado returned to Spain. Arriving early in 1527, he soon learned, as we may well imagine, that charges of a serious nature were being preferred against him. Gonzalo Mejía, the colonial procurator, had accused him before the India Council of obtaining wealth by embezzling the royal dues, and by unfair appropriation of the spoils of war. The amount thus secured was estimated at one hundred thousand pesos. Many acts of injustice were also laid to his charge, all of which Mejía affirmed could be substantiated by documents which he laid before the council. The result was that an order was issued directing a formal investigation to be made both in Madrid and New Spain, and directing that his gold which amounted to fifteen thousand ducats be seized as security for any fine in which he might be mulcted. He was required moreover to appear at court, in person, without delay. 101
Alvarado had now no easy task before him, but there was much in his favor. His great renown, his handsome presence,[VI‑1] and remarkable conversational powers won for him many friends, among others the king's secretary, Francisco de los Cobos, who personally interested himself in his defence, and with such success that the conqueror of Guatemala was acquitted, his gold restored, and he soon had an opportunity to plead his own case before the emperor.
Once in the royal presence the cavalier does not hesitate to inform his Majesty of his many doughty deeds during the conquest of Mexico, and to mention that the subjugation of Guatemala was achieved at his own expense.[VI‑2] The king listens with marked attention, particularly when he advances schemes for ship-building on the southern shore of Guatemala for the discovery of the coveted Spice Islands, and for the development of South Sea commerce.[VI‑3] The royal favor is won, and honors and appointments follow. The cross of Santiago is bestowed upon him, and he is appointed a comendador.[VI‑4] He is also made governor and captain general, as Arévalo tells us, of Guatemala, of Chiapas, Cinacantan, Tequepampo, Omatan, Acalan, and all other territories adjoining 102 and belonging to that province. In return he enters into an engagement with his royal master to send forth expeditions of discovery and thoroughly to explore the waters of the South Sea.[VI‑5]
The favors which he thus received from the emperor were due in part to his marriage with a ward of the secretary Cobos. It is true that he was already betrothed to Cecilia Vazquez, a cousin of Cortés, but a mere vow could not be allowed to stand between him and high connection. Cortés had been a true friend; but Alvarado could now win stronger support than ever the conqueror of Mexico could bestow on him, and what mattered friendship when help[VI‑6] was no longer needed? A few months after his arrival in Spain, he had offered himself as a suitor for the hand of the accomplished Doña Francisca de la Cueva, daughter of the conde de Bedmar, and niece of the duke of Albuquerque. Secretary Cobos received his offer approvingly, arranged the marriage, and at the ceremony gave the bride away.[VI‑7]
Alvarado was now prepared to return to the western world, and on the 26th of May 1528,[VI‑8] entered his appointments and despatches at the India House in Seville according to form. While he was there waiting to embark Cortés arrived at Palos. But the new adelantado was no longer so anxious to meet his former 103 commander as he had been when he marched to his aid through the wilds of Honduras. He knew how deeply he had wounded his pride in the two most sensitive points, and he received with a feeling of relief the news that Cortés had gone direct to Madrid.
In October 1528, the governor of Guatemala, accompanied by a number of noble gentlemen, friends, and relatives, again arrived at Vera Cruz, and hastening on to Mexico hoped soon to reach the capital of his own province. But the officers of the royal treasury informed him that he need be in no haste to leave; for now the investigations were not to be lightly treated. It was a serious matter, that of accounts, very serious the question how much he owed his Majesty. And near at hand were those immaculate men, the oidores of Mexico's first audiencia, who were jealous for the rights of the king, and more jealous that any other subjects should be permitted to outsteal them. Upon the heels of Alvarado they entered Mexico, bearing a document in which was a clause which read thus: "You will also inform yourselves whether it is true that, when Pedro de Alvarado was in Guatemala, there was not proper care in the collection of the fifths, and that he did not present himself to the treasurer with the portion pertaining thereto."[VI‑9] The Guatemalan governor was at once informed that he might answer to the charges on record against him.
The celebrated trial which followed was protracted as long as party faction, envy, and personal enmity could make it last. The more important accusations were three—embezzlement of royal fifths and soldiers' booty, cruelty, and illegal warfare; but any act of Alvarado's previous life that could be used against him was pertinent. The total number of charges preferred was thirty-four, and there were ten witnesses for the prosecution. On April 6, 1529, the examination commenced; on the 4th of June Alvarado presented his reply; and on the 10th began the 104 examination of his witnesses who numbered thirty-two, the chaplain Juan Diaz being one. Eighty-four questions were submitted, and in addition to verbal evidence twelve documents were filed for the defence.[VI‑10] On the 5th of July the defence was closed and the case submitted, but all efforts to obtain a speedy decision were unavailing. The oidores would have the governor of Guatemala feel their power yet a little longer.
Soon after Alvarado's arrival in Mexico, his brother Jorge, who had been left in charge of the province of Guatemala, received from him a copy of the former's appointment as governor and captain general.[VI‑11] At the same time the adelantado, being so empowered, 105 constituted Jorge his lieutenant. The documents, being read before the cabildo, were duly recognized by that body; whereupon Jorge declared that he ceased to exercise the powers he had hitherto held from the governor of Mexico,[VI‑12] took the oath in the usual manner, and assumed the duties laid upon him by his new appointment.
The audiencia of Mexico was quickly notified of these proceedings, and in July 1529 it was known in Santiago that a judge and captain general had been appointed to take the lieutenant-governor's residencia. A bold though unsuccessful attempt was made to avoid the threatened investigation. Jorge compelled the procurator, syndic, and notary public to draw up a formal representation, urging, in the name of the cabildo, that Pedro de Alvarado and no other person should be obeyed as captain general and governor. This action had, however, no effect in averting his speedy fall from power. On the 14th of August Francisco de Orduña, the official appointed by the oidores, arrived at Santiago, and presenting his credentials took the customary oath the same day.[VI‑13]
The audiencia could not have selected a man more unfitted for this important office, or one less likely to promote the interests of the colony. He came at a time when of all others prudence and dispassionate action were needed. The redistribution of lands and the assignment of encomiendas in spite of all efforts to the contrary had caused discontent; the new-comers were jealously regarded by the conquerors and the settlers were already divided into factions. To reconcile 106 differences was not Orduña's object. His policy was to be guided by self-interest, and by enmity to Alvarado and his party. A man of coarse nature, irascible and unscrupulous, he was often guilty of gross indecency in speech and of unseemly personal violence; after acts of gross injustice he insulted all who claimed redress.
One of his first measures was to call in question the legality of Jorge's administration. The alcalde Gonzalo Dovalle, a creature of Orduña's, brought the matter before the cabildo, claiming that all repartimientos which he had assigned, and all suits which he had decided, from the time that he had received from his brother the appointment of lieutenant-governor, were annulled. The question was a delicate one, inasmuch as the cabildo had recognized the authority of Jorge, and their own powers and rights were thus endangered. Nevertheless they did not venture to oppose the jurisdiction of the audiencia, and within three months after Orduña's arrival he found himself in control of the ayuntamiento.
The natives were not slow to take advantage of the discord among the Spaniards, and during the latter portion of 1529 it became necessary to send out numerous expeditions to suppress revolt or repel encroachments.[VI‑14] Several of the confederated nations 107 which had sustained defeat at the hands of Alvarado on his return from Honduras[VI‑15] began to make inroads on portions of the province which hitherto had always been held in subjection. The valley and town of Xumay was the principal seat of the outbreak, and against this point a force of eighty foot, thirty horse, and one thousand native auxiliaries was despatched under command of Juan Perez Dardon.[VI‑16]
The march of the troops was uninterrupted until they reached the river Coaxiniquilapan.[VI‑17] Here they found their passage disputed by a large force posted on the opposite bank. Not deeming it prudent to attempt the crossing in the face of the enemy, Dardon withdrew his troops, and making a rapid detour under cover of a range of hills, arrived unperceived at a point above on the stream. By the aid of a wooden bridge which he hastily threw across it he passed his army over, and marched into the valley of Xumay. Here he encountered a strong body of the enemy, who, after a spirited opposition, suddenly retreated to a steep eminence,[VI‑18] hotly pursued by the Spaniards. The latter failed more than once in their attempts to 108 carry this position, but the natives falling short of provisions and becoming enfeebled through hunger were at length dislodged with great slaughter.
The town of Xumay now lay at the mercy of the Spaniards; and the chief of the confederated tribes,[VI‑19] finding himself unable to cope with the enemy, determined on stratagem; but his astuteness could suggest nothing better than the oft-tried ruse of making treacherous overtures of peace. Dardon was not to be imposed upon by so trite an artifice, and apprised him that he was thoroughly aware of his design, whereupon the cacique threw off the mask, and resolving to make one last effort, attacked the Spaniards with all the forces he could collect, but was routed with heavy loss. On entering the town Dardon found the place abandoned, and in vain sent a number of his prisoners with promises of pardon to their countrymen on condition of their return. They had even less confidence in the word of the Spanish commander than he himself had shown in the good faith of their chieftain. It was therefore ordered that the place should be burned, and parties were sent to hunt down the scattered fugitives, many of whom were captured, and among them a number of caciques. All were indiscriminately branded as slaves, and hence a village afterward built near the spot, as well as the Rio Coaxiniquilapan received the name of Los Esclavos.[VI‑20]
While the confederated tribes were thus again being brought under subjection, an expedition directed against the stronghold of Uspantan[VI‑21] met with signal failure. Shortly after Orduña's arrival the reduction 109 of this place was decided on by the cabildo; and a force of sixty foot and three hundred experienced Indian auxiliaries[VI‑22] was despatched for that purpose under command of the alcalde Gaspar Arias.[VI‑23] The mountainous district in which this fortress was situated lay on the borders of the present departments of Vera Paz and Totonicapan, and was inhabited by fierce roaming tribes that were continually urging the conquered Quichés to revolt. Surrounded with deep ravines, and occupying one of those naturally fortified positions that were ever selected by the natives as a refuge against the Spaniards, Uspantan was deemed almost as impregnable as Patinamit and the mountain stronghold of Sinacam. No sooner had Arias taken up his position in front of this fortress, after capturing several towns that lay on the line of his march, than he received news that Orduña had deposed him from office and appointed another alcalde in his place.[VI‑24] Indignant at this proceeding, he resolved to return at once to Santiago,[VI‑25] delegating his command to Pedro de Olmos, a man in whom he had confidence, but who, as the result proved, was unfitted for the post. Heeding not the instructions left him, or the advice of his fellow-soldiers, he determined to carry the place by storm, hoping 110 thus to win for himself a reputation. The result was most disastrous. While the assault was being made at the single point where an entrance could be effected, his rear was assailed by two thousand of the enemy placed in ambush in anticipation of the attack. The surprise was complete. In the brief conflict which ensued a large portion of the Spaniards were wounded, Olmos himself among the number, while the slaughter of the auxiliaries was fearful. To complete their discomfiture a number of prisoners captured by the enemy were immediately stretched upon the altar in sacrifice.[VI‑26] Then the allies fled and made their way back to Santiago.
Nothing now remained but retreat; and sullenly the small remnant of Olmos' command, ill-provided with food and overladen with baggage, turned their backs upon the stronghold of Uspantan to fight their way homeward. Day by day they pressed onward, constantly assailed by the enemy posted in ambuscade along the route. The final struggle occurred on approaching the district of Chichicastenango. Here three thousand of the enemy had collected to dispute with them a mountain pass through which lay their only line of retreat. No hope for the Spaniards now, unless they could cut their way through this dense throng of warriors. Provisions and baggage were cast aside and each soldier, grasping his weapons, prepared for the conflict which was to determine his destiny. The fight was obstinate and bloody, but sword and arquebuse prevailed as usual against the rude arms of the natives, and at length the Spaniards rested unopposed on the opposite side of the range, the survivors finally reaching Utatlan, haggard and gaunt with famine.
Orduña, recognizing that his indiscretion had been the cause of this disaster, hastened to repair his mistake. 111 He met with much difficulty in raising a sufficient force, as he had already made himself unpopular with most of the colonists, but at the beginning of December he left the city accompanied by forty foot-soldiers, thirty-two horse, and four hundred Mexican and Tlascaltec allies,[VI‑27] the latter commanded by Spanish officers. As Orduña had little faith in his own abilities as a leader, and his soldiers had none, the command of this force was intrusted to the treasurer Francisco de Castellanos, a man of spirit and ability. On arriving in Chichicastenango Orduña sent envoys to Uspantan with a summons to surrender.[VI‑28] The reply was of a practical nature: the emissaries were immediately put to death.
The natives must now be brought under subjection by force of arms, and Orduña sent forward Castellanos with the greater portion of the troops to undertake the fighting, while he himself remained in safe quarters at Chichicastenango.[VI‑29] The latter first directed his march against the important stronghold of Nebah. On arriving at the river Sacapulas he found for some time an impassable obstacle, on account of the precipitous nature of the ravine down which it flowed. By moving up stream, he discovered at last 112 a spot where he could descend, and throwing a bridge over the river made good his crossing. Ascending the opposite slope, he encountered on the summit a body of five thousand warriors gathered there from Nebah and neighboring towns. They retired on his approach, and took up a position at a narrow mountain pass, whence they were driven only after a sharp and protracted struggle.
Castellanos then advanced without further opposition to Nebah, which like many other Indian towns he found to be a natural stronghold. Such reliance did the natives place on the protection of the precipices which surrounded it, that they did not think it necessary to post sentinels, and all collected to defend its only entrance. This over-confidence wrought their destruction. While the assault was being made, a few Tlascaltecs and Mexicans succeeded, by clinging to tendrils and creepers, in scaling the height in the rear of the town. Then approaching unobserved they set fire to some houses. The conflagration spread; the defence was soon abandoned; and the Spaniards rushing through the narrow entrance were soon masters of the town. On the following day all the inhabitants were branded; and such was the effect of the fall of this fortress, that the neighboring villages as well as the large town of Chahúl surrendered without opposition.
The Spaniards then marched on Uspantan, where ten thousand warriors belonging to that district, aided by an equal number of allies, disdained submission. This place was also practically impregnable, and again but for excess of confidence the garrison might have remained in security. But when they saw the little army under Castellanos impudently sitting down before their door, the men of Uspantan resolved to go forth and sweep them from the earth. The Spaniards took up their position, the infantry being divided into two equal bodies, and stationed on the wings, while the horsemen occupied the centre somewhat in advance. 113 As soon as the onset was made and the assailants were engaged with the cavalry, the foot, rapidly deploying to right and left, fell upon the enemy's flanks simultaneously and overthrew them with great slaughter. So many prisoners of high position were taken that the submission of Uspantan and the allied towns was secured, and Castellanos, having branded and reduced to slavery a large number of his captives, returned to Santiago about the beginning of 1530.
During the same year the confusion caused by Orduña's maleadministration held out a hope to the stubborn Cuzcatecans of even yet winning back their independence, and once more they rose in revolt. Diego de Rojas was sent by the captain general with a small force to aid the Spanish settlers in that part of the province in suppressing the insurrection. His efforts were successful; but when about to accept the surrender of a fortress that lay beyond the river Lempa he heard the unwelcome news that a party of Spaniards were approaching from the south. Rojas determined to reconnoitre in person, and his curiosity was soon gratified, for while doing so he was made prisoner with a number of his followers. The intruders proved to be a party of two hundred men despatched by Pedrarias Dávila, under Martin Estete, for the purpose of making possession of Salvador and making that province an appendage to Nicaragua. If a man of ability had been in charge of this expedition it is not improbable that its purpose might have been accomplished; but Estete, though by name a soldier, had neither courage nor military skill. In the hour of trial he deserted his men; and it has already been related that about half of his force joined the colonists of Guatemala.
At the foot of a precipitous mountain range near Gracias á Dios is the circus of Copan, where lie the ruins of an ancient town which are yet an object of 114 interest to travellers. Fuentes, writing about the close of the seventeenth century, describes it as a space surrounded by pyramids of stone, eighteen feet in height, at the base of which were sculptured figures attired in Castilian costume. The place was garrisoned by thirty thousand troops well supplied with provisions, and was guarded, at the only point where approach was possible, by a deep fosse and a barricade of earth, pierced with loop-holes. To this stronghold Hernando de Chaves, who had been ordered to quell an uprising in the adjoining province of Chiquimula, now resolved to lay siege. Drawing up his forces in front of it he approached within bow-shot of the town at the head of a small band of horse and demanded its surrender. He was answered with flights of arrows directed with such good aim that he was glad to make his escape.
On the following morning an assault was made upon the intrenchment, but without success; and though the attack was renewed again and again during the day, and the arquebuses and cross-bows of the Spaniards spread havoc among the defenders, at nightfall no impression had been made, and Chaves was compelled to draw off his forces sorely discomfited. He had exceeded his orders and was acting on his own responsibility in attempting the subjugation of Copan. He was compelled to admit his rashness; but the question was now which way should he turn in his present dilemma? To capture the stronghold with his slender force was all but impossible, while failure and retreat would bring disgrace upon the Spanish arms and dishonor on himself. When brooding over the difficulties of his position the welcome news was brought that a spot had been discovered where the depth and width of the fosse were comparatively small, and on the following day he again led his men to the attack. The struggle was long and doubtful. The Spaniards obstinately refused to withdraw, though time after time, as they attempted 115 to scale the rampart, they were repelled by lance-thrusts, or crushed under falling rocks.
The day was at last decided by the desperate courage of a cavalry soldier, one Juan Vazquez de Osuña, who, enraged at the repulse of his comrades, plunged the spurs into his horse and rode him straight at the ditch. The steed cleared the fosse, striking the barricade with his barbed chest. The works could not withstand the shock: palisades and earth gave way; the frightened horse, urged on by his impetuous rider, struggled through the debris and plunged amidst the mass of warriors, scattering them in every direction. Other horsemen came to Osuña's support. The whole Spanish force followed, swarming through the breach, and formed in line inside the defences. The contest which ensued was no exception to the usual issue of Spanish warfare in America. The horsemen spread terror and death through the ranks of the natives, while the foot-soldiers followed up the work of carnage. The cacique rallied his scattered troops upon a strong body of reserves posted in a favorable position, and attempted to retrieve the day, but the resistance was brief; their ranks were soon broken, and Copan was in the hands of the victors. Not even yet, however, did the chieftain abandon hope. Leaving his capital to the foe, he retreated to Sitalá, on the confines of his domain. Here he rallied all the men he could muster, and soon at the head of a formidable army he made a desperate effort to win back Copan. Twice he assailed the Spaniards with desperate courage, and twice was driven back, his best warriors being left dead on the field. At length, convinced of the uselessness of further resistance, he tendered his submission, and from his mountain retreat sent the tributary offering of gold and plumage. His surrender was graciously accepted by Chaves, who received him with the condescension and courtesy becoming a conqueror.[VI‑30] 116
About the middle of 1530, Pedro de Alvarado returned to Guatemala, having at length extricated himself from the net spread by his adversaries. Complaints that the audiencia was misinterpreting the king's instructions remained unheeded; representations that he was being unjustly deprived of opportunities to prosecute new conquests, and to reap some benefit from the great outlay he had incurred, had brought to his enemies a secret satisfaction. But later the political aspect of affairs had favored him. The audiencia and a strong party of their supporters were hostile to Cortés and spared no effort to prevent his return to Mexico.
None of the enemies were more active than the king's factor, Gonzalo de Salazar, who seized and imprisoned a number of the leading men of the opposite faction, and among them the brothers of Alvarado. Indignant at this proceeding the latter challenged Salazar to mortal combat,[VI‑31] and insurrectionary movements in the city excited the alarm of the oidores and their partisans. At this juncture information was received that Cortés was already on his way to Mexico. A compromise was agreed upon, and Alvarado was 117 at last permitted to continue his long-delayed journey to Santiago.[VI‑32]
Such is the version given by Remesal of Alvarado's escape from the investigation, but it is probable that he was compelled to disgorge much of his ill-gotten gains in making so-called presents to oidores and influential personages, and that he angrily shook the dust from his feet when he left Mexico, stripped of his wealth. Alas Tonatiuh! He was indeed a much injured highwayman who had fallen among thieves.[VI‑33]
On the 11th of April 1530 the adelantado arrived at the capital and was heartily welcomed; for to his absence were attributed all the evils wrought by Orduña. On the same day he presented to the cabildo his original appointment under the royal signature. The document was acknowledged with becoming gravity. It was passed round, kissed and otherwise honored, and finally enthroned in turn on the head of each member, all promising to obey it as a royal command. Then placing his right hand on the cross of the order granted to him by the emperor, Alvarado spoke the customary oath and took his seat as president of the cabildo.
Orduña's administration was now at an end, and on his return to Santiago no time was lost in instituting proceedings against him. He was ordered to give bonds in the sum of thirty thousand pesos de oro, and thereafter his name appears no more in the chronicles 118 of his age. But we may conclude that one who had shown such animosity toward the Alvarado party, and had been so successful in winning the hatred of a community, would not escape unharmed from the fire which he had built around him. Either this, or he had been doing that which best pleased those in power, in which case his punishment can scarcely be severe.
To wring redress from Orduña was, however, an easier matter than to correct the disorder which he had produced. The colonists were divided into numerous cliques, entertaining bitter animosities toward each other. The unfair distribution of repartimientos had developed feuds which threatened bloodshed at any moment; and those who had taken part in the conquest of the country saw with anger new-comers preferred before them in election to public office.
The independent spirit of the artisan and operative placed them in direct antagonism to the more aristocratic orders, who hated them for the extortions they practised and the disrespectful indifference they displayed. Numbers of mechanics, having acquired repartimientos and wealth, charged what they pleased, in defiance of law, and worked only when they felt inclined.[VI‑34] But even this class was divided against itself, and year by year the religious processions were attended with disgraceful tumults caused by those engaged in rival trades being thus brought together. The community was even threatened with dissolution. Many had left the province in disgust to settle in Mexico or Nicaragua, or to engage in mining ventures, and others were preparing to depart. The sites allotted for residences were unoccupied by their owners; the streets were almost impassable, and horses 119 and hogs roamed at large, causing destruction of crops, while blood-hounds were let loose and permitted to hunt down the unfortunate natives almost within sight of Santiago.
Such was the condition of affairs when Alvarado returned, and there is no doubt that his timely arrival saved the colony from destruction.[VI‑35] He recognized at once that the occasion required prompt and vigorous action, and struck at the root of the evil by prohibiting, under pain of death and confiscation, all serious quarrelling, whether by word or writing. Other measures for the correction of abuses and the reorganization of the affairs of the province quickly followed. A new distribution of repartimientos was ordered, and the conditions of military service were regulated. Whoever had two thousand Indians assigned to him must always be provided with a double set of weapons and two horses, and be ready to take the field at an hour's notice. He who had one thousand must possess a single set of arms and one horse. The encomendero of five hundred natives must be provided with a cross-bow or arquebuse, and with sword and dagger, and must furnish a horse if he could.
The laws existing in Guatemala as to the acquisition, tenure, and conveyance of land would, under a proper administration, and in a territory rich as was that province in natural resources, have assured prosperity to all but the unthrifty and improvident. Gold-mining met with fair return, and notwithstanding the ravages of wild beasts, the industries of stock-raising and agriculture were successfully conducted.[VI‑36] 120
Though the settlers were few in number,[VI‑37] they were sufficient, when acting in concert, to hold the natives in subjection. The citizens were for the most part required to do duty as soldiers in time of need. None but citizens could obtain a title to land; nor was that title confirmed until after a long term of service; nor could any acquire, even by purchase, more than his due share of the public domain.[VI‑38] But such was the mischief wrought by the maleadministration of Orduña that most of the Spaniards were on the verge of destitution.
On the 25th of September 1529 we find that the payment of debts was suspended for four months by order of the cabildo, on the ground that the horses and arms of the colonists would else be sold to others and the services of their owners lost to the province. Moreover the high price of all imported commodities added greatly to the distress of the more impoverished settlers. A dozen horseshoes sold for fifteen pesos, a common saddle for fifty, and a cloth coat could not be had for less than seventy pesos. The distance from the confines of Guatemala to Mexico, whence all such articles were obtained, was two hundred and seventy leagues. Two portions of the road, one of forty-five and the other of sixty leagues, led through a wilderness 121 impassable during the rainy season, except to Indians, on account of the swollen rivers and marshes.
During the remainder of the year 1530 few incidents worthy of note occurred in the province. The natives were frequently in revolt; but to describe each petty insurrection would be but tiresome repetition. One Luis Moscoso was despatched with a hundred and twenty men to the district beyond the Lempa, and after pacifying the natives founded there a settlement which Juarros declares to have been the town of San Miguel.[VI‑39] Diego de Alvarado, at the head of a hundred and seventy men, conducted an expedition to Honduras and founded in the northern part of that territory the town of San Jorge de Olancho,[VI‑40] but owing to famine and misfortune in April of the following year he was obliged to return with the shattered remnant of his command in such sorry plight that he was forced to ask the cabildo to receive and provide for them. 122
Ship-building in Guatemala—Alvarado Prepares an Expedition to the Spice Islands—But Turns his Attention toward Peru—Opposition of the Treasury Officials—The Pilot Fernandez Brings News of Atahualpa's Ransom—Strength of Alvarado's Armament—He Lands at Puerto Viejo—Failure of his Expedition—His Return to Guatemala—Native Revolts during his Absence—The Visitador Maldonado Arrives at Santiago—He Finds No Fault in the Adelantado—But is Afterwards Ordered to Take his Residencia—Alvarado in Honduras.
One of the first matters which engaged Alvarado's attention on his return to Santiago was the discovery of a site adapted to ship-building, for he was now resolved to carry out his intended voyage in search of the Spice Islands. In accordance with the emperor's instructions, he sent parties to explore the seaboard for that purpose. At a distance of fifteen leagues from the city, near the modern port of Istapa, a suitable spot was found, in the vicinity of which was an abundant supply of excellent timber, and the work was at once begun.
According to the terms of his commission from the crown, his discoveries and conquests were limited to the islands and mainland of that portion of the south sea bordering on New Spain, and thence in a westerly direction, and he was forbidden to form any settlement on a territory already assigned to others.[VII‑1] He 123 was appointed governor and alguacil mayor for life, and until otherwise ordered was to be intrusted with full civil, military, and judicial powers over all new lands which he might find. During the royal pleasure he was also to receive a twelfth of all profits which might in the future result from his explorations. Whether the expedition was to be fitted out entirely or only in part at the adelantado's expense is a matter not easily determined;[VII‑2] but in a letter to Charles V. sent in 1532, wherein he states his intention to build and equip a fleet of twelve vessels and raise a force of four hundred men, he declares that the cost of his armament will exceed forty thousand castellanos, and that this outlay will exhaust his private means. He claims of course that he is thus expending all his resources solely with his usual desire of serving the emperor, and avers that he has information of rich islands near the coast from the discovery of which his Majesty must derive great benefit.
While the construction of his fleet was yet in progress, rumors of Pizarro's conquest and of the fabulous wealth which had fallen to his lot were noised throughout the province. Alvarado was not over-scrupulous as to ways and means, as we well know. Already he had proved false to him through whose friendship and favor he had been raised to his high station; could he not now replenish his depleted purse, and also win glory in the land of the incas? Was it 124 not better thus to employ his armament than go on a wild-goose chase for islands no one had ever yet seen? And surely with a few ship-loads of Peruvian gold, which it would not take him long to gather, he could serve his sovereign as well as with never a maravedí in his treasury. It was fortunate, it was indeed providential, that now, when the fleet was almost ready, and the men equipped and prepared to embark, this princely quarry should have been started to the south of him.
On the return of a vessel despatched for supplies to Panamá the reports of the immense treasures discovered in Peru were confirmed, and the enthusiasm knew no bounds. "Come," said Alvarado to the colonists, "come with me and I will make you so rich that you may walk on bars of gold."
Among Alvarado's numerous enemies the most powerful and active were the treasury officials of Guatemala, who, though frequently divided among themselves, were constant in their opposition to the governor. Already they had reported him to the home government, charging him with neglect of duty, with levying forced contributions, and with disobedience to the royal ordinances. They now addressed a letter to the emperor, informing him of Alvarado's designs, representing the evil consequences that must ensue from an invasion of Pizarro's territory, the danger of withdrawing from Guatemala so large a force of Spaniards, and requesting that there be sent out to the province some trustworthy person with power to prevent the departure of all who held repartimientos and to act as governor during the adelantado's absence. They also informed the audiencia of Mexico of his purpose, and of the strength of his armament. Though fully aware of these proceedings, Alvarado gave no heed to them. He calmly continued his preparations, informing the royal officials that Guatemala was too limited an area for his ambition, and that 125 he must now seek elsewhere a wider field of action. Meanwhile he would insure the safety of the province by putting on board his fleet all the principal caciques, whom he had already secured for that purpose.
At this juncture came a mandate which even Alvarado did not dare to disregard. It was an order from the audiencia of Mexico forbidding him to sail until he had received his final instructions from the emperor.[VII‑3] Though sorely vexed at this interference, which he attributed to the machinations of Cortés, he must nevertheless submit to further delay. He again addressed a letter to Charles, asking permission to go to the assistance of Pizarro, assuring him that, from what he had learned of the difficulties encountered by that conqueror, he was convinced of his inability to complete unaided the conquest of Peru. In a previous despatch, wherein he had asked for his final instructions, he prayed that they be granted as speedily as possible. "For," he says, "after exhausting my private means, I have contracted heavy debts in order to save your Majesty all expense." The fleet, he informs him, is well provided with stores and provisions, the force of men almost complete, and, the better to insure the success of the expedition, he declares that he will take command of it in person, leaving a sufficient number of Spaniards in the province to guard against any possible uprising of the natives. He considers, however, that there is little danger of an outbreak, "for," as he remarks with refreshing assurance, "I have ever obeyed your Majesty's orders regarding the kind treatment of the Indians."[VII‑4]
Meanwhile Alvarado had found it necessary to remove his fleet for shelter to the bay of Fonseca, whence he despatched García Holguin with two ships to Peru for the purpose of ascertaining the actual 126 state of affairs and the nature of the country.[VII‑5] The adelantado soon learned to his cost that the bay of Fonseca was no secure haven, and after losing two of his vessels there during a heavy gale, sailed with the remainder for Puerto de la Posesion in Nicaragua, the modern Realejo.[VII‑6] While here awaiting the return of Holguin, he fell in with the pilot Juan Fernandez, one who had long been engaged in fitting out vessels for the trade between Nicaragua and Castilla del Oro. While transacting business in Panamá, Fernandez had listened to the marvellous stories of Pizarro's conquest, and journeying thence to Peru had there conversed with men who had been present at the capture and ransom of Atahualpa. No wonder that the tidings which the pilot now brought from the land of the incas fired the imagination of these gold-loving adventurers. More than 1,300,000 castellanos! Not even the treasures of Montezuma had yielded such a harvest. If Pizarro, with his diminutive force, had secured such booty, what might not Alvarado now hope for with his powerful fleet and veteran army?
Neither king nor audiencia should now thwart his purpose; nevertheless he must have ready some pretext for entering Pizarro's territory, if indeed he could not obtain permission. This was soon furnished by Fernandez, who informed him that the province of Quito, believed to be the principal depository of the treasures of the incas, had never yet been visited by Spaniards. It was no difficult matter for Alvarado to persuade himself that this region lay without the domain granted to Pizarro, and the self-interest of Fernandez, now appointed pilot of the expedition, prompted him to encourage such a delusion. 127
Soon after the arrival of the fleet in Nicaragua, Holguin rejoined the adelantado at Puerto de la Posesion and confirmed the statements of the pilot. A year had almost elapsed since Alvarado despatched a letter to the emperor requesting his final orders, but still no answer came, and his patience was well-nigh exhausted. He had long since been compelled to mortgage his private estate in order to meet the expense of maintaining his large force, and the cost of his armament had been vastly increased during all these weary months of waiting, the total outlay reaching the sum of 130,000 pesos de oro.[VII‑7] Provisions were becoming scarce; the vessels were threatened with destruction from the teredo; and his followers, beginning to lose faith in the enterprise, were on the point of desertion. At last a messenger arrived bringing the long looked for despatches. The instructions made no change in the original capitulation except in regard to route. He was now authorized to explore the land lying to the south of Pizarro's territory, between the thirteenth and twentieth degrees of latitude.[VII‑8]
The fleet now numbered twelve sail, eight being vessels of one hundred tons or more.[VII‑9] Three had been built on the shore of Guatemala; several had been purchased from the estate of Pedrarias Dávila; and the remainder were procured from the colonists of 128 Nicaragua.[VII‑10] His troops consisted chiefly of well tried soldiers. Many of them, weary of an inactive life, or of the now tame and bootless warfare of the conquered provinces, were enthusiastic over the prospect of renewing their deeds of conquest in a new land of promise.
Among the many distinguished persons who took part in the expedition were Gomez and Diego de Alvarado, brothers of the adelantado, and Captain Garcilaso de la Vega, father of the future historian of Peru. The total number was little short of three thousand. Of these two hundred and seventy were infantry, and two hundred and thirty cavalry, all well equipped. The ships were manned by one hundred and forty sailors, and on board the fleet were two hundred negro slaves,[VII‑11] and two thousand natives, male and female. Experienced pilots were engaged, the services of a bachiller were secured, and several friars were added to the expedition, "in order," says Alvarado, "that through the influence of these holy men our consciences may be cleared of guilt." Final preparations were then made for departure.
During the absence of Alvarado his brother Jorge was again to be placed in charge of the province of 129 Guatemala, and the cabildo of Santiago was enjoined to preserve harmony, and to render due respect and obedience to the lieutenant-governor. In a final letter to the emperor the adelantado, while repeating his assurances of devotion to the crown, dwells on the enormous expense of the expedition; but assures his Majesty that it has been willingly incurred in view of the vast importance of the undertaking, the success of which he promises shall eclipse all previous achievements. "God willing," he writes, "I set sail this very day, and my course shall be in accordance with your Majesty's wishes."
On the 23d of January 1534 the largest and most powerful armament that had hitherto been equipped on the shores of the South Sea set sail from Puerto de la Posesion, and the following month entered the bay of Caraques, proceeding thence ten leagues farther south to Puerto Viejo. The adelantado afterward excused himself to the emperor for thus trespassing on Pizarro's territory by stating that contrary winds and currents prevented his sailing further toward the south, that the safety of his fleet was endangered, that his supply of water was almost exhausted, and that ninety of his horses had perished at sea.[VII‑12] His march across the sierra, during which he lost a large portion of his men, the transfer of a part of his ships and his entire force to Almagro and Benalcázar, the associates of Pizarro, have already been mentioned in these pages.[VII‑13] He had boasted that he would lead his army through the province of Peru and drive Pizarro from the city of Cuzco.[VII‑14] He was now glad to return to Guatemala after disposing of his armament for a sum that barely covered the cost of the fleet. To add to his mortification he found on arriving at Santiago, at the beginning 130 of March 1535, that the silver bars given him in payment were one half copper.
No sooner had Alvarado sailed for Peru than the natives in many portions of the province rose once more in revolt. Bands of Cakchiquels, thirsting for the blood of their oppressors, roamed over the central sierra; in the districts of Sacapulas and Uspantan seven Spaniards and numbers of their slaves and servants were murdered; the Indians on the southern seaboard both of Guatemala and Salvador were in open rebellion; and war and war's turmoil again prevailed throughout the land. The struggle was brief but desperate. Crushed though they had often been, the dreadful sufferings of these unfortunate people drove them to madness, and they fought with sullen indifference to life, but with the usual result. In January 1535 Gonzalo Ronquillo was sent with a sufficient force to quell the uprising in Salvador; in Guatemala the insurgents in district after district were again compelled to taste the bitterness of hopeless bondage; and by the time of the adelantado's return resistance was well-nigh ended.
Notwithstanding the ignominious failure of his expedition to Peru, the adelantado at once began preparations for further schemes of conquest and discovery. In a despatch to the India Council, dated November 1535,[VII‑15] he states that he has three vessels ready for sea and four others on the stocks, and that he has sufficient men both for his ships and for land service. "So many Spaniards," he says, "have returned from Peru in reduced circumstances that, if the expedition were only intended to furnish them with employment, it would be doing his Majesty a service."
Meanwhile the representations made to the emperor by the treasury officials had not been without effect. On the 20th of February 1534 a royal cédula was 131 issued ordering that a visitador be at once despatched to Guatemala to examine into the condition of the royal treasury and the affairs of the government and church, and to hear complaints and rectify them when necessary. His authority fell short of that of a judge of residencia. He could not interfere with the ordinary jurisdiction of the governor or his lieutenant, nor was even the audiencia of Mexico allowed to decide in matters of graver import, but must apply for instructions to the India Council.
Thus it was that about the middle of the year 1535 the oidor, Alonso de Maldonado, arrived at Santiago, and publicly proclaiming in due form the object of his visit, assigned fifty days as the limit of the investigation. No complaints, however, either of a civil or criminal nature, were preferred against the adelantado; and the visitador having reported to the royal council to that effect, returned to Mexico, the former remarking with much inward satisfaction, not unseasoned with a little venom, that the oidor had accomplished nothing by his visit.[VII‑16] But the emperor's ministers were not satisfied that justice had been done; and Maldonado, being ordered in the following 132 October to take Alvarado's residencia in strict form, returned to Santiago, and on the 10th of May 1536 presented his credentials to the cabildo and took charge of the government.
At the time of the oidor's arrival the adelantado was absent on an expedition to Honduras. The condition of affairs in this province had now become so distressful that, as will hereafter be related, the settlers were compelled to apply to him for aid. Nor was the appeal disregarded. He had for some time been in correspondence, as to an exchange of territory, with Francisco de Montejo, who, though already appointed governor of Honduras, was still residing in Mexico. Could he but gain a foothold there, his schemes for transcontinental commerce with the Spice Islands might yet be realized. Nothing definite had yet been determined; but now that he had an opportunity of rendering a service which would give him almost a claim to the king's consent to such an arrangement, he did not hesitate to go to the relief of the troubled province. There we shall hear of him again, founding new settlements and infusing fresh life into a community that was on the very verge of dissolution. 133
Francisco Marroquin Arrives at Santiago—He is Appointed Bishop—Godlessness of the Colonists—The Prelate Invites Las Casas to Join Him—Marroquin's Consecration in Mexico—The Church at Santiago Elevated to Cathedral Rank—Difficulty in Collecting the Church Tithes—The Merced Order in Guatemala—Miraculous Image of Our Lady of Merced—Bibliographical.
When Pedro de Alvarado was laying waste the fair province of Guatemala with fire and sword during the early years of the conquest, he paid little heed to the presence of the priestly order. One of the friars, named Pontaz, of whom mention has before been made, took up his abode at Quezaltenango, and there lived in security, instilling faith and hope into the native heart,[VIII‑1] while another, Juan de Torres, for a time at least, labored in the vineyard under less easy circumstances at Patinamit. The spiritual wants of the Spaniards themselves were ministered to by the army chaplains and parish priest. But the clerical staff was not large enough to attend to the religious welfare even of the colonists. On the 5th of November 1529, the cabildo of Guatemala represented to the royal officers that half the colonists, being usually engaged in war, required the services of the clergy during their campaigns, while the population of the city at that time was such that two friars at least ought to reside there. They requested, therefore, 134 that a suitable number of ecclesiastics and a sacristan be appointed with fixed salaries, and that the necessary church furniture and ornaments be supplied. This demand was made with some urgency, and the treasurer and auditor were given to understand that, if it were not complied with, the tithes would be retained and devoted to that purpose; whereupon his Majesty's officers declared that they were willing to grant the tithes for the year then current, but that future necessities must be provided for in accordance with the orders of the king.
The spiritual needs of the community were partially relieved by the arrival, in 1530, of the licentiate Francisco Marroquin, who accompanied Alvarado on his return to Guatemala during that year. A few months later he was appointed to the benefice of Santiago, and after he had taken the customary oaths the cabildo assigned to him an annual salary of one hundred and fifty pesos de oro per annum.
Of patrician birth, and possessing talents of no common order, the licentiate gave promise during his early manhood of a useful and honorable career, and not until in after years he had dwelt long among communities where lust of power and greed for wealth permeated all classes of society, did the darker phase of his character appear. After receiving an education befitting his rank and ability, he graduated as professor of theology in the university of Osma, and was ordained a priest. Meeting with Alvarado at the court of Spain, he was so impressed with his glowing descriptions of the marvels of the New World that he requested permission to accompany him on his return to Guatemala. On arriving at Santiago he at once assiduously applied himself to the study of the native languages, and soon became especially proficient in the Quiché tongue.[VIII‑2] Marroquin's appointment was confirmed 135 by the bishop of Mexico, by whom he was also made provisor and vicar general of the province, and such was the zeal and capacity with which he tended the spiritual and material needs of his flock that in 1533 he was appointed by the emperor to the see of Guatemala. In December of the following year his appointment was confirmed by his holiness Paul III.[VIII‑3]
The chief anxiety of the newly appointed prelate was to provide a sufficient number of ecclesiastics for the requirements of his extensive diocese. The secular priests residing in Guatemala at this period as we have seen were inadequate to the great work of conversion which he contemplated, and he felt the necessity of aid from those of the established orders. Besides those who first came, a few friars had, indeed, visited the province, but found there no abiding-place.[VIII‑4] In 1529, or possibly at an earlier date, a convent was founded near Santiago by the Dominican friar, Domingo de Betanzos,[VIII‑5] who travelled on foot from Mexico 136 with a single companion. At the beginning of the following year however he was recalled, and as there was no one of his order qualified by rank to take his place he locked up the building and intrusting the keys to the padre Juan Godinez retraced his steps.
Thus Marroquin was left to contend almost alone with the idolatry of the natives and the godlessness of the colonists. The work was difficult and progress slow. The settlers were too absorbed in other matters, in house-building, gambling, and drinking, to give much heed to religion. The church was unattended, the church rates were unpaid, and the neglect became so general that eventually laws were passed to enforce due observance of religious rites. In May 1530 it was publicly cried in the streets of Santiago that, by order of the governor and the cabildo, all the artisans of the city must, on the day of Corpus Christi, walk in procession before the holy sacrament, as was customary in Spain. The penalty for non-compliance was fixed at thirty pesos, one half of the amount being assigned to the church and the remainder to the city. In February 1533 a law was passed making attendance at divine service compulsory, every citizen being required to attend mass on Sunday, under penalty of three days' imprisonment or the payment of three pesos de oro. This measure of course served but to widen the breach between the bishop and his flock, and in June of the same year we learn that the regidor Antonio de Salazar stated to the cabildo, that there were no means of paying Marroquin the stipend allotted to him. Notwithstanding all discouragements, however, he resolved that the settlers should not lack for spiritual guidance.
At the beginning of the year 1536 Bartolomé de Las Casas was residing at Leon, there engaged in a controversy with Rodrigo de Contreras, the governor of Nicaragua, the story of which will hereafter be related. In 1531 he had passed through Santiago on his way to the South Sea, and Marroquin had then 137 an opportunity of making the acquaintance of the great apostle of the Indies. In common with the more enlightened of the colonists he would fain have had him take up his abode in their midst. But Las Casas was bound on one of his many missions of mercy, though his efforts were destined to prove futile. He was journeying toward Peru, armed with a royal cédula forbidding the conquerors in that land, and all their followers, to deprive the natives of their liberty under any pretext whatever. No entreaties could induce him to abandon his undertaking, and embarking at Realejo he reached his destination at the end of the year. There, what man could do, he did; but such were the political disturbances then prevailing that his efforts were lost. Urged by members of his own order, he reluctantly abandoned the field and returned to Nicaragua.
To him the prelate now applied for aid, representing the sore need of a larger force of ecclesiastics, and begging him to come to Santiago and reopen the deserted convent. The invitation was accepted, and Las Casas with his fellow Dominicans established their order permanently in Guatemala.
But Marroquin was not yet satisfied. At this early period in his career he was an enthusiast in the missionary cause, and he now resolved to go to Spain and beg assistance of the emperor. But first he must proceed to consecration, and on the 12th of January 1537 he set forth for Mexico, where, about two months later, the ceremony, the first of the kind that occurred in the Indies, was conducted with due solemnity and splendor.[VIII‑6]
The bishop's labors were now directed to the elevation of the parish church of Santiago to cathedral rank. He therefore proceeded to frame the constitution and complete the establishment of his diocese in 138 accordance with the commission granted to him by Paul III. He prescribed that the dignitaries of the church should include a dean, an archdeacon, a precentor, a chancellor, and a treasurer. He established ten canonries and six prebendaries. He defined the church revenues; ordained that preferment to minor benefices should be open to those born in the country, whether of Spanish or native race, and that the appointments to them should pertain to the bishop. Divine services were to be celebrated in the manner observed in the cathedral of Seville. Prebendaries were to have a vote in the chapters, and these were to be held on Tuesdays and Fridays. On Tuesdays general church matters were to be discussed, and on Fridays internal discipline was to be considered.[VIII‑7]
When on the point of departing for Spain, the bishop was advised by his friends that the journey would be attended with great risk; for already the North Sea was infested with pirates, and a large number of Spanish vessels had been captured by French corsairs. Moreover the expenses he had incurred in Mexico had drawn heavily on his slender purse, and he did not wish to return to his native country wholly destitute of means. Resolving therefore to abandon his voyage, he forwarded his power of attorney to Juan Galvarro, the procurador of Santiago at the court of Spain, instructing him to send to Guatemala a number of ecclesiastics and to pay their passage and outfit. He also addressed a letter to the emperor,[VIII‑8] informing him of the great need of missionaries, and stating that he had asked aid both from 139 Mexico and Santo Domingo, but had received none, although it had been promised.
During the early part of the year Charles had already appointed the cathedral prebendaries. Marroquin remarks that his Majesty was somewhat hasty in the matter, and not sufficiently considerate toward those who had so long shared with himself the labor of supporting the church at Santiago. These, he declares, it would be unreasonable for him to dismiss, though he is at a loss to conjecture whence the means to support his diocese would be derived. He well knew the perverse temper of the colonists and their antagonism to the cause of the church. Nevertheless he forwarded to the cabildo a provision handed to him by the viceroy Mendoza ordering the church tithes which were usually paid in kind to be delivered by the natives direct to the bishop at places where their value would be real and available.[VIII‑9] His mind was full of doubt as to the manner in which this regulation would be received by the encomenderos. The tone of his letter indicates misgiving, united with a rare spirit of self-negation, and he appears rather as a pleader than as a claimant for his rights.[VIII‑10] "You will pay," he says, "what is due in a proper manner; if not, I command that no scandal be raised about it."
Nor were his apprehensions unfounded. The settlers in Guatemala were a stiff-necked people. They would not go to church, and they did not intend that the delivery of the tithes should cost them anything if they could avoid it. They could not spare their Indians to carry the tithes a distance of many leagues to the places appointed. The bishop must send for them. They and not the ecclesiastics had conquered the province, and they did not see that either God or 140 the emperor had any claim upon it. The cabildo immediately appealed to the viceroy, and meeting with no sympathy in that quarter addressed themselves directly to the emperor.[VIII‑11] Their representations gained for them some concessions, whereupon they pressed the matter further and protested against paying tithes at all. Though the bishop was now at a loss whither to turn to obtain the means for carrying out his various plans, he none the less labored with unceasing perseverance,[VIII‑12] and on his return to Guatemala, at the end of 1537, brought with him two friars of the order of Merced, Juan Zambrano and Marcos Perez Dardon.[VIII‑13]
After the conquest of Mexico, certain members of this order obtained the royal permission to proceed to the newly discovered countries for certain charitable purposes. When the subjugation was completed many of them settled in towns built by the Spaniards, but no convent of their order existed in New Spain at a very early date. To Bishop Marroquin they are indebted for the establishment of their first monastery in North America. This was founded in 1537[VIII‑14] at Ciudad Real in Chiapas, and in the following year frailes Zambrano and Dardon organized a similar institution in Santiago.
When, as will be hereafter told, the city of Santiago was almost destroyed by inundation in 1541, the friars of La Merced, then six in number, were 141 compelled for a time to remain amid the ruins of the deserted city, for such was the indifference of the settlers that no land was assigned to them in the site afterward chosen. Finally, through the efforts of the bishop, an allotment was granted, and in the erection of their new convent they were greatly assisted by the Dominicans, who subsequently transferred to them several of the Indian towns under their charge. From this time they increased in number, gradually extended the field of their labors in Guatemala, and having districts assigned them by the bishop were enabled in after years to found convents in various parts of the country.[VIII‑15]
In the church of their order at Santiago was an image of Our Lady of La Merced, for which miraculous properties were claimed. The story as related in documents in the archives of the convent is as follows: As a westward-bound vessel was about to sail from the port of Santa María in Spain, a person dressed in the garb of a traveller approached the captain, and placing in his hands a closed box charged him to deliver it unopened to the superior of the convent in Guatemala. The aspect and bearing of the man impressed the seaman, and he faithfully discharged the commission. On receiving the casket, the superior carried it to the church, accompanied by the friars, and having opened it in their presence, the sacred effigy was disclosed. Great was their rejoicing at this unexpected boon; but their happiness was complete when they marked the divine serenity of the countenance, and perceived that an exquisite fragrance was exhaled from the holy image. Ere long one of their number noticed that from a wound in the right side a strange fluid oozed. Divine manifestation was recognized, and many of the afflicted were cured of their diseases by the application of the ichor.[VIII‑16] 142
Domingo Juarros may be considered the leading Guatemalan historian of modern times. He was born in the old city of Guatemala in 1752, and died in 1820. He wrote very fully on the subjugation of his country by the conquerors. Although his work is called the history of Guatemala city, it gives in reality the history of all Central America, and provides lists of all prominent officials, civil and ecclesiastical, and biographical notices of leading men, whether soldiers, priests, or rulers. The first volume treats of geography, settlements, church matters, and the history of Guatemala city. The second is devoted to the ancient records of the country, its conquest and settlement. The author was a secular presbyter and synodal examiner, and quite an able and intelligent man. His connection with the clergy and his rank gave him access to both ecclesiastical documents and government records. His work is full and clear, and displays considerable research, but unfortunately he follows Fuentes too closely, and this latter author's partiality to the conquerors renders him too biassed to be faithful as an historian. Yet Juarros frequently displays compassion for the Indians, is always ready to retract an error when he detects himself making one, and is ever cautious against dogmatic assertion. He draws largely from Remesal and Vazquez, and quotes several other of the earlier authorities; but strangely enough, while mentioning the manuscripts of Gonzalo de Alvarado and Bernal Diaz, and of writers in the Quiché, Cakchiquel, and Pipil tongues, he does not allude to Alvarado's letters to Cortés. This omission, and his numerous direct disagreements with Alvarado's own statements, lead to the inference that neither Juarros nor Fuentes consulted these despatches. Juarros' work is remarkably free from church bias. Though a priest he censures undue zeal or carelessness on the part of friars. Miracles receive attention, however, and so do stories of giants and other marvels. His arrangement with regard to the order of events is bad, and the want of logical sequence gives the work an appearance of incompleteness. The first edition was published in Guatemala by Don Ignacio Betela, and the two volumes appeared respectively in 1808 and 1818. A later issue was published in the same city in 1857. J. Baily translated the first publication into English, in a slightly abridged form, which was issued in London by John Hearne in 1823. In this edition omissions and inaccuracies may be noticed.
Francisco Vazquez, the author of the Chronica de la Provincia del Santissimo Nõbre de Jesvs de Gvatemala, was a friar of the Franciscan order, retired lecturer, calificador del Santo Oficio, and synodal examiner in the diocese of Guatemala. His work was published in the city of Guatemala in 1714, and according to the title-page and preface there was, or was to have been, a second volume, consisting of two books, the existing one containing three. This work, which is rare, although mainly devoted to chronicling petty details of the labors of obscure friars, throws much light upon the early history of Guatemala during the conquest and subsequently down to the end of the sixteenth century. The author, having had access to the city archives at the early date at which he wrote, was able to avail himself of documents which have since disappeared. Fortunately he quotes such evidence frequently, thus enabling the historian to establish historical facts which otherwise, in the face of conflicting assertions of chroniclers unsupported by evidence, he would be 143 unable to do. Vazquez has undoubtedly borrowed much material from Remesal, giving him little or no credit, while he mercilessly exposes his real or supposed errors. The jealousy which existed between the Franciscan and Dominican orders was the cause of this unfairness. In his opening declaration the author protests that, when he applies terms of praise to any who figure in his history, he is but giving the common and general estimation. This will hardly apply to his adulation of Alvarado and other conquerors, and his eager defence of their actions. It is not easy to find in the old chroniclers, clerical or secular, an uncompromising champion of their conduct, in face of the reliable and varied evidence of the cruelties practised by them. In defence of the conquerors he asserts that the vices and cruelties of a few were attributed to all; and without one symptom of feeling for the natives, maintains that their refusal to receive the faith was the cause of the incessant warfare. On this subject he writes: "It causes me much pain, disgust, and affliction to read some books which attempt, with artificial piety, to persuade us that the Indians were innocent and inoffensive lambs, and that the Christians were cruel furies, it being certain that these races while in a condition of paganism were greater butchers than blood-thirsty wolves, more cruel than lamiæ, harpies, and infernal furies, and, were it not for subjection and fear, they would neither have become Christians nor now remain so." 29-32. The matter contained in his work is badly arranged; the sentences drawn out to a puzzling length, a fault which, in addition to a lack of proper punctuation, renders the recital of facts frequently confusing. Information of the neighboring provinces can, in a less degree, be obtained from this volume. 144
Diego Mendez de Hinostrosa Appointed Lieutenant-governor—Salcedo Returns to Trujillo—His Office Usurped by Vasco de Herrera—Death of Salcedo—Three Rival Claimants for the Governorship—Expeditions to the Naco and Jutigalpa Valleys—Diego Mendez Conspires against Herrera—Assassination of the Latter—A Reign of Terror—Arrest and Execution of the Conspirator—Arrival of Governor Albitez at Trujillo—His Death—Andrés de Cereceda at the Head of Affairs—Distress of the Spaniards—Exodus of Settlers from Trujillo—They Establish a Colony in the Province of Zula—Cereceda Appeals for Aid to Pedro de Alvarado—He is Roughly Used by his own Followers—Alvarado Arrives in Honduras—He Founds New Settlements—His Departure for Spain.
When Salcedo set out for the Freshwater Sea, hoping to gain possession of the province of Nicaragua—an expedition which, it will be remembered, resulted only in his humiliation and imprisonment[IX‑1]—his lieutenant, Francisco de Cisneros, left in charge of the government with a force entirely insufficient to uphold his authority, was overpowered by his enemies, and for a time anarchy prevailed throughout Honduras. Captain Diego Mendez de Hinostrosa, despatched by Salcedo from Leon to quell the rebellion, succeeded in restoring order, but only for a time. Before many months had elapsed Diego Mendez was placed under arrest and the regidor Vasco de Herrera appointed in his stead. The new ruler, of whom it is related that, being guilty of sedition, he had fled from Spain to avoid punishment, soon gave the settlers cause to repent of 145 their choice. His first undertaking was to organize a raid to the Olancho Valley, where without cause or pretext he made war on the caciques, kidnapped and branded their subjects, and returned with three shiploads of slaves.
In February 1529 Salcedo returned to Trujillo. Before his departure from Nicaragua he had sent his nephew to Spain, to justify before the emperor his conduct in the dispute with Pedrarias, but was answered only by a severe reprimand for his cruel treatment of the natives.[IX‑2] Shattered in health and broken in spirit, he did not venture to depose the usurper from office, and contented himself with merely ordering the release of Diego Mendez, who at once lodged a criminal complaint against Herrera and his accomplices. Salcedo endeavoring to please both parties pronounced the arrest of the former illegal, but inflicted no punishment on the wrong-doers. Herrera thereupon appealed to the audiencia of Panamá, and Diego Mendez awaited an opportunity for revenge, declaring himself meanwhile to be hugely disgusted with the governor's pusillanimity.
To appease the popular discontent the governor promised to conduct the settlers to the Naco Valley, where rich gold-mines were believed to exist. The expedition was delayed as long as possible, for he had nothing to gain by such an undertaking; but at length moved by the clamor of the colonists and the warning of his spies, who informed him that the people were again ripe for revolt, he ordered preparations to be made. One hundred and twenty foot and sixty horse with a number of natives sufficient for working the mines were soon in readiness to embark, with instructions to sail for Puerto de Caballos, and thence proceed inland a distance of twenty leagues to their destination. The journey was to be accomplished as far as possible by sea in order that the natives might be 146 spared the fatigue of a long overland march, and, to create the impression that they were no longer to be maltreated, orders were given that the branding-irons be destroyed. But before Salcedo had time to give further proof of his humane intentions, his death occurred at Trujillo on the 3d of January 1530,[IX‑3] and the proposed expedition was deferred.
There were now three rival claimants for the governorship—the treasurer Andrés de Cereceda, who a few months before the governor's decease had been nominated as his successor, and also appointed guardian to his infant son; Herrera, who, though he held no valid claim to the office,[IX‑4] had the support of the regidores; and finally Diego Mendez, who urged that the authority conferred on him by Salcedo at Leon had never yet been legally revoked. Cereceda, knowing that he had the good wishes of all peaceably disposed colonists, demanded his recognition from the cabildo, but was strenuously opposed by Herrera and his faction. After much wrangling it was finally agreed to submit the matter to arbitration; and it was decided that the two should rule conjointly, with the condition that the latter should hold the keys of the royal treasury. Arrangements were also made for a partition of the late governor's property; and each bound himself by oath not to lay his cause before the authorities in Spain. Meanwhile Diego Mendez was silenced with threats of death and confiscation of property.[IX‑5]
Thus for a time a truce was declared between the rival factions; but Cereceda had neither the firmness nor the capacity to oppose his colleague, and soon 147 submitted in all things to his will. Even in the distribution of the slaves which belonged of right to Salcedo's son,[IX‑6] Herrera demanded for himself the lion's share, and compelled the child's guardian not only to consent, but to take oath that he would not report the matter to the emperor.[IX‑7] Each, however, feared that the other might secretly despatch letters to Spain. A ship then happened to be lying at Trujillo ready for sea, and Cereceda, suspecting that his rival would send despatches, ordered all her canvas to be withdrawn. He was outwitted, however, by his more astute colleague, for a caravel which arrived in port during the same night was seized by unknown persons, and her sails transferred to the other vessel, which immediately set sail for Spain. Cereceda, openly charged the trick upon Herrera, who of course indignantly denied it. The event proved that the ship carried letters from the cabildo, recommending Herrera's appointment as sole ruler, together with a missive from Herrera himself, in which he claimed that he had rendered good service to the crown and had only admitted a colleague in order to prevent discord and riot. Moreover he represented the affairs of the province in a most favorable light, stating that the mines were exceedingly rich and asking for ships and supplies with which to complete the exploration of the territory and more fully develop its resources.
The proposed expedition had meanwhile been despatched to the Naco Valley, and a settlement founded there named Nuestra Señora de la Encarnacion. A party of sixty men, under the command of Captain 148 Alonso Ortiz, had also taken possession of the valley of Jutigalpa, some twelve leagues distant from Trujillo, a region of which the governor remarks in his letter that "there is no river or ravine where gold does not abound."[IX‑8] The natives of the latter district gathered their crops, and removing all their provisions fled to the mountains, there to await the effect of starvation on the Spaniards. Ortiz, however, sent messengers assuring them that he came not to make war but to settle peaceably in their midst, and by kind treatment induced them to return to their habitations, thus affording one of those rare instances where the commander of a military expedition forbore to enslave or plunder the natives who fell into his power.
Honduras.
Although Herrera and his partisans now held almost undisputed control at Trujillo, they were far from being satisfied with the situation. They well knew that their old enemy, Diego Mendez, was awaiting revenge; while Cereceda, though quietly watching the course of events, was ready for action when the proper moment should arrive. Their greed for wealth and lust of power had brought them into disrepute 149 among all the colonists, except those of their own faction, and even certain members of the cabildo were numbered among their enemies. Fearing that the settlers would break out into open revolt, Herrera proposed to abandon Trujillo and establish elsewhere in the province a new and independent colony. Cereceda, knowing that such a measure would be fatal to the prosperity of the settlement, strove to prevent it by encouraging intermarriage between the families of the rival cliques and dividing among them a portion of the slaves which had fallen to his share at the division of Salcedo's property.[IX‑9]
A revolt which occurred about a year afterward, among the tribe of the cacique Peyzacura, afforded Herrera an opportunity to carry out his intention. The Indians of this district were employed in working certain mines not far distant from Trujillo, and had long endured their bondage without murmur, but the rigor of their taskmasters, who, "with one foot in the stirrup," as Oviedo tells us, "ready to abandon the province," cared only to enrich themselves as speedily as possible, at length drove them to rebellion. Several Spaniards were murdered, and as the insurrection soon spread through the adjoining territory, it became necessary to despatch a strong armed force to restore order. An expedition was prepared of which Herrera insisted on taking charge, inviting his associates, and all others who were inclined to join him, to enroll themselves under his command. A feeling of discontent and unrest pervaded the community, and many of the leading colonists gathering together their effects cast in their lot with the governor. But instead of marching against the hostile natives he led his followers to the territory of a friendly chieftain, 150 and there for several months they wasted their time and substance in revelry and ostentatious display, leaving Trujillo unprotected and the rebels unpunished.
Meanwhile Diego Mendez had not been idle. Soon after Herrera's departure it chanced that Cereceda was called away from Trujillo, and taking advantage of the absence of both governors he presented himself before the cabildo, and demanded that some means be devised for protecting the province against the evil effect of their divided authority. Both rulers were notified of this measure on their return to the settlement. Cereceda gave no heed to the matter, knowing that it was not intended to affect himself, but Herrera at once accused his old adversary of plotting against him, and induced the cabildo to forbid him, under pain of death, to make a second appeal. But Diego Mendez had already won over many of the most powerful adherents of his opponent, and resolved on yet more decisive action. Having regained the certificate as lieutenant-governor, which had been given to him by Salcedo, and taken from him upon his arrest at Trujillo,[IX‑10] he boldly appeared a second time before the cabildo, and claimed recognition of his office. Herrera now caused sentence of death to be pronounced against his rival, who thereupon took refuge in the church. After some attempt at negotiation, which terminated only in mutual abuse, the governor threatened to disregard the right of sanctuary, and eject him by force.
But the administration of Vasco de Herrera was drawing to a close. By promise of reward to those who should join his cause, Diego Mendez had secured the alliance of at least forty of the citizens of Trujillo, while the former could muster but twenty or thirty men, most of his followers being engaged in quelling 151 an Indian revolt in the Olancho Valley. None felt secure so long as the governor was alive, and they resolved to assassinate him. Within the walls of the church the conspirators met by night to arrange their plans, and on a Sunday evening, the 8th of October 1531, about two hours after sunset, rushed into the public square, and began shouting their vivas. Cereceda, who as yet had no information of the plot, was at his own dwelling in consultation with certain of the friars, as to the best means of restoring harmony in the province and reuniting the several factions. On hearing the noise they seized their arms and, hastening to the plaza, were met with cries of "Long live the king and his chief-justice who comes this way." Forcing a passage through the crowd they beheld Herrera lying wounded from a dagger-thrust in his side, while round his neck the rabble had fastened a rope, for the purpose of dragging him through the streets. The governor and his companions bore him to a place of safety; but he was beyond human aid, and in a few hours he breathed his last within the walls of the sanctuary from which he had threatened to drag forth his rival to execution. The mob was then ordered to disperse, but refused to obey, shouting "Long live the king and the community."
Finding himself unable to control the rioters, who now began to show signs of hostility toward himself, Cereceda made his escape, though with much difficulty, and attempted to regain his house; but was intercepted by Diego Mendez, who, armed with lance and dagger, demanded his own recognition as lieutenant-governor. He refused to listen to him, whereupon the latter, who was on horseback, barred his passage and insisted on explaining that he had conspired not against his lawful ruler, but against a tyrant, who had usurped his office and defied the law. As he still refused to give any satisfactory answer, Mendez, being surrounded by a throng of rioters, began to assume a threatening attitude. Now, for the first time during 152 his administration, Cereceda displayed a little firmness, and still refused to grant to the assassin the office which he claimed at the point of the dagger. Many of the by-standers then urged that Cereceda be at once put to death in order to avoid all future danger. Seeing that his life was in peril, he replied to Diego Mendez, "What I request of you, sir, and I ask it as a favor, is that you let the matter rest until to-morrow, that it may be decided what is best to be done for the interests of his Majesty." He was then allowed to retire to his dwelling.
The leader of the revolt construed this vague answer into a full concession of his authority, and arraying himself in the habiliments of the man whose corpse lay yet warm in the church of Trujillo, he paraded the streets at the head of his ruffian gang, and on the following day, over the grave of his murdered victim, bid defiance to the governor, telling him to discharge the members of the cabildo and appoint reliable men in their place. Fearing to provoke an attack by gathering an armed force around him, Cereceda returned to his house, accompanied by a single friend. During the night he sent a letter to Diego Diaz, a brother of Vasco de Herrera, then engaged in quelling the insurrection in the Olancho Valley, informing him of what had transpired, but in language so carefully worded that, if his letter were intercepted by his enemies, they would find nothing on which to base a charge against him. The usurper meanwhile threatened to hang all who refused to obey him, and summoning into his presence the caciques of the tribes which had been enslaved by Herrera, demanded their submission.
On the following day Cereceda ordered the cabildo to assemble in secret at his own residence, in order to devise, if possible, some means of bridging over the present crisis. None could offer any practicable suggestion; but it was remarked by one of the regidores that, since Diego Mendez refused to obey 153 the governor, it would be advisable that Cereceda should accept the office of lieutenant-governor.[IX‑11] While yet in session, the chief of the conspirators, informed by his spies that the cabildo had been convened, presented himself at the head of an armed band and demanded admittance. The governor had not courage to refuse, and the meeting soon afterward broke up, having accomplished nothing.
Diego Mendez now unfolded the royal standard in the public square, and compelled the people to swear allegiance to him as their lawful ruler. He declared all the edicts issued by Herrera and Cereceda since the death of Salcedo illegal, and enjoined the latter from exercising authority. He dissolved the cabildo, appointed new members from the ranks of his own partisans, obtained possession of all the books and papers belonging to the municipality, and took the oath of office. He then seized the register in which the appointment of Salcedo and the nomination of his successor had been recorded, imprisoned the royal notary, and bid him, under threat of torture, declare the latter appointment invalid; but to the credit of that official it is recorded that he persistently refused compliance. Finally he ordered the arrest of the governor; but through the intervention of friends allowed him to remain a prisoner at his own house, in which, relieved of his shackles, the notary was also confined. Such was the dread and anxiety of Cereceda that, during his captivity, which lasted thirty-seven days, it is related that his hair and beard turned from a glossy black to silvery white.
Before the arrival of Cereceda's messenger, an emissary despatched by Diego Mendez arrived at the 154 Olancho Valley and with little difficulty persuaded the followers of Diego Diaz, who were already disaffected toward their commander, to join the standard of the usurper. Finding himself thus deserted by his men, the latter at once returned to Trujillo, intending to claim the right of sanctuary; but was arrested while dismounting at the church door, by six armed men stationed there for that purpose.
At length Cereceda and his officials, finding that their pusillanimity was bringing them into general disfavor, resolved to strike a decisive blow against their common enemy. Their partisans were secretly assembled, and among them were found eighteen loyal and resolute citizens, who swore to arrest the pretender or die in the attempt. It was resolved that the effort be made at once, before those of the opposite faction could be apprised of it, and on the same night, after a sharp struggle, in which half of the governor's men were wounded[IX‑12] and one of their opponents killed, Diego Mendez was captured, and on the following day sentenced to be beheaded and quartered. Most of the conspirators were then induced by offer of pardon to return to their allegiance, but though their lives were spared, they were punished by loss of office, imprisonment, or confiscation of property. Two of the leading accomplices, who had been present at the assassination of Herrera,[IX‑13] fled from the city, and with the assistance of some of the natives made their escape to a small island near the coast; but returning to Trujillo some two months later, on hearing of Cereceda's clemency, took refuge in the church, whence they were dragged forth to execution by order of the governor.
On receiving news of the seditious tumults which 155 had so long vexed the settlers of Honduras, the emperor appointed as ruler of the province Captain Diego de Albitez, a veteran officer who had done good service in many a hard-fought battle with Indians. The new governor arrived off the coast with two vessels on the 29th of October 1532, but his ships were driven on shore by a storm, when six leagues from port, and thirty of those on board were drowned. Albitez escaped by swimming, but with the loss of all his effects. Assistance soon arrived from Trujillo; and on the following day he was received and duly recognized by the authorities amid the rejoicings of the citizens who now hoped that tranquillity would be restored. But the province was yet destined to undergo a period of misrule; for nine days after his arrival, the new governor, advanced in years, died at Trujillo, leaving Cereceda still at the head of affairs.
The feeling of dissatisfaction which had long prevailed was intensified by this new disaster. Exaggerated reports of the great wealth of the neighboring provinces had been noised abroad, and many of the colonists now threatened to abandon the territory, hoping to better their fortunes elsewhere. For several years they had been living in extreme discomfort, often bordering on destitution. They had neither flour, oil, wine, nor any other of the commodities usually imported from Spain. For three years no Spanish vessel had arrived at Trujillo. The men were almost without clothing and the horses without shoes. Many of the settlers had neither shirts nor beds; and so great was the scarcity of all articles required for the common needs of life, that a sheet of paper sold for a peso, and a needle was worth as much.[IX‑14] To add to the distress of the Spaniards epidemic diseases broke out among the Indians, spreading from house to house and from town to town, and 156 swept away at least one half of the native population.[IX‑15] There was neither physician nor medicine; and though the settlers escaped the visitation, so great was their loss in slaves that many were compelled to abandon their usual avocations.
In order to distract the attention of the colonists from their forlorn condition, Cereceda set about establishing a settlement on the road to Nicaragua, with a view of opening communication between the two seas. He despatched into the interior a company of sixty men, with orders to halt, at a certain point, until joined by himself with an additional force. His departure was however delayed by the arrival of two messengers from Alonso de Ávila,[IX‑16] contador of Yucatan, who was on his way to Trujillo, having been obliged to flee with the remnant of his band from a settlement which he had formed in the interior of that province. On the arrival of the party at Trujillo, Cereceda afforded them all the assistance in his power. He then set forth to join the expedition awaiting him on the road to Nicaragua. After proceeding but a short distance he was overtaken by a messenger bringing news of the arrival of two vessels from Cuba, and of the intention of Diego Diaz de Herrera to take this opportunity of making his escape in company with others at Trujillo.[IX‑17]
Cereceda returned in time to prevent the depopulation of the city, but such was the general discontent that the question of removal was universally discussed and the governor was at length compelled to give up his settlement. After much deliberation it was resolved to depart for the Naco Valley, leaving at Trujillo a garrison of fifty men. The remainder of the citizens, 157 mustering in all about one hundred and thirty,[IX‑18] leaving with them a good supply of horses and live-stock, set forth on their march through the wilderness. On reaching a spot where a river flows through a narrow defile, they found their passage obstructed by a barricade erected by the cacique Cizimba, who thought thus to prevent the invasion of his territory. The natives were routed at the first onset, and those who were taken captive suffered mutilation, their hands being cut off, and were suspended with cords from their necks. The Spaniards then pressed forward, suffering many privations, though always buoyed up with the hope of finding abundant stores of provisions on reaching their destination. But in this they were doomed to disappointment. Arriving at Naco, wayworn and famished, they found the place abandoned by all except a few infirm natives unable to escape by reason of illness. Cereceda then put on the mask, and changing his policy toward the natives, who throughout all that country had fled at his approach, he strove to win them back by kindness, and at length succeeded in causing the return of a number sufficient to plant a considerable tract of land.[IX‑19] The harvest however failed, and, being reduced to the last extremity, the Spaniards were compelled to move to the foot of the mountains, where they hoped to obtain food among the natives who had fled there for refuge. Taking their departure from Naco, therefore, they proceeded to the province of Zula, where they founded a settlement which they named Buena Esperanza.[IX‑20]
Such was the position of affairs when, in the year 1535, Christóbal de la Cueva was sent by Jorge de Alvarado, to discover a route to the northern coast by means of which communication might be opened between the province of Guatemala and Spain. While 158 passing through the province of Zula, Cueva's men were observed by a party of natives, who informed Cereceda of the presence of Spaniards in that vicinity. The latter thereupon despatched Juan Ruano, with a small band, to demand of the intruders whence they came, and by what authority they ventured within his territory. The messenger was first met by the advanced guard of twenty men under Juan de Arévalo, who informed him that his commander, with the main force, was but two leagues behind, and that their object was to search for the best route for a government road from Guatemala to Puerto de Caballos.
When Cueva was informed of the condition of the colonists at Buena Esperanza, he requested an interview with Cereceda, and proposed that the men of Honduras should coöperate with him in his explorations, promising in return to assist them in their mining enterprises, and to protect them from the natives. The governor gladly accepted this offer, and took command of a force composed of a portion of Cueva's troops together with all his own available men.[IX‑21] It was proposed first to march against a powerful cacique, who had for ten years held captive a Spanish woman,[IX‑22] and after subduing him and demolishing his stockade, to explore the country in the neighborhood of Golfo Dulce, and examine the harbors of San Gil de Buenavista and Puerto de Caballos, in conformity with his instructions.
But the time had not yet come when harmony was to prevail in Honduras. Wars with the savages and contentions among themselves had been the fate of settlers in that territory from the beginning; and the quarrelsome followers of Cereceda were little disposed to join hands in peaceful fellowship with the members 159 of a rival colony. Cueva was not satisfied to settle at Buena Esperanza, nor on the Golfo Dulce, nor at Puerto de Caballos; but he wished to plant a colony in the interior of Honduras, midway between the two oceans. To this proposition Cereceda of course raised objections. The other persisted, and being the stronger, withdrew from the alliance and moved inland. Thereupon Cereceda complained to the India Council, and begged the arrest and execution of Cueva for trespass and violation of contract. He also petitioned the emperor for men, arms, ships, and flour, and wine for sacramental purposes. He affirmed that some of his men had not tasted salt for three months, and lay ill in consequence. He requested that the king's fifth of the product of the mines should be reduced to one tenth. He also asked that a boundary line between Guatemala and Honduras be established, and that a road be opened between the two seas, from Puerto de Caballos to the bay of Fonseca, stating that it would serve as well for the trade of San Salvador and Nicaragua, the distance being only fifty leagues, and the ground favorable, requiring only that the trees be cut away and the earth levelled in places. To this petition of Cereceda the emperor and his council listened with favor, and granted the greater part of his requests.
Meanwhile the remnant of the Honduras colonists who remained at Trujillo also clamored for an increase of population, and for a governor. They claimed that the city possessed a good harbor, and a dry and wholesome situation; that rich mines lay undeveloped in its vicinity, and that the soil was fruitful and well watered.[IX‑23] 160 They attributed their past misfortunes to bad government, and charged Cereceda with abandoning the settlement without sufficient cause. They were now so few in number, being reduced to thirty capable of bearing arms, that they were in constant fear of attack from the natives. Their stock of weapons consisted of but twenty swords and fifteen pikes, the governor having taken with him all the cross-bows and arquebuses. As they were not in communication with Mexico they requested to be placed under the jurisdiction of the audiencia of Española. They asked moreover for two brigantines for the purpose of trading with the Islands and also for one hundred negroes to work their mines, for all of which they promised to pay liberally. They promised that if a capable governor were sent out to them in command of two hundred men, they would establish a settlement near the Desaguadero and open the rich gold-mines which lay in that vicinity. Finally the municipal council declared that unless relieved within a year they would disorganize the government and give the people liberty to go whithersoever they might desire.
If the colonists of Honduras could barely sustain themselves when united and living at Trujillo, it was not to be expected that their condition would be improved when divided and scattered throughout the country. One good man, who could have held in check the spirit of lawlessness, and have ruled the factious populace with a determined hand; a man with the principles and temper even of a Pedrarias, would have given peace and prosperity to Honduras; but internal dissensions, and finally open disruption, had brought disaster upon all concerned, and had reduced the people, both of Trujillo and Buena Esperanza, to the verge of ruin and starvation.
Humiliating as it must have been, Andrés de Cereceda was at last compelled to appeal for aid to Pedro de Alvarado. In the petition which he drew up, he craved protection from the natives, failing which, he 161 feared the depopulation of the whole province. Dire indeed were the necessities of the people,[IX‑24] and the adelantado was besought "for the love of God and their Majesties," to come to their succor.[IX‑25] The royal treasurer, Diego García de Célis, was sent in company with Juan Ruano[IX‑26] to Santiago, where Alvarado then resided, and representing to him the deplorable condition of the people of Honduras, received assurance of relief. As soon as possible an armed force was assembled, consisting of Spaniards and friendly Indians, and with the adelantado at their head set forth to the relief of Cereceda.[IX‑27]
During the delay which occurred before the arrival of Alvarado in Honduras, the settlers who remained at Buena Esperanza, being unable or unwilling to bear their sufferings any longer, were on the point of abandoning the colony, and on the 5th of May 1536 162 a formal meeting was held before the notary Bernardino de Cabrenas,[IX‑28] to take the matter under consideration. Cereceda, addressing the alcalde and regidores, stated that they were aware of the condition of affairs in the province, and of the impracticability of holding it much longer, on account of the small number of the Spanish colonists and the want of supplies. He had therefore, he said, despatched Diego García de Célis, the royal treasurer, to solicit aid from the governor of Guatemala, and had also asked the assistance of the emperor and of the audiencia of Mexico. Seven months had elapsed since the departure of Célis, and nothing had been heard from him. He demanded therefore, in the name of the crown, their opinion as to what should be done. All present recommended that the country be abandoned, and the Spaniards allowed by the governor to proceed whithersoever they pleased. To this Cereceda assented, and orders were issued accordingly; the alcalde and regidores ratifying and confirming the governor's acts and their own, in the presence of the notary.[IX‑29]
The resolution was at once carried into effect; but within four days after leaving Buena Esperanza the colonists were met by Célis with a letter from Alvarado promising speedy relief. Had the envoy returned but a single day later it is not improbable that Cereceda 163 would have lost his life, for he had become extremely unpopular among the men of Honduras. They had indeed gone so far as to drive him from his home, though through fear of the consequences they afterward recalled him.
His answer to the adelantado's despatch shows the detestation in which he was held by those whose duty it was to obey him. "They expelled me," he says, "from my house and from the settlement, although I was not in a condition to rise from my bed, to which I had been confined for days on account of a boil that prevented my sitting down, except in a chair which had been made specially for my use, and then only for a short time. In spite of all this, they hustled me out of my abode with the greatest coolness, ordering me to go, unattended as I was, in the direction of the coast, where they would provide me with an escort to Trujillo. This was, however, only a pretext in order to get rid of me, their object being to carry off as slaves all the Indians who had served in the district, which they had attempted to do before proceeding to expel me from the village. Fearing they might kill me, I made a virtue of necessity, and abandoning what few effects I had, proceeded to Naco. From this place they soon recalled me, and I returned on horseback, but with great difficulty, suffering so much from my enforced ride that it will, I fear, be at least three months before my health is reëstablished."
Cereceda and Célis were far from being on good terms. The treasurer was suspected by the former of a desire to supplant him, and perhaps not without reason, as he had been appointed by the emperor, and was next in rank to the governor. In his letter to Alvarado, Cereceda takes the opportunity of venting his spleen against the treasurer. He accuses him of endeavoring to produce the impression that he, and he alone, had it in his power to procure for the adelantado the governorship of Honduras, and of taking to himself the credit of being the only one having at 164 heart the welfare of the country, and of being a faithful servitor of his Majesty. "But," he continues, "in order that you may see that there are others who desire the welfare of the province, I resign in your favor the governorship with which I have been intrusted, believing that, in so doing, I am performing a service to his Majesty."
Alvarado, on his arrival, was well received by the settlers, who were fain to believe that there were better days in store for them. The astute Cereceda, seeing himself virtually without authority, again pressed him to accept the governorship, so that the province might not go to ruin. By this artifice he hoped not only to escape punishment, but to confirm the impression in the adelantado's mind that it was to him and not to Célis that he was indebted for the offer. Alvarado accepted the governor's resignation, and assumed the reins of power, to the great joy of the colonists. He at once set about pacifying the country, sending out a strong force, stationing guards at the mines, and bringing the province into a condition of safety and prosperity. In the name of the crown, he assumed the title of captain-general and chief-justice, and without loss of time proceeded to establish new colonies.
He built at Puerto de Caballos the town of San Juan, and on the site of the village of Thaloma, seven leagues from this settlement, founded the city of San Pedro del Puerto de Caballos. He determined the limits of its jurisdiction and distributed among the Spaniards the natives and native villages in its vicinity.[IX‑30] Captain Juan de Chaves was ordered to explore the province toward the south and west and to select a favorable site on the proposed line of intercommunication between Honduras and Guatemala. After a 165 toilsome journey he arrived at a fertile and well watered valley, where he established a settlement, naming it in token of his thankfulness "Gracias á Dios."[IX‑31]
But while the adelantado was winning fresh laurels and gaining new adherents in Honduras, he was informed that his residencia had been taken by the oidor Maldonado, and soon afterward received an order from the viceroy instructing him to proceed to Spain and appear before the throne, as his Majesty's interests would be thereby advanced. This was unlooked for. He had already petitioned the king for permission to return for the purpose of fitting out an expedition on a large scale for South Sea explorations;[IX‑32] a summons to appear at court, while his residencia was to be taken during his absence, made an intricate matter of it. There was no alternative, however, but to obey; and once more Alvarado set out for Spain, first addressing to the cabildo of Santiago a letter wherein he states the reasons for his departure, and remarks that although he does not return to his native land rich in gold, having spent all that he had gained during his career in Mexico and Guatemala, he has no doubt that his services will recommend him to the favor of the court. 166
Malefeasance of Castañeda—Diego Álvarez Osorio the First Bishop of Nicaragua—A Convent Founded at Leon—Las Casas Arrives—Castañeda's Flight—Arrival of Contreras—Proposed Expedition to El Desaguadero—Opposition of Las Casas—Departure with All the Dominicans—The Volcano of El Infierno de Masaya—Fray Blas Believes the Lava to be Molten Treasure—His Descent into the Burning Pit—Exploration of the Desaguadero—Doctor Robles Attempts to Seize the New Territory—Contreras Leaves for Spain—His Arrest, Trial, and Return—His Son-in-law Meanwhile Usurps the Government—Antonio de Valdivieso Appointed Bishop—Feud between the Ecclesiastics and the Governor—Alonso Lopez de Cerrato Takes the Residencia of Contreras—Missionary Labors in Nicaragua.
The sense of relief which was felt by all the colonists of Nicaragua, when death at last put an end to the administration of Pedrarias Dávila, was of brief duration. A new taskmaster soon held them in bondage almost as grievous as that of the great despot who now lay buried in the church-vaults at Leon. Francisco de Castañeda, who then held office as contador, and some months previous had been alcalde mayor,[X‑1] claimed that he was legally entitled to the vacant governorship.[X‑2] The cabildo knew of no valid objection, and upon Castañeda's promise to rule with moderation 167 and fairness he was appointed and duly recognized.[X‑3]
Before a month had elapsed the colonists found themselves still doomed to oppression and misrule. Without regard to the rights of the settlers, and with an effrontery equalled only by that of his predecessor, the new tyrant refused to convene the cabildo except at long intervals, and then only to discuss matters agreeable to his own wishes. The decision of pending lawsuits was neglected; loans were demanded, and those who refused to contribute were harassed so unmercifully that they abandoned their property and fled the country, leaving their encomiendas to be confiscated.[X‑4] Slave-hunting, with its attendant horrors, was common throughout the province. None were forbidden to kidnap, nor was any limit placed on their capture; the only restriction was that the governor should receive a share. The king's tithes were fraudulently rented.[X‑5] Castañeda was even suspected of making fraudulent entries in the books of the treasurer Tobilla, whose death had recently occurred; nor had he even given himself the trouble of taking an inventory of the contents of the treasure-chest.
At length certain of the regidores met in secret council and petitioned the king to send them a judge of residencia, stating that unless relief were afforded the province would soon be depopulated. Castañeda was presently informed of his danger, but gave no heed to the warning. He had but one aim in life, to 168 gather riches by whatever means,[X‑6] and this object he pursued with unshaken purpose. The natives did not regard the Spaniards with greater dread than did the Spaniards their chief magistrate. Many of them departed for the newly conquered regions of Peru, and even the friars, who had faced the hardships of the wilderness, and the peril of torture and death at the hands of savages, were compelled to abandon their labors.[X‑7]
Until 1531 the vicars of the church of Panamá held ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the province of Nicaragua.[X‑8] In that year Diego Álvarez Osorio, a precentor of the cathedral of Panamá, holding the title of Protector of the Indians, was appointed the first bishop of Nicaragua. His elevation was due to his eminent services in the church and probably also to the fact of his being, as Remesal remarks, "a noble cavalier of the house of Astorga, learned, virtuous, and prudent, with much experience in wholesome government measures."[X‑9] The prelate was ordered to found a Dominican convent at Leon, and the treasurer was commanded to furnish the necessary funds. The royal tithes which were formerly appropriated by the diocese of Panamá, were now to be increased,[X‑10] 169 and applied to the support of the churches and hospitals of Nicaragua.
Under the rule of Castañeda it was indeed difficult to collect the tithes, the greater portion of them being stolen by his officials. But a true friend to humanity and religion was now on his way to the province. Bartolomé de las Casas,[X‑11] after his earnest though ineffectual labors in Mexico, returned to Nicaragua in the year 1532, and was received with open arms by Osorio, who invited him to remain, and to aid him in establishing the Dominican convent, and also in his labors on behalf of the natives; but above all to use his authority in putting an end to the malefeasance of Castañeda. Las Casas cheerfully consented. A convent was founded; residences were built for the friars; preparations were made for the erection of a cathedral, and converts by the thousands were gathered into the fold. But neither threat nor persuasion had the least influence on Castañeda, who had been trained in the school of Pedrarias, and now bid fair to better his instruction. Relief came at last. News arrived at Leon that Rodrigo de Contreras had been appointed governor of Nicaragua, and was now on his way to the province. Castañeda thereupon gathered up his stolen gains and fled to Peru; passed thence to Española; was there arrested and sent to Spain; but death closed his career before any earthly tribunal awarded to him the meed of his iniquity.
Contreras was a noble cavalier of Segovia, and the son-in-law of Pedrarias, whose daughter, María de Peñalosa, formerly betrothed to Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, now accompanied him to the province, together with her infant children, Hernando and Pedro. His administration meets the hearty approval of 170 Oviedo; a refreshing circumstance, as it is the first instance in which that historian speaks in praise of a governor in a Spanish province.[X‑12] His conduct is at least in strong relief with that of his two predecessors, and apart from certain accusations brought against him by the ecclesiastics, with whom he was ever at variance, the annals of his time portray him as a just and humane ruler. He at once began the task of establishing law and order in his territory, thus gaining the confidence of the settlers, and all traces of evil wrought by the absconder Castañeda were speedily effaced.
The project for opening up communication with the North Sea by way of El Desaguadero, as the Rio San Juan was then termed, and of taking possession of the native towns on its banks, had long been discussed by the colonists. The new governor though averse to such an enterprise was anxious to retain the good-will of the people, and despatched to the court of Spain Juan de Perea to obtain the emperor's consent.[X‑13]
But the subjugation of the natives was too often followed by their enslavement, and Las Casas was still in the province[X‑14] laboring in his favorite cause. In the pulpit, in the confessional, and in places of public resort the padre denounced the expedition. He even threatened to refuse absolution to the vecinos and soldiers should they dare to take part in it.[X‑15] The 171 colonists were sorely perplexed. Las Casas undoubtedly held direct instructions from the emperor which justified his interference, while the governor had not yet received the sanction of the crown. Which side should they take? On the one hand was prospect of gain, on the other the threatened ban of the church.
Contreras was resolved that the project should not be thwarted by the intermeddling of a priest; but, on setting out at the head of a band of fifty men, he found that his own officers would not obey him, for they were forbidden to plunder or maltreat the natives. He was compelled therefore to return to Leon and acknowledge himself defeated. Las Casas now used all the weight of his influence to undermine the governor's authority,[X‑16] while Contreras caused depositions to be taken before Bishop Osorio with regard to the conduct of the padre. At this juncture the death of the prelate solved the difficulty. After losing his support Las Casas found himself unable to oppose, single-handed, the authority of the governor, who still had the tacit sympathy of most of the colonists. He therefore determined to abandon a field where his exertions were of little avail, and accepting an invitation which it has already been stated was extended to him by Francisco de Marroquin, bishop of Guatemala, to take charge of the convent of Santiago, departed from Leon taking with him all the Dominicans.[X‑17] 172
In 1537 certain of the ecclesiastics are again connected with the history of the province, but in a manner not altogether consistent with the dignity of their profession. While travelling through Nicaragua three years previously, Fray Blas del Castillo heard strange rumors concerning a volcano situated near Lake Nicaragua, and known as El Infierno de Masaya. In the crater at a depth of a hundred fathoms was a molten lake incrusted with cinders, through which fountains of fire sometimes rose far above the surface,[X‑18] lighting up the South Sea by night, and plainly visible to mariners twenty leagues from shore. Concerning this spot a legend was related to Oviedo during his residence in the province by the aged cacique Lenderi, who had several times visited the place in company with other chieftains of his tribe. From the depths of the crater came forth to commune with them in secret council a hag,[X‑19] nude, wrinkled, and hideous, with long sharp teeth, and deep-sunken, flame-colored eyes. She was consulted on all important matters, determined the question of war or peace, and predicted the success or failure of every enterprise. Before and after these consultations, were hurled into the crater human victims who submitted to their fate without a murmur.[X‑20] When 173 the Christians made their appearance the genius of the burning pit denounced the intruders, threatening not to show herself again till they were driven from the land, and as the natives were not strong enough to expel them, she soon abandoned her votaries.
The worthy friar concluded that the molten mass in the depths of the crater must be gold, or at least silver, in a state of fusion. He was then travelling toward Peru by order of his superiors, but kept his own counsel until two years later, when we hear of his journeying on foot from Mexico, a distance of more than four hundred leagues, intent on exploring the mysterious crater. He now took into his confidence a Franciscan friar, Juan de Gandabo, and the two agreed to impart the great secret to a few of the wealthier Spanish settlers, in order to obtain means for carrying out their project. Rumor was soon rife throughout the province. At Granada and Leon men assembled in the streets and plazas to discuss the matter. Some few conceded that Fray Blas was probably in the right. Others asserted with a credulous shrug that the molten mass consisted of iron or of sulphur, the latter theory being most in favor, from the fact that specimens of native sulphur were common in the vicinity. But while expounding, in the realms of the Atahualpas and the Montezumas, the doctrines of him who sent forth his disciples without purse or scrip, the ecclesiastic could never banish from his mind the conviction that providence had reserved this treasure for him and his fellow-laborers,[X‑21] and now after his long and toilsome journey, he was not to be turned aside from his purpose. The necessary implements were secretly prepared. Chains, pulleys, iron kettles, and other apparatus were made ready in a native village four leagues distant from the volcano. A huge derrick 174 and a cage were manufactured by the friar's own hands at a safe distance from the Spanish settlements,[X‑22] and dragged up by natives to the mouth of the volcano. Guides were procured, and it was agreed that Fray Blas himself should first descend into the pit in order to avoid all dispute as to right of discovery. Should he return to the surface in safety, his comrades were to follow. Stipulations were made as to the division of the treasure, the friar claiming for himself the largest share, though contributing nothing to the expense.
On the 13th of April 1538,[X‑23] the ecclesiastic and his comrades rise betimes, and after confessing their sins, attending mass, and partaking of a substantial breakfast they climb the steep mountain side and stand on the verge of the crater. Grasping in his left hand a flask of wine, in his right a crucifix, and gathering up the skirts of his priestly robe, his head protected by an iron cask, the daring friar takes his seat in the cage, is suspended in mid-air, and slowly lowered into the burning pit. The natives who are present flee in terror, having no faith in his assertion that the evil genius of the fiery lake will vanish at the sight of the cross. As he lands on the floor of the crater a fragment of falling rock strikes his helmet, causing him to drop on his knees and plant his cross with trembling fingers in the haunted ground. Turning his eyes upward, after much groping and stumbling among shelves of rock, he beholds the cage in which he had descended swinging far overhead. Nevertheless his heart fails not. Catching the guide-rope he drags up his portly person to a spot from which he can give the appointed signal, and at length is brought unharmed to the surface. 175
Nicaragua.
A few days later another attempt is made, and after much difficulty a small quantity of the molten treasure is brought to the surface in an iron mortar. Reports of the great discovery spread through the neighboring settlements. Hundreds of eager spectators gather round the crater, but the adventurers keep their counsel. They take formal possession of the ground, move their machinery that none may share the imaginary prize, and for a time imagine themselves possessed of wealth which a thousand ships cannot carry.
Soon after the departure of the Dominicans, Contreras resolved to carry out the exploration of the Desaguadero. Captain Diego Machuca,[X‑24] a veteran 176 officer and one whose humane disposition gave assurance that the inhabitants of the native towns would not be maltreated, was placed in charge of the expedition. Two ships were fitted out on Lake Nicaragua and a force of two hundred men followed by land. The dangers encountered[X‑25] during the voyage are not recorded by the chroniclers of the age; but we learn that the vessels were borne in safety down the stream, passed thence to the North Sea, and sailed for Nombre de Dios.
News of their arrival was soon brought to Doctor Robles, then governor of Tierra Firme, and with his usual policy this covetous ruler attempted to gather for himself all the benefits of the enterprise. The men of Nicaragua were cast into prison, and an expedition despatched under Francisco Gonzales de Badajoz to take possession of the territory on the banks of the Desaguadero. After remaining in the province for six months, during which time a fort was built and treasure obtained to the value of 200,000 castellanos, the invaders were driven out by Contreras, and their leader sent back a prisoner to Panamá.[X‑26] A second expedition, despatched by Doctor Robles under command of Andrés Garavito, also failed of success.[X‑27]
A brief period of comparative quiet now occurs in the history of Nicaragua, and for the first time the inhabitants of one province at least are satisfied 177 with their ruler. Nevertheless there exists among a clique of factious adventurers an undercurrent of ill-feeling, fostered by the ecclesiastics, who soon begin once more to interfere in the affairs of the settlements. After the passage in 1542 of the new code of laws, of which mention is elsewhere made, Nicaragua is placed under the jurisdiction of the audiencia of the Confines, and all who hold office under the crown are ordered to surrender their encomiendas. The governor thereupon transfers his slaves to his wife and children, and before the code goes into operation, sets forth for Spain, to prevent, if possible, disastrous results to his interests; for in common with most of his fellow-rulers his wealth consists mainly of human chattels. Arriving at the Isthmus he finds that secret advices from Pedro de Mendavia, the dean of Leon, have been sent to Panamá recommending his arrest, and he is compelled to continue his journey as a prisoner. The charges against him cannot be of a serious nature; for although his old opponent, Las Casas, is still in Spain, ready to testify against him, we learn that he is soon released, and retaining both office and property he returns in company with Vasco Nuñez Vela, landing in Tierra Firme in January 1544.
Meanwhile Pedro de los Rios, the royal treasurer,[X‑28] and son-in-law of Contreras, has usurped the reins of government, and commenced to persecute all whom he knows to be hostile to his own party. Mendavia, knowing that he may be the one to suffer most at the hands of Rios, determines to anticipate his measures, and proceeding to Granada, where he obtains 178 the support of the cabildo, imprisons Rios in the convent.[X‑29] But the following morning the cabildo intimidated by the threats of Doña María, the governor's wife, repent of their conduct and are prevailed upon to issue an edict calling upon all the settlers, under penalty of death and confiscation, to rise in arms and demand the liberation of Rios, or, in case of refusal, to tear down the convent. The warlike dean is not prepared for this sudden change, but nevertheless determines to resist, assuring his adherents that all who may suffer death in this most Christian cause will surely be admitted into heaven. The people throng the convent, and the friars are soon engaged in deadly strife, during which two of them, together with four laymen, are mortally wounded. Unable to withstand the attack, Mendavia at last relents and sues for peace. A compromise is effected, by which Rios binds himself not to injure the dean or any of his party, either then or at any future time, whereupon the treasurer is released. No sooner is he outside the convent walls, however, than he forgets his promise, and arrests, hangs, quarters, and exiles indiscriminately. The dean himself is put in irons and sent to Spain, where for several years he is kept a prisoner without trial.[X‑30]
When the news of these proceedings reached the audiencia of Panamá, Diego de Pineda was despatched to Nicaragua as juez de comision, and with such tact did he reconcile the disputes between the two parties that order was quickly restored, and the quarrel between Rios and Mendavia was soon forgotten. A few months later Contreras arrived in the province,[X‑31] but his secret enemies were still at work, 179 and one of the first acts of the newly established audiencia de los Confines was to commission the oidor Herrera to take his residencia, and also that of the treasurer Rios. Although the licentiate was ever an implacable foe to the governor and a stanch supporter of the clerical faction, he appears to have discovered nothing on which to base any serious charges against either of those officials, and soon abandoned his investigation.[X‑32]
A feud more bitter than that which was terminated by the death of Bishop Osorio and the departure of Las Casas now arose between the lay and ecclesiastical authorities. In 1544 Father Antonio de Valdivieso was appointed to the vacant see of Nicaragua.[X‑33] His appointment was duly confirmed by papal bull, and in November of the following year he was consecrated at Gracias á Dios by bishops Las Casas 180 of Chiapas, Marroquin of Guatemala, and Pedraza of Honduras. The prelate, who professed to be an enthusiastic admirer of the great apostle of the Indies, insisted that the new code should be enforced, and spared no effort to rescue the natives from bondage, incurring by his policy such determined opposition from the governor and his officials that he deemed it best for his own personal safety to take up his residence at Granada rather than at Leon.
From the day of Valdivieso's arrival to the downfall of the governor some three years later, the history of the province contains little else than a series of mutual recriminations and intrigues. The colonists with a few exceptions favored the cause of the governor, declaring that "they wanted no prelate except to say mass, and preach to suit their fancy;" and when the bishop threatened to establish an inquisition in Nicaragua he was menaced with assassination.[X‑34]
The complaints against Contreras appear to have been due mainly to the jealousy and self-interested motives of the ecclesiastical faction. His conduct had borne the scrutiny of the inquisition and of the audiencia. Notwithstanding the provisions of the new code he had been allowed to retain his encomiendas. Even his enemies could not accuse him of maltreating his slaves. It was not to be expected that he should surrender to the bishop the power and property which higher authority had permitted him to retain; and yet this seems to have been his chief cause of offence. Though Valdivieso and the Dominican friars were loud in their denunciations of those who held the natives in bondage, they were themselves by no 181 means averse to holding property in slaves. They were the proprietors of at least one Indian village in Nicaragua, and when the right of ownership was taken from them by the audiencia of the Confines, they threatened to leave the province, and ceased not from their clamor until their property was restored to them.[X‑35] Even the members of the audiencia, whose special duty it was to enforce the observance of these new laws, had caused the cacique of Atitlan, and others who had rendered assistance to the Spaniards in their expeditions against Lacandon and Tuzulutlan, to be restored to their encomenderos, thus violating the very spirit of the code. The president and oidores even went so far as to express their opinion that to place the Indians under control of the priests in trust for the crown was a most objectionable measure. Slaves constituted the principal source of wealth throughout the province, and without slave labor the colonists would soon be reduced to beggary. Even now they suffered extreme privation and were sometimes threatened with actual famine. The tribute collected from the natives, which belonged by right to the governor and his officials, was distributed among the destitute settlers, but was found utterly inadequate for their maintenance.
The most serious accusation brought against Contreras, but one that rests on no sufficient evidence, is that he appropriated the estates of deceased encomenderos, leaving their wives and children destitute. It was alleged that he and his family owned more than one third of the province, and that the slaves and territory of the entire district of Nicoya, which were formerly divided among eleven different individuals, had passed into the hands of his wife. It was afterward even laid to his charge that he had compelled 182 the settlers to take part in enterprises which he himself had in fact only been led to sanction by the clamor of the colonists or the urgency of the occasion, as was the case in the exploration of the Desaguadero and the expeditions against the forces of Doctor Robles.[X‑36]
Meanwhile the oidor, Herrera, was sparing no effort to insure the governor's downfall, and with that purpose sent private reports to the emperor and the council of the Indies. In one of these[X‑37] he recommended that no one should be allowed to rule who possessed Indians, either in his own name or that of his wife, children, or servants, and that the government be vested in the hands of a person whose duty it should be to visit, at frequent intervals, every settlement in the province. He also recommended that the children of the caciques should be placed in convents, there to be trained in the Christian faith, and that the adult Indians should remain in their towns for the same purpose.[X‑38] In short his object, like that of Valdivieso, whose cause he never ceased to advocate, was to place the entire native population under the absolute control of the ecclesiastics.
In the beginning of the year 1547 the bishop removed to Leon, and no sooner had he done so than the cabildo reported to the emperor "the great trouble they had in defending the royal jurisdiction on account of the opposition of the bishop, who insulted and maltreated the officers of justice, and held the laws in contempt."[X‑39] It was even thought necessary to send to Spain one Antonio Zárate to advocate their 183 cause, whereupon Valdivieso despatched to the council of the Indies, some three weeks later, a communication in which he accused him of being a fugitive criminal, in order to destroy his influence at court. He also sent secret advices to Bishop Torres of Panamá, informing him of Zárate's purpose and recommending his arrest. The emissary was forewarned of his danger, and managed to make good his escape, but it is not recorded that he was successful in accomplishing the object of his mission.
The struggle which Contreras had so long maintained against the machinations of his foes was now drawing to an end. In the beginning of the year 1548, the licentiate Alonso Lopez de Cerrato, formerly president of the audiencia in Española, and now appointed to that of the Confines, arrived at Gracias á Dios. One of his first acts was to take the residencia of the governor, whereupon finding that the transfer of his encomiendas had been made after the passage of the new code, though before its publication in the province,[X‑40] he declared them confiscated. Contreras at once repaired to Spain to seek redress, and for some time after his departure his enemies were in constant dread lest he should regain his authority and return to take vengeance on his accusers. The alcaldes and regidores of Leon, having now made peace with the bishop, ordered their secretary to prepare a list of accusations against the departed governor,[X‑41] but only one of their number had the courage to sign it, each official fearing that his signature might afterward cost him his life. It was even requested that the entire family of the fallen ruler be recalled to Spain, for of his sons Hernando and Pedro it was stated that they had committed many excesses, and of his son-in-law, Arias Gonzalo, the alguacil mayor, that he kept a public gambling-house. Finally the decision of the 184 oidor was confirmed by the council of the Indies, and Rodrigo de Contreras returned no more to Nicaragua.[X‑42] His children, however, still remained in the province, soon to figure as the leaders of a revolt which threatened, for a time, the very existence of Spain's dominion in the western world.
Although the ecclesiastics were held in little respect by a majority of the Spaniards, there is sufficient evidence that they labored faithfully in their calling. When Fray Toribio de Motolinia came from Guatemala, in the year 1528, to join certain Flemish friars then resident in Nicaragua, he founded at Granada the convent of Concepcion,[X‑43] and having a knowledge of the native language, was successful in his efforts, giving special care to the baptism and conversion of children. His stay was of short duration; but by others the work of christianizing the natives was continued with vigor. Gil Gonzalez is said to have baptized thirty-two thousand.[X‑44] Hernandez and Salcedo also baptized large numbers. Pedrarias, inasmuch as this great work had been accomplished without his intervention, affected contempt for such summary methods of conversion, and ordered an investigation to be made by Francisco de Bobadilla, a friar provincial of the order of Mercy, and by the public notary Bartolomé Perez. Diligent search was made by these officials, but it was found that the barbarians had either forgotten or never understood the truths of Christianity, and Bobadilla was obliged to perform this holy 185 work anew. This friar baptized twenty-nine thousand and sixty-three persons in the province of Nicaragua, during a space of nine days,[X‑45] and later, between the 1st of September 1538 and the 5th of March 1539, fifty-two thousand five hundred and fifty-eight were baptized, though, as Oviedo says, "by no means could they be called converted."
On the 29th of August 1540, Hernando de Alvarado and Fray Juan de Padilla started from Granada toward the South Sea by way of Coiba,[X‑46] and were everywhere well received. When crosses were erected the natives adorned them with roses, and brought offerings of whatever they valued most. Some years later Fray Lorenzo de Bienvenida and thirty others left Yucatan for the province of Costa Rica[X‑47] to continue the work of conversion in those parts, and many may have fallen victims to their pious zeal. I may mention the sad fate of the martyr Fray Juan Pizarro. While laboring in one of the most remote districts of Nicaragua, he was seized by drunken savages during the celebration of one of their feasts, dragged over the rocks, beaten till he was almost lifeless, and then hanged; his murderers completing their work by burning down a church which he had erected at his own expense.
During the internal dissensions which have just been related, bands of hostile Indians taking advantage of the opportunity were continually committing depredations on the borders, robbing and slaughtering 186 those of the natives who were at peace with the Spaniards, the cacique Lacandon being especially troublesome and refusing all overtures of peace. No progress could be made in forming new settlements or improving the condition of those already established. After the explorations conducted by Captain Machuca, we read of no important enterprise until the year of the governor's departure. In 1548 the contador Diego de Castañeda organized an expedition for the conquest of the district of Tegucigalpa.[X‑48] Through the treachery of the guides, his men were led into marshy and difficult ground, where they soon found themselves surrounded by hordes of savages. Repelling their attacks with much difficulty they made their way to the Desaguadero, and passing down that channel in barges landed on the shores of Costa Rica, where they founded the settlement of Nueva Jaen.[X‑49] 187
Diego Gutierrez Appointed Governor—Desertion of his Soldiers—He Proceeds to Nicaragua—The Advice of Contreras—The Expedition Sails for the Rio San Juan—Friendly Reception by the Natives—His Men Desert a Second Time—Reënforcements from Nicaragua and Nombre de Dios—The Historian Benzoni Joins the Party—Gutierrez as an Evangelist—He Inveigles Camachire and Cocori into his Camp—He Demands Gold under Pain of Death—Noble Conduct of the Cacique Cocori—The Spaniards March into the Interior—Their Sufferings from Hunger—They are Attacked and Massacred—Benzoni and Five Other Survivors Rescued by Alonso de Pisa.
Between the Rio San Juan and the province of Veragua lay a territory whose rugged and densely wooded surface had hitherto proved a barrier to Spanish conquest and colonization. Costa Rica, or Nueva Cartago, by both of which names this region was known,[XI‑1] yet remained almost a terra incognita to Europeans. During his last voyage, in the year 1502, Columbus had touched at several points on its northern shore. At the Golfo Dulce, on its southern coast, it will be remembered that Gil Gonzalez and his band were glad to find shelter in the trees from storm and flood.[XI‑2] Vague reports of a settlement 188 named Cartago, founded early in the sixteenth century by some band of roaming adventurers, are mentioned in several of the early chroniclers; but when and by whom it was established, is a question[XI‑3] on which there is no conclusive evidence.
Costa Rica, 1545.
The exploration of the Rio San Juan, which had opened up a passage from the North Sea into the very heart of Nicaragua, awakened a more eager desire to possess this unknown region; and to the pride of conquest and discovery was added the all-pervading passion of the Spaniard, for it was believed that the armies of the great Montezuma had invaded the territory from a distance of more than six hundred leagues, 189 and had brought thence many a rich specimen of gold. In 1540 Diego Gutierrez, a citizen of Madrid and brother to Felipe Gutierrez, who five years before had conducted the ill-fated expedition to Veragua, was appointed governor of this province, and soon afterward set forth on an enterprise which was destined to prove even more calamitous than the one conducted by his kinsman.
Gutierrez proceeded first to Española, where he raised a company of about two hundred men and sailed thence for Jamaica, the base of supplies for the colonies of Tierra Firme. Here a mutiny broke out among his men, causing the loss of all his military stores. Arriving at Nombre de Dios he fell sick, and while lying at the point of death his men deserted, and crossing over to Panamá took ship for Peru. Recovering from his illness he found himself with but five men and almost without means. He gathered courage, however, and fitting out a small barge sailed for the Rio San Juan, and so made his way to the city of Granada. Falling in with one Baena, a successful 190 adventurer from Peru, he succeeded in borrowing from him three thousand castellanos with which he hoped to retrieve his fortunes.
Gutierrez now endeavored to enlist men in Nicaragua, but disputes between himself and Rodrigo de Contreras, the governor of that province, caused a further delay of two years. Contreras declared that his province extended to the border of Veragua and that there was no intervening territory for Gutierrez to colonize. Gutierrez on the other hand affirmed that the boundaries of Veragua and Castilla del Oro had been placed far south of those originally appointed, and that in consequence there existed a large domain of which he was appointed governor by a charter granted to him from the crown. Though the limits[XI‑4] of Costa Rica as set forth in this document were somewhat indefinite, Contreras at length admitted that his opponent was duly authorized to take possession of the newly created province. He then endeavored to dissuade him from his purpose, representing the country as rugged and his scheme as foolhardy and dangerous. "But if you persist in the occupation of that territory, take my advice," he said, "and keep one hundred well armed men upon the sea-shore, always ready to forage, sometimes in one direction and sometimes in another, for the people 191 are rich in gold, and in this way only can you obtain food."[XI‑5]
The advice of Contreras was cruel, unjust, and contrary to law, but it was such alone as would lead to success, and the event proved that it was sound and politic. In a lofty strain that ill consisted with his future conduct Gutierrez replied: "The government of this province was conferred upon me by the emperor that I might people and not pillage it; and if fortune has been adverse to others, I trust in God that to me it may be more propitious."[XI‑6] It was fine doctrine, but doctrine that here would not win. Collecting a force of sixty men, he soon set sail with two vessels for the mouth of the Rio Surre.[XI‑7]
After ascending the river for about three leagues the party came in sight of some deserted huts, and there encamping, were visited by several caciques, who brought gold to the value of seven hundred ducats, and received in return some rosaries of beads, a few bells and trinkets, and an earnest exhortation to join the true faith. The native chieftains were well pleased with their visit, and on returning to their homes sent presents of fruit, fish, and the dried flesh of wild boars. A gleam of success thus at first attended Gutierrez' effort at colonization, but he was not destined to escape the disasters which seemed almost inseparable from the attempts of the Spaniards to establish settlements in the New World. He was a man of great tenacity of purpose, but irascible, and singularly deficient in power of control. At Jamaica his soldiers mutinied; at Nombre de Dios they deserted; at Costa Rica, suffering from hunger and the privations of pioneer life, they abandoned the enterprise, and stole 192 away to the sea-shore, where they fell in with two vessels from Nombre de Dios and so made their way back to Nicaragua.
Left with only six followers,[XI‑8] his nephew Alonso de Pisa, one sailor, and four servants, Gutierrez had no alternative but to follow his recreant band. Digging a hole in the earth, he buried there several jars of salt, honey, and other stores not needed for his voyage, and embarking in a small river-boat descended to the sea. Soon he descried approaching the mouth of the river a brigantine, which proved to be in command of one Captain Bariento, with men, arms, ammunition, and provisions from Nicaragua. Thereupon he turned back, conducted the vessel to his settlement, and handing to his nephew all the gold that had been collected, amounting to eight hundred castellanos, bade him return with the ship to Nombre de Dios and there purchase arms and procure recruits. Girolomo Benzoni, the Italian chronicler of the New World, was at Nombre de Dios when Captain Pisa arrived early in 1545, and being, as he says, young and strong, filled with high aspirations, and desirous of enriching himself, he determined to return with the vessel to Nueva Cartago.[XI‑9] Other adventurers, lured by the promise of wealth, determined to join the expedition, and soon twenty-seven men were pledged for the new colony.
On the return voyage the brigantine encountered a gale near the entrance of the river and was driven to the islands of Zorobaro, a short distance from the coast. There they remained for seventy-two days, 193 exposed to incessant rains, three of their number being killed by lightning. Such was the blackness of the storm that during all this time they did not see four hours of sunshine. The captain of the vessel went ashore on the mainland to obtain provisions, but after eight days' search midst forest, swamp, and mountain, during which time he subsisted on snails and berries, he returned empty-handed. Finally the men made their way to the encampment of Gutierrez, who, being determined at all hazard to people his territory, immediately sent the ship back to Nombre de Dios for more recruits, supplying funds to the amount of fifteen hundred castellanos. The number of the colonists was thereby increased to eighty men. Thus reënforced he began the exploration of his province. With four canoes he ascended the Rio Surre, and after making a distance of about ten leagues, landed at an Indian village to which he gave the name of San Francisco in honor of the saint on whose natal day the spot was reached. Here the party was met by certain caciques, who brought presents of fruit but no gold. The governor received them kindly, informing them through an interpreter that the strangers had in their possession a secret which was of the utmost value; that they had come a great distance, and some of them for no other purpose than to reveal it. In return for this the Christians must have gold.
The chiefs were then invited to a feast, the viands consisting of fowl and salt pork; but they had little relish for such food, and merely tasting it handed it to their attendants to be cast to the dogs. After the meal came an exhortation in which, as Benzoni relates, Gutierrez thus harangued his guests: "My very dear friends and brothers, I am come hither to free you from the chains of idolatry, by which through the influences of your evil spirits you have until now been bound. I am come to teach you the way to heaven, whence Jesus Christ, the son of God, descended to 194 save you. With me I have brought holy men to teach you this faith, which to accept, and implicitly to obey our sovereign emperor Charles V., king of Spain and monarch of the world, and us his representatives, comprises your whole duty." To these words the chieftains bowed their heads, but without making answer, neither assenting to nor rejecting the munificent and disinterested offer of the Christians, who for a little yellow earthly metal gave in return the ineffable joys of heaven.
Nevertheless, the savages were slow to bring in their gold, and the governor, forgetting the lofty sentiments with which he had regaled Contreras prior to his departure from Nicaragua, looked about him for some means by which to enforce his injunctions. Being informed that two of the caciques, named Camachire and Cocori,[XI‑10] who had before presented him with treasure to the value of seven hundred ducats, were now encamped on the opposite side of the river, he summoned them into his presence, at the same time pledging his word for their safety. Reluctantly the chieftains came, and no sooner had they placed themselves in the power of the Spaniards than Gutierrez ordered a strong iron collar to be fastened round their necks, and chaining them to a beam in his dwelling, taxed them with stealing the buried jars of salt and honey, and demanded restitution, or, as an equivalent, a large amount of gold. They answered that they knew nothing of the matter, and had no need to pilfer articles of which they possessed an abundant store. Camachire procured gold to the value of two thousand ducats, which was greedily appropriated by the governor, but served only to whet his appetite. In place of thanks, baptism, and restoration to liberty, the cacique was dragged before a burning fire; a large basket was placed beside him, and he was told that 195 unless, within four days, he obtained gold enough to fill it six times he should be burned to death.[XI‑11] The trembling native promised to comply, and sent out his slaves to collect the treasure. Perceiving the Indian to be tractable, and believing him anxious to comply in good faith with the demand, Gutierrez permitted him to be led every day to the stream to bathe, as was his daily habit. Returning on one occasion from the bath, the soldier having the captive in charge neglected to secure him properly, and the following night he made his escape.
Cocori, who yet remained a prisoner, had now to bear the brunt of the governor's wrath. After being frequently importuned for gold, which he always declared himself unable to obtain, he was led daily to a spot where blood-hounds were chained; bid to observe well their huge teeth and gleaming eyes; and threatened that unless gold were soon forthcoming he should be torn and devoured by these ferocious brutes. At length the indignation of the chieftain overcame his fear. "You lie, bad Christians," he exclaimed, "for often have you made the same threat and yet I live; besides I would rather die than live in bondage among such vipers which I greatly wonder how the earth can bear." The noble native was then reserved for use as a pack animal. Thus did Diego Gutierrez fulfil his promise to people the province and not to pillage it.
It was soon noised abroad that the strangers who had brought to the shores of Costa Rica the glad tidings of the gospel were more to be dreaded than the evil spirits which they had come to exorcise; and the neighboring caciques, fearing to attack the Spaniards, laid waste their own lands, destroyed their 196 crops, burned their dwellings and withdrew to the mountains, until starvation should compel the intruders to abandon the territory. The governor soon found himself in evil plight; moreover he possessed a temperament singularly adapted to inspire distrust, discontent, and melancholy among his followers. Again they threatened to desert him and return to Nombre de Dios or Nicaragua, leaving him in sole possession of the boundless forests, sole ruler over naked and hostile natives. He had but one alternative—to push on boldly into the heart of the province in the hope of finding gold or at least a store of provisions. After some persuasion the men agreed to accompany him. The sick and disabled were sent back to the sea-shore, where Alonso de Pisa was stationed with twenty-four men, bearing orders that he should march through the forest along a track which would be designated by placing crosses along the route. Dividing a scanty stock of grain among his soldiers, now mustering but forty capable of bearing arms, Gutierrez plunged blindly into the wilderness.
On setting out upon this hazardous raid, Benzoni, who affirms that he realized fully the situation, remarked to a comrade, "We are going to the shambles." Whereupon the other, a man of more sanguine temperament, made answer: "Thou art one of those who, we intend, shalt have a principality in spite of thyself."[XI‑12] For six days no human habitation was seen. Through dense woods they journeyed, climbing the mountain sides by clinging to the roots of trees, and making the descent by sliding down their steep declivities. Leaves were their chief food, and some half-picked bones, which the wild beasts had abandoned, furnished them a rich repast.
The temper of the governor was no more happy 197 than his situation. Arriving at a spot where the path divided, Gutierrez demanded of an Indian belonging to the train which route to pursue in order to arrive at some native villages of which they were in search. He replied that he did not know; whereupon the governor taking it for granted that the answer was false ordered his head to be stricken off by a negro slave. The same question was then put to Cocori, who now served the Spaniards as a beast of burden;[XI‑13] and the same reply was made. Again the cruel governor gave the order to kill. As the executioner approached him the brave cacique instantly laid down his burden, bowed his head, and calmly awaited the expected blow. Struck by the noble bearing of the cacique and his own infamous conduct, Gutierrez countermanded the order, and the chieftain's life was spared to further misery. On the spot where these incidents occurred three soldiers were obliged from exhaustion to rest, while the company advanced. They were soon afterward massacred by the Indians. The dogs were now killed and their carcasses divided among the men, the governor refusing to share with them the more wholesome viands which he had reserved for his own use.[XI‑14]
But the career of Diego Gutierrez was well-nigh 198 closed. The party was now upon the southern slope of the cordillera, on the banks of a large stream which flows into the South Sea[XI‑15] and the time was July 1545. A small band of disaffected men miserably clad, and destitute of food, had thus wandered far into the interior of a wilderness. Whither were they bound, and what the insane hope that urged them forward? Gutierrez who had been twice abandoned by his soldiers, was now resolved that these men whom he had brought with so much labor and expense from Nicaragua and Nombre de Dios should not escape him. Alarmed by their loud murmuring at the place called San Francisco, he had hastily departed, cutting off, as many other Spanish leaders had done before him, all hope of ever returning except as a successful man. Could he have pilfered from the natives and thereby obtained food and gold, thus keeping his men in heart until the arrival of Alonso de Pisa, all would have been well. But until reaching the southern declivity of the mountains the country was everywhere deserted. So rugged had been their path, and so toilsome their march, that they were now exhausted, and the natives whom before they had so much longed to meet and make their prey were now congregating to prey upon them.
A day or two later the Spaniards were approaching the verge of a forest. An Indian hidden behind the trees to watch their movements was observed running off at full speed to give the alarm. Next morning at daybreak they were attacked by a horde of natives who "advanced," as Benzoni relates, "with horrid howls and screams and noises with the buccinus—shells and drums—all painted red and black, adorned with feathers, and golden trinkets round their necks." "In one half of a quarter of an hour," continues the chronicler, "during which we killed and wounded a great many Indians, we made them turn their shoulders."[XI‑16] They soon returned, however, and 199 renewed the conflict. The Spaniards, worn with toil and fasting, were quickly overpowered and all but six were slain. Gutierrez fell[XI‑17] mortally wounded, and his head, hands, and feet were afterward severed from his body and borne as trophies through the region which he had proposed to subjugate.
Benzoni stumbled upon the helmet of a dead comrade, but for which circumstance no history of the New World would ever have been produced by him. "For," says he, "the stones from the savages hailed upon it with such force that it looked as if it had been hammered by a smith." After some hair-breadth escapes on which the historian fondly lingers, he was rescued together with his five comrades by the timely arrival of Alonso de Pisa's detachment, and marching night and day the survivors made their way back to the Rio San Juan, and thence embarked for Nombre de Dios.[XI‑18] 201
The Adelantado's Match-making Venture—Its Failure—Alvarado's Commission from the Crown—He Lands at Puerto de Caballos—And Thence Proceeds to Iztapa—His Armament—He Sails for Mexico—His Defeat at Nochistlan—His Penitence, Death, and Last Will—Character of the Conqueror—Comparison of Traits with Those of Cortés—While above Pizarro He was far beneath Sandoval—His Delight in Bloodshed for its own Sake—The Resting-place and Epitaph—Alvarado's Progeny.
Of the events in Guatemala during the three years succeeding the arrival of Maldonado the chroniclers are somewhat silent. In a letter to the emperor, dated December 10, 1537, the viceroy Mendoza states that he had received from the oidor a report wherein the province is represented to be at peace and in a prosperous condition, and that other accounts had reached him representing the country to be well governed. If this were so Maldonado's character soon changed for the worse, for later we shall find in him much to his discredit.
Early in 1538 a royal decree was received in the city of Santiago, ordering that all who held encomiendas were to marry within three years from the date of their notification, or to forfeit their Indians in favor of married persons.[XII‑1] This order met with general disapproval, 202 and the cabildo petitioned the king to reconsider the matter. Eligible women, they said, could be found only in the city of Mexico, so remote from the province of Guatemala that the expense of the journey was beyond the means of most colonists. Many declined to marry because they would not link themselves with persons socially their inferiors,[XII‑2] while the small number of Indians assigned to some would prevent their supporting a family.
On his return from Spain in the following year Alvarado reports to the cabildo that, in company with his wife, come twenty maidens, well bred, the daughters of gentlemen of good lineage, and he expresses confidence that none of this merchandise will remain on his hands. But the venture does not meet with the success the adelantado anticipated. At one of the entertainments given in honor of his arrival, and at which, relates Vega,[XII‑3] many of the conquistadores were present, these damsels, who, concealed behind a screen in an adjoining apartment, were witnessing the festivities, commented on the appearance of their prospective husbands in the most disparaging terms. "They say," remarked one to her companions, "that these are to be our husbands." "What! marry those old fellows?" was the reply. "Let those wed them who choose; I will not; the devil take them! One would think by the way they are cut up that they just escaped from the infernal regions; for some are lame, some with but one hand, others without ears, others with only one eye, others with half their face gone, and the best of them have one or two cuts across the forehead." "We are not to marry them for their good looks," said a third, "but for the purpose of inheriting their Indians; for they are so old and worn out that they will soon die, and then we can choose in place of these old men young fellows to our tastes, 203 in the same manner that an old broken kettle is exchanged for one that is new and sound."
Now it chanced that one of the 'old fellows' overheard what was said and told his companions. "Marry with them by all means," was his advice, and then he went and took to himself the daughter of a cacique.
During his residence in Spain Alvarado obtained under a commission from the crown, dated April 17, 1538, the grant of the twenty-fifth part of all islands and lands which he might discover, with the title of count, and the seignory and jurisdiction over them; he was appointed governor and captain general for life over all such territories, and was authorized to erect on them three forts; he was, moreover, made alguacil mayor in perpetuity, and exempted from all interference by judges or other officers in everything pertaining to the fitting-out of his fleets. The expedition was to be made at his own expense, and he was to take a westerly direction toward China and the Spice Islands.[XII‑4] From a letter of the viceroy of Mexico we also learn that he was authorized to extend his explorations northward,[XII‑5] and that the emperor directed all the principal officials of the New World to aid in the arrest and punishment of any of Alvarado's subordinates who, when discoveries had been made, should revolt, fail to fulfil missions intrusted to them, or disobey him under any pretext. No clemency would be extended by the crown to such offenders. These privileges were granted in consideration of his services in the conquests of Mexico and Guatemala.[XII‑6]
Early in 1539 the adelantado set sail from Spain, accompanied by his wife Doña Beatriz de la Cueva,[XII‑7] 204 and on the 4th of April landed in state at Puerto de Caballos, with three large vessels well filled with provisions, materials of war, and all things needed to equip a second fleet on the shores of the South Sea. He was attended by a large retinue of cavaliers. Among his troops were three hundred arquebusiers all well armed and accoutred.[XII‑8]
Collecting a large number of natives he at once began the task of transporting his ponderous freight toward the coast of Guatemala. Anchors each weighing three or four hundred pounds, artillery and munitions, iron, chain cables, heavy ship tackle, and cases of merchandise were dragged along by Indians yoked together like draught-animals or carried on their naked shoulders, to be conveyed a distance of a hundred and thirty leagues across a mountainous and difficult country. Forty-three days were consumed in making the journey to Gracias á Dios.[XII‑9] Numbers of the unfortunates succumbed and dropped senseless, only to receive the curses of the commander as he ordered their burdens to be placed on the backs of others, who were constantly arriving in fresh relays 205 from Guatemala. In this manner he pushed on toward the port of Iztapa, where the frames of a number of ships had already been constructed.[XII‑10] On his arrival Alvarado spared no expense in completing his armament, not only using all his own available means, but borrowing largely and purchasing vessels on credit.[XII‑11]
About August 1539, Friar Marcos de Niza, who had for some time past been travelling in the unexplored regions far to the north of Mexico, returned, with the marvellous tale of the seven cities of Cíbola and their wonderful wealth.[XII‑12] The news spread and the excitement became great. Half a dozen rivals claimed the exclusive right to the exploration of that country, and among them Alvarado,[XII‑13] who accordingly hurried forward the preparations for his enterprise.
Before the middle of 1540 his command had been reënforced by numerous recruits, and a fleet of at least twelve[XII‑14] vessels had been constructed, and equipped 206 with everything that foresight could suggest. Leaving Don Francisco de la Cueva as his lieutenant-governor, the adelantado sailed from Iztapa,[XII‑15] and landing at Navidad in Jalisco proceeded to Mexico, where he entered into arrangements with Mendoza relative to the expedition, and their individual interests in it.[XII‑16] The agreement was not concluded without considerable wrangling as to terms, and Alvarado probably considered himself somewhat overreached by the viceroy.
Having remained five or six months in Mexico he was now prepared to set forth on his expedition,[XII‑17] when an insurrection having broken out in Jalisco his assistance in suppressing it was requested by the acting governor Oñate. Contrary to advice he entered the revolted province with his own troops, not waiting for other forces to join him, and attacking the peñol 207 of Nochistlan met with the defeat which has already been described.[XII‑18] While covering the retreat at the head of the rear-guard, his secretary Montoya, in panic flight, so urged his exhausted steed up a steep ascent that the animal lost his foothold and rolling over struck Alvarado, who was toiling upward on foot leading his horse, and crushed his chest. His followers, hastening to his assistance, found him insensible, and as soon as he had somewhat revived carried him on a litter to Guadalajara. He suffered greatly, but his chief anxiety was to procure a priest to whom he could relieve his burdened soul. Borne along on this his last journey, his sins weighed even more heavily upon him than bodily torture, and it was with relief that he greeted the arrival of a friar who had been summoned from a neighboring town. To him, under some pine-trees on the roadside, the conqueror of Guatemala confessed, and lingering for yet a few days, received such consolation as the rites of religion could give.[XII‑19] It was the 4th of July 1541 that he breathed his last, having made a will by which he appointed Juan de Alvarado of the city of Mexico and Bishop Marroquin of Santiago his executors. His exhaustion did not permit full details, but he gave instructions that the will should be sent to the prelate with whom he had communicated concerning the performance of certain matters for the benefit of his soul. He ordered his body to be deposited in the church of Guadalajara, thence removed to the convent at Tiripitío, and finally interred in that of Santo Domingo, in the city of Mexico.[XII‑20] To meet the expenses of his funeral enough of his property in Guadalajara 208 or Mexico was to be sold by auction; and he left strict injunctions that all his debts should be paid, subject to the discretion of Bishop Marroquin.[XII‑21] All his remaining property was bequeathed to his wife, and summoning before him the captains and officers of his vessels he ordered them to return to Guatemala and deliver them into her possession; but this injunction was never executed. After the adelantado's decease, his men dispersed in different directions, some remaining in Mexico, others returning to Guatemala or making their way to Peru, while the fleet which had been constructed at so great an expense and at the cost of hundreds of lives, was appropriated by Mendoza. His estate was so encumbered that the viceroy did not suppose that any one would accept as a gift the inheritance with its liabilities,[XII‑22] and in another letter stated that no one cared to do so.[XII‑23]
Duly authorized by Juan de Alvarado, his co-executor, to settle Alvarado's estate, Bishop Marroquin framed a will, bearing date of June 30, 1542, in accordance with what he represents were the wishes of Alvarado. It is quite voluminous and is, with the exception of the preamble, given in full by Remesal. Much is done for the relief of Alvarado's soul, which 209 we grant was needful, and to be expected under the circumstances. The document further chiefly concerns the liberation of Indian slaves, the founding of chaplaincies and altars, the payment of his numerous debts, and the bequest of insignificant sums to his illegitimate sons.[XII‑24]
In a vault beneath the high altar of the cathedral of Guatemala the remains of Pedro de Alvarado were finally laid at rest. Comparing him with other conquerors of his age he was second as a commander only to Cortés, though in character and system of action he was his opposite. Cortés possessed a certain greatness and nobility of soul: Alvarado was mendacious, treacherous, and dishonest; his frank demeanor cloaked deceit, and favors heaped upon him were repaid with 210 ingratitude. In the breast of Cortés beat an affectionate heart, stern though it was, and he seldom failed to win the true regard of his followers. The conqueror of Guatemala was void of affection even for women, and his choice of wife or mistress was inspired by ambition or lust. To govern by fear was his delight. Cortés was cautious and far-sighted; Alvarado impetuous, never anticipating other than favorable results. In versatility, as well as in mental and moral qualities, Cortés was far superior to the adelantado—instance the mutiny at Patinamit. Cortés would have suppressed it, had such a thing ever occurred under his command. Alvarado's career hardly affords the means of fairly estimating his qualities as a commander, for he never met his countrymen in the field. Nevertheless, though his victories were chiefly owing to superiority in arms and discipline, he displayed on several occasions genuine military skill, and his quick perception, coolness, and presence of mind, which no extremity of danger disturbed, ever enabled him to act promptly and rightly in the most critical positions. That he never sustained a reverse in arms, from the time he left Mexico in 1523 until the disaster which caused his death, indicates generalship of no mean order. As a governor he was tyrannical,[XII‑25] and his capacity for ruling was inferior to his ability in the field.[XII‑26]
Judged even by the standard of his age it must be said of him that, while ever proclaiming disinterestedness and loyalty to the crown,[XII‑27] none of his contemporaries were inspired by a more restless ambition, and few actuated by more thoroughly selfish motives. Success appears to have rendered him callous to any sense of shame, and in the last effort of his life he was prompted by boyish egotism and foolish pride, being 211 spurred by jealous opposition to the man through whose favor he had been raised to his high station.[XII‑28] A perusal of the despatches written during his later years would without other evidence lead to the conclusion that he was the victim of a general attack directed against him by his countrymen, who denied his services to the emperor, misrepresented his motives, and decried his conduct. But his earlier letters addressed to Cortés during the days of their friendship, reveal more correctly the true character of the man. There we see portrayed his audacity, his presence of mind in danger, his capacity as a leader, his diabolic delight in bloodshed, blended with the superstition then strangely prevalent among his countrymen, that, while thus serving the devil to the uttermost, he was glorifying God, and winning for himself celestial favors.[XII‑29]
Alvarado left no legitimate offspring, for though he 212 had two children by his second wife they both died in early childhood.[XII‑30] Numerous illegitimate children, however, survived him, among whom may be mentioned Doña Leonor, Pedro, and Diego de Alvarado, his offspring by a daughter of Xicotencatl, the lord of Tlascala.[XII‑31] 213
Origin of the Chiapanecs—They Submit to the Spaniards after the Mexican Conquest—But Rise in Arms when Required to Pay Tribute—Captain Luis Marin Undertakes the Conquest of the Province—His Battles with the Natives—The Panic-stricken Artilleryman—Capture of the Stronghold of Chiapas—The Chamulans Rise in Revolt—Their Fortress Besieged—Repulse of the Spaniards—Bernal Diaz in Peril—Flight and Surrender of the Chamulans—Marin Returns to Espíritu Santo—Second Revolt of the Chiapanecs—Their Subjugation by Diego de Mazariegos—Third Rebellion—Their Self-destruction—Pedro Puertocarrero in the Field—His Discomfiture—Founding of Villa Real—Juan Enriquez de Guzman Takes the Residencia of Mazariegos—His Maladministration.
For many centuries before the beginning of the Christian era, and probably for two or three hundred years later, the site where now stand the ruins of Palenque in Chiapas[XIII‑1] was the centre of one of the most powerful monarchies in the western world, the great Maya empire of the Chanes. To Votan, the culture hero, who, according to Maya tradition, claiming his descent from Chan, the serpent, first introduced civilization into America, and after his disappearance was worshipped as a god, is ascribed the foundation of this ancient dynasty about three thousand years ago.[XIII‑2] 214
It is related in the oldest records obtained from the archives of Mexican history, that the Tzendales, a tribe dwelling in the neighborhood of Palenque, shared with the Zoques the northern part of Chiapas, while the southern and central portions were occupied by the Zotziles and Quelenes and also by the Chiapanecs, who, though at first confined to a narrow strip of territory, finally overran the entire region.[XIII‑3] Whether the Chiapanecs came originally from Nicaragua, or were a detachment from the great Toltec swarm that swept southward into Guatemala, or were descended from the mythic Chan, is a question that is yet involved in some mystery. We know, however, that after their arrival they built a stronghold which proved impregnable until the advent of the Spaniard with his superior skill and weapons, and that here, for centuries before the conquest, they maintained their independence and extended their possessions.[XIII‑4]
It is probable that, as early as 1520, Spaniards penetrated into this region under the auspices of Montezuma, while friendly relations were still maintained between that monarch and Cortés. After the fall of the Mexican capital, dismay at the achievements of the great conqueror was so widely spread that many independent tribes sent in their allegiance, and among them the Chiapanecs.[XIII‑5] These different territories were soon portioned out in repartimientos, and Chiapas was assigned with other districts to the Spanish settlers in Espíritu Santo. No sooner, however, was the attempt made to render these repartimientos profitable by the exaction of tribute, than the natives rose in arms. Many settlers were killed, some offered in sacrifice, and all the efforts of the colonists to pacify the revolted districts were unavailing.[XIII‑6] 215
In 1523 the settlement at Espíritu Santo was in charge of Captain Luis Marin, an officer who had fought under Cortés, and whom Bernal Diaz describes as a man about thirty years of age, bowlegged, but robust and of good stature, with russet beard and features marked with the small-pox, one excelling in horsemanship and conversational powers, of gentle disposition, and without a trace of ill-nature. Deeming it imprudent to march against the Chiapanecs with the slender force at his command, Marin repaired to Mexico to ask aid from Cortés, and was at once supplied with an auxiliary band of thirty men, and instructed to proceed to Chiapas with all the troops he could muster, and establish there a Spanish town.
Returning to Espíritu Santo, Marin lost no time in carrying out his orders. After some delay, caused by opening a road through the intervening forests and morasses, he arrived at the bank of the river Mazapan[XIII‑7] and slowly marched up the stream toward the stronghold of the Chiapanecs, then known to the Spaniards by the name of Chiapas. Before nearing this fortress the commander held a muster of his forces. According to Bernal Diaz, who accompanied the expedition, they consisted of 15 cross-bowmen, 8 arquebusiers, 60 foot-soldiers armed with swords and shields, 27 horse, about 80 Mexicans, and the caciques and other principal men of Cachula with their followers. Marin had also a field-piece in charge of one whom he supposed to be a competent artilleryman.[XIII‑8] 216 The escribano Diego de Godoy was his second in command.
The Spaniards now continued their march with much caution. As they approached the populated district, four soldiers, one of whom was Bernal Diaz, were sent to reconnoitre about half a league in advance of the main body, but were soon discovered by native hunters, who immediately spread the alarm by smoke signals. The army soon afterward reached cultivated lands with wide and well constructed roads. When within four leagues of Chiapas they entered the town of Iztapa, whence the natives had fled, leaving an abundant supply of provisions. While resting here the videttes reported the approach of a large body of warriors,[XIII‑9] but the invaders being on the alert placed themselves in position before the enemy came up. The battle which ensued was indecisive. The Chiapanecs, deploying with much skill, almost surrounded the small Spanish force, and at their first discharge killed two soldiers and four horses, and wounded Luis Marin and sixteen other Spaniards, besides many of the allies. The contest was maintained with great fury till nightfall, when the natives retired, leaving numbers of their men on the field so severely injured as to be unable to follow their comrades.[XIII‑10] Two of the captives, who appeared to be chieftains, gave information that the confederated 217 bands of all the surrounding districts were prepared to renew the attack on the following day.
All night vigilant watch was kept. The soldiers slept under arms; and the horses, ready saddled and bridled, were tethered within reach of their riders. There was not one of the Spaniards who did not expect a night attack and dread it. Numbers of them were sorely wounded; their leader was faint from loss of blood; and the unflinching firmness of the Chiapanecs had dulled their self-confidence; but no call to arms aroused them from their fitful slumbers, and at sunrise they wearily buckled on their armor and prepared to renew the fight.
During the engagement of the previous day, the horsemen, disregarding the instructions of Marin and the advice of his veterans, had suffered severely from using their lances too early in the fray, their weapons being wrested from their grasp and turned against themselves. Orders were now given for them to charge in squads of five, to carry their lances poised out of reach, and not to use them until the enemy were fairly ridden down and their formation broken. The field-piece was loaded, and their preparations being now completed, the Spaniards advanced toward Chiapas.[XIII‑11]
Long before the invaders arrived in sight of the stronghold, the enemy appeared, formed in compact order, and advancing to the attack with deafening war-cries. They were armed with javelins, which they hurled from implements fashioned for the purpose; with bows and arrows, and weapons similar to toothed swords; with slings, also, and lances longer than those of the Spaniards; and wore as a protection aprons of twisted cotton reaching from head to foot, which, when in retreat, they could roll up and carry under the arm.[XIII‑12] Marin quickly put his men in array, 218 and ordered the artilleryman to open fire. But the gunner, who had entertained his comrades during a long march with stories of his brave deeds in Italy, blanched before the coming onset. His legs trembled, and grasping his piece to support himself, he was unable either to train or fire it. At length the loud execrations and angry shouts of his comrades, heard above the clamor of the foe, roused him from his helplessness, and with shaking hand he discharged his cannon. But his clumsy work was worse than his inaction, for the only result was the wounding of three of his companions.[XIII‑13]
At this mishap Martin at once ordered his cavalry to charge, while the infantry were rapidly formed in column. After a long and obstinate contest the Chiapanecs were finally routed; but on account of the nature of the ground pursuit was impossible. Advancing toward the town the Spaniards unexpectedly discovered after ascending some hills on their line of march, a still larger host of the enemy awaiting them. The Indians had provided themselves with long ropes and deer-nets with which to entrammel and capture the horses. In the ensuing battle the invaders sustained unusual casualties. Several of the horsemen lost their lances; five horses and two cavaliers were slain; and so continuous and well directed were the discharges of javelins, arrows, and stones that ere long nearly all of Marin's command were wounded. At this juncture a hideous object appeared in the centre of the Chiapanec ranks. An Indian woman, nude, wrinkled, and obese, her body painted all over with ghastly designs rendered more effective by tufts of cotton, had arrived upon the battle-field. No Empusa could be more frightful. The creature—so ran the 219 report—was regarded by the Chiapanecs as their divinity, and her presence she had predicted would insure them victory.[XIII‑14] But the native auxiliaries recognized the significance of her arrival, and drawn up by their leaders in a compact body, dauntlessly fought their way up to her, "and hacked to pieces the accursed goddess," as Bernal Diaz affirms.
Though disconcerted the natives do not yield, relying on their numbers and their courage; and the hard-pressed Spaniards, supported by the prayers and benediction of their priest,[XIII‑15] fight with renewed vigor. The cavalry again and again ride through the foe, crushing them down and trampling them under foot until their ranks are broken and scattered. At length the Chiapanecs seek safety, some on the neighboring rocks, and others by swimming the deep and rapid Mazapan.
After devoutly thanking God for the victory, and singing the salve regina, the Spaniards advance to a small village not far from the city itself, and pitch their camp for the night, great precaution being taken to prevent surprise. Assistance now comes from an unexpected quarter. About midnight ten Indians cross the river in canoes, and allow themselves to be quietly captured. Brought before Marin they state that they are natives of Xaltepec, and have been conquered and enslaved by the Chiapanecs, twelve years before. They offer to aid the Spaniards by supplying them with canoes to cross the river, and by pointing out a ford, and, moreover, inform Marin that many of the forces of the Chiapanecs, having been pressed into the ranks, are anxious to throw off the yoke, and that they will go over to him in the next engagement.
Marin at once accepts the offer, and it is agreed that twenty canoes shall be brought early in the morning. The remainder of the night is passed without 220 further interruption, though the enemy is heard mustering on the other side of the river with noise of drums and conchs. At daylight the canoes arrive, and the army proceed to the ford. The crossing is effected with great difficulty, the water being breast-high and the stream rapid. As they approach the opposite bank, the enemy rains down upon them such showers of missiles that again hardly a man escapes unhurt.[XIII‑16] For some time they are unable to effect a landing, and Marin's position is critical, when fortunately their new allies cause a diversion by assailing the Chiapanecs in the rear. The cavalry are thus enabled to gain a footing on the bank, and the infantry soon follow; the natives are put to flight in all directions. This is their final struggle. The summons to surrender is immediately complied with, and the Spaniards enter the city without further opposition.[XIII‑17]
All the neighboring towns were now ordered to send in their allegiance, and such an effect had the subjection of the hitherto invincible Chiapanecs upon the different tribes that resistance was not even thought of, Cinacantlan, Gopanaustla, Pinula, Huehueiztlan,[XIII‑18] Chamula, and other towns tendering their submission. The conquest of the country was now considered complete, and Marin had already apportioned out certain repartimientos when harmony was interrupted by the conduct of one of the soldiers.
While at Cinacantlan, whither the army had proceeded, Francisco de Medina left camp without permission, and taking with him eight Mexicans went to 221 Chamula, where he demanded gold of the natives in the name of Marin. A few trinkets were given him, but not satisfied with these he seized the cacique in the expectation of extorting a ransom. The Chamulans, however, rose to a man, and Medina was glad to get back to Cinacantlan, where he was arrested.[XIII‑19]
No overtures or explanations on the part of Marin availed to pacify the indignant people of Chamula, who had, moreover, induced those of Huehueiztlan to join them in the revolt. His messages of peace were received with defiance. On the 29th of March Godoy was sent into the disaffected district with a small force, but found the attitude of the natives so threatening that he deemed it best to avoid hostilities and returned to report. Marin was at this time encamped in a beautiful vale surrounded by pine groves, at no great distance from Cinacantlan.[XIII‑20] He now considered it necessary to reduce Chamula by force of arms, and demanded of the Chiapanecs a contingent of two hundred warriors, which was at once supplied. Messages were also sent to the friendly cacique of Cinacantlan[XIII‑21] soliciting an equal number.
On the 30th of March, about ten o'clock in the 222 morning, the troops arrived at the foot of the eminence on which Chamula[XIII‑22] was situated. The ascent, at the only point where attack was possible, was impracticable for horsemen. Marin therefore ordered the cavalry to take up a position on the level ground below, and to protect his rear while the assault was being made.[XIII‑23] The infantry and allies then scaled the height and were soon in front of the fortifications, which they found to be of a formidable character. A palisade of strong cross-timbers let deep into the ground and firmly bound together was the first obstacle to their entrance, and behind it was a bulwark of stone and mud nearly twelve feet high and four feet in thickness, into which were inserted strong beams. This again was surmounted, along its whole length, by a wall of heavy boards six feet high, supported by strong crossbars on both sides, all firmly lashed together, while at intervals loop-holed turrets had been erected commanding the approach. At the strongest part of this bulwark was the single entrance, which was approached by a narrow flight of steps leading to the top.
Though astonished at the strength of these ramparts, the Spaniards did not hesitate to assault them; but during the whole of the day all they could effect was the destruction of the outer stockade. Repeated attempts were made to mount the steps, but at each effort the assailants were driven back by the long heavy spears of the defenders. Incessant volleys of missiles were directed against them; their ranks suffered severely; and it soon became evident that some other plan of attack must be adopted.[XIII‑24] The 223 only practicable one which suggested itself was to break open the wall with picks and crow-bars under cover of wooden sheds. Natives were therefore despatched for implements to the valley where the baggage and wounded had been sent under the protection of ten of the cavalry; and the besiegers now constructed several strong frames, each capable of holding twenty men.[XIII‑25] These were pushed up to the wall, and under cover of them the Spaniards began to break through it. The Indians poured on them burning pitch, scalding water, firebrands, and hot embers,[XIII‑26] and finally crushed them with heavy rocks, making it necessary to withdraw them for repairs. Then in mockery and contempt they threw golden ornaments[XIII‑27] at the retreating Spaniards, and with taunting words derided them. "Is it gold you want? We have abundance of it; why come ye not in and take it?"
But their success was of short duration. The sheds were soon strengthened, and again the pick and crow-bar were plied against the wall, now almost pierced. About the hour of vespers[XIII‑28] two openings had been made, and the assailants, rushing through, engaged in a hand to hand encounter with the Chamulans, who bore themselves with such unyielding firmness that the cross-bowmen placed their weapons close to the breast of the foe and discharged them without taking aim. The contest was terminated by a furious storm 224 of rain, and so murky became the sky that the combatants could barely distinguish one another. Marin withdrew his men under shelter, and, the storm abating in an hour, again advanced on the stronghold. No missiles were aimed at them as they approached the barricade, but a serried line of spears confronted them, and no orders were given to storm the position. At length Bernal Diaz with a single comrade crept up to one of the openings, and peering in found the place unprotected. Then mounting the ramparts he beheld the Indians in full retreat by a precipitous path leading to the valley below. The Chamulans had fled, but not all. The two Spaniards were soon attacked by a body of two hundred warriors still left within the enclosure, and but for the timely arrival of the Cinacantlan allies, Bernal Diaz had never lived to write the 'True History of the Conquest of Mexico.'[XIII‑29] The retreating host was at once pursued, and a number of captives were made, principally women and children. No gold or other valuables fell to the lot of the Spaniards, but they found in the town what was of more benefit to them—a store of provisions—for, as Godoy relates, the men had not tasted food for two days.[XIII‑30]
On the following day, the 1st of April, Marin returned to his camp, whence he sent six of his prisoners to the Chamulans summoning them to allegiance, bidding them to return to their stronghold, and promising that all the captives should be released if they submitted. These inducements had their effect, and the deserted town was soon again repeopled.[XIII‑31] 225
The Spaniards now advanced against Huehueiztlan, where the inhabitants, discouraged by the fall of Chamula, made but a feeble resistance, and then took to flight. Several of the towns in the sierra were then summoned to surrender, but no answer was returned, and Marin, not venturing to march against them with his slender force, returned to his camp near Cinacantlan. Here a warm discussion was held respecting the carrying-out of Cortés' instructions to found a town. Opinion was divided; but the final decision, supported by Marin, was that it would be dangerous to do so owing to the smallness of their numbers and the want of necessaries.[XIII‑32]
Marin now set his face homeward. Marching along the bank of the Mazapan he passed through a number of towns, in all of which he met with a friendly reception, and was greeted with offers of submission. While traversing a portion of Tabasco he encountered bands of refractory natives, but reached Espíritu Santo in safety at the beginning of April 1524.
Between this date and the close of 1526 little is known of the events which occurred in Chiapas, and much confusion exists in the statements of the leading chroniclers. During the interval there is little 226 reason to doubt that the natives again rose in revolt, but we have no particulars as to this outbreak, except that Diego de Mazariegos was sent against them from Mexico with a well appointed force, and quickly reduced them to submission.[XIII‑33]
For a time the Chiapanecs yielded to their fate, but the exactions and cruelties of Juan Enriquez de Guzman, who had been appointed captain of the province by Marcos de Aguilar,[XIII‑34] drove them to desperation, and during the latter part of 1526 they once more broke out in rebellion. Again Mazariegos marched against them from Mexico, at the head of a powerful corps,[XIII‑35] supplied with five pieces of artillery. Retiring to the stronghold of Chiapas the Indians made good their defence for several days; but at last the Spaniards battered down their fortifications and advanced to the assault. Still the Chiapanecs flinched not, and fought until they could no longer wield their weapons.[XIII‑36] Then followed a tragedy as strange and appalling as 227 any recorded on the page of history. The self-destruction of the Taochi was indeed akin to it; but this act of the Chiapanecs blanched the cheek even of these Spaniards, whose business was butchery, and whose pretensions were something more chivalrous than lay within the conception of any other people; here was something done by aboriginal Americans which in the way of chivalry, of lofty self-sacrifice, of determined deliverance from abasement, has few parallels. And what is most significant about it, had they known all, it was the best they could have done for themselves, to escape from Christian bondage at any cost. This is what they did:
Scorning to yield themselves as slaves, the entire population of the town rushed to the verge of a cliff, which overhung the Mazapan, and thence husbands and wives, parents and children, locked in close embrace, hurled themselves headlong, thousands of them, upon the rocks below or into the swift-running river. The Spaniards attempted to interfere, but of all the multitude only two thousand could be saved.[XIII‑37] These were removed to a plain a league down the river, and from this settlement sprung the town of Chiapas de los Indios, which became in time a populous city.[XIII‑38]
While Mazariegos was thus occupied at the stronghold of the Chiapanecs, he learned that a competitor had appeared on the field. Pedro Puertocarrero had invaded the province from the Guatemalan frontier,[XIII‑39] 228 and Mazariegos regarding him as an encroacher, now marched against him. He found the interloper stationed at Comitlan, and his lamb-like followers would probably, by way of variety, have indulged in a conflict with their countrymen, had Puertocarrero been strong enough to meet them. But his forces were too few to hold out any prospect that it would terminate pleasantly to himself. Besides, Mazariegos was humane and prudent. He spoke the intruders smoothly and in a Christian spirit, represented to them how glad he would be to receive them as brothers, and generously offered them repartimientos in Chiapas. So no blood was shed. But many of Puertocarrero's men deserted him, and he retraced his steps in angry mood, having engaged in an expedition worse than profitless.
The control over the province was a matter of dispute on more than one occasion. That it was included in the governorship of Guatemala is evident from the provision extended by the king to Alvarado in 1527, but the fact that he took no part in its conquest would seem to invalidate his claim. That nevertheless he acquired a certain amount of control appears from a cédula issued April 14, 1531, and quoted by Remesal, in which he grants permission to the settlers to deal with escaped slaves as if they were branded. Again in 1532 we find that the cabildo furnished him with two cannon for his South Sea expedition, though the members confessed that they did so only through fear of his causing them fresh trouble.[XIII‑40] The country, being now subjugated and free from outside interference, lay ready to be portioned out to the conquerors in repartimientos. This process occupied some time, and the rest of the year was passed in reorganizing 229 the province and arranging for its colonization. It was expedient to found a Spanish settlement, and on the 1st of March 1528 Mazariegos, with the aid of Indians, constructed a number of huts on a spot distant about a league to the east of the depopulated town of Chiapas. A meeting was then held at which the lieutenant-governor explained that the site he had selected was not necessarily intended to be permanent, and that if a more advantageous spot were found, the colony should be removed to it. In the mean time, in the name of his Majesty, he appointed municipal officers, and a few days afterward an enrolment of citizens took place, more than fifty names being recorded. The town was named Villa Real after Mazariegos' native city, Ciudad Real of La Mancha. The newly appointed cabildo then went into session and the appointments of Luis de Luna, as visitador general, and Gerónimo de Cárceres, as escribano, were recognized and accepted.[XIII‑41]
But it was soon discovered that the locality was unfavorable. It was hot, unhealthy on account of the neighboring swamps, and infested with mosquitoes and bats. The site was therefore removed to the plain of Huey Zacatlan,[XIII‑42] twelve leagues distant. Here were rich, arable, and pasture lands, while a winding river and numerous streams afforded an abundant supply of water. A town was formally laid out, lots were assigned to citizens, buildings begun, repartimientos granted, and the territory portioned in caballerias and peonias. It was afterward ordered at a session of the cabildo held on the 17th of August 1528, that all who desired to obtain land from the natives should do so by purchase. Protection was also extended to them by regulations framed to prevent the appropriation of their produce or its destruction 230 by animals. Any Spaniard who sent his servant to gather maize from their fields was to forfeit ten pesos de oro for the first offence, and for the second to lose his servant, who was to be publicly flogged. Regulations passed during the early part of the following year required that all encomenderos should assemble the sons of the caciques at their residences to be instructed in the doctrines of the church. Christianized natives were to receive Christian burial, and others were to be decently interred outside the city.
The administration of Mazariegos appears to have been based on humane principles and to have had in view the welfare of the settlers. But this condition of affairs was of brief duration. In 1529 Juan Enriquez de Guzman was ordered by the audiencia of Mexico to take his residencia, and appointed captain general and alcalde mayor of Chiapas. His investigation was conducted in a spirit of vindictiveness which can be accounted for only by the fact that the latter had previously been his juez de residencia. He stripped him and his friends of their repartimientos, and gave them to his own creatures; he appropriated his dwelling and town allotments, and when the man whom he thus despoiled soon afterward set forth for Mexico, gave further proof of his enmity by changing the name of the town to Villa Viciosa. By a royal cédula of July 7, 1536, its name was again changed to Ciudad Real.[XIII‑43]
Guzman now exercised his power without restraint, and laid the foundation of permanent evils. All official positions were filled by favorites of his own to the exclusion of those entitled to them; the encomiendas 231 were taken from those to whom they had been assigned, and distributed among undeserving followers; and in a few months the whole colony was embroiled in dissensions. At a later date all offices except those of the two alcaldes, the procurador syndic, and the city majordomo became salable.[XIII‑44] The province was divided into numerous repartimientos, and in every principal town a lieutenant of the alcalde mayor was stationed. "Not," says Mazariegos, "for the administration of justice, but rather to superintend his large and scandalous repartimientos and to collect tribute dues." This system of government by encomenderos was oppressive and exhausting to the country, and to it the ruin of the towns of Chiapas is to be attributed. The province was subject to the captain general and the audiencia of Mexico; but their control was exercised with little attention to the improvement of the system. This state of affairs lasted until 1544, when the audiencia of the Confines was established, and Chiapas was included in its jurisdiction.[XIII‑45] 232
Decrease of Indian Population at the Isthmus—And in Honduras—Treatment of Spanish Allies in Guatemala—Torture and Butchery of Hostile Natives—Terror Inspired by Alvarado—Early Legislation—Its Non-observance—The New Laws—The Audiencia of Panamá Abolished—The Audiencias of Los Reyes and Los Confines Established—Disgust Caused by the New Code—The First Viceroy of Peru Arrives at the Isthmus—He Takes Charge of Treasure Acquired by Slave Labor—And Liberates a Number of Indians.
The old Milanese chronicler, Girolamo Benzoni, mentions that during a journey from Acla[XIV‑1] to Nombre de Dios about the year 1541, his party entered some Indian huts to obtain a supply of provisions. The inmates thinking they were about to be enslaved attacked them savagely with hands and teeth, tearing their clothes, spitting in their faces, uttering doleful cries, and exclaiming guacci! guacci! which Benzoni translates as "the name of a quadruped that prowls 233 by night in search of prey."[XIV‑2] Being at length pacified by signs they brought forth food, and one of them consenting to act as guide informed the travellers that there were no other Indian habitations on their line of route, for the Spaniards had either killed or made slaves of the entire population.
In Honduras slaves were still kidnapped, and sold 234 by ship-loads among the islands or in Nicaragua, so that in the vicinity of Trujillo, where formerly were native towns with from six hundred to three thousand houses, there were in 1547 not more than a hundred and eighty Indians left, the remainder having fled to the mountains to avoid capture. At Naco, which a few years before contained a population of ten thousand souls, there were, in 1536, only forty-five remaining. At a coast town named La Haga, nine leagues from Trujillo, and containing nine hundred houses, there was but one inhabitant left, all having been sold into bondage save the young daughter of the cacique, who had contrived to elude the slave-hunters.[XIV‑3]
Cruel as was the treatment of the natives in every part of the Spanish provinces, nowhere was oppression carried to such an extreme as in Guatemala. Here little distinction was made between the allies and the conquered races; even the faithful Tlascaltecs, who, after the conquest, had settled with the Mexican and Cholultec auxiliaries at Almolonga, being enslaved, overworked, and otherwise maltreated, until in 1547 there were barely a hundred survivors.[XIV‑4] The natives of Atitlan, who had never swerved in their allegiance to the Spaniards, were treated with equal severity. After sharing the hardships of their military campaigns, they were compelled to supply every year four or five hundred male and female slaves and every fifteen days a number of tributary laborers, 235 many of whom perished from excessive toil and privation. They were required to furnish, besides, a large quantity of cloth, cacao,[XIV‑5] honey, and poultry; and so grievous were the burdens laid upon them that even the caciques were impoverished, and their wives compelled to serve as beasts of burden and tillers of the soil.
If such was the treatment to which the most faithful allies of the Spaniards were subjected, what fell cruelties may we not expect to find inflicted on those who, undeterred by defeat, rose again and again upon their oppressors? No words can depict the miseries of these hapless races. Wholesale slaughter, hanging, and burning, torturing, mutilating, and branding, followed the suppression of a revolt. Starvation, exhaustion, blows, fainting under intolerable burdens, groans of despair, and untimely death, were their lot in time of peace. During Alvarado's time the waste of life was wanton and most sickening. In the field starving auxiliaries were fed on human flesh, captives being butchered for food; children were killed and roasted; nay, even where there was no want of provisions, men were slain merely for the feet and hands, which were esteemed delicacies by the anthropophagous races. Nor were the marital relations of the natives any more considered than if they had been by nature the brutes which the Spaniards made of them in practice. Households were rendered desolate, wives being torn from husbands and daughters from parents, to be distributed among the soldiers and seamen, while the children were sent to work at the gold-washings, and there perished by thousands. Thus the work of depopulation progressed, and it is asserted by Las Casas that during the first fifteen or sixteen years of the conquest the destruction of 236 Indians in Guatemala alone amounted to four or five million souls.[XIV‑6]
None of the conquerors of the New World, not even Pedrarias Dávila, were held in such dread as Pedro de Alvarado. When the news of his landing at Puerto de Caballos was noised abroad the natives abandoned their dwellings and fled to the forests. In a few days towns, villages, and farms were deserted, and it seemed as if the whole province of Guatemala had been depopulated by enchantment.[XIV‑7] The plantations were destroyed by cattle; the cattle were torn by wild beasts; and the sheep and lambs served as food for the blood-hounds, which had been trained to regard the Indians as their natural prey, but now found none to devour. 237
As early as 1525 intelligence of the terrible rapidity with which depopulation was progressing reached the emperor, and on the 17th of November he issued a cédula for the protection of the fast decreasing races.[XIV‑8] In 1519 he ordered the council of the Indies to draw up regulations for the government of the provinces, and that body issued a decree regarding the treatment of natives, which, although the protection of the interests of the throne may be a somewhat prominent consideration, exhibits sympathy and enjoins moderation toward the oppressed races.[XIV‑9] Other cédulas were issued at brief intervals,[XIV‑10] but that all were inoperative 238 is shown from many incidents which have already been related.
Distant legislation was of no avail. The branding-iron still seared the captive's flesh, the pine-torch was still applied to the rich victim's feet, and the lash still fell on the toiler's uncovered back. The encomenderos, bent only on amassing wealth, worked their Indians until they were on the verge of death, and then cast them forth from their houses or left them where they fell dead in the streets, as food for prowling dogs and carrion birds, until the odor of corruption infected the settlements.[XIV‑11] Nor did the homes of the living escape destruction or their property violent seizure. Their dwellings were pulled down to supply building materials, and the produce and wares which they brought each day to exchange in their market at Santiago were taken from them by the servants of the Spaniards, or by soldiers, who repaid them only with blows or stabs.[XIV‑12] 239
Thus notwithstanding the ordinances enacted by the emperor for the protection of the natives, and in the face of a papal bull issued in 1531 by his holiness Paul III.,[XIV‑13] restoring to the Indians their liberty throughout the provinces, their numbers rapidly decreased and the condition of the survivors grew worse as fresh taskmasters arrived in the New World. Few even of the poorer and none of the wealthier class of Spaniards expected to find there an abiding-place. Spain's boldest and most reckless left her shores and voyaged westward with the placid satisfaction of ruffians released from law's control, and now free from the check of an effectual executive power regarded themselves as masters of the position.
In 1542 Bartolomé de Las Casas placed in the hands of the emperor the manuscript of his well known work on the destruction of the Indies, and through the exertions mainly of that never-tiring missionary a royal junta composed of ecclesiastics and jurists was held during the previous year at Valladolid for the purpose of drawing up regulations for the better government of the provinces. The great apostle of the Indies pleaded his favorite cause with all the fire of his eloquence, urging that the natives of the New World were by the law of nature free, and giving utterance to the now somewhat trite maxim "God does not allow evil that good may come."
It is somewhat singular, to say the least, to hear such doctrine from the lips of a Dominican,[XIV‑14] while 240 yet the dark looming cloud of the inquisition cast, as from the wings of a fallen angel, the dun spectre of its huge eclipse athwart the hemispheres.
The ordinances framed by the junta received the emperor's approval, and after being somewhat amplified were published in Madrid in 1543, and thenceforth known as the New Laws.[XIV‑15] The code contains a large number of articles, many of them relating almost exclusively to the enslavement and treatment of the natives. It was provided that all Indian slaves should be set free, unless their owners could establish a legal title to their possession.[XIV‑16] None were thenceforth to be enslaved under any pretext.
Proprietors to whom the repartimientos had given an excessive number must surrender a portion of them to the crown. On the death of encomenderos[XIV‑17] the slaves were to revert to the crown. All ecclesiastics and religious societies and all officers under the crown must deliver up their bondsmen or bondswomen, not being allowed to retain them even though resigning office. Inspectors were appointed to watch over the interests of the natives, and were paid out of the fines levied on transgressors. Slaves were not to be employed in the pearl-fisheries against their will under penalty of death to the party so employing them, nor when used as pack-animals was such a load to be laid on their backs as might endanger their lives. Finally they were to be converted to the Catholic faith, and it was ordered that two priests should accompany all exploring parties, to instruct the Americans that 241 his Majesty the emperor regarded them as his free subjects, and that his holiness the pope desired to bring them to a true knowledge of him the spread of whose doctrines had in less than half a century been attended with the depopulation of the fairest portions of the New World.
Among the provisions of the new code were others almost as distasteful to many of the Spaniards as were those relating to the enfranchisement of the natives. The audiencia of Panamá was abolished and two new tribunals were to be established, one at Los Reyes, which now first began to bear the name of Lima, and was thenceforth the metropolis of the South American continent; the other termed the audiencia de los Confines, at Comayagua, with jurisdiction over Chiapas, Yucatan, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the province of Tierra Firme, known as Castilla del Oro. From the decision of these tribunals and from those of the audiencias of Mexico and Santo Domingo, there was to be in criminal cases no appeal. In civil suits the losing party might demand a second trial, the benefit of which is not apparent, as no new evidence was admitted, and the case was conducted by the oidores who rendered the first judgment. If the amount exceeded ten thousand pesos de oro, there lay right of appeal to the council of the Indies. Moreover, the oidores[XIV‑18] were empowered to inquire into the administration of the governor and other civil functionaries, and to suspend them from office, their report being sent to the council of the Indies for final action.
Such were the main features of the new code which sought to strike the fetters from a nation which was fast disappearing from the family of man. Tidings of this remarkable piece of legislation soon spread 242 throughout the New World, and from Mexico to Los Reyes the entire population was in a state of ferment bordering revolution. To deprive the settlers of their slaves was to reduce them to beggary. Slaves constituted the chief source of wealth throughout the provinces. Without them the mines could not be worked, towns could not be built, lands could not be tilled. The soldier urged his right of conquest, and many a scarred veteran, worn with toil and hardship, threatened to defend by the sword which had helped to win an empire for his sovereign the estates now threatened by these vexatious regulations.
The colonists were soon to learn that the new laws were not to remain a dead letter as had been the case with the royal ordinances. In January 1544 Vasco Nuñez Vela, the first viceroy of Peru, arrived at Nombre de Dios, and finding there some Spaniards returning to their native country with stores of wealth acquired by the sale of their Peruvian slaves, ordered them to deliver up their treasure,[XIV‑19] and but for some doubt as to the legality of such a proceeding would certainly have confiscated it.
After crossing the Isthmus the viceroy liberated and sent back from Panamá at the expense of their proprietors, several hundred Indians who had been brought from Peru or were unjustly held in bondage. Bitter were the remonstrances against these high-handed measures, but Vela merely answered, "I come not to discuss the laws but to execute them." The condition of the natives was not improved, however, by their liberation, for we learn that numbers died on board ship from starvation and ill-usage, while others, cast ashore unarmed on a desolate coast, fell a prey to wild beasts or otherwise perished miserably.
A committee of the most noble and influential of the Spaniards waited on the new viceroy to gain from 243 him, if possible, some concessions. They urged that, inasmuch as the Indians had been converted to Christianity, it would be a great loss to the church to enfranchise them, and that if enfranchised they would always be in danger of perishing from starvation. They dared not return to their own tribes, for the caciques inflicted the penalty of death on all who had become Christians. These arguments served but to rouse the wrath of the viceroy, who dismissed the deputation saying, "Were you under my jurisdiction I would hang you every one." Thenceforth none dared oppose him further. Even the oidores of the newly established audiencia of Los Reyes who had accompanied him from Spain made no protest, and on his departure for Peru remained for some time at Panamá before they could muster courage to follow.
In Tierra Firme and in the islands of the Spanish West Indies the new laws were partially obeyed, although complaints were still frequent of the ill-treatment of natives, of their being punished with stripes if they dared to complain, and of the arrival in Panamá of cargoes of slaves from Nicaragua. The priests were earnest in their protestations, and their reports to the emperor abounded in lofty expressions of concern for the cause of Christ and of humanity. The ecclesiastical and secular interests were ever at variance. Should the alcaldes render any decision that threatened to work adversely against the authority of the church, they were excommunicated, and thus rendered incapable, in the eyes of the people, of discharging the functions of their office. The governor and the bishop were continually at war, the latter cloaking under his pretended zeal for the conversion of the Indians, and the former under the pretext of upholding the dignity of the crown, the real 244 purpose for which each was too often striving—that of gathering into his coffers the gold of his Majesty's vassals.[XIV‑20] 245
Administration of Doctor Robles—Interoceanic Communication—Proposed Change of the Site of Panamá—Nombre de Dios and its Trade—The Isthmus the Highway of Commerce between the Hemispheres—Vasco Nuñez Vela Lands in Peru—Gonzalo Pizarro at the Head of a Rebellion—Dissolution of the Audiencia of Los Reyes and Arrest of the Viceroy—His Release—His Defeat and Death at Añaquito—Gonzalo's Dreams of Conquest—He Despatches Bachicao to Panamá—Hinojosa's Expedition—His Bloodless Conquest of the Province—Melchor Verdugo's Invasion—Pedro de la Gasca—His Negotiations with the Revolutionists—Gasca Lands in Peru—Execution of Gonzalo Pizarro.
Of Pedro Vazquez, who succeeded Barrionuevo as governor of Castilla del Oro, little is known; but of Doctor Robles, the successor of Vazquez, under whose administration the government was continued till 1546, it is alleged, and probably with truth, that he wrought more harm to his fellow-man in a twelvemonth than the malign genius of a Pedrarias even could accomplish in a decade. In his greed for wealth he was rivalled only by the all-grasping Pedro de Los Rios, and in the astute cunning with which he cloaked his evil deeds he was without peer even in a community where the prevailing code of morals taught neither fear of God nor regard for man. Appointed oidor of the audiencia of Panamá, in 1538, he held office for several years, and the abolition of that tribunal was probably due in a measure to his malefeasance. There are no explicit details as to the precise charges which were brought against Robles, but we learn that 246 in every instance he contrived to baffle the scrutiny of his judges. The licentiate Vaca de Castro was first ordered to bring the offender to justice, but called in vain on his fellow-oidores of the audiencia of Panamá to aid him in so doing. On the establishment of the audiencia of the Confines, the trial was yet unfinished, and as the aggrieved parties still clamored that it be brought to a conclusion, Ramirez, one of the oidores, and the first alcalde mayor of Panamá, was ordered to take his residencia. Robles appears to have escaped punishment, for he soon afterward figures as senior oidor of the audiencia of Lima. He returned before long to Panamá, and we learn that on the capture of that city in 1550, by Hernando and Pedro de Contreras, some of Gasca's treasure was captured at the house of Robles, who thenceforth disappears from the page of history.[XV‑1]
When Pedro de los Rios set out for Nicaragua he left orders with Captain Hernando de la Serna and the pilot Corzo to make a survey of the Rio de los Lagartos, now known as the river Chagre, for the purpose of facilitating communication between the two seas. They were directed also to examine the river Panamá, flowing in the opposite direction, and to explore the country between the highest navigable points on the two streams. This was done with a view of discovering the best route for a grand thoroughfare across the Isthmus, over which the tide of commerce might flow between Spain and the Spice Islands; and although this object was never realized, the discovery which reduced land carriage to a distance of nine leagues proved most useful in the subsequent intercourse of Spain and Peru.
The project for interoceanic communication by way of the isthmus of Panamá was first mooted more than three hundred and fifty years ago, and to Charles V. 247 probably belongs the merit of its suggestion. The plan first proposed was to unite the Rio Grande with the Chagre, which except in seasons of drought was navigable for vessels of light draught as far as the present town of Cruces, and so make the connection on the Pacific side near the modern city of Panamá. Andagoya, who has already been mentioned as the one who in 1522 conducted an expedition to Birú, was directed to make a survey and to furnish estimates of the probable cost. His report was unfavorable; for in a despatch addressed to the emperor, about 1534, he expresses his belief that there was no monarch in all Europe rich enough to furnish the means to carry out such an enterprise.[XV‑2]
In the same despatch Andagoya also reports adversely on a question which had been for several years under discussion—that of moving to another site the population of Panamá. In a letter addressed to Francisco Pizarro in 1531, Antonio de la Gama declares his intention of making such a change; for ever since the city had been founded by Pedrarias, complaints had been made of its unhealthy climate.[XV‑3] A royal cédula was afterward issued ordering that the citizens should meet and discuss the question, and Andagoya states that the matter was decided in the negative; for, he tells us: "There is no other port in all the South Sea where vessels could anchor alongside the streets." Moreover he affirms that "God himself had selected the site."
The chronicler Benzoni, who travelled in Darien between 1541 and 1556, mentions that the road from 248 Panamá[XV‑4] to Nombre de Dios was about fifty miles in length, and that during the first day's journey it was tolerably smooth, but the remainder of the route lay over rugged and difficult ground, through forest and through streams sometimes almost impassable during the rainy season.[XV‑5] Merchants doing business at Nombre de Dios usually resided at Panamá. At the time of Benzoni's visit to the former town, about the year 1541, it contained but fifteen or twenty wholesale merchants, the remainder of the population being principally small tradesmen, innkeepers, and sailors.
The trade of Nombre de Dios was extremely fluctuating. Fourteen or fifteen Spanish vessels of various sizes, the largest being about three hundred and sixty tons burden, arrived there annually, with miscellaneous cargoes, but laden principally with wine, flour, biscuit, oil, cloth, silk, and household merchandise. The prices obtained for goods depended altogether upon the supply. When the market was overstocked, prices frequently ruled lower than first cost in Spain, and cargoes were sometimes forfeited by the consignee as not worth the freight. On the other hand, when an article was scarce, an enormous price could be obtained for it, sometimes its weight in gold.
When a ship arrived at Nombre de Dios the cargo was discharged into flat-bottomed boats, and carried by way of the Chagre as far as Cruces, about six leagues from the South Sea. Here the merchandise 249 was delivered to muleteers, who conveyed it to Panamá, whence it was shipped in various directions, though the greater part of the trade was with Peru.[XV‑6]
About the middle of the sixteenth century the isthmus of Darien had become the gate-way between the two seas, and Panamá the most important city of America. Situated upon the world's highway and in the very centre of the Spanish colonial possessions, through its portals must flow the treasures of Peru from the south, the products of Mexico, Nicaragua, and Guatemala from the north, and the trans-oceanic traffic of the Spice Islands from the west. Thus Panamá became not only the metropolis of the two Americas, but the half-way house and toll-gate between western Europe and eastern Asia. There the raw adventurer who at the opening of his career pressed forward with eager expectation into a dark uncertain future met the returned fortune-seeker elated with success or broken-spirited through failure. Into the lap of this great central city poured untold wealth. Her merchants were princes; her warerooms were filled with rich merchandise of every kind and from every quarter of the globe. There were to be seen stacks of yellow and white ingots from the mines of Peru, the cochineal and dye-woods of Mexico, the richest wines of Spain and Portugal, the silks, velvets, and laces of France and Italy.
The establishment of this commercial metropolis on the shores of the southern sea was the means of winning for Spain many of those provinces whose wealth was thus exchanged for the luxuries of the Old World. Without Panamá Francisco Pizarro could never have conquered Peru,[XV‑7] and after his conquest it 250 is more than probable that but for prompt assistance from Panamá the brave Manco Capac would have succeeded in exterminating the Spaniards within his territory. While a central position and a command of both the oceans gave to the city her wealth and importance, the same causes exposed her not infrequently to social and political convulsions, and to attack from foreign powers. An insurrection in Guatemala, a rebellion in Peru, a system of restrictions on Asiatic trade were immediately felt in Panamá, and upon that city fell the heaviest blows aimed by the English, French, or Dutch against the Spanish possessions in the New World. Between 1545 and 1671, at which later date the old city of Panamá was burned, it was sacked and partially destroyed no less than four times. In other chapters I shall bring together such facts as I have been able to find relating to the lives and fortunes of the Spaniards of Darien and Central America during the three centuries which elapsed between the conquest of that country by the Spaniards and their renunciation of allegiance to parental authority. This epoch opened and ended in attempted revolution. The first was futile, the last successful. The first was attempted by brave, strong, and daring men, but Spain and Charles were stronger. The last was attempted by weak, degenerate Spaniards, but Spain and Fernando were weaker.
Upon the death of Francisco Pizarro, the Almagrist faction maintained the ascendency in Peru,[XV‑8] until dispersed by Vaca de Castro on the plains of Chupas. Young Almagro then fled to Cuzco, where he was arrested and beheaded as a traitor.[XV‑9] Vaca de 251 Castro had but just arrived in Peru. He brought with him a commission from the crown to arbitrate upon and settle the discords between the rival factions; and in the event of the decease of Francisco Pizarro, he was instructed to assume the government. Gonzalo Pizarro, who had been appointed governor of Quito, was at the time of his brother's murder absent on an expedition of discovery to the river Amazon. On his return, learning of Francisco's tragic fate, he offered his services to Vaca de Castro, but they were declined by that official, who was fearful lest the turbulent and overbearing disposition of the last of the Pizarros should interfere with his administration of the government. Gonzalo, angered at the rebuff, retired to La Plata and engaged in working the rich silver-mines in that locality.
Up to this time Charles, occupied by the affairs of his vast empire at home, had paid but little attention to the welfare of the colonies. In general terms the Spanish government had set limits to the cruelty and oppression of the natives by the conquerors. The intentions of the sovereigns and their councils were from the beginning humane and praiseworthy as I have often observed. But as new issues were constantly growing out of these new conditions, and as very many of the royal decrees concerning the affairs of the Indies were impracticable and therefore inoperative, the conquerors were left in a measure to lay down their own rules of conduct according to their immediate necessities; or rather to act independent of all rule, being governed by the dictates of their judgment or interest. If success attended these lawless efforts, the misdeeds of these adventurers were obliterated by their gold. If unsuccessful, they usually fell victims to their cruelty or cupidity, and their bones were left to moulder in the wilderness; so that in the early history of the Spanish colonies it was only at rare intervals and in aggravated cases that any notice was taken of disobedience of the laws. 252 To one crime, however—that of disloyalty—the Spanish monarchs were never insensible. So long as the prerogatives of the crown were strictly regarded, excesses were overlooked. The next most heinous offence was civil strife. Native Americans, a race midway between Castilians and brutes, might be slaughtered by the thousand upon slight cause;[XV‑10] but the lives of Spanish marauders were far too valuable to be given up to internecine strife.
In Peru, however, it was different. The passions of the populace had been roused by contending factions, and the license hitherto granted to the conquerors rendered them all the more impatient of restraint. Although the people were worse prepared for stringent measures than the more orderly colonists of Mexico, the person upon whom devolved the execution of the obnoxious laws lacked the wise and politic discrimination which governed the actions of Sandoval and Mendoza.
On the 4th of March 1544, Vasco Nuñez Vela landed at Tumbez on the Peruvian coast, and as the fame of his high-handed measures at Panamá had not preceded him, was accorded a loyal reception. His popularity was short-lived, for the viceroy immediately liberated a number of slaves and on his journey to Los Reyes would not even allow his baggage to be carried by Indians, or, if compelled to do so, he paid them liberally. Such conduct caused huge disgust throughout the province, but Nuñez was deaf to all remonstrance and even caused the arrest of some of the malecontents.
Many now bidding defiance to the vicegerent took up arms and urged Gonzalo Pizarro, the sole surviving brother of the conqueror, to place himself at their head. Nothing loath, Gonzalo proceeded at once to Cuzco, 253 and having good store of wealth accumulated by mining and pillage soon mustered a numerous band.[XV‑11] The royal banner of Castile was planted before his quarters, and he loudly affirmed that he was a true and lawful subject of the king, that the viceroy had exceeded his instructions, and that he only aimed to hold in check his iniquitous purposes until the will of the emperor could be ascertained. Vasco Nuñez at length drew upon himself the indignation of his own partisans, who at the instigation of the bachiller Cepeda, a member of the audiencia, mutinied and decided to place the viceroy upon a vessel to be conveyed back to Spain.
Meanwhile the colonists flocked to the standard of Gonzalo from every direction, until he soon found himself at the head of twelve hundred brave and disciplined troops. On the 28th of October 1544, amidst the acclamations of the populace, he entered Lima[XV‑12] at the head of his army, and the royal audiencia was dissolved. Scarcely had the ship which was to carry Vasco Nuñez to Panamá set sail from Lima, when Álvarez, the official in charge, not daring to appear in Spain with a viceroy as a prisoner, threw himself at his feet, begged forgiveness, and placed the ship and all on board under his command. Being thus unexpectedly released, he disembarked at Tumbez, raised a small force, and marching northward as far as Quito, called upon all loyal subjects to rally for the protection of the king's authority. He then marched at the head of about five hundred men to San Miguel.[XV‑13]
Gonzalo Pizarro, who had been narrowly watching the movements of the viceroy, now determined to 254 bring matters to an issue. On the 4th of March 1545, he departed from Lima and marched against his opponent. Vasco Nuñez, fearful of the result, abandoned the town and fled to Añaquito, whither he was followed by the revolutionists, and on the 18th of January 1536 a hotly contested battle was fought, resulting in the defeat and death of the viceroy.[XV‑14]
Even before this event Gonzalo Pizarro had assumed the dictatorship of Peru and resolved to make himself master of Panamá, his dreams of conquest extending even to the provinces north of Tierra Firme.[XV‑15] Enlisting in his service one Hernando Bachicao,[XV‑16] he placed him in command of six hundred men and a fleet of twenty-seven ships.[XV‑17] Arriving at Tumbez, Bachicao landed a hundred troops, whereupon Vasco Nuñez, though in command of two hundred well trained veterans, fled to Añaquito, a portion of his forces deserting him and joining the standard of the revolutionists. Proceeding thence to Puerto Viejo and elsewhere, he seized several vessels and enlisted a hundred and fifty recruits. Calling at the Pearl Islands he was met by two messengers from Panamá, sent to request that he would forbear to land an armed force in Tierra Firme. 255 Bachicao replied that he intended but to land his passengers and revictual his fleet.
The people of Panamá had been repeatedly warned by Vaca de Castro and others that their city was in danger of falling into the hands of Gonzalo Pizarro and had levied a force of seven hundred men, though ill-equipped and without experience or discipline. Thrown off their guard however by Bachicao's answer they allowed him to enter the harbor without opposition. He landed a portion of his forces and almost without resistance seized all the arms and ammunition in the arsenal and delivered up the city to pillage. The ship-masters in port were ordered to join his fleet, and those who refused were hanged at the yard-arm. A captain named Pedro Gallego was also executed for disobeying his order to shorten sail and cry Viva Pizarro![XV‑18]
All law and order were for the time at an end. Men were put to death without the formality of a trial, and it is even said that Bachicao beheaded some of his own officers on the merest suspicion of their disaffection or even for pastime.[XV‑19]
On receiving news of his lieutenant's misconduct accompanied with letters of remonstrance from the citizens of Panamá, Gonzalo at once deposed him from the command.[XV‑20] He was resolved, however, to gain control of the Isthmus, and despatched for this purpose Pedro de Hinojosa, at the head of two hundred and fifty men, with instructions to seize and hold both Panamá and Nombre de Dios. Hinojosa, who had 256 first landed in Peru in 1534, and had done good service under Francisco and Hernando Pizarro, was a man of no mean abilities. Endowed by nature with a clear intelligence, honest of purpose and faithful to his trusts, with a judgment sharpened by long intercourse with the stirring scenes of the New World, he was eminently fitted for command, and enjoyed in no small degree the confidence of his soldiers.
The expedition sailed northward as far as Puerto Viejo, whence a vessel was sent in charge of Rodrigo de Carbajal with letters from Gonzalo to the principal residents of Panamá begging their favor and coöperation, disclaiming all connection with Bachicao's outrages, and stating that Hinojosa was now on his way with means sufficient to indemnify all who had suffered loss. If the force by which he was accompanied appeared to them somewhat large for the purpose, it should be remembered that Gonzalo's enemies were on the alert, and that it would be unsafe to navigate the ocean with a smaller fleet.
Accompanied by fifteen men, Carbajal landed at Ancon, a small cove two leagues from Panamá. There he was informed by some planters residing in the vicinity that two captains of the viceroy, Juan de Guzman and Juan de Illanes, were in the city enlisting troops under a commission from their chief, who awaited their coming at Quito. They had thus far succeeded in raising a company of one hundred men and in collecting a considerable quantity of arms, including six pieces of field artillery. "But," continued his informers, "although they have been ready to sail for many days, they appear to be in no haste to depart, and it is now believed that it is their intention to remain and defend the city against the insurgents." Under the circumstances, Carbajal did not think it prudent to land. He therefore despatched an emissary secretly by night with the letters from Pizarro.
The citizens to whom they were addressed were not to be duped however, and at once placed them before 257 the authorities. The messenger was arrested, and forced to disclose all he knew respecting Hinojosa and his visit. The guard of the city was increased, and two well armed brigantines were sent to capture the vessel then at Ancon. But Carbajal was too quick for them; suspecting from the delay of his messenger the true state of affairs, he slipped away, and hiding his vessel among the Pearl Islands, there awaited the approach of his commander.[XV‑21]
In the mean time Hinojosa continuing his course northward touched at Buenaventura. There he learned that Vasco Nuñez Vela was then engaged, with the assistance of Benalcázar, in recruiting his army in that neighborhood. Landing a party of soldiers, he captured eight or ten of the inhabitants, who gave information that the viceroy was at Popayan, and that owing to the delay of his captains, Juan de Illanes and Juan de Guzman, he had determined to send his brother, Captain Vela Nuñez, accompanied by efficient officers, to hasten the arrival of troops from Panamá. Moreover he had ascertained that the viceroy was building a brigantine, now almost completed, on board of which he intended to place his brother, in charge of all his treasure,[XV‑22] and to send to Panamá, in the hope of obtaining a heavy ransom from some of Hinojosa's partisans, an illegitimate son of Gonzalo Pizarro, then a captive in his hands. Vela Nuñez, together with his officers and a detachment of men in charge of young Pizarro, were then marching to the coast by different routes, to embark on board the vessel. By a clever stroke of strategy Hinojosa captured both parties, seized the treasure, and placed Vela Nuñez and his command as prisoners on board 258 the fleet. Then taking with him young Pizarro, whom he liberated and treated with marked consideration, he set sail for Panamá, and after being joined by Carbajal, cast anchor in the bay with eleven ships[XV‑23] and the two hundred and fifty men already mentioned. This was in October 1545.
The city was divided as to the policy of admitting the insurgents. The merchants and all who derived profit from the Peruvian trade saw everything to gain by the arrival of a large and richly laden fleet. Many of them furthermore held property in Peru, and transacted business through their factors, upon whom Gonzalo Pizarro would not fail to inflict summary punishment if he heard of opposition at Panamá. On the other hand Doctor Robles, the governor, with his political adherents and all who derived place and profit from the crown, loudly disclaimed against the rebels, and called on the people to assist him in the defence of the city, under penalty of the royal displeasure.[XV‑24] In the end the governor's party prevailed, the opposite faction yielding in appearance at least, and the corregidor Pedro de Casaos receiving the appointment of captain general[XV‑25] marched forth to oppose the landing of Hinojosa. The entire forces of the royalist party now mustered, apart from some small reënforcements from Nombre de Dios, nearly eight hundred men, only ninety of whom were disciplined troops, the remainder being an ill-armed crew of citizen-soldiers. The army was well supplied with field artillery.[XV‑26] 259
Dropping down with his fleet to the cove of Ancon, Hinojosa disembarked two hundred men under cover of his cannon, landing them on a rocky projection of the shore, inaccessible to the enemy's cavalry. He then began his march on Panamá, ordering the fleet to keep him company at a short distance from the shore with guns trimmed ready for action.[XV‑27]
At this juncture the ecclesiastics of the city issuing forth in a body, with mournful chants and sad countenances, their garments covered with crosses and the insignia of mourning, began to expostulate with both armies. "Is it necessary," they cried, "for Christians to imbue their hands in each other's blood!" At length an armistice of one day was agreed on. Hostages were given on either side, and the efforts of the priests to bring about an agreement between the parties were redoubled.
Hinojosa declared that he could not see why he was denied entrance into the city.[XV‑28] He came not to make war but restitution. Gonzalo Pizarro harbored no evil design; but he was master of Peru, and he intended to be master of the only thoroughfare to Peru—that which traversed the continent from Nombre de Dios to Panamá. If the people of the Isthmus would resign themselves to the sway of Pizarro while he wielded supreme power in Peru, or until matters were settled by the crown, all would be well; otherwise war must inevitably follow.
Pedro de Casaos and the men of Panamá were not satisfied.[XV‑29] They had just experienced a foretaste of what they might expect should another of Gonzalo's captains obtain possession of the city, but their only 260 alternative was compromise, or the arbitration of the sword. It was finally agreed that the loyal colonists who had come over from Nombre de Dios to render assistance should return, and that Hinojosa should be allowed to enter the city with a guard of thirty men, there to remain for forty-five days.[XV‑30] His ships meanwhile were to retire to Taboga or to the Pearl Islands, to be revictualled and repaired. The articles of agreement were drawn up by a notary and signed by the respective parties who bound themselves by oath to adhere faithfully to the terms stipulated.
Although Hinojosa was thus restricted by the terms of his compact and for the moment could strike no blow for the conquest of Panamá, he was by no means idle during the interval. Maintaining a strict watch against surprise and assassination,[XV‑31] he took up his quarters in a comfortable well furnished house, loaded his table with choice viands, and throwing open his doors entertained all comers with lavish hospitality. His apartments soon became the resort of soldiers and adventurers of every clique. Gonzalo Pizarro and the affairs of Peru were discussed over brimming goblets. Brilliant stories concerning the discovery and opening of mines of fabulous richness[XV‑32] fired the cupidity of the listeners, while a free passage was offered to all, and liberal pay promised from the first day of enlistment.
By these shrewd measures Hinojosa had the satisfaction of seeing his forces daily increase, while those of Pedro de Casaos proportionately diminished. The soldiers of Juan de Illanes and Juan de Guzman did 261 not prove insensible to the wiles and genial hospitality of Hinojosa, and those captains, seeing themselves abandoned by the greater part of their recruits, secretly stole from the city and seizing a vessel attempted to make their escape to Peru. They were, however, captured by one of the watchful captains stationed in the harbor, and not long after voluntarily joined themselves to Hinojosa and became his faithful adherents. Such was the influence which Hinojosa acquired by his careless and apparently unintentional display of wealth, and by his skill in throwing tempting baits to men who never flinched from danger when they saw prospect of gain, that in a few weeks and by a silent and bloodless revolution he became master of the city. At the expiration of the forty-five days he seized the batteries and made a formal entry into Panamá at the head of his entire force, amidst the acclamations of the greater part of the inhabitants.
Hinojosa took no advantage of his easily won victory. He strove to maintain the strictest discipline among his followers, treated the citizens with the utmost liberality, and ordered that the soldiers should respect their rights and in no wise interfere with their affairs.[XV‑33] He then despatched his son-in-law, Hernando Mejía de Guzman, in company with Pedro de Cabrera, to take possession of Nombre de Dios and guard the interests of Gonzalo Pizarro in that quarter.
While the province of Panamá thus quietly passed into the hands of Hinojosa the partisans of the viceroy were not idle. Melchor Verdugo,[XV‑34] to whom as one of the conquerors of Peru had been assigned the province of Caxamalca, proffered his services to Vasco Nuñez Vela, on his first landing in Peru. Becoming 262 afterward implicated in a plot devised by the royalist party to gain possession of Lima, he was arrested in that city by order of Gonzalo Pizarro. Escaping thence he proceeded to Trujillo, where he was fortunate enough to seize one of Bachicao's vessels, laden with the spoils of Panamá. With the proceeds of this capture, and with funds realized from his own estate, he enlisted a company in the service of the viceroy. He then sailed for Nicaragua and requested from the governor, as a loyal servant of the king, men and means to assist him in quelling the insurrection on the Isthmus. Failing to draw from him a hearty response he next applied to the audiencia of the Confines. With the magistrates of that tribunal he was more successful. Licentiate Ramirez de Alarcon, one of the members, took an active part in recruiting men and collecting arms and horses.
In the mean time tidings of Verdugo's doings in Peru and Nicaragua and his intended expedition to the northern coast of Darien reached Panamá. Hinojosa, fearing that Verdugo might raise a force sufficient to cause him trouble, sent Juan Alonso Palomino with two vessels and one hundred and twenty arquebusiers in pursuit. Arriving at Nicaragua Palomino captured Verdugo's vessel without difficulty, but on attempting to land found himself confronted by all the available men in the province arrayed under the royalist banner, under the command of Verdugo and the licentiate. After hovering about the coast for several days, watching in vain for a chance to disembark, he seized all the ships on the coast, and burning those which were unserviceable, returned with the remainder to Panamá, not knowing that his design was suspected. Verdugo made ready on Lake Nicaragua three or four frigates, and with two hundred choice and well armed troops[XV‑35] sailed 263 through the river San Juan to the North Sea, and creeping stealthily along the coast, hoped to surprise the rebels before his presence in that quarter became known. At the Rio Chagre he captured a vessel manned by negroes, from whom he obtained valuable information as to the condition of affairs at Nombre de Dios, the number of men stationed there, the names of their commanders, and a minute description of the building in which the officers were quartered.
Hinojosa was on the alert, but not so his captains. Though warned of the approach of the loyal party, they were taken by surprise. Landing at midnight, Verdugo stole quietly to the house where Hernando Mejía, Pedro Cabrera, and other officers were peacefully slumbering, surrounded the premises, and fired the dwelling. The dilatory captains, maddened at thus being entrapped in their own beds, sprang up, and seizing their weapons rushed out of the blazing edifice, and cutting their way through the enemy made their escape to the woods and finally to Panamá.[XV‑36]
Had Verdugo thenceforth conducted his affairs with the skill and discretion which characterized Hinojosa's movements at Panamá he would have caused that commander no little trouble, but he had none of the tact or generalship of Gonzalo's officer. He imprisoned the alcaldes, levied arbitrary assessments upon the merchants, demanded heavy ransom for his prisoners, and soon made himself so obnoxious to the people that with one accord they petitioned Doctor Ribera, the mayor, to ask protection from Hinojosa. The appeal was not in vain. Ribera at once entered into negotiations with Hinojosa,[XV‑37] and it was agreed that while the former levied troops at Nombre de 264 Dios, the latter should at once march from Panamá with a strong force. Verdugo impressed into his service every available man, and withdrawing from the town, took up a position on the shore, where he was to some extent covered by the guns of his vessels. There he awaited Hinojosa, who with a small but picked company of veterans[XV‑38] was now crossing the Isthmus to join battle with the royalist forces.
As soon as the rebel troops debouched from the woods surrounding Nombre de Dios, Ribera sallied from the town and opened a lively fire on the forces of Verdugo, the citizens taking fright at the first noise of the fray and scampering to a hill near by. Hinojosa's brigade advanced meanwhile with the steady measured tramp of trained soldiers, whereupon the men of Nicaragua, led by Verdugo, took to their heels also, leaving but one of their number wounded on the field,[XV‑39] and regained their ships, whence a brisk cannonade was opened on the town, but without visible result save loss of ammunition. The royalist captain then set sail for Cartagena, there to await a more favorable opportunity to serve his king. Hinojosa severely reprimanded Mejía and the other fugitive officers, and leaving them at Nombre de Dios in charge of a stronger garrison returned with Ribera to Panamá.
Nothing could have happened that would draw the attention of the court of Spain to the affairs of the New World more effectually than rebellion, as I have before intimated. The discovery and conquest of America cannot be classed as an achievement of the nation. It was a magnificent accident, in the busy reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella, and Charles. Those sovereigns, absorbed in wars and involved in ambitious intrigues at home, with a vast continent thrust upon 265 them by a Genoese navigator, could scarcely find time to do more than grant permits to adventurers to subjugate, at their own cost, new territories in the western world, and to receive when remitted to them the royal fifth of the returns. But rebellion, of whatsoever magnitude or shape, is always distasteful to a sovereign. Therefore when tidings reached Spain that the emperor's representative in Peru had been maltreated, and that a powerful body of insurgents held possession of that province, the monarch and his ministers were aroused. The affairs of Peru occupied for a time their careful consideration. Lengthy debates and close councils followed. At first, the king's counsellors in their deliberations consulted only the honor of the nation and strongly advocated sending an armed force against Pizarro; but insurrection at home and insurrection in Peru were two very different things. The Spanish government could more easily make war against a hundred thousand men in Spain or Germany than against one thousand in the wilds of that distant province.[XV‑40]
Pedro de la Gasca,[XV‑41] a counsellor of the inquisition, but a man holding no public office, was the one selected as the fit instrument for the occasion. He united a mild and insinuating disposition with remarkable firmness and tenacity, and a cool and bland exterior with a strength and sagacity but little suspected by most of his countrymen. None knew better how to combine a subtle humility and bold caution 266 with unpretending manners and a pleasant address, and no man could have been found better qualified to undertake the task. He obeyed the summons of the court with reluctance, but once having engaged in the undertaking, his whole soul was absorbed in its execution. Before setting out he declined an offered bishopric; he would accept no salary, nor any title except that of president of the royal audiencia of Lima.[XV‑42] He was empowered with the authority of a sovereign, being allowed to levy troops, declare war, appoint and remove officers at will, make repartimientos, condemn to death, condone offences, grant amnesties, and might send back to Spain if necessary even the viceroy himself.[XV‑43]
On the 26th of May 1546, Gasca set sail from San Lúcar with a small retinue, consisting of two oidores, and among other cavaliers the mariscal Alonso de Alvarado and the adelantado Pascual de Andagoya. Had the emissaries of Charles appeared off the Isthmus in warlike guise, the captains of Gonzalo Pizarro would have opposed them to the last, but what had they to fear from a humble priest with but a score or two of attendants? Nevertheless, Hernando Mejía was not without his suspicions of Alvarado.[XV‑44] He had but recently committed one blunder in allowing himself to be outwitted by Melchor Verdugo; but after some hesitation he decided that if the priest came armed with such a commission from the king as Alvarado affirmed, it were better to treat him with the respect due to a royal envoy. On the 17th 267 of July Gasca intimated his intention to land, and Mejía gave him a loyal reception. Drawing up his men on the beach, he put out for the president's vessel with a guard of twenty arquebusiers, brought him ashore, and amid the roar of cannon and musketry conducted him to his own quarters within the town.
Mejía was not long in the company of the unpretending ecclesiastic before he became convinced that beneath his calm demeanor slumbered a power that would soon make itself felt in the land. Gasca explained the object of his errand and the scope of his authority. His purpose was peace, and his commission, which was dated after the battle of Añaquito and the death of the viceroy, authorized him to grant pardon for all offences, no matter how heinous.[XV‑45] It now therefore became all loyal subjects to oppose no longer the emperor's messenger. Mejía hesitated. At heart he was loyal, though in common with others he had espoused the cause of the chivalrous conquerors in opposition to the austere and unpopular rule of Vaca de Castro and Vasco Nuñez Vela. Not even Gonzalo Pizarro, much less his subordinates, admitted themselves to be rebels. Gasca did not press the matter. He soon read the honest soldier completely and knew his man. His policy was rather to throw around those over whom he desired to gain ascendency the subtle influence which a man of his keen, incisive penetration, invested with the garb of authority, and versed in all the wily craft and casuistry of his order, knew well how to exercise, than to force an unwilling assent to measures which were distasteful and might afterward be lightly disclaimed. 268
Mejía being left to draw his own conclusions and to act for himself, at length thus declared his resolution to Gasca: "I am a loyal subject of the emperor. If Gonzalo Pizarro is such he cannot question my course; if not, I choose not to follow the fortunes of traitors." He then placed himself and his men at the priest's disposal, gave him a correct statement of the military and naval strength under Hinojosa's command, and even offered to march on Panamá and seize the fleet.[XV‑46] The envoy congratulated him upon his decision, and assured him that the king would reward him for his loyalty, but declined any service from him, other than keeping his resolve for the present a secret.
On receiving news of the president's landing and of his courteous reception, Hinojosa was sorely displeased. His lieutenant had been placed in command at Nombre de Dios for the express purpose of guarding the northern coast against the approach of any expedition hostile to the interests of Gonzalo Pizarro; and now, after being surprised by a band of men from Nicaragua, and compelled to flee to Panamá, he welcomed with royal honors, and without even consulting his commander, a man commissioned to assume authority over all the affairs of Peru. Gasca shrewdly surmised that Mejía while clearing himself from the imputation of treachery would plead the cause of the king more effectually than he himself could do. He therefore ordered him to accompany Alvarado to Panamá and lay the whole matter before Hinojosa. The latter was pacified with no great difficulty. It was pointed out to him that, if it was the correct policy to allow the envoy to land, all would have the benefit of it; whereas, if an error had been committed 269 it was a simple matter to order the priest and his comrades on board their vessels. Thus reassured he gave permission to his officer to return and escort the president across the Isthmus.
Melchor Verdugo, in the mean time, having tired of inglorious ease at Cartagena, had landed at Nombre de Dios, and there laid his humble duty at the feet of his Majesty's envoy. Gasca informed him that the best service he could render his sovereign would be to return to Nicaragua and there disband his forces. The meddlesome captain protested vehemently, but he was not of the metal with which the priest proposed to crush the rebellion. A band of blatant, dull-witted adventurers, whipped into fury by the superior generalship and soldierly qualities of Hinojosa and his veterans, could be of no assistance to him. Finding at length that the president was determined to ignore him, Verdugo withdrew his troops, and soon afterward returned to Spain, there to lay his grievances before the emperor.
On the 13th of August 1546 Gasca makes his entrance into Panamá, and is received with much ceremony by the commander-in-chief, the governor, and magistrates of the city. Hinojosa with all his keen penetrating common-sense, his practical experience, and his thorough knowledge of the world, is no more proof against the seeming candor and mild winning deportment of the unpretending priest than was Mejía. A downright foe is his delight. He will match his wit or skill in military or political affairs against those of any man in the Indies. But when the sovereign power of Spain appears in robes of sacred humility, and giving utterance in bland accents to doctrines worthy of the prince of peace, the sagacity of the soldier is at fault. The foe has become a phantom, powerful, nay invincible, but intangible. Opposition to the subtle influence of the priest is like waging conflict with the powers of air.
At length Hinojosa calls on the president, and begs 270 him to specify the nature of the authority with which he is vested. Gasca replies that he is the bearer of glad tidings to the Spanish settlers; for his Majesty has been pleased to revoke the more obnoxious measures contained in the new laws, and to empower him to grant a full pardon for all that has occurred in Peru. Hinojosa then asks if Gonzalo Pizarro is included in this amnesty, and whether he will be confirmed in his position as governor. Gasca evades the question; whereupon the commander's suspicions being roused he at once orders a ship to be made ready, and sends a despatch to Gonzalo, giving an account of the priest's arrival, of his reception by Mejía at Nombre de Dios, and of the nature of the envoy's mission; assuring his former chieftain that he may rely on him to execute faithfully any instructions.
By the same vessel Gasca despatches a Dominican monk, Francisco de San Miguel, to proclaim throughout Peru the arrival of the royal commissioner, and his promise to condone the offences of all who return to their allegiance. He also addresses letters to many influential persons in whom he had confidence. Finally he forwards to Gonzalo a despatch from the emperor, accompanied by an epistle from himself, a perfect masterpiece of diplomacy, in which he touches but lightly on the overthrow of the viceroy, avows that if he be not loyal there is not a soul whom he can venture to trust, and begs him as a Christian and a true Spaniard to persist no longer in rebellion. Meanwhile, the crafty envoy sends a messenger to the viceroy of New Spain, urging him not to allow arms or horses to be sent to Peru, and to hold his navy in readiness for war.[XV‑47]
The arrival of this unwelcome news from Panamá caused no slight annoyance. A council of officers was summoned; the principal inhabitants of Lima were invited to attend; the letters were read in public; 271 and all were invited to express their opinion. Gasca's despatch provoked much merriment[XV‑48] and many a threat, but they knew not the man they had to deal with. Some declared for killing him outright; others for sending him back to Spain; and only a voice here and there was heard in favor of admitting him to Peru. After long discussion it was finally determined to send an embassy to Spain and lay the matter before the emperor, and that a resolution, signed by seventy of the leading cavaliers in the city, should be forwarded to the envoy, stating that, civil dissensions having now terminated, the nation was enjoying the blessings of peace under the rule of Gonzalo Pizarro, and that the presence of his Majesty's representative would not only tend to distract the province but might cost him his life.
Aldana, one of Gonzalo's lieutenants, though secretly a traitor to the revolutionary cause, was despatched to Panamá with the missive. Arriving in that city on the 13th of November, he repaired to Hinojosa's house before calling on the president. There being allowed to read the governor's private despatches he threw them into the flames. Proceeding thence to the president's quarters he offered him his services, and it was agreed that Hinojosa should be openly invited to join the royalist party. Fernando Mejía also tried his powers of persuasion, arguing that as the emperor's will had been made known it was their duty to obey the president without awaiting the result of the appeal to the throne, that matters were now in a fair way for settlement, and that if this opportunity should pass unheeded they might wait long for another chance of escaping the consequences of their treason. Hinojosa was unwilling to accept this view of the case. He believed that the action of the revolutionary party was so far justifiable. He therefore replied that he had already informed the 272 envoy of his intentions, that if his Majesty should not be pleased to grant the petition of Gonzalo Pizarro he would at once render his obedience to the crown. But Hinojosa was at length entangled in the net of the wily priest and in company with his lieutenant called at the president's house, meekly swore allegiance to his cause, placed his fleet at his disposal, and hoisted the royal banner of Spain from the mainmast of his flag-ship.
Gasca now answered the resolution signed by the seventy cavaliers, inditing his letter to Gonzalo, and expressing his wonder that such an insignificant clérigo as he should be refused admittance into Peru. He begged them to rid their minds of all apprehension as to any hostile intent on his part. Then binding his officers by oath[XV‑49] not to reveal his purpose, he impressed into his service every available man on the Isthmus, obtained loans of money, wrote to the governors of all the Spanish provinces for assistance, despatched powerful squadrons to secure the port of Lima and capture Gonzalo's vessels on the coast of Peru, and on the 13th of June 1547 landed at Tumbez in command of more than one thousand troops.[XV‑50]
"Surely the devil must be in their midst!" exclaimed old Carbajal,[XV‑51] as Valdivia receiving this compliment to his generalship put his army in array at Xaquixaguana, and Gasca withdrew to the rear with his train of ecclesiastics. The rout of the rebel forces could hardly have been more complete had his satanic majesty been present in person, and almost within sight of the capital of the incas the last of the 273 Pizarros was handed over to the executioner, upbraiding with his last breath those who, grown rich by his brother's bounty and his own, had deserted to his enemies, and were now gathered around his scaffold,[XV‑52] while he himself was left without the means of purchasing a mass for the welfare of his abandoned soul.[XV‑53] 274
Cause of the Revolt—Preparations of the Conspirators—Assassination of Bishop Valdivieso—The Rebels Defeat the Men of Granada—Their Plan of Operations—The Expedition Sails for Natá—Gasca Arrives at the Isthmus with the King's Treasure—Capture of Panamá—Blunders of the Rebel Leaders—Hernando de Contreras Marches to Capira—He is Followed by his Lieutenant Bermejo—Gasca's Arrival at Nombre de Dios—Uprising of the Inhabitants of Panamá—Bermejo's Attack on the City—His Repulse—His Forces Annihilated—Fate of Hernando and his Followers.
After the downfall of Rodrigo de Contreras, his sons, Hernando and Pedro, the former a licentiate, and both held in high esteem among the colonists of Nicaragua, resolved to regain by force of arms the wealth and station of which they deemed themselves unjustly deprived. Of noble birth and reared in luxury, they found themselves in early manhood reduced to comparative poverty and their ancient name sullied by their sire's disgrace. They knew well that they had the sympathy of the greater portion of the settlers, and in the province were many exiles from Peru, veterans who having fought under Carbajal and Gonzalo Pizarro, were always ready for fresh enterprise, no matter how dangerous or treasonable, provided only that wealth were in prospect. Chief among them were Juan Bermejo and Rodrigo Salguero, whom Gasca had banished for attempting to raise an insurrection after the execution of Gonzalo. Bermejo was an old friend of the Contreras family, being a native 275 of the same city in Spain, and it was at his instigation that the two brothers, who at first were bent only on recovering their father's rights and property in Nicaragua, now determined to attempt a feat the audacity of which has no parallel in the history of Spanish colonization. This was nothing less than the conquest of Tierra Firme and Peru. In the event of success Hernando was to be proclaimed monarch of the latter province, which was believed to contain more wealth than all the world besides. Preparations were made at Granada; men were secretly enlisted; arms and ammunition were procured; and when the news arrived that the sentence of the deposed governor was confirmed by the council of the Indies the conspirators removed to Leon, the younger brother remaining at his mother's residence in Granada to convey the impression that they had departed on some peaceful errand.
Hernando with his companions took a house in Leon, and thence messengers were despatched to invite those who were thought most likely to join them to a pretended merry-making. When all were assembled the youthful rebel pointed out how hard was their present condition in life, and how hopeless their chance of bettering it. He denounced the conduct of the audiencia, by whose ordinances those who had conquered and peopled the province were now well nigh reduced to beggary. He represented to them that he was entitled to the government of Peru, which province, he claimed, belonged to his family by certain rights inherited from his grandfather Pedrarias Dávila;[XVI‑1] and he concluded by inviting them to join him in an expedition by which wealth in abundance might fall to their lot if they had but the courage to grasp it. No further persuasion was needed, and all at once gave their assent, electing Hernando as their captain. 276
Bishop Valdivieso was the only man who was likely to offer serious opposition; and as a measure of prudence as well as to avenge the disgrace of Rodrigo de Contreras it was resolved that he should be put to death. The conspirators marched in a body to the episcopal residence. Some who held religious scruples tried to excuse themselves under pretence that they were without arms, but were compelled by their leader to accompany the rest.[XVI‑2] Hernando in company with an apostate friar, named Castañeda, entered the house, while one stood guard at the door, and the remainder of the band surrounded the building. The bishop's companion, Fray Alonso, who had noticed their approach, at once notified the prelate, but his fate was sealed. He endeavored to conceal himself, suspecting the intention of the intruders, but was discovered and instantly stabbed to death in the presence of his aged mother, the point of Hernando's dagger breaking off in the victim's breast.[XVI‑3] The dwelling was then plundered; several boxes containing gold and jewels were stolen, and the party marched to the plaza, where Hernando was proclaimed "captain general of liberty." A messenger was despatched to Pedro de Contreras to inform him of his brother's success, and the rebels proceeded to the treasury building at Leon, and breaking open the royal chest divided among themselves its contents.
The leaders of the revolt separated their forces into 277 three companies; and it was decided that Salguero should be despatched with a small band to Nicoya to seize the ships and enlist all the men he could find there, while Hernando marched with the main body to Realejo for a similar purpose, and Bermejo with about thirty men returned to Granada to gather recruits and destroy all the vessels on Lake Nicaragua, thus preventing any tidings of the rebellion from reaching Tierra Firme by way of Nombre de Dios.
As soon as news of the conspiracy was known in Granada, a corps of one hundred and twenty men was hastily organized under Captain Luis Carrillo, and when Bermejo approached the city he found himself opposed by a greatly superior force; but so skilfully had young Pedro won over most of the settlers to his brother's cause, that many of the loyal party deserted their ranks and joined the revolutionists. After a brief contest, in which Carrillo and several of his men were killed and others wounded, Bermejo took possession of the city. All the shipping on the lake was destroyed, and the rebels marched to Realejo accompanied by Pedro, who, notwithstanding the entreaties of his mother, had resolved to join the expedition. Hernando, meanwhile, had captured there two vessels laden with merchandise for Peru, and impressed their crews into his service. Salguero had been equally fortunate at Nicoya, having entered the town without opposition and enlisted some sixty recruits. The forces of the revolutionists now mustered more than three hundred men.
Knowing that success depended on promptness of action, the rebel leaders determined to embark immediately for Tierra Firme, and at once arranged their plan of operations. From certain exiles recently arrived from Peru it was ascertained that the licentiate Gasca was then on his way to Spain with a large amount of treasure. To seize it was to be their first endeavor. If this were successful Gasca and the governor of Panamá were to be put to death. An 278 army of at least six hundred men was to be levied at the Isthmus. Ships were to be fitted out and a squadron despatched to cruise off the coasts of Nicaragua and Guatemala and destroy all the vessels they could capture. The settlers who were unfit for military service were to be plundered of their goods and sent, together with all the women and children, to Cartagena. Panamá, Nombre de Dios, and Natá were then to be burned to the ground. The cattle were to be killed and the crops destroyed, so that if an army should be sent against them from Spain there should be found neither means of subsistence nor ships for transport. The expedition was then to sail for Peru, where Hernando was to be proclaimed king; and Spain was thus to lose the richest portion of her dominions in the New World.[XVI‑4]
Soon after the conspirators had taken their departure from Granada, the alcaldes ordered a bark to be built with the intention of sending news of the threatened invasion to Nombre de Dios; but alarmed by the threats of Doña María, who declared that her sons had information of their purpose, and were even now returning to destroy the city, they requested her to assure them that no tidings of the revolt should be sent to Castilla del Oro. Meanwhile the revolutionists, having completed their preparations, set sail from Nicoya for Punta de Higuera, in the district of Natá.
On the 12th of March 1550 Gasca arrived at Panamá, and at once proceeded to land the royal treasure, which was valued at eleven million castellanos. He was bid to use all expedition in shipping it to Spain, for as he learned from his despatches it was sorely needed to defray the expenses of the emperor's European wars. His instructions were that he himself 279 should remain at the Isthmus to await the arrival of the newly appointed viceroy, Mendoza. Though somewhat uneasy under his responsibility, vague rumors of the coming raid having already reached him, he had no great fear of being attacked, as he had with him a force of one hundred and fifty veterans, and the seamen on board the ships mustered about four hundred and fifty men. No fleet from Spain had yet arrived at Nombre de Dios, but nineteen trading-vessels, found at anchor off the town, were seized and provisioned, and armed with the artillery brought from Peru.[XVI‑5] Twelve hundred mule-loads of gold and silver were soon conveyed to the town of Cruces on the Chagre, there to be shipped in barges, under Gasca's charge, for transportation to the North Sea, and still a large amount of treasure awaited means of conveyance at Panamá.
The rebel expedition had now arrived at Punta de Higuera, where a caravel was captured, laden with corn—a welcome prize, as the revolutionists were already in want of provisions. Continuing their voyage toward Panamá they captured another vessel returning thence to Nicaragua, and were informed by her crew of the licentiate's arrival and of the strength of his forces. It was now determined to attack the city at dead of night, surprise the garrison, put the governor to death, and thus create a panic among the settlers. As to Gasca, "they swore," says Vega, "to make powder of him, an article of which they were much in need."
Some hours after nightfall on the 20th of April 1550 Hernando de Contreras and Bermejo with the main body of the revolutionists landed at a small 280 inlet about one league from the city, and under cover of the darkness made their entrance without opposition, shouting "Death to the traitor!" and "Long live Prince Contreras, captain general of liberty." The governor's home was surrounded, but as he had departed for Nombre de Dios the rebels contented themselves with plundering his residence. A party was now ordered to secure the treasurer Amaya and seize the royal treasury,[XVI‑6] while the remainder dispersing themselves through the streets, seized all the arms and ammunition they could discover, being instructed by Bermejo to tell the people that they had come not to sack the town but to seize the king's treasure and to inaugurate a reign of liberty. Some of them nevertheless broke open the stores and houses, and helped themselves to whatever they most coveted. A large stock of rich apparel was found among other merchandise, and many of the lawless gang now, for the first time since they had arrived from Spain, attired themselves in a suit of new garments.[XVI‑7]
A force was stationed in the plaza in front of the cathedral, where the bishop had taken refuge. As he refused to show himself, being in fear of assassination, Bermejo entered the sanctuary and dragged him into the square. Meanwhile Ruiz de Marchena, the assistant treasurer, had been arrested, and by threats and maltreatment forced to deliver up additional treasure to the amount of four hundred and fifty thousand pesos.
Bermejo urged that the bishop, the treasurer, the regidores, and other principal officials be put to death; but Hernando, not wishing to shed blood unnecessarily, accepted their promise under oath to join the 281 cause of the revolutionists, whereupon the former remarked to the rebel leader, "If you are in favor of your enemies and against yourself you will find that these very same men whose lives you now spare will upon the first opportunity turn about and hang you and all your followers." Hardly had the words been uttered when Marchena, disregarding his vow, despatched messengers to apprise Gasca of the invasion.
While the city thus fell into the hands of the conspirators, Pedro de Contreras with fifty men had seized all the ships in the harbor of Panamá, and Salguero with twenty mounted arquebusiers had been despatched to Cruces with instructions to slay the licentiate and the governor and to bring back all the treasure they could secure. The latter arrived too late to execute his intent; but five hundred bars of silver were found stored in the village, and there Salguero's men remained till noon of the following day, amusing themselves by plundering the custom-house and making merry over brimming goblets of choice wine, paying the merchants for their goods from the stolen treasure.
Thus far all had gone well; and had the rebels had a skillful leader they might have accomplished their purpose almost as effectually as did Hinojosa when by his superior strategy he made the conquest of the province, a few years previously, without the loss of a single life. But success had made them overconfident. Already they had roused the ill-will of the people by plundering them of their goods, and now they were about to commit the serious blunder of dividing their forces into small detachments, thus rendering themselves liable to be attacked and overpowered in detail. Hernando with only forty men set forth from Panamá for Nombre de Dios, thinking this slender band sufficient to cope with Gasca's command.[XVI‑8] Arriving at a place called La Venta de 282 Chagre he captured one Gomez de Tapia, who had in his possession a letter informing the licentiate of what had transpired. He at once caused him to be hanged, attaching to his feet a paper on which was written, "This man was hanged for carrying advices to Gasca." By some fortunate chance, however, he was rescued. A mulatto boy who when asked where his master lay concealed directed his captors to a spot where they found only his sword, was put to death in the same manner by order of a captain named Landa.
At Capira, within a distance of three and a half leagues from the town, the men were ordered to encamp until Gasca with the king's treasure should arrive at Nombre de Dios. Bermejo in the mean while determined to leave Panamá unguarded and marched to the support of Hernando, hoping to crush the foe in a single encounter and thus end all opposition. Believing that Pedro's slender force was more than sufficient to prevent any uprising in the city, he even withdrew some of the men, and enlisting a few volunteers among the citizens began his journey across the Isthmus.
On the day after Bermejo's departure Gasca and the governor arrived at the mouth of the Chagre, and here were met by a party of armed men from Nombre de Dios, with news that Panamá was in possession of a ruffian horde, though who they were or whence they came none could yet determine. Thus after crushing the rebellion in Peru, and bringing these vast stores of wealth in safety to the shore of the North Sea, the licentiate found himself in danger, at the last moment, of losing not only the king's treasure but his own reputation as an able and trustworthy servant of the emperor. He resolved to 283 proceed at once to Nombre de Dios, and after placing his gold and silver beyond reach of the invaders, to collect all the men he could muster and march to the rescue of the capital. Encountering a heavy gale after putting out to sea he was compelled to land at a small inlet some leagues distant from the town, and thence despatched one of his officers to inform the settlers of his approach and encourage them to make preparations for defence. Two days later he arrived in person, and was received with open arms by the terror-stricken citizens, most of whom had closed their stores and dwellings and placed their effects on board the ships in readiness for flight. It was now ascertained that Hernando de Contreras was in command of the rebels, and that their intention was to declare him king of Peru. Gasca ordered his treasure-fleet to be brought round from a neighboring island, where it had been left at anchor, and by thus showing that he had no fear of the invaders soon restored confidence. Many of the inhabitants had fled to the mountains, but now returned, and others brought their valuables on shore from the vessels, saying that if the licentiate ventured to store the king's treasure at Nombre de Dios they need have no fear for their own property. Finding that no attack was made on the town Gasca supposed that Hernando had returned to Panamá, and collecting his forces, amounting in all to five hundred and sixty men, prepared to recross the Isthmus; but when on the point of departure news arrived from the capital that the rebellion was already extinguished.
After Bermejo had evacuated the city, certain of the inhabitants, knowing that Gasca was in command of a strong force and would probably overpower the invaders, determined to take up arms and attempt to bar their retreat. A messenger was despatched to inform the licentiate of their purpose. The church bells were tolled to call the citizens to arms, and the 284 royal standard was hoisted amid shouts of "Long live the king!" and "Death to tyrants!" Pedro de Contreras, who still remained with the fleet, hereupon sent a boat on shore to ascertain the cause of the uproar. The crew were instantly made prisoners, and the men of Panamá now resolved to attempt the capture of the vessels, and thus cut off the rebels from all chance of escape. One of the captive seamen was placed in the boat securely bound, and it was then rowed back toward the fleet followed by three others filled with armed men, the sailor being ordered on pain of death to answer the challenge of the rebels with the words "Hernando de Contreras, the prince of liberty." After a sharp struggle the assailants were repulsed, six of their number being killed and several wounded. During the conflict the prisoner managed to shake off his fetters, and plunging into the sea saved himself by swimming back to his ship. Preparations were now made for the defence of the city; intrenchments were thrown up; the main street was barricaded; and the women and children lodged in the cathedral where the last stand would be made in case of defeat.
On hearing of this emeute in the city, Bermejo, who had now arrived at the village of Cruces, determined at once to retrace his steps, vowing that he would hang and quarter every one of those who had broken their promise not to take arms against him. Messages were sent to Hernando and Salguero informing them of what had transpired, and urging their instant return; but without waiting for his assistance the rebel leader marched at once on Panamá, making the journey of fourteen leagues in a single day. Again he committed an unpardonable error, and one that soon caused the destruction of his forces. In his foolish haste to join Hernando he had left the strongest city on the Isthmus without a garrison, and now while his men were worn out by their forced march he resolved to make the attack that very night. 285 Had he but waited for the arrival of reënforcements, or even allowed his soldiers time for rest, all might yet have been well; but anger overcame his judgment, and in his thirst for vengeance he would hear of no delay. Entering the main street he found the people fully prepared for defense, and on arriving at the barricade rocks were hurled down from the house-tops, while bowmen and arquebusiers opened a sharp fire, causing him to retreat and devise other plans of operation.
After consulting with his officers it was resolved to set fire to the city at several points during the following night, and to fall on the inhabitants while they were engaged in extinguishing the flames. No quarter was to be shown, and orders were given that every inhabitant over twelve years of age should be slaughtered without regard to sex or condition. While the rebels were in council one of the captives, overhearing their conversation, secretly despatched his negro servant to give information of their design. Notwithstanding the advice of the bishop, who deemed it best to await the arrival of Gasca from Nombre de Dios, the men of Panamá determined to attack the enemy before they had time to execute their plans. Their forces mustered in all 550 men, of whom 100 were veterans who had fought in Peru, 200 were raw recruits, and the remainder negroes, armed with lances or cross-bows, under command of Spanish officers. About noon they sallied forth to encounter the foe. All knew that they were about to engage in a doubtful and desperate struggle, but the veriest coward among them felt that it was better thus to risk his life than be tamely butchered by the rebels; and as the battle was to be fought in open daylight, none could shirk duty.
Bermejo was greatly astonished at the audacity of the citizens, but his discomfiture of the previous night had made him a little more cautious and he withdrew his forces to a neighboring hill, where being joined by 286 Salguero's band,[XVI‑9] which at that moment arrived from Cruces, he awaited the onslaught. After a desperate struggle the rebels were overpowered. Ninety of them were stretched dead upon the field,[XVI‑10] among them Bermejo and Salguero, the latter by a lance-thrust from the treasurer Amaya, who during the fight managed to escape from his guards. The remainder were captured to a man and conducted in shackles to the jail, where the alguacil mayor, Rodrigo de Villalba, caused them all to be stabbed to the heart, plunging his own dagger into many, and not even allowing them the consolations of religion.
On the very day that Bermejo's command was defeated, Hernando receiving news of his proposed attempt to recapture Panamá, sent a message approving of his intention, and for the purpose of causing a panic in the city, ordered him to spread the report that Nombre de Dios had been taken and Gasca and the governor slain. Leaving twenty-five men under the command of Landa to guard the passes at Capira, he set forth with the remainder to support his lieutenant. Arriving the first night at Venta de Chagre, he found that one Lozano, a settler in that district, had gone to warn the citizens of his approach, and ordered all his property to be destroyed. On the following day he was informed of the disastrous result 287 of the battle before Panamá, and at once disbanded his men, bidding them make their way to the coast, where they might, perchance, be rescued by his brother's fleet, himself with three companions going in the direction of Natá. Meanwhile the men left at Capira, fearing an attack from Gasca's troops, abandoned their post and marched across the Isthmus. On approaching Panamá they were attacked by a strong force, but made their escape during the night and also directed their course toward the sea-shore.
When Pedro de Contreras heard of the defeat of Bermejo, he at once put to sea with his two best ships, and, abandoning the remainder, sailed for Natá, but no sooner was his departure known than four vessels started in pursuit; and Gasca, who arrived from Panamá a day or two later, despatched a strong force by land to prevent the embarkation of the survivors. At Punta de Higuera the rebels' ships were overtaken and captured, most of their crews escaping in the boats, a portion of them being captured later, and the remainder dying as was supposed by starvation or being killed by the natives. Nothing was afterward heard of their fate. Landa's men were slain or taken prisoners, and he himself was hanged and quartered at the same tree from which he had suspended the mulatto boy. The man who had attempted to strangle Tapia met with a similar fate, and the bodies of these two rebels were displayed piecemeal along the road between Capira and Venta de Chagre. Twelve only among all the captives were spared, and these were sent to Spain to end their days at the galleys. Hernando and his comrades reached the coast, and being hotly pursued, put to sea in a canoe hoping to fall in with Pedro's ships, but were driven back by stress of weather. After wandering along the shore for two days, the rebel chief, now enfeebled by hunger and exposure, was drowned while attempting to ford a river, and thus probably escaped the hangman. 288 When his body was afterward discovered it was recognized only by the clothes and by a golden ornament suspended from the neck. The head which was so soon to wear a crown, was severed from the body and placed in an iron cage in the plaza at Panamá. Thus ended a rebellion which under more able leadership might have subverted Spain's empire in the western world several centuries before the term of her dominion was accomplished.[XVI‑11] 289
Francisco de Montejo Appointed Governor—Revolt of the Cacique Lempira—Dastardly Artifice of the Spaniards—Establishment of New Colonies—Condition of the Settlements—Mining in Honduras—Return of Pedro de Alvarado—Montejo Deposed from Office—Alonso de Maldonado the First President of the Audiencia of the Confines—Maltreatment of the Natives—Rival Prelates in Honduras—Their Disputes—Las Casas Presents a Memorial to the Audiencia—He is Insulted by the Oidores—His Departure for Chiapas—Maldonado's Greed—He is Superseded by Alonso Lopez de Cerrato—The Seat of the Audiencia Moved to Santiago de Guatemala.
In answer to the petition of the settlers at Trujillo, the emperor appointed as ruler of Honduras and Higueras Francisco de Montejo, the governor of Yucatan. It is not recorded that he brought with him either reënforcements or supplies in aid of the fast decaying colony. On his arrival he found a small band of starving men, destitute of all resources. The Spaniards who were able to make their way out of the province had already taken their departure. Even Juan de Chavez, appointed by Alvarado as his successor, not finding in Honduras any profitable field for his enterprise, had abandoned the territory and returned to Guatemala.[XVII‑1] The governor first proceeded to San Pedro del Puerto de Caballos, where he at once annulled the repartimientos granted by Alvarado, bestowing 290 them on his friends or appropriating them to his own use,[XVII‑2] and despatched an expedition to the neighboring sierra for the purpose of pacifying the Indians. As no attempt was made to enslave or maltreat them, many returned voluntarily to the settlement. Montejo then visited Gracias á Dios, where he ascertained that certain Spaniards, journeying from Comayagua toward Guatemala, had been murdered by the natives in the province of Cerquin. He repaired to the spot, and arresting the ringleaders caused them to be punished in the presence of their caciques, who were then dismissed to their homes, professing to be satisfied that their penalty was deserved.
But their satisfaction was only feigned, and the colonists, who now imagined that they had established friendly relations with the Indians, were quickly undeceived. The most warlike and implacable of their enemies was the chief Lempira, a name signifying the Lord of the Mountains. He had long been a terror to the settlers, and a warrior of note among his own countrymen. With his own hand he was reputed to have slain in a single conflict with a hostile tribe one hundred and twenty of his foes. Such was the terror which his presence inspired that his enemies fled before him as from one bearing a charmed life, for in all the innumerable battles which he had fought he had never received a wound. Occupying a stronghold, known as the rock of Cerquin, in close proximity to Gracias á Dios,[XVII‑3] he had bid defiance to Alvarado when on his way to the relief of Cereceda at the head of a strong party of Spaniards and two thousand friendly 291 natives. Juan de Chavez before his return to Guatemala had attacked Lempira's fortress with all the forces he could muster, but was foiled in his attempt, and the natives now believed their position to be impregnable.
Fired with the ambition to deliver his country, the cacique assembled the neighboring chieftains—their followers mustering in all some thirty thousand warriors—and invited them to join him in an effort to exterminate the invaders. He pointed out the disgrace of allowing themselves to be held in subjection by a handful of strangers, urged them to take arms against the Spaniards, and offering to place himself at their head promised to lead them to victory or lay down his life in the attempt. It was resolved to open hostilities at once, and a number of settlers were killed before any tidings of the revolt reached Gracias á Dios. Captain Cáceres with a well equipped force was despatched by Montejo to quell the insurrection, whereupon Lempira retired to his stronghold and put to death the messengers sent to require his surrender, stating that he acknowledged no master and obeyed no laws other than those of his own people.
Cáceres then laid siege to the place, but although assistance was summoned from Comayagua and San Pedro del Puerto de Caballos the Indians made good their defence. For six months the Spaniards beleaguered the fortress, their numbers rapidly diminishing from want, exposure, and ceaseless encounters with the natives. So untiring were the latter in their efforts that the besiegers, who were divided into eight parties, found little time to rest, being harassed day and night by sorties from the garrison. At length Cáceres, seeing no prospect of taking the stronghold, resolved to gain by a base stratagem the success which he had failed to win by force of arms. A horseman was ordered to approach within arquebuse-shot of the rock and summon Lempira to a colloquy 292 under pretence of opening negotiations for peace, while a foot soldier who accompanied him, screened from view by the mounted man, was bid to take deliberate aim at the cacique and fire upon him when sure of his mark. The artifice succeeded only too well. The unsuspecting chieftain came forth to meet the messenger and while held in parley was brought to the ground by a shot from the arquebusier. His lifeless body rolled over the rock, and his followers, panic-stricken, made no further resistance, most of them taking to flight, and the rest giving themselves up to the Spaniards.[XVII‑4] It is but just to add that the captives were well treated and that the governor, who does not appear to have been responsible for this outrage, succeeded by his humane policy in pacifying many of the fugitives and inducing them to return to their abodes and till the soil.
During the administration of Montejo the settlers of Honduras again enjoyed an interval of repose,[XVII‑5] though his conduct was distasteful to many of the colonists, who still remembered with regret the time when slave-hunting was permitted throughout the territory. The arrival at Gracias á Dios, in 1538, of the licentiate Cristóbal de Pedraza, bearing the title of protector of the Indians, was of material service to the governor in settling the many difficulties that arose with the encomenderos. He was cordially welcomed and received every assistance in the discharge of his duties.
Montejo now turned his attention to the construction of roads and the development of the resources 293 of his province which had already given promise of a prosperous future. Wheat had been successfully cultivated and the prospects of a largely increased production were encouraging, while the same favorable results had attended the planting of the vine. In 1539 the governor addressed a letter to the emperor, urging the expediency of constructing a road for pack-animals between the bay of Fonseca and Puerto de Caballos, by way of Comayagua. The whole distance was but fifty-two leagues, and it was pointed out that the road might afterward be improved, so as to be available for wheeled vehicles. It was claimed that this would prove a more favorable route for the transport of merchandise between Spain and Peru than that by way of Nombre de Dios and Panamá, the harbors on either side being safe and easily accessible. The country through which it was to pass, moreover, possessed an excellent climate, rich mines, a fruitful soil, good pasturage, and many fine streams of water. His Majesty was asked to furnish negroes for the prosecution of the work, as the natives were not to be relied on for such labor. A few of the colonists were soon afterward induced to form a settlement near the spot abandoned by Gil Gonzales Dávila and Sandoval's party.[XVII‑6] To this was given the name of San Juan del Puerto de Caballos. The site was in many respects favorable for a commercial emporium, but its sickly climate was already too well known to the Spaniards.
Soon after the Indian revolt, which terminated with the death of Lempira, the governor determined to establish a settlement in the district of Comayagua, and with that view despatched Cáceres to find a suitable location midway between the two oceans. A spot was selected in the centre of a fertile valley, distant about twenty-six leagues from either sea, and connected by a good road with an Indian village, whence a navigable river flowed northward toward 294 Puerto de Caballos. Here was founded, in 1539, the town of Comayagua,[XVII‑7] and so prosperous were the affairs of the new colony that a few years later[XVII‑8] it was raised to the rank of a city.
The settlements founded by the early colonists of Honduras were slow of growth. In a letter addressed by Pedraza to the audiencia of the Confines, dated May 1, 1547, he states that the seven Spanish towns which the province then contained[XVII‑9] "were always increasing as were the villages;" and yet we find that Trujillo, which had then become the largest of them, contained but fifty settlers, while none of the others numbered more than thirty. The absence of communication with the South Sea, and the distance from the highways of commerce between Spain and the new world, no doubt retarded greatly the increase of population; for the agricultural and mineral resources of the territory were not inferior to those of other provinces which contained more than ten times the number of inhabitants. The want of good roads and of facilities for travel was also a serious drawback; and it is probable that to make a tour of the different settlements in Honduras, all lying within a radius of less than forty leagues, occupied, in the middle of the sixteenth century, almost as much time as would now be required to accomplish the circuit of the globe.[XVII‑10] 295
The mines of Honduras had already begun to yield a moderate amount of treasure, and but for the wholesale destruction of the natives and the want of negro labor could have been made to produce far greater returns. As far back as the days of Pedrarias Dávila it was known that those in the Olancho valley were extremely rich, but for want of the necessary tools they could not be worked. With only their stirrup irons the Spaniards in two months scraped up gold to the value of sixteen thousand pesos de oro, and "with proper implements," Herrera states, "they might have taken out two hundred thousand pesos." The early prosperity of Gracias á Dios was due to the discovery of rich mines in its vicinity, and it soon became one of the most prosperous settlements in the province. The richest one was that of San Andrés de Nueva Zaragoza, in a mountain west of the town and east of the Copan valley. Gold could here be scratched out of the earth with a stick. In another mine, belonging to one Bartolomé Martin de Sanabria, more than a pound of gold was daily collected by himself and a single slave. Later the yield became so large that alcaldes mayores were appointed to collect the royal fifth, with power to compel one fourth of the Indians within a circuit of twelve miles to labor in them. "Near Comayagua," says Oviedo, "they took out and smelted ore which yielded sixty thousand pesos de oro, and forty thousand more were supposed to have been stolen."[XVII‑11] 296
While Montejo was engaged in various projects for promoting the welfare of the province, Pedro de Alvarado arrived at Puerto de Caballos in command of his powerful and well appointed force,[XVII‑12] and proceeding thence to San Pedro del Puerto de Caballos, soon afterward despatched a messenger to Gracias á Dios to notify the governor of his arrival. Montejo was at a loss how to conduct himself under this changed aspect of affairs. As ruler of Yucatan his career had been unsuccessful, and in Honduras he found himself unpopular. With his few and scattered followers ill-fed, ill-clad, and obliged to maintain a constant struggle with the natives, he was in no position to cope with a powerful rival. Although holding his authority by appointment from the crown, he was ignorant as to what extent the visit of Alvarado to Spain affected his government. He knew not what representations had been made to the emperor by his rival and had every reason to fear that the worst construction had been placed on his conduct. He had indeed never felt quite secure in his position. More than a year before it had been the intention of the crown, in answer to the petition sent from Trujillo, to place Honduras under the jurisdiction of the audiencia of Española. This measure had been abandoned only on account of the great distance and infrequency of communication; and now after some previous negotiation for an exchange of territory[XVII‑13] Alvarado had landed in person to demand the annexation of his province to Guatemala. He had long before expressed his opinion that 297 Honduras could not stand alone, but that if joined to the adjacent province it would contribute to the emperor's treasury a hundred thousand castellaños yearly, whereas at that time it yielded almost nothing.[XVII‑14] Montejo on the other hand had ridiculed the other's views. "In the hour of trial," he said, "when the whole country was overrun by hostile natives, he sent many urgent requests to Guatemala for help, but aid was refused him, although he asked only for the assistance of two hundred friendly Indians, and he had to fight his battles as best he might." He declared his belief that if Honduras were annexed to Guatemala, not an Indian would be found in the province in a few months, and that in less than two years the territory would be beggared.
After more than a month had elapsed since the despatch of his message without any reply being received, Alvarado determined to set forth toward Gracias á Dios; and, collecting his forces, marched in the direction of the capital. Montejo meanwhile was ill at ease. He knew well that any attempt at intimidation would but work his own destruction, and yet was unwilling to throw himself on the generosity of his rival. Acting on the advice of his friends, however, he resolved to receive him courteously, and on his approach to the settlement went forth to meet him. At a spot distant about fifteen leagues from the city the rival governors met, and Montejo found that his worst fears were more than realized. "His Majesty had been informed," said the conqueror of Guatemala, "of the manner in which he had entered Honduras 298 and of his subsequent career, and was further advised that Alvarado had at great cost and labor saved the province from destruction. It was therefore ordered that Montejo should immediately deliver up all the property which he had wrested from the people of the province and all revenues received by him since his assumption of office."
Among the ecclesiastics then resident in Honduras was one already mentioned whom Montejo styles "The padre Cristóbal de Pedraza, the protector of the Indians, and calling himself bishop." His official appointment to the see of Honduras Alvarado brought with him on his return from Spain. When Pedraza first arrived in the province, the governor received him cordially, placing at his disposal his own residence and a large number of slaves. To him he now appealed for aid in this his dire distress, and through the prelate's intercession[XVII‑15] with Doña Beatriz matters were adjusted without further dispute. The revenues derived from lands and mines during the governor's term of office were estimated at twenty-eight thousand ducats,[XVII‑16] and "of this sum," says Herrera, "Alvarado without solicitation immediately remitted a moiety, and two months later was easily persuaded to forgive the other half." It was agreed that Montejo should surrender to him all claim to the 299 government of Honduras and Higueras, and that Alvarado should cede in return the Ciudad Real de Chiapas and the town of Suchimilco in Mexico, giving also a money compensation of two thousand castellanos.
In a despatch to the emperor, written soon afterward, the ex-governor complains bitterly of the wrongs which he had suffered through the machinations of his enemies; but, as he himself remarks in his letter, "a little favor at court is of more avail than the most faithful service." The agreement was ratified by the crown, and about the close of 1539 Montejo departed from the province after a brief and somewhat inglorious career, while about the same time Alvarado returned to Guatemala, leaving Alonso de Cáceres as his representative in Honduras, and Pedraza a year or two later took ship for Spain where, after some delay, he received the papal bull of confirmation and was duly consecrated, occupying his time meanwhile by making contracts for negro slaves in the name of the crown, with a view of utilizing their labor in the development of the mines.[XVII‑17]
On his return to the province in 1545, the bishop[XVII‑18] undertook a pastoral tour through the province, lasting eighteen months. He complains bitterly of the hardships which he endured and of the demoralized and poverty-stricken condition of the colonists. "The natives," he says, "have nearly all fled to the mountains, being in terror of the Spaniards, who have continued 300 to enslave them for so many years. Many Portuguese, Italians, and other foreigners have propagated disease and vice among them so that even Indian maidens of tender age are corrupted to a sad extent, while bigamy and polygamy are of frequent occurrence." Valdivieso, who was residing at the time at Gracias á Dios, awaiting consecration as bishop of Nicaragua, also relates that the church was held in contempt, that the Spaniards were as a rule extremely lax in their observance of all religious duties, and that they led a more vicious life than had ever been known among Christians.
Though Pedraza brought with him from Spain a number of friars, they do not seem to have been very zealous in the work of reforming the settlers or converting the natives. At times many days passed during which no divine service was held, and the cabildo attributed the omission to the neglect of the bishop, "who," they said, "was too busy with his worldly affairs to attend to his duties properly." The ecclesiastics appear, however, to have been very successful in selling papal bulls among the Indian villages, a practice which was continued till 1547, when a royal cédula put an end to this shameful traffic. Their charges for saying mass or for funeral services were exorbitant. To confess a person residing at a distance of one league cost thirty castellanos, and to watch for a single night by the bedside of a deceased cacique, one hundred and thirty xiquipilli of cacao. Desirous of making at least some show of missionary zeal the prelate recommended that a cathedral be erected and schools established in all Indian towns which were in the neighborhood of Spanish settlements. The former recommendation was adopted, and notwithstanding the protestations of the audiencia of the Confines, the site selected was at Trujillo,[XVII‑19] the bishop's salary 301 being fixed at five hundred thousand maravedís, though soon afterward he petitioned that his stipend be increased to two thousand ducats.
When the new code of laws abolished the audiencia of Panamá and appointed the audiencia of the Confines,[XVII‑20] Alonso de Maldonado was elected its first president[XVII‑21] through the recommendation of Las Casas, the remaining oidores being the licentiates Diego de Herrera, of whom mention has been made in connection with the province of Nicaragua, Pedro Ramirez de Quiñones, and Juan Rogel. Maldonado was directed to establish the seat of government at Comayagua, which was thenceforth to be known as Nueva Villa de Valladolid, but finding that location unsuitable he selected as a more favorable site Gracias á Dios, where in 1545 the first session of the tribunal was held.[XVII‑22] The arrival of Maldonado was celebrated with much rejoicing among the settlers; but their joy was short-lived, for one of the first measures of the audiencia was the publication of the new code of laws which, they declared, was to be strictly and immediately enforced so far as it related to the manumission of the Indians.
In Honduras the new code was regarded with no less disfavor than in the other provinces, and it was probably due only to the sparse population of this territory that we read of no such outbreak among the colonists as that of Gonzalo Pizarro in Peru, and of the Contreras brothers in Nicaragua. The settlers were fain to content themselves with making ineffectual protests, and with sending procurators to advocate 302 their cause at the court of Spain. It does not appear that the natives were at all benefited by the regulations enacted in their favor; for a year or two later, on the arrival at Gracias á Dios of Las Casas and Valdivieso, the former declares that despite all the royal ordinances to the contrary, the Indians placed under the protection of the crown were so grossly maltreated that they preferred to return to the service of their former masters rather than enjoy their new and doubtful liberty.
On the first of June 1549 a royal cédula was issued ordering that the natives should not be used as pack-carriers, except in cases of extreme necessity, and that all employed in whatever capacity should receive payment for their services. These regulations appear, however, to have made their lot still more grievous, for the Spaniards, no longer owning them as human chattels and caring not for their lives, treated them even more harshly than before. At Gracias á Dios we learn that they were offered for hire at public auction, and after being disposed of to the highest bidder were sent to the mines or to the sea-shore forty miles distant. They were driven together, Las Casas tells us, within a circuit of ten or fifteen leagues, and a guard being placed over them, were enclosed in a corral like cattle. They were then divided by an alguacil among the settlers, and after working hard for a month received two reales, sometimes being required to serve an entire year for a single peso. When used as beasts of burden they were compelled to carry a load of seventy-five or one hundred pounds through a country abounding in swamp and forest. Their food consisted of a few hard cakes of maize, and at night, their blankets being taken from them to prevent their running away, they were often left to sleep in the open air almost naked and without shelter.
In addition to Las Casas and Valdivieso, the latter of whom was sojourning at the capital awaiting consecration 303 as bishop of Nicaragua, there were now present at Gracias á Dios the prelates Marroquin of Guatemala, and Pedraza of Honduras.[XVII‑23] It was not of course to be expected that all these dignitaries of the church should work in harmony with each other, and much less with the members of the audiencia. While Las Casas and Valdivieso strove to enforce the unconditional liberation of all Indians, Marroquin and Pedraza, who themselves possessed several encomiendas, were exceeding loath to part with them; and when Las Casas threatened with excommunication all who should refuse to give up their bondsmen, Marroquin assured the settlers that he would grant them quick absolution. The removal of the latter was then demanded by his opponents, who wrote to the emperor denouncing him as "one undeserving of royal favor, having made his fortune at the expense of his honor and that of the people, in violation of the law and the emperor's orders." Pedraza, on the other hand, while discussing the question of establishing schools in the native villages, exclaims: "Would to God that to this purpose the efforts of Las Casas were applied, instead of to the general perdition of the province, his discourse being like that of one demented with rage, himself blindly covetous and ambitious of honor profane. For thirty years was he striving for a bishopric until at length he obtained one by the force of a hundred thousand lies."
The colonists of course had no sympathy with Las Casas, leaving him to complain and sometimes almost to starve unheeded. Those who were secretly his friends, through fear of exposing themselves to persecution, were unwilling to minister to his necessities. 304 The oidores refused to listen to him or to afford him redress, and on one occasion when a certain colonist threatened to assassinate the prelate he was allowed to go unpunished.[XVII‑24] In a letter to the emperor Maldonado states that "Las Casas has become so proud since his return from Spain that it is impossible to deal with him, and the best place for him would be in some convent in Castile." It was proposed by Marroquin to settle the long-vexed Indian question by referring the matter to a commission composed of the viceroy of Mexico, the audiencias, the bishops, and other competent persons both lay and clerical, or to a committee to be chosen by them, and that their decision be submitted to the crown for approval; but Las Casas would admit of no such compromise and insisted that the new laws be immediately enforced. It was finally agreed that the bishops should present to the audiencia a memorial embodying their grievances, asking for redress, and stating explicitly their demands in reference to the treatment and disposition of the natives. Soon afterward Las Casas read this document before the oidores, who, as he now had the support of all his fellow-bishops, did not venture to refuse him an audience. They were requested to render assistance to the ecclesiastical authorities in the exercise of their jurisdiction, and to aid them in punishing all who sinned against God and the church, by committing sacrilege or holding in contempt the episcopal dignity. It was demanded that the natives should not be forced to pay excessive tribute, should not be used as beasts of burden, or required to render any but voluntary service, and that all who were illegally enslaved should be liberated and placed under the protection of the bishops; for it was claimed that Las Casas and his colleagues were their protectors and held the right of adjudication in all cases of alleged maltreatment. It was urged that officials in charge of Indian villages should be held strictly 305 responsible for their trust and punished in case of malfeasance as the new laws prescribed.[XVII‑25] The memorial concluded by threatening the president, oidores, and other officials with excommunication, should they neglect to obey these orders within the space of three months.
Great was the indignation of the members of the audiencia toward the prelate who thus dared place himself above the highest tribunal in the land. They were accustomed to regard the ecclesiastics as men whose presence must indeed be tolerated for appearance' sake, but whose duty it was only to conduct religious services in which the wives and children of the colonists might perhaps wish to participate, and to make such progress as they could in the conversion of the natives. That they should presume to interfere with their own schemes for self-aggrandizement was not to be tolerated. Maldonado and the oidores gave vent to their ire in such abusive language that three days later Las Casas and Valdivieso addressed a letter to the emperor, stating that neither in the days of Alvarado or Nuño de Guzman, nor during the rule of any of the former tyrants, were the ministers of the church so insulted and oppressed, nor were ever such enormous crimes committed as under the present audiencia of the Confines. The bishops, moreover, expressed their belief "that the devil had filled the oidores with ambition and covetousness when they came to the country," and declared that unless the enforcement of the new laws were intrusted to their own hands the province must go to ruin.[XVII‑26] Meanwhile Marroquin, who was in secret a bitter foe to Las Casas, also sent a despatch to the court of Spain, wherein he speaks of him as one filled with pride, 306 envy, and hypocrisy, and denounces his assumption in daring to present so offensive a memorial to the audiencia.[XVII‑27]
Las Casas waited in vain for an answer to his demands. Not discouraged, however, by the studied inactivity of the oidores he pressed his claims with untiring zeal, exasperating them by his pertinacity, and frequently exposing himself to gross insult and contumely. On one occasion, while entering the hall of the audiencia, he was greeted with shouts of "Throw out that lunatic!" At another time he was coarsely affronted by the president himself;[XVII‑28] and when, notwithstanding all rebuffs, he made a final appeal, demanding compliance with the new laws, and administering to Maldonado a public rebuke, the latter replied: "You are a knave, a bad man, a bad priest, a bad bishop, one lost to all shame and worthy of punishment!" Though stunned, for a moment, by this answer from one whose appointment was due to his own recommendation, the prelate meekly bowed his head, and with the words, "I very well deserve all that your worship says, Señor Licenciado Alonso Maldonado," quietly withdrew from his presence.
All now expected that the president would be excommunicated. As the consecration of Valdivieso was to take place two days later and none could be present who were under the ban of the church, Maldonado resolved to make some effort at reconciliation. To repair to the house of the bishop and there tender 307 an apology was a humiliation which his pride would not tolerate, while it could not be expected that Las Casas, after all the indignities he had suffered, would consent to visit the other's residence. Through the intervention of friends it was finally arranged that the two should meet, as though by accident, at the president's dwelling. Uncovering, and speaking in a respectful tone, Maldonado began to express his sorrow for what had occurred, but the prelate at once burst forth: "Hence! Away! You are excommunicated!" and took his departure without uttering another word.
While yet engaged in his controversy with the audiencia, Las Casas received news from Ciudad Real that disorder was rife in his own diocese, and, wishing to return to Chiapas as soon as possible, once more urged the oidores to render a decision. In order to rid themselves of his ceaseless importunity they at length compromised the matter by conceding a portion of his demands, but refused to recognize him or his colleagues as protectors of the Indians. As this was the main point in his memorial, and without this concession the new laws must be inoperative, or at least difficult of execution, the prelate found that like other premature reformers, he had gained little, and had added greatly to his unpopularity.[XVII‑29]
Toward the close of the year 1545 the bishops departed for their several provinces. Of the oidores, Rogel accompanied Las Casas to Ciudad Real;[XVII‑30] Quiñones was soon afterward engaged in levying a force in aid of Gasca's expedition to Peru; and the 308 president, who, together with Herrera, still remained at Gracias á Dios, busied himself in accumulating wealth, fearing that the day was not far distant when he would be required to render an account. He met with little opposition, for the remonstrances of the cabildo were entirely unheeded, and Pedraza the bishop was a man too much after his own heart to throw any serious obstacles in his path. Maldonado with his friends and relatives already owned about one third of all the encomiendas in the province, and received besides his share of the tribute obtained by the oidores from the Indian villages, the ownership of which was for appearance' sake placed in the name of certain alcaldes and alguaciles. The latter received one third of the gross income, and those employed to collect the tribute also received a portion and were permitted to wring what else they could from their hapless victims, whom they hunted like blood-hounds, day and night, enslaving all who were unable to contribute their share.
The condition of affairs in the province of Honduras soon became known to the council of the Indies, and by the recommendation of Las Casas the licentiate Alonso Lopez de Cerrato was appointed judge of residencia and president of the audiencia of the Confines. For several years he had presided over the audiencia of Santo Domingo, and had there made the acquaintance of the bishop, who well knew his worth and the zeal with which he labored in behalf of the Indians. It was one of his principles always to suppose them to be in the right until the contrary were proven, and little cared he for the good or bad opinion of the Spaniards. Neither threat nor promise nor supplication could divert him from the execution of his purpose. Being himself a priest he was of course a good friend to the ecclesiastics, and assisted them in their endeavors to alleviate the sufferings of the natives; so that the settlers exclaimed, after he had been a short 309 time in the province: "Our day has passed and that of the friars has begun."[XVII‑31]
In 1548 the licentiate arrived at Gracias á Dios, and at once proceeded to take the residencias of the president and of the oidores Rogel and Herrera. After concluding his investigation he reports to the emperor that since the establishment of the audiencia no royal decree nor any of the new laws have been executed or enforced. On the contrary, the president and oidores have been the first to disregard them in order to ingratiate themselves with the settlers; they have never thought of liberating any slaves or of abolishing the use of the natives as beasts of burden.[XVII‑32]
Cerrato had undoubtedly expected to find matters in a better condition, for he brought with him none to supersede the oidores who might be displaced. Maldonado, however, appears to have escaped all punishment other than loss of office.[XVII‑33] Herrera, although Las Casas and Valdivieso had previously declared that he alone among the oidores was worthy of his position, was the only one that was fined, and with the exception of the president, the only one that was not reinstated.[XVII‑34]
Although Cerrato was accused by the settlers of 310 partiality in the administration of justice, he enjoyed the full confidence of the emperor,[XVII‑35] who gave orders that all matters of grave import pertaining to the government of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala should be referred to his decision. Moreover, the bishops of Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Chiapas showed their appreciation of his worth by begging him to visit their dioceses and aid them in their labors on behalf of the natives, as the oidores sent to those provinces were unable to enforce the new laws. During the brief term of Cerrato's residence in Honduras nothing occurred that is worthy of note, with the exception of a revolt among the negro slaves at San Pedro del Puerto de Caballos, which was promptly quelled by a force despatched against them by the audiencia.
In 1549 the seat of the audiencia of the Confines was removed from Gracias á Dios to Santiago de Guatemala. The former town, now containing but eighteen settlers, was situated in a neighborhood where food for man and beast was difficult to obtain, and was far remote from the more important colonies. In other settlements the condition of affairs was little more prosperous. In Honduras, as elsewhere in Spain's western dominions, the apathy of the Spanish monarch and the disorders caused by the ceaseless struggle for wealth, or the craving for insignificant authority, added greatly to the misery and privation which the early history of colonization throughout the world seldom fails to present. 311
Mourning for Alvarado—Grief of Doña Beatriz—An Anomalous Government—A Female Ruler—A Beautiful but Treacherous Mountain—A Night of Horrors—Death of Doña Beatriz—Destruction of Santiago—A Ruined City—Burial of the Dead—Gloom of Conscience-stricken Survivors—Joint Governors—Removal of City Resolved upon—A New Site Discussed—Another Santiago Founded—Maldonado Appointed Governor—Action of the Audiencia Relative to Encomiendas—Controversies and Recriminations—Removal of the Audiencia to Santiago—President Cerrato Offends the Settlers—His Mode of Action.
When the news of Alvarado's death arrived in Santiago[XVIII‑1] during the last days of August 1541, demonstrations of sorrow were on every side; the cathedral was draped in black,[XVIII‑2] and the city put on habiliments of woe; for however bad the man there are few who do not take pleasure in conventional mourning.
But the effect of the intelligence upon the adelantado's wife, Doña Beatriz, was so severe as apparently to affect her reason. She beat her face and tore her hair, weeping, screaming, and groaning in a very ecstasy of grief. For days she neither ate nor slept, 312 refusing all consolation. She caused her house to be stained black, both inside and out, and draped it in deepest mourning. All efforts to appease her met with passionate outbursts expressed in language accounted impious,[XVIII‑3] and she repulsed alike the appeals of friends and the religious consolation offered by the priests—all of which was quite pathetic on the part of the bereaved woman. Meantime funeral obsequies were celebrated by Bishop Marroquin with all possible solemnity, prayers being offered each day for the repose of the late conqueror's soul.
But while due observance of mourning was shown for the loss which the colonists had sustained in Alvarado's death, it was necessary to decide upon the important matter of the government of the province. Francisco de la Cueva had been left lieutenant-governor, but although this appointment was approved by the viceroy[XVIII‑4] and the cabildo was ordered by him to recognize Cueva until his Majesty's wishes should be known, the members took the matter into their own hands and elected Doña Beatriz governor. This anomalous proceeding was discussed at a special session, and the reasons assigned for taking such a step were that it was deemed necessary for the peace, security, and interest of the country. As soon as the decision was reached the cabildo went in a body to the house of Doña Beatriz and tendered her the appointment. Her violent grief for the loss of her lord did not prevent her from assuming rulership according to the wish of the authorities. Thanking the municipality for the honor, 313 she accepted the position and promised to serve his Majesty with zeal and devote herself to the welfare of the province in the prescribed form of words. The ceremony of installation immediately followed in the presence of the bishop and Francisco de la Cueva, after which the widow of Alvarado took the oath in due form, and thereupon appointed her brother, Francisco de la Cueva,[XVIII‑5] lieutenant-governor, giving him full power to act for her in all matters pertaining to the government, except the disposal of repartimientos of Indians which might become vacant; this prerogative she reserved to herself. Her brother's appointment was recognized by the cabildo on the following day, Saturday the 10th of September.[XVIII‑6]
But it was not fated that this unfortunate lady should long enjoy her high position. Her doom with 314 that of many others was sealed. The rains during this year had been excessive, and from Thursday the 8th of September until noon of the following Sunday it rained continuously, while an unusually violent wind prevailed.[XVIII‑7] The reader is aware that the city of Santiago was situated on the slope of the lofty volcan de Agua.[XVIII‑8] This mountain is a beautifully symmetrical cone nearly fifteen thousand feet above the sea, and in its enormous crater was a small lake, which, owing to the heavy rainfall, had risen to the top of the enclosing sides. On the 10th of September,[XVIII‑9] about two hours after nightfall, a volcanic eruption dislodged an immense volume of water, or the imprisoned lake burst its barrier. However that may have been, at this fearful moment down came the impetuous flood upon the doomed city, ten thousand feet below, and not more than a league distant from the top, bringing great trees and masses of rock[XVIII‑10] and hurling them upon the inhabitants. The wind and rain and darkness rendered the disaster all the more 315 appalling. Many were killed, not knowing what had come upon them. There was no selection of victims; Spanish colonist and Indian servant were stricken down, the gambler at his dice and the worshipper kneeling at the shrine. In that night of horror each, as he struggled solitary from the seething torrent, might fancy himself the only survivor. Numbers perished, and many were cast from its embrace upon firm ground, with mangled limbs and bodies crushed.[XVIII‑11]
Doña Beatriz—truly La Sin Ventura, the hapless one, as she had signed herself the day before—at the first alarm, gathering her maids around her, hastened to the oratory. But of what avail was prayer? The waters were upon them, and at the second outburst swept down the chapel and buried beneath its ruins the lady-governor and her handmaidens.[XVIII‑12] Before striking Alvarado's house the flood had washed away two others with their occupants. There were in the dwelling other members of the household, and among them Doña Leonor, the eldest natural daughter of Alvarado. These Doña Beatriz sent for, but most of them were carried away by the torrent, though Doña Leonor and some others escaped. A large number of Indians of both sexes belonging to the household were also drowned. Two chaplains who were in the house were swept through a window and 316 carried for some distance to the plaza where they were rescued. Several attempts were made during the night to reach Alvarado's house, but only one person, Francisco Cava, succeeded. Doña Beatriz' apartment which she had left was the only portion of the building left standing. Had she remained there, instead of rushing to the church, she and those with her would have been saved. Many supernatural horrors were reported to have occurred during the night, the particulars of which are related by Bernal Diaz.
While this blow was falling upon Alvarado's house and household, his kinsman Francisco de la Cueva was in extreme peril. At the first roar of the descending flood, heard above the raging tempest, he imagined that some violent disturbance had occurred in the town and rushed out lance in hand, only to be driven back, however, by the avalanche of water. Retiring with the Spaniards of his house to his study, he escaped the danger, though that apartment was the only portion of the building left standing.[XVIII‑13]
When day dawned the scene of desolation was heartrending. The water had passed away, and on all sides the ruins of the city were exposed to view. Most of the houses had been overthrown or swept away, and the few which remained were so filled with mud that they were untenantable. Whole families had perished.[XVIII‑14] The streets were choked up with accumulated debris, trunks of mutilated trees, and huge rocks. Scattered in all this wreck lay disfigured corpses and carcasses of drowned cattle.[XVIII‑15] 317
And now began the sad, sad search for the dead, followed by mournful burial. Many of the lost were never found. The bodies of Doña Beatriz and those who perished with her were recovered with one exception. Her remains were interred with due solemnity near the high altar of the cathedral,[XVIII‑16] and those of her companions in death were reverently laid side by side in one common grave.[XVIII‑17] While the last rites of the church were duly performed for the behoof of this hapless lady, the stricken community regarded the catastrophe which had befallen them as a manifestation of divine wrath; and though most of the survivors looked upon it as a merited punishment for their own sins, there were not wanting those who attributed the cause of God's anger to the intemperate language made use of by Doña Beatriz in her frenzied grief.[XVIII‑18] So much insane foolishness can be wrapped in words of wisdom! The bishop endeavored to encourage his flock though in such deep dejection. A 318 penitential procession was held and the litany chanted before the high altar. He enjoined them, moreover, to fast and pray on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Further to cheer them he recommended all mourning to be put aside.
Nevertheless the gloom which had fallen upon the community was not soon dispelled, and at every threatening change of the sky the panic-stricken settlers sought safety on the hills. A unanimous desire to abandon the spot prevailed; many of the inhabitants left it and went to reside on their farms,[XVIII‑19] while those who remained[XVIII‑20] expressed their determination to go elsewhere. To arrest total abandonment and dispersion the cabildo, on the 22d of October, issued a decree prohibiting any citizen from leaving under a penalty of one hundred pesos de oro.[XVIII‑21] And long after the capital had been removed to another site, a penitential procession, attended by the civil and ecclesiastical orders, left the new city at daybreak on each anniversary and visited the former capital in mournful commemoration of this calamity. Bearing crosses in their hands, chanting the litany, and praying for the safety of their city, the people marched in all humility to the former cathedral.[XVIII‑22] There mass was celebrated and the graves of the dead were decorated, after which the procession dispersed.[XVIII‑23]
The death of Doña Beatriz had left the province without a ruler. Cueva's position at the head of the government was no longer recognized, and in the crisis 319 of affairs the cabildo met on the 16th and 17th of September, and after some discussion elected Cueva and Bishop Marroquin joint governors provisionally.[XVIII‑24]
The bishop in a letter addressed to the king, dated February 20, 1542, informs his Majesty that in accepting the appointment he had not been influenced by any desire of wealth, honor, or power but by the actual state of affairs, and at the same time urgently brings before his notice the necessity of his appointing a governor of great influence and ability. He had previously suggested certain individuals,[XVIII‑25] whom he deemed fully capable and worthy of filling the office. These recommendations he now reiterates, holding himself responsible should the king be pleased to act in accordance with his views. The bishop, moreover, intimates that the municipal government had fallen into unworthy hands, owing to the resignation or death of honorable regidores who had been members of previous cabildos. The necessity of selecting men of good judgment and zealous in the royal service, is pointed out, and of such vital importance is the election of such men to the welfare of the province, that Marroquin implores his Majesty to order that those who had resigned should resume office.[XVIII‑26]
Ancient and Modern Guatemala.
While describing the country as tranquil he pictures the colony as almost in a state of dissolution. The late calamity had involved the settlers in great poverty,[XVIII‑27] and the contrast between their present condition and the state of prosperity to which they had arrived under Alvarado's rule induced them to meditate 321 leaving the province altogether. To obviate this evil Marroquin distributed a portion of the Indians which had belonged to the adelantado among a few of the most deserving who were thus induced to remain.[XVIII‑28]
After the election of the joint governors the important question of removal was discussed by the authorities and citizens. That the interests of the country demanded such a step was the almost unanimous opinion,[XVIII‑29] and the selection of a new site at once occupied general attention. On this matter opinions were more varied and several localities were proposed. The argument in favor of the valley of Tianguez in the plains of Chimaltenango was again revived and found supporters, while by others the valley of Petapa or that of Mixco were preferred. There were, however, objections to the removal of the city to any great distance from its existing site. It was borne in mind that the valley of Almolonga was already cultivated, and that in its vicinity were cattle farms which owing to the prevailing poverty and the necessities of the inhabitants should not be abandoned;[XVIII‑30] and after a careful investigation of the advantages offered by different localities,[XVIII‑31] those of the valley of Panchoy were considered 322 to be so superior that in cabildo held on the 22d of October it was ordered that the future city should be there erected.[XVIII‑32]
At no greater distance therefore than half a league from the ruins of Santiago, on the site occupied by the present Antigua Guatemala, the Spaniards once more laid out a city. The customary assignment of lots was made, town commons set apart, and the natives again made to toil in the erection of buildings for their oppressors.[XVIII‑33] Nevertheless the work did not progress with the rapidity which the authorities seem at first to have expected,[XVIII‑34] and though during 1542 some progress was made, even the house of the cabildo had not been completed in April 1543. The exact date of the formal removal of the municipality to the new city is not known,[XVIII‑35] but on the 10th of March 1543 a session was held there.[XVIII‑36] On the 12th of June following the host was transferred from the church of the ruined town in solemn procession, attended 323 by the civil authorities, and all the people present in the city.
At a session held on the 21st of May 1543 a decree was passed by the cabildo that the city should retain the title of the one destroyed,[XVIII‑37] and the notaries were ordered to use in all documents the heading Ciudad de Santiago and no other, under penalty of a fine of ten pesos de oro. This decree was publicly proclaimed on the 13th of June following.[XVIII‑38]
Meantime another change had taken place in the government. On the 2d of March 1542 the viceroy of New Spain appointed the oidor Alonso de Maldonado provisional ruler of Guatemala, pending instructions from the crown, and on the 17th of May following the new governor presented his commission to the cabildo and was placed in office the same day.[XVIII‑39]
During the following year excitement prevailed in Guatemala owing to information having been received in October of the new code of laws and the establishment of the audiencia of the Confines. It was at once resolved to make an appeal to the throne, and on the 12th of the same month the cabildo met to appoint procurators to Spain. The opinion of the inhabitants having been taken,[XVIII‑40] a committee invested with power of electing representatives was appointed,[XVIII‑41] but it was unable to agree, and on the 29th of February 1544 Hernan Mendez presented a petition to the cabildo proposing that a mass meeting be held in the principal church in order that the general vote 324 of the people might be taken.[XVIII‑42] Nevertheless considerable delay occurred, and it was not until the following August that the appointments were decided upon, when an examination of the votes showed that Hernan Mendez and Juan de Chavez were elected. The latter, however, declined to accept, and a still further delay was caused by Mendez insisting upon proceeding to Spain by way of Vera Cruz instead of through Puerto de Caballos. At length, on March 16, 1545, Mendez received his papers and instructions, and departed for Spain.[XVIII‑43]
The bitter controversy which took place during the sessions of the audiencia in 1545 has been described in the preceding chapter, but it remains to be added that Maldonado and the oidores, although they had avowed their intention of enforcing the new laws, practically discountenanced their enforcement so far as they related to repartimientos. In a letter addressed to the king dated the 30th of December 1545 they state that if all Indians were liberated whose owners had no legitimate title none would be 325 left to serve, and many Spaniards would be reduced to poverty. The same result would occur to those who were married and had families, if encomiendas as they became vacant were transferred to the crown.[XVIII‑44]
In 1545 the new laws were repealed, and at a somewhat later date the concession of perpetual repartimientos was granted to the colonists of Guatemala.[XVIII‑45]
Meanwhile the controversy relating to the treatment of the Indians was being vigorously carried on. The tribute which had been imposed upon them by Marroquin and Maldonado was a ground of complaint against those functionaries,[XVIII‑46] and I find that Marroquin considered himself obliged to explain that it had been levied without sufficient knowledge of facts, and that some changes were necessary.[XVIII‑47]
Among other suggestions made by Marroquin for the amelioration of the condition of the natives was that the authority of the bishop over them should include the right to inflict corporal punishment and to 326 settle their difficulties. He moreover strongly recommended that for the purposes of better instruction and government Indian towns should be consolidated and subjected to a system of police.[XVIII‑48]
Meanwhile Alonso Lopez Cerrato had been appointed president of the audiencia of the Confines. It was already admitted that Gracias á Dios was not a suitable place for the seat of that body, and both Cerrato and bishop Marroquin made representations to the king advising its removal.[XVIII‑49] Accordingly his Majesty by royal cédula authorized the president and oidores to move to the city of Santiago,[XVIII‑50] where they arrived in 1549, and according to Remesal accepted Bishop Marroquin's offer of his palace for their use.[XVIII‑51]
Cerrato's administration as president of the audiencia caused grievous offence to the settlers of Guatemala, and in a representation to the king they charge him with being ungenerous, undignified, wanting in zeal for the honor of God, and unconscientious.[XVIII‑52] The grounds of their objection to him naturally originated in his action regarding the protection of Indians, and they bitterly complain of his nepotism in assigning encomiendas to relatives of various degrees. Justice at his hands they could not obtain; consequently many of the best colonists had left the province and others 327 were preparing to do so. Bishop Marroquin's remonstrances with Cerrato only developed hostile feelings in the latter, which were publicly evinced by his absenting himself for a long time from the services of the church,[XVIII‑53] conducted by the prelate.
But the settlers in Guatemala were obstinately opposed to any measures which clashed with their own views, and consequently represented matters from their own point of view. Under the first audiencia of the Confines, divided as it was against itself, they had to a great extent maintained their previous position relative to the natives;[XVIII‑54] but in Cerrato they perceived one who recognized them as merciless taskmasters,[XVIII‑55] and possessed both the determination to arrest the existing destructive system, and the courage to inflict punishment upon them for any gross infringement of the law.[XVIII‑56] 328
A Convent Founded by the Merced Order—Ciudad Real Appointed a Cathedral City—Las Casas a Bishop—He Attempts to Enforce the New Laws—He Refuses Absolution during Holy Week—His Controversy with the Audiencia of the Confines—He Departs for Spain—His Dispute with Sepúlveda—His Appeal to the Conscience of Philip—The Audiencia Transferred from Panamá to Guatemala—Death of the Apostle of the Indies—His Character—The Dominicans in Chiapas.
The province of Chiapas was at first included in the see of Tlascala, and paid tithes to that bishopric till it was transferred to the diocese of Guatemala in 1536. When Ciudad Real was laid out, under the direction of Mazariegos, an allotment was assigned for a church building, and its erection was begun almost immediately.[XIX‑1] The first parish priest of Ciudad Real was Pedro Gonzalez, who was appointed by the cabildo in 1528, with a salary of three hundred pesos de oro. On his death Pedro Castellanos succeeded to the benefice in 1532.[XIX‑2] In 1537, through the exertions of Bishop Marroquin, a convent of the order 329 of La Merced was founded by frailes Pedro de Barrientos and Pedro Benitez de Lugo. On the 18th of May these friars petitioned the cabildo for an allotment of land on which to found a monastery, but though their request was granted they remained but a short time.[XIX‑3] In 1539 Fray Marcos Perez Dardon, as superior, in company with Fray Juan Zambano took possession of the deserted building. Finding that it was situated too far from the settlement, the former petitioned for a new site and for contributions and assistance in erecting a new convent. His request met with a liberal response, and the friars who arrived in after years were well supplied with the means of support.[XIX‑4]
By a papal bull issued on the 19th of March 1538,[XIX‑5] Ciudad Real was appointed a cathedral city, the diocese to be subject to the archbishopric of Seville, and the pope reserving to himself the appointment of the first prelate. The salary of the bishop was fixed at two hundred ducats a year, payable from the revenues of the province, while the privileges and revenues of the bishopric were to be based on the system prevailing in Spain. The church patronage and the choice of dignitaries were conceded to the crown of Spain. The limits of the see were also left to the decision of the emperor.[XIX‑6] 330
On the 14th of April 1538, Juan de Arteaga y Avendaño, a friar of the order of Santiago, was appointed to the charge of the newly created bishopric, but it was not until nearly three years later that he was consecrated at Seville, whence he issued a document framing the constitution of his diocese.[XIX‑7] The prelate did not like to take possession, for on his arrival at Vera Cruz in 1541 he was attacked with a severe fever, and though he succeeded in reaching Puebla de los Angeles he died there shortly afterward,[XIX‑8] his diocese remaining in charge of the bishop of Guatemala until the arrival, in 1545, of Bartolomé de las Casas.
Arms of the City of Chiapas.
Chiapas.
Lying between the territory under the jurisdiction of the audiencias of New Spain and the Confines were the provinces of Chiapas, Soconusco, Yucatan, and Tezulutlan, so remote, even from the latter court, that a strong hand was needed to enforce therein the new laws. In 1543 the apostle of the Indies after refusing the bishopric of Cuzco, lest his avowed disinterestedness should be doubted, accepted the prelacy of this extensive diocese,[XIX‑9] one fourth of the tithes 331 of his bishopric and an additional sum of 500,000 maravedís payable by the crown being assigned him as salary. He was consecrated at Seville, on passion Sunday of 1544, and having by virtue of a royal decree caused the liberation of all the Indian slaves brought to Spain from the New World he embarked at San Lúcar on the 11th of July.[XIX‑10] He was accompanied by his constant companion, Father Rodrigo de Ladrada, and forty-five Dominican friars, including Father Tomás Casillas, their vicar, and his successor 332 to the bishopric of Chiapas. After touching at Santo Domingo where he was detained over three months awaiting a vessel, he sailed for Campeche, where he arrived on the 6th of January 1545. Las Casas soon aroused the opposition of the colonists by insisting on the enforcement of the new laws, so exasperating them that they refused to acknowledge him as their bishop, on the ground that his papers were defective. They could not, indeed, prevent him from taking possession of the bishopric, but they could and did withhold the tithes, thus compelling him to send to Ciudad Real for money to defray his expenses. His messenger reached Ciudad Real early in February and the cabildo's answer is dated the 12th of the same month. They sent him a few hundred pesos which had been advanced by the public administrators on the security of one of the citizens.[XIX‑11]
From Campeche, Las Casas despatched by sea to Tabasco ten of the friars, but the vessel being overtaken by a storm foundered off the island of Términos, and nine of the ecclesiastics together with twenty-three Spaniards were drowned. Las Casas and the remainder of the Dominicans soon afterward departed for Ciudad Real, where his reception was cordial and enthusiastic. He was escorted into the city under the pallium; a house had been prepared for his reception, and thither all classes flocked to pay him homage.[XIX‑12]
The cathedral chapter consisted, on Las Casas' arrival, of the dean, Gil Quintana, and the canon, Juan de Perera, besides which dignitaries there were three priests in the diocese. The Dominicans, who were also kindly received, having reported their arrival to the provincial in New Spain, established a temporary convent and began their labors.
In the enslavement of the natives, the settlers of 333 Chiapas, if we are to believe Las Casas, committed many excesses,[XIX‑13] and there is abundant evidence that in their subsequent treatment of them there was much harshness and cruelty.[XIX‑14] Daily appeals were made to him by the Indians for protection, but the futility of any exhortations to the settlers, where the natives were concerned, he well knew, and therefore resolved on vigorous measures, firmly believing that his efforts would be seconded by the audiencia in their enforcement of the new laws. Las Casas, however, had misjudged the character of the oidores, as we shall see hereafter.
Upon the approach of holy week he took the bold but injudicious step of refusing absolution to all who should not forthwith liberate their slaves,[XIX‑15] and made this the chief of certain sins for which he reserved to himself the right of granting absolution. The publication of this measure caused great excitement among the settlers, which was further increased by his refusal to listen to any compromise. In their despair they applied to the dean, who, failing to influence the bishop, took upon himself the responsibility of granting absolution in certain cases. Las Casas sent for the dean purposing to place him under arrest, but the latter suspecting his design refused to obey; whereupon the former, determined not to be thus thwarted, sent his bailiff and a few attendants with orders to 334 bring the contumacious dignitary, if necessary, by force. The dean resisted, and with this object drew a sword, with which he wounded himself in the hand and the bailiff in the leg.[XIX‑16]
At this juncture an alcalde, who among others had been attracted by the disturbance, added to the excitement by loudly shouting: "Help in the name of the king!" Thereupon the citizens hurriedly gathered from all sides with arms in hand and prevented the arrest of the dean. Las Casas was beside himself with rage, and the settlers were equally exasperated. That throughout holy week they should be deprived of the sacraments for no other reason than that they held slaves was a measure without precedent in the New World, and their indignation was increased by the numerous letters of sympathy and condolence received from all parts of New Spain. The dean in the mean time had escaped to Guatemala where he was absolved by Bishop Marroquin and permitted to say mass. Las Casas made a requisition for him, but it was ignored,[XIX‑17] and he was obliged to content himself with declaring him anathematized and excommunicated.[XIX‑18]
Las Casas was baffled but not defeated. He received an invitation to assist in the consecration of Bishop Valdivieso at Gracias á Dios, which it will be remembered was then the seat of the audiencia of the Confines, and thither he repaired. The news of the occurrences at Ciudad Real had, however, preceded him, and with the exception of Herrera all the oidores were prejudiced against him.[XIX‑19]
Las Casas found little sympathy from his brother prelates, Bishop Marroquin, as has already been shown, entertaining a bitter dislike toward him. Indeed, the 335 apostle of the Indies was in some respects ill-fitted for the noble work to which he had devoted his life, his impetuous fearless character and ardent zeal blinding his judgment and making him impatient of opposition and heedless of the rights of others. Thus he made enemies where the interests of his cause demanded friends and active supporters. Few if any of the prominent ecclesiastics in the New World viewed the question of slavery as he regarded it, and they resented his unqualified condemnation of it as a reflection on their learning and piety.
Under these circumstances it is not strange that, as before stated, his appeals to the audiencia were disregarded and that, meeting only with rebuffs, he departed in disgust for his diocese. In the mean time the settlers of Ciudad Real had by their importunities driven the vicar general of Las Casas from the city. The bishop was not disposed, however, to renew the struggle. His faith in the efficacy of the new laws had received a severe shock, for by this time he had heard of the determined resistance to them throughout the provinces. He had expected that they would be opposed, but not to this extent, and now there was no mistaking the hostile attitude of the settlers.
Over the turbulent inhabitants of Ciudad Real he had no further desire to rule, and had already for the third time asked the emperor to allow him to be transferred to Vera Paz, and that bishops be appointed for the provinces of Soconusco, Chiapas, and Yucatan.[XIX‑20] No further troubles appear to have occurred between the bishop and the colonists.[XIX‑21]
In 1547 Las Casas embarked for Spain. The revocation of the new laws of which he must have heard 336 before his departure, was a death-blow to his hopes in the new world. During the first two years after his arrival his efforts in behalf of the natives appear to have produced nothing more than a few decrees, comparatively unimportant. Later he resigned his bishopric, and retired to the college of San Gregorio de Valladolid, still continuing, however, to take an active interest in Indian affairs, although he had already passed his seventy-fifth year. From this retreat he soon issued to defend the principles which it had been his life-long labor to maintain.
The conquerors had found a champion in Doctor Juan Ginés Sepúlveda, who contended that it was lawful to make war on the natives and enslave them in order to promote their conversion and prevent human sacrifices. Las Casas presented thirty propositions in refutation of this view in which he maintained that over a nation whose only sin was idolatry no authority could be justly exercised save by peaceful conversion. Though this was clearly a condemnation of the policy of Spain in the New World, the sincerity of Las Casas and the justice of his cause prevented the king from taking offence at his boldness, and induced him to permit the unrestricted publication of his works while those of his opponent were forbidden to be printed. Henceforth he continued to be consulted on all questions of importance concerning the Indians, his time being devoted mainly to the writing of his history.
In 1555 Philip, who had lately ascended the throne, and was then in England, proposed to sell the right of the crown to the reversion of the encomiendas. Las Casas, ever on the alert, saw that this meant perpetual slavery, and determined to exert all his powers to prevent the measure. Through the king's confessor, who had written to him on the subject,[XIX‑22] he made a bold and earnest appeal to the royal 337 conscience. The appeal was not in vain, and he thus paved the way for the final emancipation of the natives.
His last service to the New World was his representation to the council of the Indies of the great inconvenience and prejudice caused to the settlers and natives of Guatemala by the removal to Panamá of the audiencia of the Confines. In 1569, partly owing to his influence, the audiencia was reëstablished in Guatemala. He did not live to see this accomplished, however, for falling ill at Madrid, he died in July 1566, in his ninety-second year. He was buried with becoming honors in the convent chapel of Our Lady of Atocha.
Judged by his works Las Casas was the greatest philanthropist of his age. Like all vigorous reformers, he was treated as a visionary by most of his contemporaries, a conclusion which they deemed warranted by the unflinching courage and tenacity with which he maintained his opinions. His compassion for the natives, and his abhorrence for their oppressors, were increased from year to year by his failure to alleviate their sufferings, until it had become the all-absorbing idea which colored his every act and word. In pursuit of this ambition no obstacle could intimidate him. To resolve was to act. He hesitated not in the advocacy of his cause to brave the anger of an emperor, or that of an excited populace, and for this cause he endured persecution, insult, loss of friends, the enmity of countrymen. It must be admitted that he was resentful, and even bitter against his opponents, and to this reason may also be attributed his frequent exaggeration, his misrepresentation, the readiness with which his judgment was biassed, his unfitness for dealing practically with the condition of affairs then existing in the New World. By his contemporaries he is accused of harshness, arrogance, uncharitableness, but it must not be forgotten that this was probably due to the intolerant religious and scholastic spirit of his times. The purity of 338 his motives none can doubt, and while no defence can vindicate the name of his adversaries from the charge of injustice and cruelty, the errors of Bartolomé de Las Casas are forgotten, and his spirit of noble self-devotion and high-souled philanthropy will make him known to all posterity as one of the greatest benefactors of his race.
The establishment of the audiencia of the Confines and the attempted enforcement of the new laws produced the same excitement in Chiapas as in other territories, but the transfer of this province to the jurisdiction of the new audiencia caused no change in its local government. The alcalde mayor, however, still the chief authority, ruled with greater rigor, and by the appointment of deputies in all of the native towns greatly increased the burden of their inhabitants.[XIX‑23]
Through the solicitation of Las Casas, Diego Ramirez, of whom mention has been made in connection with the history of Mexico,[XIX‑24] was sent to investigate the alleged oppression of the natives and their opposition to their Dominican teachers. He appears to have been an upright judge, and favorable to the Indians, but even his efforts, supported as they were by various decrees in their favor, did not accomplish the desired object.[XIX‑25]
After the departure of Ramirez, matters relapsed into their former condition. Within less than a year, however, Cerrato having taken charge of the audiencia determined to remedy these abuses, declaring that the natives continued to be destroyed without pity, the previous official visits having accomplished nothing.[XIX‑26] 339
Before the arrival of the Dominicans, little seems to have been done to improve the religious and social condition of the natives, except to baptize such as were encountered by the ecclesiastics in the principal towns, or during their journeyings from point to point. Indeed, if we are to believe Remesal, and in this instance we may certainly do so, the Indians were morally and religiously more degraded under Christian than under pagan domination. Idolatry was openly practised, and to their former vices were added those of the Spaniards, which their chiefs, now deprived in great part of their authority, were powerless to restrain. Little cared the encomendero for the souls or bodies of the Indians if the required tribute were but promptly paid. The labors of the Dominicans were of course interrupted by the persecution to which they were subjected because of their bold support of Las Casas. Alms were refused them, and their supplies soon becoming exhausted they abandoned their temporary convent and proceeded to the native town of Chiapas whence, having fixed upon this point as their base of operations, they gradually extended their labors over the province. The settlers placed in their way every obstacle that self-interest and ingenuity could devise, but the energy and devotion of the friars overcame all opposition, and when in 1549 Cerrato came to their support they had already established several convents including that of Ciudad Real, and had visited and carried their teaching to the remotest parts of the province.[XIX‑27] 341
A New Cathedral Wanted—A Poor Prelate and Unwilling Tithe-Payers—Two Contentious Bishops—Charitable Institutions Founded—Dominican Convent Organized—Franciscans Arrive—Their Labors—Motolinia Founds a Custodia—Disputes between Franciscans and Dominicans—La Tierra de Guerra—Las Casas' System—His First Efforts in Vera Paz—He Goes to Spain—Decrees Obtained by Him and an Indignant Cabildo—Las Casas Returns—Progress in Vera Paz—Peaceful Submission and Heavy Tributes—Cancer's Expedition to Florida—Ominous Opinions—An Indifferent Captain—A Dominican Martyr.
After the destruction of Santiago and the removal of the city to a new site the erection of another cathedral and episcopal residence was necessary.[XX‑1] The means, however, for the construction of these edifices could not be immediately procured. The bishop therefore caused to be built a hermitage, called Santa Lucía, which served temporarily as the parish church in the new city.[XX‑2] The removal of the episcopal seat was, moreover, a matter which did not depend upon either the decision of the cabildo or the prelate, and both his Majesty and the pope had to be consulted on so momentous a question. The necessity of permission to make such a change was pointed out to the 342 cabildo by the bishop, who during a visit to Acajutla was informed by that body that the roof of the old church had been removed.[XX‑3] With regard to the building of the new cathedral few particulars are known, other than that the bishop was compelled for a number of years to appeal to the king for aid in its completion.[XX‑4]
Marroquin's bishopric, indeed, was not a rich one. In 1542 he represents to the king the objection of the settlers to pay tithes, which they regarded as an unheard of demand, and implores his Majesty to enforce the payment to the church of one tenth of all tributes.[XX‑5] He, moreover, assures him that his salary of five hundred thousand maravedís was not sufficient to meet the demands of hospitality and charity, and requests that a portion of the revenues of Honduras and Soconusco be granted to him.[XX‑6]
But the colonists were not easily compelled to pay their tithes of cacao,[XX‑7] maize, and feathers, and in 1545 the bishop again brought the matter before the notice of the throne, declaring that the frequency of disputes 343 between the clergy and the colonists on this account was prejudicial in the extreme. He represented the poverty of his church and his own indebtedness, and asked that some compensation might be made him for his services, and the expenses which he had incurred in his visits to Honduras and Chiapas. Nevertheless the colonists maintained a stubborn opposition, and in 1548 matters had so little improved that Marroquin once more asks for aid from the crown.[XX‑8]
The effort of Marroquin to obtain Soconusco as a district of his diocese widened the breach between him and Las Casas, the particulars of which have already been given, and was one of the causes of the abuse which these prelates heaped upon each other. The prince regent had issued a cédula assigning Soconusco to the bishop of Chiapas on the ground of its proximity to that province. This decision Las Casas communicated to Marroquin in 1545, and hence arose mutual vituperation, charges of grasping after territory, and misrepresentations, if not untruthfulness, on either side. The bishop of Guatemala writes to the people of Soconusco urging them to appeal against the royal cédula, and in a letter to the king dated June 4, 1545, describes the diocese of Las Casas as extending from sea to sea, and broad enough to contain half a dozen bishoprics, while Las Casas reports that the bishop of Guatemala had appropriated districts extending almost to Nicaragua, and states that his see is the asylum of vagabond clergymen.[XX‑9]
But though Marroquin was thus involved in difficulties with his flock and disputes with his brother bishop, he labored hard for the welfare of the former by founding various charitable institutions. Under 344 his auspices was established between 1546 and 1548,[XX‑10] the convent of La Concepcion, the first lady superior being Doña Beatriz de Silva, a nun of the Dominican convent of Madre de Dios in Toledo.[XX‑11] This institution was liberally aided by the crown.[XX‑12]
About the same time the hospital of San Alejo was founded by the Dominicans,[XX‑13] and in 1849 Bishop Marroquin founded that of Santiago. This latter establishment was designed for Spanish and native patients of both sexes. It was a spacious building containing four wards, so that the races and sexes could be kept apart. Marroquin, retaining the office of administrator, ceded the patronage of this institution to the crown; hence it was known as the royal hospital of Santiago.[XX‑14] While the bishop thus studied the temporal welfare of his flock, its spiritual good was ever in appearance, at least his anxious care, and I find his requests for more ecclesiastics almost as frequent as his petitions for more money. From both Franciscans and Dominicans he received great assistance. This last named order had with the rest of the settlers removed to the new city,[XX‑15] having received 345 from the municipality an assignment of four lots of ground whereon to rebuild their convent.[XX‑16] In 1547 the provincial chapter of the order in Mexico recognized and accepted the convent of Guatemala as regularly organized, and appointed Friar Tomás Casillas as a prior. At this date there were thirteen members of the community besides the prior. In 1550 Fray Tomás de la Torre succeeded Casillas, by which time the number had increased to only fifteen.[XX‑17]
Meantime the rival order of the Franciscans had appeared upon the field of labor. When the first members arrived it is not possible to decide. According to Torquemada, Fray Toribio Motolinia was sent in 1533, by the custodia of the order in Mexico, to found monasteries in Guatemala,[XX‑18] but the first permanent establishment of Franciscans in Santiago was due to the efforts of Marroquin. At the entreaty of that prelate six friars were sent from Spain in 1539,[XX‑19] and arrived at Mexico in 1540, their expenses having been paid by him.[XX‑20] After remaining six months at that city they proceeded by land to Guatemala, but at Tepeaca, six leagues from Puebla, their prelate Casaseca fell sick and died.[XX‑21] The rest continued 346 their journey and were received at Santiago with every demonstration of welcome. By private contributions and with the assistance of the bishop they were enabled to erect a humble dwelling,[XX‑22] in which they discharged the duties of their calling with as punctual and strict observance as if it had been a convent of the highest order. After the destruction of Santiago appropriate ground was allotted to them for the erection of their convent, church, and other buildings,[XX‑23] and by June 1542 an unpretending monastery had been built. When the Franciscans had acquired some knowledge of the native tongues, they engaged in missionary labors throughout the country.[XX‑24]
The need of more friars was, however, urgent, and ere long Fray Valderas, with the approval of the bishop, went to Spain in order to procure more members of his order. He soon accomplished his mission and returned with twelve brothers to Mexico. Unhappily in their haste to engage in their labors most of them broke down on the long and toilsome journey to Santiago, and died.[XX‑25] At a later date, however, the want was somewhat relieved by the arrival of Motolinia with a considerable number of his order.[XX‑26]
The Franciscan order was now firmly established 347 in Guatemala. Motolinia erected the convents which had been founded[XX‑27] into a custodia, despatched friars to Yucatan,[XX‑28] and visited different parts of the country. He then returned to Mexico and was succeeded in his office of custodio by Fray Gonzalo de Mendez.[XX‑29]
The jealousy which existed between the Dominicans and Franciscans was exhibited in Guatemala as strongly as elsewhere, and the bickerings which occurred, and opposition offered by the earlier established order to the new-comers, were so discouraging that many of the Franciscans left the province.[XX‑30] But for the efforts of Bishop Marroquin they would have abandoned the field.[XX‑31]
In 1547 the comisario general states that there were only twelve Franciscans in Guatemala, and requests that young members of the order, capable of acquiring the native language, be sent out.[XX‑32] He also impresses upon the emperor the necessity of assigning separate fields of labor to the two orders, and it is to be noted that the Franciscans were inimical to the 348 Mercenarios, who are described as being detrimental rather than beneficial to the cause of the church.[XX‑33]
The disagreement between the two highest regular orders was not based entirely upon a struggle for supremacy. Each had its distinct views with regard to the method of implanting Christianity in America. The Dominicans, led by their unyielding chief Las Casas, would not recognize wholesale baptism as practised by the Franciscans, and they would not admit that the interests of the conquerors were compatible with the welfare of the conquered races. The Franciscans, with Motolinia as their leader, imagined that a system of ecclesiastical and civil policy could be adopted which would conduce to the interests of both the dominant and conquered races. This order did not object to the sword being called into operation; the Dominicans denied it as a means of advancing the gospel. The Dominicans were uncompromisingly opposed to slavery; the rival order not so, and I am inclined to think that the Franciscans honestly believed that under the pressure of the encomenderos and the impossibility of rapid manumission, more benefit could be obtained for the natives by a tolerant system of servitude, supervised by the religious orders, than by a sudden change. It is unnecessary to relate the bitter denunciations that each leader uttered against the other. While it is to be regretted that Motolinia in his fierce attack on Las Casas appears to have been guided by a spirit not altogether free from jealousy,[XX‑34] it cannot be disputed that the indiscreet zeal of Las Casas gave dissatisfaction to eminent men even in his own order.[XX‑35]
It was through the exertions of Bartolomé de Las Casas that the pacification of Vera Paz was achieved without the aid of an armed force. The native name 349 of this territory was Tuzulutlan. The Spaniards after their entrance into Guatemala made several unsuccessful attempts to subdue it, and from this cause and the fierce character of the natives they called it Tierra de Guerra.[XX‑36] Its dimensions at the time the Dominicans entered it nearly corresponded with its present limits. In 1574 friars of the convent at Coban reported that Vera Paz, as already bounded by royal decree, extended sixty leagues from east to west, measured from the river Nito[XX‑37] to the river Zacapulas, and fifty leagues from south to north, commencing from the northern slope of the Canal and Rabinal mountains.[XX‑38] The surface was rugged and mountainous; roads were almost unknown, and the inhabitants active and warlike.[XX‑39] Nevertheless Las Casas proposed to penetrate it in defiance of danger, exposure, and hardship.
Previous to 1536 he had published a treatise,[XX‑40] in which he condemned conquest by force of arms, and urged that to civilize and convert the Indians was the true system of subjugation. These precepts he incessantly upheld in Santiago both from the pulpit and in conversation, and his teachings only drew upon him general ridicule and enmity, and eventually the people of Santiago dared him to put his principles in practice 350 by accomplishing the conquest of Tuzulutlan. The undaunted padre accepted the challenge, and in conjunction with Fray Rodrigo de Ladrada and Fray Pedro de Angulo, agreed to undertake the perilous enterprise on the condition that the natives should never be assigned in encomiendas, and that for a period of five years, dating from the entrance of the friars into the province, no Spaniards should be permitted to enter the country.[XX‑41]
Las Casas at once proceeded to put his designs in execution, and by the employment of converted Indians and the establishment of frontier posts, opened friendly relations with the hitherto exclusive inhabitants of Vera Paz,[XX‑42] and laid the basis of the future acknowledgment of the sovereignty of Spain.[XX‑43] 351
Nevertheless the work of conversion could not be straightway accomplished. Though Las Casas was convinced of the practicability of his scheme, the small number of friars in the country rendered its immediate execution impossible. Moreover much opposition was offered to his broad and uncompromising views, and although the work was begun under the best auspices, so far as the action of the native chiefs was concerned, he felt himself compelled to suspend operations until he had had a personal interview with the emperor.[XX‑44] Accordingly he left Guatemala and proceeded by way of Mexico to Spain.[XX‑45] 352
On his arrival at court he advocated his system of peaceful conquest with his usual vigor, but his action gave great offence to the cabildo of Guatemala. Two indignant letters were addressed to the emperor attributing to him the existing troubles and turmoils.[XX‑46] The direct cause of these despatches was the receipt of two decrees obtained by the representations of Las Casas, the first of which was addressed to the bishop and governor of Guatemala and intended to remedy the prevailing neglect in the religious instruction of the Indians and negroes. It ordered that at a stated hour each day, all such as were not already instructed should be taught their religious duties.[XX‑47] The second guaranteed to Las Casas and his companions, in their labors in Tuzulutlan, freedom from interference on the part of the Spaniards.[XX‑48] At the same time he obtained other documents authorizing him or his companions to take such Spaniards as they themselves might select into the converted regions. Letters of thanks, also, were sent to such caciques as had aided in the work begun, and lastly as a precaution against the interference of Alvarado, the assistance of certain caciques was secured to the Dominicans, and the adelantado and his lieutenant commanded not to interfere with them.[XX‑49] 353
But Las Casas was aware that the promulgation and execution of a decree in the western world were two different matters. He had learned by experience that subterfuge was commonly resorted to in order to prevent the enforcement of a cédula or delay its operation until there was no longer necessity for it, and this without the charge of disloyalty being incurred. The ceremony of kissing the royal order and placing it upon the head was duly and submissively performed, but if it could be alleged that his Majesty had been misinformed, ground for appeal was at once established, and its execution postponed until a truthful statement of the question could be submitted to the king. This delayed the arrival of the final decision until it became inoperative, and the evasion of royal orders was at this time severely felt by the ecclesiastics. Las Casas consequently represented these abuses to the council and procured a final cédula which entrusted the enforcement of the preceding ones to the audiencia of Mexico, authorizing that court to punish disobedience to previous decrees.
In 1541 Fray Luis Cancer returned to Guatemala, and continued in Vera Paz the work of conversion inaugurated by Las Casas. From this time the pacification proper may be considered to have begun.[XX‑50]
The exertions of Las Casas during the time he remained in Spain were, as the reader is already aware, mainly directed to the promulgation of the new code of laws. In 1545 he again arrived in New Spain to take charge of his diocese as will be hereafter related, and in July, being anxious to witness the progress that had been made in Vera Paz, he visited that 354 province. He found the condition of affairs to be so satisfactory that he caused the depositions of six Spaniards to be taken for the purpose of reporting to the emperor the true nature of the conquest of this formerly warlike region. From the statements of these deponents it appears that previous to the entrance of the Dominicans the inhabitants of these districts opposed all attempts to subdue them,[XX‑51] but that by infinite labor and care the friars had overcome their ferocity and exasperation. In his progress through the country the bishop everywhere met with a kind welcome. Escorted by Don Juan, a son of the lord of Coban, with many of his subjects, he proceeded from town to town,[XX‑52] receiving offerings and presents at each place. At Coban he was gratified to find that a substantial wooden church had been erected, and that every day many natives eagerly received religious instruction. Proceeding thence to the town of Tuzulutlan he there met Bishop Marroquin, who was making a similar visit[XX‑53] and I apprehend that the two prelates did not entertain such friendly feelings to each other as had been displayed to both of them by the natives. 355
But Las Casas had still to learn that however successful his own efforts had been he could not ward off the oppression of his countrymen. The Spaniards now began to enter the region, impose tributes, and make slaves as was their wont, and in October following Fray Luis Cancer wrote to him—the prelate being then at Gracias á Dios—stating that more than seven hundred slaves of both sexes had been taken from the town of Tuzulutlan alone, and that the tribute which the natives of Vera Paz were called upon to pay was intolerable.[XX‑54] Moreover he was soon to find, greatly to his mortification, that his peaceful system of conversion was not necessarily unattended by bloodshed, as was shown a few years later by the martyrdom of Luis Cancer and two brothers of the Dominican order.
In 1547 Fray Cancer and Las Casas returned to Spain, and by their representations induced the emperor to consent to an expedition to Florida to be conducted by the former on the system by which the pacification of Vera Paz was accomplished. His Majesty extended every facility to the friar, supplying him with funds and issuing an order which would enable him to obtain every encouragement and aid from the authorities in Mexico.[XX‑55] The friar made his 356 preparations with great enthusiasm; yet he met with considerable delay, caused by the unfavorable light in which his dangerous enterprise was regarded in Spain. He had great difficulty in obtaining a pilot, and indeed, although he had hoped to procure the assistance of four or six colleagues, two only were found ready to risk their lives in the cause. "All Seville," he wrote, "is surprised at this undertaking; those who most fear God approve of it; others think that we are going to the slaughter-house."[XX‑56]
Writing these prophetic and ill-omened words on the very day of his departure Fray Luis sailed on his last voyage from Spain. Few particulars of his expedition are known, except the manner of his death. On his arrival in Mexico he obtained the assistance which the king ordered to be extended to him, and about the middle of 1549 set sail from Vera Cruz, accompanied by Frailes Gregorio de Beteta, Juan García, Diego de Tolosa, and a lay brother named Fuentes. Contrary to his express desire the captain of the vessel landed him at a part of the Florida coast where Spaniards had previously committed depredations and thus exasperated the natives. Unconscious of this act of carelessness,[XX‑57] Fray Cancer, accompanied by Tolosa and the lay brother, proceeded on his mission, but the ill-fated ecclesiastics had not advanced far from the shore when they were assailed by Indians, and immediately beaten to death with clubs.[XX‑58] 357
This disastrous termination of an enterprise from which Las Casas and his advocates had expected so much was a bitter cup which his opponents did not fail to hold out to him. Yet this stout combatant for the system of bloodless pacification yielded not an iota in his principles, and ably defended himself against Sepúlveda by maintaining that the previous cruel conduct of the Spaniards on the coast was the cause of the tragedy in Florida.[XX‑59] The career of Las Casas in Chiapas and the appointment of Cerrato as governor of Guatemala have already been mentioned. 358
Quesada's Administration—The Oidor Zorita Gathers the Natives into Towns—Expedition against the Lacandones—Its Failure—Landecho Appointed Quesada's Successor—His Residencia Taken by the Licentiate Brizeño—Famine, Pestilence, and Earthquake in Guatemala—The Audiencia of the Confines Removed to Panamá—And Again Transferred to Guatemala—Gonzalez Appointed President—He is Succeeded by Villalobos—Changes in Church Affairs—Death of Bishop Marroquin—Quarrels between the Dominicans and Franciscans—Bishops Villalpando and Córdoba—Fracas between Two Ecclesiastics—Administration of Presidents Valverde, Rueda, Sandé, and Castilla—Industrial Condition of the Province.
Cerrato's successor was Doctor Antonio Rodriguez de Quesada, an oidor of the audiencia of Mexico, and a man of learning and ability. Though appointed November 17, 1553, he did not assume office until the beginning of 1555.[XXI‑1] The residencia of the former president and oidores was soon begun, and completed some time in May.[XXI‑2] Quesada was active in establishing reforms, and it was to the Indian question that his principal efforts were directed. The president determined to complete the organization of Indian towns, hoping thus to compel the natives to adopt a civilized mode of life and establishing in them a municipal government similar to that of Spanish settlements, the 359 offices being confided to their hereditary chiefs according to rank.[XXI‑3]
At the request of the bishop and the Dominican provincial, the audiencia ordered Oidor Zorita to call a meeting of friars; and although we have no direct information as to its object, we may conclude that it related to the president's policy, for it was condemned by the settlers,[XXI‑4] and, as we shall see hereafter, the carrying into effect of Quesada's plans was in great part due to the efforts of Zorita who was commissioned for this purpose.
The work of organizing the native towns had already been begun in Nicaragua as early as February 1555, by the licentiate Cavallon, appointed alcalde mayor of that province by the audiencia.[XXI‑5]
In the beginning of March, Zorita set forth on his official tour through the province. From the letters of the Dominicans we learn that during six months he visited on foot the most rugged portions of the province, moderated tributes, and corrected abuses. In gathering the natives into towns he found much difficulty, force being necessary in some instances to accomplish their removal. This, however, was not the only opposition encountered, for as might be expected he incurred the bitter hostility of the settlers. Finding him incorruptible they had recourse as usual to false reports. Witnesses for any purpose could be cheaply bought; and since he would not yield the Spaniards determined to drive him from the province.[XXI‑6] There is no evidence as to the result of this hostility, nor have we any further records of events which occurred during Quesada's administration, save the 360 mention of a fearful epidemic which swept over the country in 1558,[XXI‑7] and the seizure and pillage of Puerto de Caballos by four French ships during the same year.[XXI‑8]
In the letters of the Dominicans already cited, no special mention is made of Quesada, but in February 1558, the cabildo, in a despatch to the king, urge the appointment as governor of some person who should be a gentleman by birth, and have the sole management of affairs.[XXI‑9] This would seem to indicate that, whatever the president's subsequent policy, it was satisfactory neither to the ecclesiastics nor to the settlers.
Quesada died in November 1558, and the oidor and licentiate Pedro Ramirez de Quiñones took temporary charge of the presidency. Ramirez' rule was brief, and the only event of importance of which we have any record was the expedition in 1559 against the hostile provinces of Lacandon and Acala. Of the vast extent of unconquered territory lying beyond Vera Paz, nothing definite was known at this time except from the accounts of the march of Cortés to Honduras, nor had its conquest been attempted.
As early as 1550 attempts at the pacification of the adjacent province of Acala were begun by the Dominicans of Vera Paz. For a time their efforts were successful, but finally, incited by their neighbors and allies, the majority of the natives refused to receive the friars, and in 1555 the combined tribes destroyed the only mission thus far established and murdered Father Vico, the originator of the attempt, together with his companion Father Lopez, and a number of converted Indians from Vera Paz. There is no evidence that their pacification was again attempted. 361
Chief among the wild tribes of this region were the Lacandones, who though few in number were brave, hardy, daring, and implacable in their hatred of the white race. Their territory extended from the northern frontier of Vera Paz along the eastern border of Chiapas as far as the province of Tabasco. Their chief town and stronghold was on a rocky island, in Lake Lacandon, distant a few days' journey from the provinces of Chiapas and Vera Paz. From this point they issued in organized bands, and sweeping along the border of these two provinces fell suddenly on the defenceless settlements, leaving a track of desolation and blood. These depredations continued for many years, nor is there any record of a single instance of pursuit or punishment previous to 1559. Emboldened by continued success, they extended their incursions to the interior. In 1552 they destroyed two towns in Chiapas, one of them within fifteen leagues of Ciudad Real. The attack was made at night, and but few of the terrified inhabitants escaped. While sacrificing their captives the natives shouted derisively: "Christians, call upon your God to defend you!"
The bishop of Chiapas made overtures of peace to the Lacandones, but they were treated with contempt and his messengers killed. He then appealed to the audiencia; but the oidores, foreseeing in these disasters the failure of the much-vaunted peace policy which had in a measure excluded the civil authority from the territory ceded to the Dominicans, coldly replied that the crown had strictly forbidden the making of war on this province. Reports of the critical condition of affairs were accordingly made to the crown both by bishop and friars. In consequence a cédula dated January 22, 1556, ordered the audiencia de los Confines to investigate the matter, punish the Lacandones as far as practicable, and report the result to the crown. The instructions, however, were unheeded, for the audiencia well knew that nothing short of an armed force would suffice, and this decree did not 362 expressly authorize a disregard of the existing interdict.
In the mean time the depredations of the Lacandones continued unchecked, and threatened to cause the abandonment of Vera Paz. Aroused at last to a full sense of their danger the Dominicans were fain to acknowledge that the coöperation of the sword was necessary to the planting of the cross, and so far diverged from the principles laid down by Las Casas as to declare in the provincial chapter held at Coban, in 1558, that because of the sacrileges and murders they had committed, it was not only lawful for the king to make war on the Lacandones, but if need be, in order to protect his subjects, to exterminate them.[XXI‑10]
In pursuance of this declaration they wrote to the king and suggested as the only efficient remedy the removal of the hostile natives to certain unsettled districts beyond Ciudad Real, thus placing this city between them and the settlements of Chiapas and Vera Paz. In order to reduce the expense of their removal it was further suggested that an expedition be authorized and the Spaniards induced to join it at their own expense under promise that the Lacandones should be granted to them in repartimiento. In accordance with these suggestions a royal cédula dated March 16, 1558, directed the audiencia de los Confines to take steps for the immediate removal of the Indians. If practicable it was to be done peaceably, but if force were necessary all harshness was to be avoided, though the prisoners taken were to become the lawful slaves of their captors.
Lacandon War.
This decree was published in Santiago in the beginning of 1559; and attracted by the prospect of gain thus held out, and the charm of adventure and mystery which attaches to the invasion of an unknown and hostile province, large numbers of settlers 363 in Guatemala and Chiapas offered to accompany the expedition. President Ramirez was appointed commander-in-chief, as he had already certain military renown not altogether merited. Early in the same year the respective forces arrived at Comitlan, the appointed rendezvous. The total Spanish force is not stated but is said to have included many persons of quality. The troops from Chiapas were commanded by Gonzalo Dovalle, and besides the colonists, comprised a native contingent of eight hundred warriors. A thousand Indians are said to have accompanied the Spanish from Guatemala. Supplies of all kinds were collected, and two brigantines were built in sections, each vessel being capable of holding a hundred men. A small army of carriers and attendants was required to transport the baggage and wait on the Spaniards, and preparations were on a scale better befitting a conflict with Europeans than with Americans. At Comitlan a review was held which, according to 364 Remesal, presented one of the most brilliant spectacles ever seen in those parts, for no expense had been spared by the Spaniards in their dress, equipments, and arms. At last, the flags having been blessed and mass said, the army set out.
Fifteen days of toilsome march, during which a path had to be cut through the dense vegetation, brought them to the shores of Lake Lacandon. At their approach the natives retreated to the island, after catching and sacrificing a negro boy who was out after some corn which grew in the gardens on the borders of the lake.
From their retreat the Lacandones closely watched the movements of the Spaniards, who in turn eagerly scanned the high bare rock with its white houses and dusky inhabitants, lest any signs of hostile preparation should escape them.
While the work of putting together one of the brigantines was progressing, a few of the natives approached the shore in canoes and demanded of the Spaniards their object in thus invading their country. Returning they made offers of peace, but as they denied having more than eleven canoes, the Spaniards suspected their design. It was believed that they wished to induce the Spaniards to accompany them to the island, a few at a time, where they could easily be despatched. The brigantine was soon afterward launched and as the Lacandones saw it bearing down upon them they took to flight.[XXI‑11] Many were captured, including the principal chief and the high priest. The houses and other defences of the island having been destroyed, a force was then despatched to pursue the savages, and to reduce the stronghold of the Puchutlas, which was also an island fortress, though its exact position cannot now be ascertained.[XXI‑12] 365
Near the town of Topiltitepeq this force fell into an ambuscade, and a few of the Spaniards were wounded, but the savages were finally put to rout, and a large supply of provisions was found in the deserted town. Arriving at Puchutla they found the natives in readiness for defence. Preparations were immediately made for the attack, and a raft was built as the second brigantine had been abandoned in the woods, and the one used against the Lacandones had sunk in the lake. No sooner had the Spaniards started from shore than the Indians advanced in their canoes to meet them, and midway between the island and the bank there was a sharp encounter which resulted in the defeat and flight of the Puchutlas. The fortress was found to be deserted, the savages having taken the precaution of removing their families and property to a place of safety.[XXI‑13] No attempt was made to punish the natives or to occupy any portion of their territory, and the expedition returned to Guatemala about Christmas, bringing with them one hundred and fifty prisoners.
In conjunction with the Spaniards, a large force of christianized Indians under the native governor of Vera Paz invaded the province of Ácala, administering a severe punishment, taking many captives, and hanging the principal accomplices in the murder of fathers Vico and Lopez.
Thus ended an expedition which had cost the crown nearly four thousand pesos de oro de minas, but seems to have been without any fixed plan, and was productive of no practical result other than to keep the savages in check for a time.[XXI‑14] Its failure 366 proved most disastrous to the colonists; for, though some are said to have received a reward for their services, the majority were left hopelessly involved in debt for the cost of their outfit, a few miserable slaves being the only spoils obtained in return for the expense, hardships, and peril incurred. It was not long, however, before all the slaves, including their chief, effected their escape and returned to their country. Re-occupying their stronghold, it was not many years before they resumed their depredations, and, as we shall see, successfully resisted all subsequent attempts to subdue them.
In 1564 the Puchutlas were induced, through the efforts of the Dominican Father Laurencio, to submit to the friars, and settled in Vera Paz. This success gained for Father Laurencio the title of the Apostle of Puchutla.[XXI‑15]
In August 1559 the licentiate Juan Martinez de Landecho, Quesada's successor, arrived in Guatemala,[XXI‑16] and entered upon office early in September, Ramirez being appointed an oidor of the audiencia of Lima, and after undergoing the investigation of his residencia embarking at the port of Acajutla, whither he was accompanied by the principal authorities and citizens, who thus showed their recognition of his worth.
The petition of the cabildo of Santiago that a gentleman by birth and education should be sent to govern them, had at last been answered, and the members were profuse in their thanks to the crown 367 for this favor. Experience had taught, however, that in order to protect and further the interests of the colonists, they must control a majority of the oidores, and as this was extremely difficult, they had determined to make an effort to have the political administration and distribution of the Indians vested exclusively in the president. As we have seen, the crown had already been petitioned to make this change, and it was expected that the new president would come with the additional title of governor.
This petition was repeated in the latter part of 1560, and was successful; for in May of the following year we find the cabildo attributing the increasing prosperity of the country to the granting of their request.[XXI‑17]
The colonists were jubilant that the humane measures of Cerrato and of Zorita, which their constant efforts had hitherto failed to accomplish, were now certain of defeat. Doctor Mejía, one of the oidores, was ordered to make an official tour of the provinces, as Zorita had been under the former administration. His measures counteracted the benefits of Zorita's labors. The regulation of tribute was entrusted to the encomenderos and caciques, and as these latter were often but the creatures of the former, the result may be readily inferred.[XXI‑18]
The Dominicans were the object of Mejía's special dislike, and he subjected them to such annoyance and persecution that they were on the point of abandoning the province of Guatemala. The alcaldes and other officers interfered with them in their control of the Indians, secretly charged them with usurping the 368 royal authority and receiving money from the natives, and, though the audiencia, in answer to the complaints of the friars, promised to protect them, little appears to have been done. Even the cabildo sought to make it appear to the crown that the religious exercised an arbitrary and prejudicial authority in the municipal council and elections held by the Indians. The deplorable condition of the natives and the persecution of the friars were made the subject of numerous letters to Las Casas, who represented these abuses to the crown in strong colors, urging the removal of Mejía and the adoption of relief measures for the natives.[XXI‑19]
Some relief was afforded by a royal decree which declared the natives no longer subject to the Spanish alcaldes, and which, according to Remesal,[XXI‑20] was issued about 1563 at the petition of the friars.
Landecho is represented as haughty, capricious, wedded to his own opinions, and unscrupulous in money matters.[XXI‑21] Certain it is that though favoring the interests of the colonists he did not neglect his own, and they soon found that he was neither pliant nor considerate. They never ceased to extol his tact and vigilance, and declared him fit to govern Peru; yet within a year of this declaration, and while assuring the king that they had no cause to change their mind, they observed that it would be well for the crown to instruct the president-governor to have a special care for the welfare of the people.[XXI‑22]
The continued complaints against Landecho at last induced the crown to decide on his removal, and 369 Licentiate Francisco Brizeño,[XXI‑23] oidor of the audiencia of Santa Fé,[XXI‑24] was commissioned to take his residencia. He arrived in Santiago on the 2d of August 1564.[XXI‑25] The residencia of the president was terminated in December of the same year, and resulted in the suspension of the president and the oidor Loaisa.[XXI‑26]
During Landecho's rule, a drought, which occurred in 1563, was followed by such great scarcity of corn as to cause much suffering among the natives,[XXI‑27] and in the early part of 1565 the country was visited by pestilence and earthquake. The epidemic appears to have been confined to the Indian town of Cinacantlan, in Chiapas, which it nearly depopulated, but the effects of the earthquake were more extended. In Santiago and the adjacent country it was destructive both to life and property.[XXI‑28] To mitigate the 370 wrath of God the terrified inhabitants of the city chose the martyr Saint Stephen as their advocate, and erected in his honor a hermitage, to which a yearly procession was established.[XXI‑29]
A matter of greater moment than the change of governors now occupied the attention of the colonists of Guatemala. The transfer of the audiencia de los Confines to Panamá had been decided on by the crown, but for what cause is not recorded by the chroniclers.[XXI‑30] A decree to this effect was issued early in 1563, and confirmed by a second one dated the 8th of September in the same year in which its jurisdiction was defined.[XXI‑31]
A line extending from the gulf of Fonseca to the mouth of the river Ulúa formed the northern limit of the territory made subject to the new audiencia of Panamá. This did not include, however, the cities of Gracias á Dios and San Gil de Buenavista with their districts, which together with the provinces of Guatemala, Chiapas, Soconusco, and Vera Paz were made subject to the audiencia of New Spain.[XXI‑32]
Doctor Barros de San Millan, oidor of the audiencia of Panamá, was commissioned by the crown to remove 371 the audiencia de los Confines, and before the end of December 1564 was on his way to Panamá with the seal, the visitador Brizeño having brought the order and published it soon after his arrival.[XXI‑33]
This change, which seriously affected the interests of Guatemala, was vigorously opposed by its inhabitants. Though informed early in 1564, as we have seen, that this measure had been resolved on, the cabildo refrained from decisive action till the arrival of Brizeño, when the publication of his orders would perhaps reveal its origin. In this, however, they were disappointed, for in their letter of December 20, 1564, they write: "Your Majesty, for certain causes which have moved you, has been pleased to order that the audiencia de los Confines be removed to the city of Panamá."
By making the audiencia of New Spain the court of appeals for Guatemala and the other provinces, under the former jurisdiction of the audiencia of the Confines great inconvenience and injustice resulted owing to distance. These facts were dwelt upon in the petitions to the crown, and were supplemented by the reports of the Dominicans, who represented the ill-treatment to which the natives would be exposed without the restraining presence of the audiencia. Las Casas, as we have seen, also employed his voice and influence at court to bring about its restoration, and the result was to induce the crown, by decree of 1568, to order its reëstablishment in Santiago, Doctor Antonio Gonzalez, oidor of the audiencia of Granada, being appointed president and arriving in Santiago with the oidores early in 1570.[XXI‑34] 372
During the absence of the audiencia the country was governed by the visitador Brizeño, whose administration appears to have been just, and with the exception of church affairs, uneventful. There is no evidence that Gonzalez was given the extraordinary powers granted to Landecho, perhaps because the experiment had not proven satisfactory, but according to Pelaez, a fiscal had been added to the officers of the audiencia during its absence.[XXI‑35] Brizeño's residencia was taken sometime in March, and the only charge brought against him was the granting of certain repartimientos at the suggestion of the cabildo of Santiago. The findings in the case were transmitted to the crown, and the cabildo immediately wrote defending the measure as necessary, and asking for his acquittal.[XXI‑36]
Gonzalez ruled until February 1572, when he was relieved by Doctor Pedro de Villalobos, who came as president and governor. We have no record of any event of importance during Gonzalez' administration; but that it was a just one is proven by his honorable acquittal in the residencia taken by his successor.
About the middle of the sixteenth century the affairs of the church underwent several important changes. Soconusco, which as we have seen was assigned to the bishopric of Chiapas, was subsequently included in the see of Bishop Marroquin, though again affiliated with the bishopric of Chiapas in 1596. Soon after their arrival the Dominicans sent to Soconusco a mission of several friars; but unable to withstand 373 the excessive heat most of them fell sick, and the death of one of their number so dispirited the remainder as to cause the abandonment of the province.
The see of Chiapas remained vacant until 1550, when Father Tomás Casillas, at the suggestion, no doubt, of Las Casas, was appointed to fill it. He visited the greater part of his diocese, including Tabasco; built an episcopal palace, and attended the provincial councils in Mexico in 1555 and 1565. After his decease in 1567, the see again remained vacant until 1574, when Fray Domingo de Lara was designated as his successor. The intelligence of the honor fell strangely upon the recipient; he prayed that he might die before it was confirmed; and curiously enough before the pope's bull came to hand, and while in the midst of preparations for consecration, he expired.[XXI‑37]
The next occupant of the see, Pedro de Fería, was called from the convent of Salamanca, and early in February 1575 was actively engaged in diocesan work. At his invitation the Franciscans sent some friars into the province, and a convent and church were soon erected. Chiapas had the rare fortune to possess in Fería a bishop who was an honest man, and one not greedy for gold or power. Finding himself too feeble for the work he begged the king to name another. In consequence of an order of the king that secular priests must not be displaced by Dominicans, or others who held a temporary dispensation from the pope, Fería appointed seculars to several vacancies to the no small chagrin of some of the friars. In 1592[XXI‑38] Don Fray Andrés de Ubilla was appointed successor to Fería, and continued in office until 1601, when he was promoted to the see of Michoacan.
At a Dominican provincial chapter held in 1576, at 374 Ciudad Real, the convent of Santo Domingo de Chiapas was accepted as that of the province, and Pedro de Barrientos chosen as first vicar. At chapters held in Chiapas and Guatemala prior to 1600, it was forbidden the friars to sign their family name; to write to the president of the audiencia or to the oidores without showing the letters first to the superiors, and so in regard to writing to Spain under penalty of fifteen days' imprisonment. No moneys were to be sent to Spain through the hands of the religious.
Ciudad Real, where the last provincial chapter was held, had in 1580 two hundred Spanish vecinos. There were about ninety Indian towns in the province, within a radius of sixty leagues, containing some twenty-six thousand tributaries. The largest one, Chiapas de los Indios, had twelve hundred Indian vecinos.
In 1559, through the influence of Las Casas, the bishopric of Vera Paz was established, and Father Angulo appointed its first bishop. He accepted the charge and repaired to his see a year or two later, but died early in 1562 before proceeding to consecration.[XXI‑39] The establishment of this see was unwise in the extreme, and must be attributed solely to the representations of Las Casas. As already shown the country was barely capable of sustaining its inhabitants, and in 1564 the cabildo declared to the crown that it would be well to suppress the bishopric as it could not support a prelate; an opinion borne out by subsequent experience.[XXI‑40]
Angulo was succeeded by Father Tomás de Cárdenas, 375 a Dominican. The date of his appointment according to Gonzalez Dávila was April 1, 1565, and according to Remesal he continued in possession until his death, in 1580.[XXI‑41]
In 1555 Bishop Marroquin, now old and wearied with over twenty-five years of constant service as priest and bishop, sought to retire, but though President Quesada recommended to the crown that his petition be granted it was refused, and he died at Santiago on holy Friday of 1563,[XXI‑42] and was buried with the highest honors in the cathedral of Santiago.[XXI‑43] His successor was Bernardino de Villalpando, bishop of Cuba, who arrived in Santiago in 1564.[XXI‑44]
The Franciscans and Dominicans in the mean time had made but little progress owing to petty rivalries and dissensions between them, and the interference of the secular clergy. Though the Dominicans had always been the principal confessors and preachers in Santiago, they were less popular than the Franciscans, who were also favored by Bishop Marroquin. As early as 1550 a strong rivalry sprung up between the two orders in regard to the right of possession of sites for churches and convents. These being then determined by the simple act of taking possession, many towns and districts were seized upon by the 376 ecclesiastics which they could not attend to themselves, and would not permit their rivals to control. Dissensions and mutual detractions followed, which the prelates of the respective orders were powerless to suppress in their subordinates.
This scandalous example estranged both the civil authorities and the citizens, and Marroquin, finding his efforts to settle these quarrels fruitless, began to appoint persons to the vacant and neglected towns, in some cases depriving the ecclesiastics of those in their charge. This condition of affairs was duly reported by the authorities, and as a result the religious were reproved, and the selection of sites for convents and the appointment of clergy made subject to the approval of the audiencia, and the bishop was instructed to respect the privileges of the friars and treat them with due consideration.[XXI‑45]
In 1551 the Dominicans of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Chiapas were organized into an independent provincia with the title of San Vicente de Chiapas. Father Tomás de la Torre was appointed provincial, and the first provincial chapter was held at Santiago in January.[XXI‑46] Several convents were founded, mostly in Guatemala, churches built among the Zoques and Quelenes, and with the arrival from time to time of additional friars the organization of new districts was begun. In Chiapas the Dominicans in their labors continued to suffer occasional molestation from the colonists. The provinces of San Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica were visited, a convent was founded in the city of San Salvador, and two attempts were made to establish the order in Nicaragua.[XXI‑47]
In 1559 a custodia was formed of the Franciscans 377 in Guatemala and Yucatan, by which provinces the vicar was alternately chosen. This lasted until 1565, when the religious of Guatemala were authorized to establish a separate provincia with the title of The Holy Name of Jesus. Their first provincial was Father Gonzalo Mendez, and the first provincial chapter was opened in Santiago on the 12th of October, 1566.[XXI‑48]
Owing to the dissensions with the Dominicans and among themselves, many friars left the province, so that in 1566 there were but thirty ecclesiastics and seven convents. In 1574 the audiencia issued a decree permitting the Franciscans to found convents in the provinces of Izalcos, Cuscatlan, and Honduras. About the same time convents were established in the villas of San Salvador and San Miguel.[XXI‑49]
One of the first acts of Bishop Villalpando was the publication of the decrees of the late council of Trent. Among other measures these restricted the privileges of mendicant friars, and believing or affecting to believe that this extended to a total deprivation of their right to administer the sacraments, the prelate began to secularize the towns in their charge. In vain were the protests of the Franciscan and Dominican provincials and the audiencia, and the representations of all that the secular priests, ignorant of the Indian languages, regardless of their interest, and in many cases of disreputable character, were unfit to succeed the regular orders in the charge of a numerous people, the majority of whom were yet new in the faith. The bishop absolutely insisted on obedience. In consequence recourse was had to the crown, but in the interim the prelate persistently carried out his measures notwithstanding the opposition of the friars, the colonists, and the natives, the religious being prevented 378 from abandoning the province only at the entreaties of the colonists, and the Indians in some instances refusing to receive them in their towns.
At the solicitation of the king the pope restored the privileges of the friars, the extreme measures of the bishop were condemned, and the archbishop of New Spain ordered to send a visitador to examine into certain serious charges made against Villalpando.[XXI‑50] When notified of these decrees, Villalpando is said to have replied: "I have received my church not from the king but from God, to whom I am prepared to render an account." According to Juarros he left Santiago soon after and died suddenly at Chalchuapa, four days' journey from the capital.[XXI‑51] Francisco Cambranes, dean of the cathedral of Santiago and after him Father Alonso de Lamilla, a Dominican, appear to have been appointed to succeed Villalpando. The former died before his appointment reached him and the latter declined the mitre. The see remained vacant until the appointment in 1574 of Bishop Gomez Fernandez de Córdoba who was transferred from the bishopric of Nicaragua.[XXI‑52]
Córdoba was a man simple in habit, humble in spirit, and pure in life. Foppery troubled some of the clergy, and the prelate, who could be stern when needful, took occasion to call up one of the would-be clerical gallants, and severely admonished him upon the extravagance of his dress. The mortifying lesson was not without effect, and he, with not a few others, carefully avoided such display ever after.
In 1575 Córdoba set out on his official visits, and everywhere met with complaints from the natives 379 concerning their priests, especially among the Ochitepiques, who asked to have the Franciscans put in charge. But those in possession were not always willing to gracefully yield as was shown by an incident which occurred in the same year. Father Pedro Diaz, visiting Guatemala for the purpose of founding Franciscan convents, arrived in the little town of Zamayaque, and called to pay his respects to the priest. His advances were coolly received, and the padre, seeking to conciliate him, asked his permission to say mass in the town and confess some of the Indians. From indifference the latter became fiercely indignant, and expressed himself in very unclerical language. His words were violent and his speech so loud that a number of the Indians were attracted to the spot. Thereupon Diaz assumed a humble attitude and deferentially withdrew, after making his apologies, and repaired to the cabildo, where the people flocked to him. Improvising an altar beneath a cotton-tree close by, he then insisted upon performing service, taking care that the priest should be informed and begging him not to interfere. At the consecration, the latter, accompanied by a few armed favorites, rushed in and gave unbridled license to his tongue, calling the people dogs and the Franciscan a madman. It was a strange spectacle—an angry priest wildly gesticulating in his black robe, surrounded by armed men, who momentarily threatened assault, and a padre calmly reciting his orisons, holding the host in uplifted hands in the midst of the people. The priest, exasperated beyond control, ordered his men to charge, which they did, wounding not a few and causing a general stampede.
At this point the encomendero Leon Cardena interposed between the contestants, and the Franciscan tried to assuage the tumult with words of peace. The priest would not be pacified until the Indians tried their skill at stone-throwing, when he ignominiously turned and fled to his house, where he had to 380 undergo a siege until he promised to depart for Guatemala taking all his paraphernalia with him.[XXI‑53] The Franciscan remained master of the field, and was eventually appointed guardian of Zamayaque, but the consequences of the unseemly quarrel were far-reaching, and the discussions to which it gave rise went far to reform the character of priests put in charge of the natives.
Bishop Córdoba labored in Guatemala for twenty-three years, Fray Antonio de Hinojosa being appointed his colleague two years before the decease of the former, which occurred in 1598. During his administration the king gave orders that no expense should be spared in supporting all the religious who might be needed for the conversion of the natives, and that money should be placed at the disposal of the friars for the purpose of administering the sacrament to the Indians in places remote from the settlements. The Franciscans especially multiplied in Guatemala, sixty-six arriving in that province between 1571 and 1573. In 1576 the audiencia was directed by the crown to make an annual grant of fifty thousand maravedís for each mission established by them. In 1578 García de Valverde, who during that year was appointed president of the audiencia, undertook the rebuilding or enlargement of several Franciscan convents[XXI‑54] and the erection of several churches. Such was his enthusiasm that he was often seen carrying stone and mortar for the workmen, and his example spread among the inhabitants of Santiago, men of noble birth imitating the prelate's example. 381
In the year 1600 when Juan Ramirez was appointed bishop there were in Guatemala twenty-two convents of the Franciscans and fourteen of the Dominican order.[XXI‑55] In 1578 a nunnery was completed and occupied, the funds having been provided by a bequest from the first bishop of Guatemala. In 1592 a college was opened in Santiago, and we learn that the cabildo, encouraged by its success, desired to have a university established there in order that students might complete their education without proceeding to Mexico as was then the custom among the wealthier class of Spaniards.
During Valverde's administration the news of Drake's expedition to the South Sea, of which mention will be made in connection with the raids of that famous adventurer, spread consternation throughout the provinces. On this occasion the president of Guatemala showed himself worthy of the trust imposed in him. Ships and cannon were procured; small arms and ammunition were obtained from Mexico, and an expedition was quickly despatched in search of the enemy. No encounter took place, however, and the commander of the fleet was placed under arrest for non-fulfilment of his orders, which were to proceed in quest of the intruders to the gulf of California where they were supposed to be stationed. In 1586 when news arrived of Drake's capture of Santo Domingo a review was held in the plaza of Santiago, and it was found that the city could put into the field five hundred foot and one hundred horse.[XXI‑56]
Valverde's decease occurred in September 1589, and when on his death-bed he received intelligence of 382 his promotion to the presidency of the audiencia of Nueva Galicia. His successor was Pedro Mayen de Rueda, a man of strong but narrow views, and one who by his injudicious measures soon made enemies both of the oidores and the ecclesiastics, the members of the municipality, however, remaining firm in their allegiance to him. "Rueda," writes the cabildo to the king in 1592, "has given vacant encomiendas to the deserving, and strictly carried out royal cédulas. He has embellished the capital with many a fine building so that it is far other than it was." Nevertheless his enemies were too strong for him, and in the following year he was superseded by Doctor Francisco Sandé, who came to the province vested with the authority of a visitador, but appears to have found nothing specially worthy of censure in the former's administration.[XXI‑57]
The new president incurred the enmity of the cabildo by abolishing one of its most cherished privileges,[XXI‑58] and by causing the office of alférez, the holder of which became ex officio the senior member of the cabildo, to be disposed of for five thousand ducados to one Francisco de Mesa, whose chief recommendation seems to have been that he was a kinsman of the president's wife. In November 1596 Sandé departed for New Granada, of which province he had 383 been appointed governor.[XXI‑59] His successor was Doctor Alonso Criado de Castilla, who assumed office in September 1598, the reins of power being during the interval in the hands of the senior oidor, Alvaro Gomez de Abaunza.
During the closing years of the sixteenth century it was the policy of the cabildo in their reports to the king to represent the industrial condition of Guatemala in as unfavorable a light as possible. Nevertheless there is sufficient evidence that trade was restricted, mining almost neglected, and that agriculture received little attention. Rich mines were discovered in various places, but Indians could not be procured to work them, and mine-owners becoming every day poorer, threatened altogether to abandon the field, thus causing the cabildo to petition for the importation of slaves for the purpose of developing them. So great was the falling-off in receipts at the smelting-works that the royal officials resolved to exact only one tenth instead of the fifth of the proceeds which had before been collected as the king's dues.
The possibility of extending the commerce of the province by the opening of the port of Iztapa, ten or twelve leagues from Santiago, and the point where it will be remembered Alvarado's vessels were built and equipped for his promised expedition to the Spice Islands, was the subject of many petitions to the king. It seemed to present many facilities for an extensive traffic on the South Sea, and its contiguity to Guatemala would afford merchants and speculators an opportunity of dealing in the products of the country. Ship-building especially might become an important industry. Woods of finest quality and in limitless quantity could be had in the district. Large cedars were abundant; while cordage could be had in inexhaustible 384 quantity. The pita, which furnished excellent material for ropes and cables, grew profusely all over the coast. Pitch and tar could also be procured in the valley of Inmais, only a short distance from the port. So far, however, little success had attended the various attempts made to utilize these advantages, but in after years further efforts were made. In 1591, measures were also taken for opening another port named Estero del Salto, seven leagues from Iztapa and capable of accommodating vessels of a hundred tons.[XXI‑60]
While thus struggling for new avenues of trade, the members of the cabildo were tenacious of those already in their possession. Neither the importation of slaves nor a reduction of the royal dues would satisfy them, while cacao, the only product which really did pay and thus preserved the balance of trade, was improperly taxed. Writing in 1575, they alleged that for two years past this once highly profitable trade had been nearly destroyed by excessive taxation and that in consequence the prosperity of Santiago had been greatly diminished.[XXI‑61]
But commercial decadence was not the only misfortune from which the province suffered. In 1575 and the two subsequent years earthquakes occurred in Guatemala,[XXI‑62] attended with great destruction of property. In December 1581 a violent eruption occurred in the volcano west of Santiago. The land for miles around was covered with scoriæ; the sun was 385 darkened, and the lurid flames darting from the cone spread terror throughout the neighborhood. The inhabitants, believing that the day of judgment had come, marched in penitential procession loudly bewailing their sins. Presently a sharp north wind dispersed the gloom and scattered the ashes. On this occasion no lives were lost. In 1585 and 1586 there were numerous earthquakes, the most violent one occurring just before Christmas of the latter year. Hill-tops were rent, wide chasms appeared in the earth, and the greater part of the city was destroyed, many of the inhabitants being buried in the ruins. In 1587 we hear of another severe earthquake by which fifteen lives were lost and fifty buildings shaken down, among them the old Franciscan convent.[XXI‑63] 386
Revolt of the Cimarrones—Pedro de Ursua Sent against Them—A Second Revolt—Bayano Caught and Sent to Spain—Regulations concerning Negroes—Commercial Decadence—Restrictions on Trade—Home Industries—Pearl Fisheries—Mining—Decay of Settlements—Proposed Change in the Port of Entry—Its Removal from Nombre de Dios to Portobello—Changes in the Seat of the Audiencia—Tierra Firme Made Subject to the Viceroy of Peru—Defalcations in the Royal Treasury—Preparations for Defence against Corsairs and Foreign Powers.
It has already been stated that Las Casas was the first to urge the substitution of African for Indian slavery, and as early as 1517 such a measure was authorized by the crown. The natives lacked the physical strength needed to meet the demands of their taskmasters, and negroes from the Portuguese settlements on the coast of Guinea were largely imported into the Spanish West Indies. Numbers of them were driven by ill-usage to take refuge in the forests and mountain fastnesses, where they led a nomadic life or made common cause with the natives, and when attacked by the Spaniards neither gave nor accepted quarter. About the middle of the sixteenth century the woods in the vicinity of Nombre de Dios swarmed with these runaways, who attacked the treasure-trains on their way across the Isthmus, defeated the parties sent against them by the governor of the province, and lurked in wait for passengers, assailing them with poisoned arrows, and cutting into pieces those who fell alive into their hands. Organized as marauding 387 companies they became widely known as cimarrones[XXII‑1] or Maroons as they were called in Jamaica and Dutch Guiana. At times they would unite their forces and ravage a wide extent of country, leaving ruin on every side. Houses were burned, plantations destroyed, women seized, merchandise stolen, and settlers slain. Such was the attendant terror that masters dared not chastise their slaves, nor did merchants venture to travel the highways except in companies of twenty or more.[XXII‑2] In the year 1554 many hundreds of them were thus banded in Tierra Firme alone.
About this time the new viceroy of Peru, Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza, marqués de Cañete, opportunely arriving at Nombre de Dios from Spain, en route for his capital, resolved on the subjugation of these outlaws. Not long before his arrival, Pedro de Ursua, a brave and distinguished soldier, had taken refuge from his enemies in the province of Cartagena, where he had founded the city of Pamplona and made discoveries. The viceroy, believing Ursua to be unjustly persecuted and recognizing his eminent fitness, authorized him to raise troops and march against the offenders. Accordingly Ursua equipped upward of two hundred men, and set out from Nombre de Dios. The cimarrones had mustered under Bayano,[XXII‑3] a man of their own race, of singular courage, who had been elected king by those occupying the mountains between Plagon and Pacora, and whose number now exceeded six hundred. 388
Bayano retreated slowly and warily, posting ambuscades at every favorable point, and engaging the foe in frequent encounters, the negroes fighting with desperation and the Spaniards advancing with the coolness of well disciplined soldiers. For two years Ursua[XXII‑4] carried on the campaign with unwearied patience, and at last surrounded the remnant of the cimarrones and compelled them to sue for peace. Bayano was sent a prisoner to Spain. In 1570 his followers founded the town of Santiago del Príncipe. A cédula of June 21, 1574, declared that on full submission and on condition of their leading a peaceful life the negroes should be free men. One of the articles of a treaty which was concluded at Panamá binds the emancipated slaves to capture runaways and return them to their masters.
After a short-lived peace the cimarrones again took the field, reënforced by maltreated or discontented negro fugitives from the mines, and committed such depredations that the king resolved on a war of extermination against them and their allies. In a cédula dated 23d of May 1578 he appointed his factor and veedor Pedro de Ortega Valencia, captain general of the forces levied for that purpose, with instructions not to desist until the rebels were vanquished. Funds were to be drawn freely from the royal treasury. Panamá and the adjoining provinces of Quito and Cartago were enjoined to provide all necessary supplies, and the Casa de la Contratacion de Seville was to furnish four hundred arquebuses and a supply of ammunition. The Spaniards were only partially successful, and in the following year the king found it necessary to address the president and oidores of the audiencia, urging them to renewed efforts, but in vain. 389 In 1596 the cimarrones, in concert with buccaneers, opened a road from their own town to the Chagre River only a league below the highway to Venta de las Cruces, their object being to steal and secrete treasure and merchandise. On the 25th of August the king peremptorily orders the destruction of the road and the execution of the ringleaders, but nevertheless the cimarrones in collusion with English corsairs for years set the Spaniards at defiance.
The regulations framed during the sixteenth century concerning negroes, whether bond or free, prescribed with the utmost minuteness their deportment, their social relations, and the restrictions under which they were to live.[XXII‑5] It was provided in the case of runaways that pardon should only be extended once, and never to the leaders of a revolt. One fifth of the cost incurred in their capture was to be met by the royal treasury and the remainder by the owners; and all expeditions were to be conducted by experienced officers, the property value of the negro being so great that his recovery could not be intrusted to inferior hands.
To engage in the importation of slaves it was necessary first to obtain a royal license, a privilege jealously guarded, and seldom if ever granted to Spain's ancient rivals, the Portuguese, but freely bestowed on the English, who gradually monopolized the trade. So great were the profits that Portuguese and English alike were found continually violating the law and setting the king at defiance.[XXII‑6] The regulations 390 embraced also their intercourse with Indians, so as to discourage as much as possible their association with lawless bands, dangerous to Spanish security, and prejudicial to peaceable natives; for, with the presumption so common among lower races and classes, the negro failed not to take advantage of any privilege he might obtain over his red-skinned neighbor.[XXII‑7] Such checks proved of little use, however, since they also applied in part at least to Spanish task-masters. Indeed, in a royal cédula issued in 1593, attention is called to the fact that no one had been brought to justice for any of the extortions or cruelties to which the Indians had been subjected.[XXII‑8] Other stringent laws were issued, but they came too late, or were neglected like the rest. Under the yoke of their various oppressors the native population of the Isthmus gradually disappeared, and toward the close of the century their numbers had become insignificant.
In the affairs of Panamá, we enter now an era of decline. Progress hitherto on the Isthmus has been on no permanent basis. For a time the gold and pearls of seaboard and islands kept alive the spirit of speculation, which was swollen to greater dimensions by the inflowing treasures from Peru and Chile, and from scores of other places in South and North America. When these began to diminish, commerce fell off, and as it had little else to depend upon there was necessarily a reaction.
Panamá had comparatively but little indigenous wealth and was largely dependent for prosperity on 391 Spain's colonial policy. Unfortunately this was characterized by a short-sightedness which eventually proved disastrous both to the province and the empire. The great fleets which arrived from Spain came in reduced numbers, at longer intervals, and with depleted stores. In 1589, ninety-four vessels reached the Isthmus laden with merchandise; sixteen years later the fleet mustered only seventeen ships.[XXII‑9] To the depredations of buccaneers which will be hereafter described this state of affairs may in part be attributed, but other causes were at work. The king of Spain had already appeared before his subjects at Panamá in the character of a royal mendicant;[XXII‑10] and now he laid restrictions on their trade which could not fail to prove disastrous to the commercial interests of the city.
Hitherto there had been a large and lucrative traffic with the Philippine Islands, yielding often six-fold increase to the fortunate trader.[XXII‑11] But the cupidity of the monarch prompted more and more restrictive measures, until it was altogether forbidden to Panamá, and indeed to all the West Indies save New Spain, the king being determined to have what was known as the Asiatic trade monopolized by Castilian merchants.[XXII‑12] 392 No Chinese goods were to be brought to Panamá and the other provinces, even from New Spain. None were to be used there, except such as were in actual use at date of the royal commands, and any surplus was to be carried to Spain within four years.
Of course the American provinces were gradually developing home industries, and bringing into the market home productions that displaced to a certain extent goods from which Spain had hitherto made large profits. Thus Peru supplied wine, leather, and oil; soap was manufactured in Guayaquil and Nicaragua; Campeche yielded wax, Guayaquil, Riobamba, and Puerto Viejo, cordage for ships, and Nicaragua a good quality of pitch. Quito and other places manufactured cloths, and New Spain silken and woolen goods. Had Philip adopted a generous colonial policy he would have fostered and profited by these new industries, but all fiscal regulations looked to the advancement of Spanish commerce without regard for the development of trade within the colonies.
Two commodities were watched and guarded with peculiar jealousy—wine and tobacco. Peru produced a wine that found favor with many and obtained a ready sale. In an ordinance of Philip II. dated the 16th of September 1586, no wine but that imported from Spain was allowed to be sold on the Isthmus; 393 nor was it to be mixed with wine obtained elsewhere. The penalties attached to infringements of this law were heavy fines and even perpetual banishment. The reason assigned for these measures was the injurious effect of Peruvian wine upon the public health, but the real motive was the prejudicial effect of its sale upon the Spanish wine trade.[XXII‑13] Tobacco was a monopoly of the crown, and one rigidly protected, its sale, importation, or cultivation being forbidden under severe penalties.[XXII‑14]
Panamá imported most of her provisions, and the difficulties in obtaining a regular and cheap supply were augmented by the monopolies acquired by wealthy merchants who were enabled to control the market. New measures to correct this abuse were continually adopted, and as often evaded or violated.[XXII‑15] The scarcity of provisions sometimes caused distress approaching to famine, and at certain seasons was liable to be aggravated by the crowds of travellers and adventurers who crossed the Isthmus.[XXII‑16] 394 Peru was the great source of supply and the trade with that country was the subject of frequent cédulas addressed to the viceroy.[XXII‑17]
Pearls and gold were still among the leading productions of the Isthmus, and the most valuable fisheries were at the old Pearl Islands of Vasco Nuñez de Balboa.[XXII‑18] Diving for pearls was performed by negroes chosen by their masters on account of their dexterity as swimmers, and their ability to hold their breath under water. From twelve to twenty under charge of an overseer usually formed a gang. Anchoring in twelve to fifteen fathoms of water, they would dive in succession, bringing up as many shells as they could gather or carry. It was a laborious calling, and attended with great danger because of the sharks that swarmed around the islands and with which they had many a fierce struggle, often losing limb or life in the encounter. The divers were required to collect a certain quantity of pearls, and any surplus they were at liberty to sell, but only to their own masters and at a price fixed by them.[XXII‑19]
Ever since their first discovery these fisheries had maintained their fame, and there was obtained the largest pearl then known in the world; one that became the property of Philip II., and was described by Sir Richard Hawkins[XXII‑20] as being "the size of a pommel of a ponyard;" its weight being two hundred and fifty carats, and its value one hundred and fifty thousand pesos. It was presented by the king to his daughter Elizabeth, wife of Albertus, duke of Austria.
The number and variety of pearls were such that this trade became one of the most prolific sources of wealth to Panamá, Seville alone importing in 1587 395 some six hundred pounds weight, many of them rivalling the choicest specimens found in Ceylon and the East Indies. From this time there occurred a marked falling-off both in quantity and quality, and in consequence a series of restrictions was put upon the industry. Notwithstanding these precautionary measures the pearl-beds became rapidly exhausted; diving proved a profitless labor,[XXII‑21] and not until several decades later was this industry revived.
Gold had been found and mined in different parts of the Isthmus, notably in Darien, the scene of so many of Balboa's brilliant achievements, where, according to the report of a later governor, the metal had been so abundant as to be "weighed by the hundredweight."[XXII‑22] More definite is the information for this period concerning the mines of Veragua, a province of irregular shape, lying between the two oceans, and consisting largely of rugged and inaccessible sierras, down the sides of which fall mountain torrents that brought quantities of the precious metal within easy reach. The Spaniards were not slow to learn of this wealth, partly from the trinkets displayed by Indians, and soon the mines were flooded with laborers. When the strength of the native proved unequal to the task the Spaniards enlisted in their service, as we have seen, the more hardy negro, until in the prosperous days of mining, which culminated about the year 1570, there were two thousand of them at work at one time. Rumor magnified the yield to the ever ready ears of navigators, and according to Dampier "they were the richest gold mines ever yet found." "Because of their inexhaustible riches in gold," says Ogilby, "the Spaniards there knew not the end of their wealth."[XXII‑23] 396
The yield, if rich, did not prove lasting, however, and the number of mine-owners dwindled, though several causes united to this end, such as the attack of hostile natives or negroes who frequently swooped down on the Spaniards from their mountain fastnesses and despoiled their camp. The roads were difficult; the mining towns were sickly and for the most part abandoned during the rainy season, their occupants betaking themselves to Panamá. In 1580 there were but four of them in the entire province. These were Ciudad de la Concepcion, the capital, forty leagues west of Nombre de Dios; Villa de Trinidad, six leagues east of Concepcion by sea, but inaccessible by land; Ciudad de Santa Fé, where the smelting-works were established; and Ciudad de San Cárlos built on the South Sea, some forty or more leagues west of Santa Fé. These communities contained altogether about a hundred and seventy vecinos; all employed in mining or in matters connected therewith.
Mining towns were not, however, the only ones to retrograde. The town of Acla, which it will be remembered was founded by Pedrarias in 1515, and rebuilt by Vasco Nuñez two years later,[XXII‑24] had in 1580 dropped out of existence. And so it was with several settlements that at different times had risen with hopeful prospects. Either the climate killed or drove off the inhabitants, or rival towns sprang up under the patronage of some governor, and with real or fancied advantages lured away the citizens. Nombre de Dios had maintained its position as the leading town and port 397 on the Atlantic side, in the face of objections which ere this would have doomed many another place. The climate was pestilential, so much so that the place was generally deserted at the close of the business season, and it contained only sixty wooden houses. It was subject to floods, and yet destitute during the greater part of the year of fresh water. Its harbor was exceedingly bad, exposed to severe northerly and easterly gales, by which, despite every precaution, vessels of large size were frequently driven ashore, and pirates could readily assail it. These and other disadvantages led many merchants to advocate the removal of the port of entry to one of the harbors on the coast of Honduras. Although the distance from Nombre de Dios to Panamá was only eighteen leagues, while that from Puerto de Caballos to the gulf of Fonseca was fully fifty, yet the cost of a single trip by mule over the former route was thirty pesos, and over the latter but nine.
Juan García de Hermosillo was commissioned by the king in 1554 to inquire into the merits of the respective routes, and two years later made a voluminous but partial report,[XXII‑25] showing the practicability of changing the course of vessels going to Tierra Firme so as to proceed direct to the port of Trujillo, and recommending that ships from New Spain, Vera Cruz, Pánuco, and the Golfo Dulce should touch at the same port, and thus allow goods to be carried overland to Realejo or the bay of Fonseca, and thence shipped to Peru and elsewhere. A cédula was thereupon addressed, in October 1556, to the audiencias of Española and the Confines, the governor of Tierra Firme, and the officers of the India House at Seville, directing that the opinions of experts should be taken, and information obtained from all familiar with the 398 coast and its harbors. Testimony concerning the facts and views advanced in Hermosillo's report was taken in 1558, and among those who pronounced in favor of the transfer as recommended were Oviedo the chronicler, Luis Gutierrez the cosmographer, and Juan de Barbosa, then governor of Tierra Firme. The cabildo of Santiago also bestirred themselves in behalf of the change, as one apt to improve communication with Peru, and, as they temptingly added, likely to increase largely the royal revenue.[XXII‑26]
Communications between the home government and its transatlantic subjects involved vexatious delays; such negotiations were always slow, and at this time there was some temporary disorganization of the council of the Indies to complicate matters. The subject would seem to have been ignored until quickened anew by an address of Felipe de Aniñon, who had lived many years in the Indies, "on the utility and advantages which would result from changing the route of transit between the seas from Nombre de Dios and Panamá to Puerto de Caballos and Fonseca."[XXII‑27] The memorial, without presenting any new arguments, recapitulates with considerable force those which had been previously advanced, urging that immunity would thus be secured from the raids of corsairs, and that even though Panamá and Nombre de Dios were abandoned, a dozen cities would spring up to take their place in a region whose mines were so rich and whose soil was so fertile. At Nombre de Dios even Indian women, elsewhere so prolific, became barren; fruits refused to grow, children could not be reared, and men lived not out the usual span of life. Their gold and silver were as nothing to the treasures that could be extracted from the mines of Honduras, for when these latter should be worked 399 by imported negroes with the aid of quicksilver, his Majesty would have there a kingdom thrice as rich as Spain. The memorialist concludes by stating that even though eight hundred thousand pesos were expended in opening roads the outlay was justifiable, for it would be offset by the yield of an additional million to the annual revenue of the king. The question of establishing elsewhere the port of entry was finally decided by the report of Jean Baptiste Antonelli, the royal surveyor, which showed that while a removal was necessary a desirable site existed close by.
Five leagues to the west of Nombre de Dios was the village of Portobello, containing, in 1585, not more than ten houses but possessing a commodious harbor, with good anchorage, easy of access, and one where laborers could unload vessels without the necessity of wading up to the arm-pits, as was the case at Nombre de Dios. Timber and pasture were abundant, the soil was fertile, and fresh water could be had throughout the year. Moreover it could easily be fortified against attack from corsairs and privateersmen, who, under Drake and others, had already committed depredations on the Isthmus as will be hereafter related. "If it might please your Majesty," reports the surveyor, "it were good that the city of Nombre de Dios be brought and builded in this harbor." On the 20th of March 1597 the change was made under charge of the factor Francisco de Valverde y Mercado and a settlement was founded which soon became one of the most important cities in Central America.[XXII‑28]
In 1529 Panamá is described by Herrera as "a town of six hundred householders." In 1581 it was styled by Philip "muy noble y muy leal." Nevertheless its progress was greatly retarded by sickness, caused by the heat of the atmosphere, the humidity of the soil, and the spread of infectious diseases. 400 Small-pox, quinsy, dysentery, intermittent fevers, and other ailments were prevalent among the community, and at times the city was almost depopulated.[XXII‑29]
In 1564 the seat of the audiencia of the Confines was removed, as we have seen, to Panamá[XXII‑30] under the presidency of Doctor Barros de Millan. Great though short-lived were the rejoicings throughout Tierra Firme at this victory. The people of Guatemala would not consent to become a mere dependency of the audiencia of Mexico; and as already stated a decree was issued in 1568 ordering that the audiencia should again be removed to Guatemala, the change being made two years later, though, as we shall find, an audiencia was before long once more established in Panamá.
By a cédula dated February 26, 1571, Tierra Firme was made subject to the viceroy of Peru in all matters relating to government, war, and exchequer, but not in civil matters.[XXII‑31] Little direct information of the working of the new regime in the latter part of the 401 sixteenth century can now be obtained. The cédulas issued in later years, however, show it to have been a source of chronic discontent to the royal council in all its departments. Among them was one dated January 7, 1588, forbidding the president and oidores residing at Panamá to visit any private citizen or resident for any purpose whatever, and another dated December 31, 1590, forbidding officials in the treasury department to assume the duties of alcaldes ordinarios at any time. Some of the latter were fined and suspended for illegal speculation with government funds, which became so common that in 1594 the defalcations in the treasury from this cause alone amounted to about one hundred and fifty thousand pesos.[XXII‑32] In 1579 the corregidor of Panamá, when at the point of death, confessed that he alone had embezzled the sum of six thousand two hundred and thirty-six pesos, which he had collected and unlawfully withheld from the treasury.[XXII‑33] The granting of passports was a means by which members of the audiencia contrived to cheat the king of his revenues, his Majesty declaring that in a single year two thousand persons passed through Tierra Firme without procuring the royal license at the prescribed cost.[XXII‑34] Gambling was also prevalent, dice being the favorite game, and many merchants, bringing their goods from Spain, were fleeced by professional gamesters.[XXII‑35]
While the condition of affairs at the Isthmus was 402 thus in an unsatisfactory condition, the authorities were constantly in dread of invasion from foreign powers. Early in the year 1561 two caravels arrived with intelligence that a large fleet had sailed from England for America, and with orders that preparations be made for a stout defence. The treasure on board the ships lying in harbor was quickly removed and secreted on shore, and no vessels were allowed to leave port until the arrival of the convoy fleet from Spain under the adelantado Pedro Menendez. It is not recorded that on this occasion the English made any attempt to land on the shores of Tierra Firme, but four years later, the monarchs of England and Spain being then on friendly terms, one Captain Parker touched at the coast of Darien ostensibly for the purpose of trading with the natives. An armed flotilla was despatched against him, but the captain refused to depart, and when attacked not only repulsed his assailants, but captured one of the enemy's squadron.[XXII‑36]
Although, as will be told in the next chapter, the Isthmus was several times invaded by English adventurers between 1572 and 1596, it was not until near the end of the century that any really effectual measures were completed for its protection. On the 2d of May 1574 the king wrote to the audiencia of Panamá, that he had information of many privateering expeditions then being fitted out with the intention of proceeding to the Indies. In 1580 three ships of war were stationed on the coast to guard against corsairs and it was ordered that criminals be delivered over to serve as oarsmen on board these vessels. In 1591 a more powerful fleet was sent to the West Indies and fortifications ordered to be erected at the town of Cruces and other points on the Isthmus. At this date Panamá alone could put into the field eight hundred 403 Spanish infantry and fifty horse. Four years later a site was selected for a fort at the mouth of the Chagre river. Finally in 1597, when the news of Drake's last expedition had thoroughly roused the king to a sense of the danger, mechanics were sent out from Spain to hasten the completion of the defences, and it was ordered that the cost be defrayed from the royal treasury.[XXII‑37]
Panamá was assailable from three different points: from Nombre de Dios, whence it could only be reached through the mountain passes of Capira, where a small band of resolute men could hold an army in check; from Acla, fourteen leagues east of Nombre de Dios, where men of war had formerly anchored; and by way of the Rio Chagre, which was navigable for large boats as far as Cruces, the road thence to Panamá presenting no serious obstacle to an invading force.[XXII‑38] 404
Drake's Attack on Nombre de Dios—Panic among the Inhabitants—Stores of Treasure—Retreat of the English—They Sail for Cartagena—And Thence for the Gulf of Urabá—Visit to the Isle of Pinos—The Ships Moved to the Cabezas Islands—Second Expedition to Cartagena—March to the Isthmus—Drake's First Glimpse of the South Sea—Ambuscade Posted near Cruces—The Bells of Approaching Treasure Trains—The Prize Missed through the Folly of a Drunken Soldier—Capture of Cruces—Thirty Tons of Gold and Silver Taken near Nombre de Dios—Voyage on a Raft—The Expedition Returns to England—Oxenham's Raid—Drake's Circumnavigation of the Globe—His Second Voyage to the West Indies—His Final Expedition—His Death and Burial off Portobello.
In the town of Offenburg, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, is a statue of a man standing on the deck of a vessel and leaning on an anchor, his right hand grasping a map of America, his left a cluster of bulbous roots, the meaning of which might puzzle the observer until he reads on the pedestal the inscription: "Sir Francis Drake, the introducer of potatoes into Europe, in the year of our Lord 1586." Thus, in Offenburg, is known to fame the great Armada captain and circumnavigator of the globe. The eldest of the twelve sons of a Protestant minister in straitened circumstances, he shipped as an apprentice on board a small merchant craft, and on the decease of the captain succeeded to the command of the ship. Tiring of his trading ventures he sold his vessel, and soon afterward served under Sir John Hawkins, in an expedition 405 to Mexico, where he lost all his property and some of his dearest friends. Vowing vengeance on the Spaniards, he returned to England, and in 1570 received letters of marque from Queen Elizabeth authorizing him to cruise in the Spanish West Indies. After two short voyages, made rather for exploration than profit, he fitted up two privateers and several pinnaces for an expedition to Nombre de Dios, and on Whitsunday eve, the 24th of May 1572, set sail from Plymouth with a force of seventy-three men.
Drake first shaped his course for the Isla de Pinos, where he left his ships in charge of one Captain Rawse, and placing most of his men in the pinnaces, arrived off the Isthmus at the season of year when the treasures of the mines were stored there in readiness for shipment to Spain. Entering the port of Nombre de Dios by night he roused the slumbering townsfolk by marching through the main street to the sound of drum and trumpet. A party was despatched to seize the king's treasure-house, and each man was ordered to fasten to his pike a lighted brand. The affrighted inhabitants imagined that the town was invaded by a force at least twice its real strength. Nevertheless they were soon under arms, and mustering near the governor's house, poured in a sharp volley on the English, pointing their weapons so low that the bullets often grazed the ground. The privateersmen discharged their pieces but once, and then came to close quarters, attacking the Spaniards with pike and sword and but-end of musket, and driving them with heavy loss to the market-place. Two or three prisoners were captured, who gave information that the silver awaiting convoy to Spain was stored at the governor's residence, and that in the treasure-house nearer the water was a large quantity of gold, jewels, and pearls.[XXIII‑1]
Drake ordered his men to stand to their arms, for 406 companies of Spaniards were observed mustering for an attack. A report then spread through the ranks that the pinnaces were in danger of being captured. A violent storm of rain came on, and before the British could gain shelter their powder was wet and their bowstrings rendered unserviceable. The men lost heart and began to think of saving themselves before their retreat was cut off, many of them being wounded, and Drake himself shot in the leg. Their captain rebuked them, exclaiming: "I have brought you to the very mouth of the treasure of the world, and if you go away without it you can blame nobody but yourselves." He then directed a portion of his command to break open the treasure-house, while the remainder stood ready to repel attack; but, as he stepped forward, he dropped down in a swoon from loss of blood and was carried back to his pinnace.[XXIII‑2]
At daybreak the entire company embarked, and after making prize of a vessel of sixty tons laden principally with wines, landed at the port of Bastimentos.[XXIII‑3] 407 After resting there for two days Drake rejoined his ships at the Isla de Pinos, whence he despatched his brother to explore the river Chagre as far as the town of Cruces, where it will be remembered the treasure trains passed on their way from Panamá to the North Sea. He then proceeded to Cartagena where he captured several Spanish vessels, but finding the town too strongly defended to venture an attack, set sail for the gulf of Urabá. The adventurers landed at a spot remote from the line of travel, and hiding their vessels in a neighboring creek, remained there fifteen days, hoping thus to create among the Spaniards the impression that they had departed from the coast. An expedition was then undertaken to the river Atrato for the purpose of intercepting the canoes, which, after the arrival of the fleet at Cartagena, were sent up the stream, laden with the merchandise of Spain, to return with the gold, silver, and other valuable commodities collected during the year.
On the second day of the voyage it was ascertained that the fleet had not yet reached Cartagena; whereupon the English again visited the Isla de Pinos, capturing there vast quantities of provisions, including cassava bread, meal, wine, dried beef, fish, and a plentiful supply of live stock, all intended for the use of the Spanish settlements and for revictualling the fleet.[XXIII‑4] These were secured for future use in storehouses, built many leagues apart. Then under the guidance of cimarrones, who regarded the English as allies against a mutual foe, Drake moved his vessels to a secluded bay amid the Cabezas, a group of thickly wooded islands, near the gulf of San Blas, where the 408 channel was so narrow and difficult that none could enter by night.[XXIII‑5] Here he was free from all danger of surprise. The rainy season had now begun, and during that time the Spaniards did not convey treasure by land. A delay became necessary before any extensive raid could be undertaken, and the men were therefore ordered to erect a fort and buildings suitable for their accommodation and to land their ordnance and provisions.
The restless spirit of the leader carried him on, and within fourteen days of his arrival at the islands he started on a new expedition to Cartagena, casting anchor in that harbor on the 18th of October 1572. A party of horsemen came down to the shore displaying a flag of truce, and met him with fair promises of friendship and assistance. Suspecting treachery, the English put off to sea next morning, but remained for some days in the neighborhood to the great annoyance of the Spaniards, who constantly endeavored, though without success, to induce them to land and thus draw them into an ambuscade. At length falling short of provisions, and seeing no prospect of capturing any valuable prize, they set sail for the gulf of San Blas. On the return voyage, which occupied twenty-five days, they suffered severely. Baffled by contrary gales, their small, leaky craft, in imminent peril from the heavy chopping sea, their provisions exhausted, many almost perishing from want and exposure, they had never lived to rejoin their comrades, but that, in the last extremity they were fortunate enough to capture a Spanish vessel, "which," as the chronicler tells us, "being laden with victuals well powdered and dried, they received as sent them by the mercy of heaven."
Drake remained for several weeks in his lurking place among the islands. At length the welcome 409 news arrived that the Spanish fleet had reached Nombre de Dios, and the adventurers at once began their march overland toward Panamá. Sickness and the bullets of the Spaniards had sorely thinned their ranks. No treasure had been captured, and twenty-eight of their number had already found a grave in this land of promise, among them two brothers of Drake; one through disease, the other while leading a rash attack on a Spanish vessel. Several of the party also lay ill of the 'calenture' fever,[XXIII‑6] caused by the unhealthy climate and unwholesome water. After a slender guard had been left over the ships, but eighteen men could be mustered fit for active service. Thirty cimarrones who accompanied the expedition carried the provisions, leaving the English unencumbered except by their arms.[XXIII‑7]
Many days the party journeyed, forcing their way through dense underbrush and cane-brake, crossing swollen streams and toiling up mountain steeps. Yet they suffered little hardship. High overhead a canopy of leaves screened them from the rays of an almost vertical sun. The country abounded in wild fruits, and as night approached the cimarrones erected rain-proof sheds thatched with palmetto and wild plantain leaves, under which they cooked their meal of wild boar's flesh or other forest game, slain during the day's march.[XXIII‑8] 410
On the third day of their march they arrived at a negro town, distant forty-live leagues from Panamá and thirty-five from Nombre de Dios, containing about sixty families, and well supplied with maize, fruit, and live stock. The town was surrounded with a mud wall and a ditch for defence against the Spaniards, with whom the cimarrones were still constantly at war. Only one year before the place had been attacked by a force of one hundred and fifty men, whose commander had promised to exterminate the entire population. The assault was made just before daybreak, whereupon the males fled to the forest, leaving their wives and children to be massacred, but afterward mustering courage fell on their invaders and drove them in turn to the woods, where, their guide being slain, all but thirty perished of want. Here the English were urged to remain and rest for a few days. Not far distant, they were told, dwelt the king of the cimarrones, who could bring into the field seventeen hundred warriors, and would aid them with reënforcements on learning their errand. The commander thanked them, but declared that "he would use no further strength if he might have twenty times as much," and after a brief halt continued his journey.
Four days later the expedition arrived at the summit of a mountain, from which they had been promised a view of the "North Sea whence they came and of the South Sea whither they were going."[XXIII‑9] Aided by one of the cimarrones Drake climbed a tall tree, in whose trunk steps had been cut almost to the top, and where, supported by the upper limbs, a bower had been built large enough to contain a dozen men. From this eyrie he gazed for the first time on the great southern ocean over whose waters the English flag had never yet been unfurled. It is said that he 411 here conceived the project which a few years later was carried to completion—the circumnavigation of the globe; and as dreams of fame and vast achievement were mingled with visions of gold-bearing lands, and of Spanish galleons deep laden with weight of treasure, he besought God "to give him life and leave to sail an English ship in those seas." The aid of the Almighty was never invoked or given for the furtherance of more iniquitious measures.
For forty-eight hours more the route lay through forest land, and beyond this the country was covered with a species of grass, so tall that at its full growth the cattle could not reach the upper blade. Thrice a year it was burnt, and so rich was the soil that a few days afterward it sprouted like green corn. The English were now nearing the end of their march, and as they journeyed frequently came in sight of Panamá and of the Spanish vessels riding at anchor in the roadstead.
Extreme caution became necessary,[XXIII‑10] and on approaching Panamá, Drake, withdrawing his men from the road, led them to a grove within a league of the city, and near the highway to Nombre de Dios. His arrival was well timed. A cimarron, sent forward to Panamá disguised as a slave to ascertain the exact night and time of night[XXIII‑11] when the precious train was to pass by, returned with news that sent a thrill through every breast. That very evening the treasurer of Lima was to start from Panamá en route to Spain, and with him eight mules laden with gold, five with silver, and one with pearls and jewels. Two other trains each of fifty mules, freighted mainly with provisions, were to form part of the expedition.
Drake at once put his men in motion toward the Chagre River, and when within two leagues of the 412 town of Cruces[XXIII‑12] posted them in two parties, one on either side of the road, and in such a position that they might fall simultaneously on the van and rear of the train. The men were ordered to wear white shirts outside their uniforms in order to distinguish one another. After the arrival of the fleet at Nombre de Dios, trains passed frequently along the road from Cruces to Panamá, and the strictest injunctions were given that none should stir except at the appointed signal.
An hour they lay in ambush; the treasurer was within half a league of the ambuscade, and the bells of the approaching train were distinctly heard in the silence of the night. The great prize was close at hand, and each man as he clutched his firelock and felt the keen edge of his broadsword held his breath while he crouched in the grass and listened to the sounds borne ever clearer on the still air. A train laden with merchandise was now passing directly in front of them, but such spoil offered no temptation when gold and silver by the ton was within reach. At this moment an untoward incident occurred. "One Robert Pike," as Burton tells us, "having drunk too much Aqua-Vitæ without Uater, forgetting himself, perswaded a Symeron to go into the road, and seize on the foremost Mules, and a Spanish Horse-man riding by with his Page running on his side, Pike unadvisedly started up to see who he was, though the Symeron discreetly endeavored to pull him down, and lay upon him to prevent further discovery, yet by this Gentleman taking notice of one all in white, they having put their Shirts over their Cloths to prevent mistakes in the night, he put Spurs to his Horse both to secure himself, and give notice to others of the danger." 413
Drake still remained in ambush, not knowing what had happened. The cavalier meanwhile made all haste to report the circumstance to the treasurer, and it was thought best that the mules conveying the treasure be led aside while the remainder be allowed to pass on, so that in case of attack the enemy's attention might be engaged until troops could be summoned from Panamá. The provision trains were quickly captured and a few hundred pounds of base bullion[XXIII‑13] were discovered among the packs.
No time was to be lost, for one of the muleteers, being friendly-minded toward his captors, warned them that by daybreak they would have the captain general upon them, at the head of the entire posse of Panamá. The leader of the cimarrones promised that if they would at once march boldly on Cruces, he would conduct them to their ships by a much shorter route than that by which they had come. To some this plan seemed hazardous, but the commander, with his clear judgment, saw that to encounter the Spaniards at once, while his men were yet in good condition, was less perilous than to be attacked later when jaded with travel and dispirited by failure.
After giving them time to make a hearty meal Drake gave the order to advance. The road was but twelve feet wide, being cut through the forest and inclosed by a dense wall of undergrowth. A company of soldiers, stationed in the town as a defence against marauding bands of cimarrones,[XXIII‑14] together with a party of friars, came forth to oppose his passage. The Spanish captain hailed them, and on learning that they were English summoned them to 414 surrender, promising kind treatment. Drake answered: "For the honor of the queen of England, my mistress, I must have passage this way." He then discharged his pistol, and was answered by a volley which killed one and wounded several of his band. The English then attacked briskly, and aided by the cimarrones drove the Spaniards into the woods and took possession of Cruces.
Much consternation was at first caused among the townsfolk, especially among some Spanish women of Nombre de Dios still suffering from child-birth;[XXIII‑15] but Drake manifested little of that fiendish cruelty displayed by the buccaneers of later years. Giving orders that none should lay hands on women or do violence to unarmed men,[XXIII‑16] he called on the sick women and assured them that they had nothing to fear. Little booty of value was found at Cruces, and at daybreak on the morning after making their entry into the town the party began their march toward the coast, reaching their ships in safety, though hungry, shoeless, and empty-handed.
After an unsuccessful cruise on the coast of Veragua, Drake returned once more to the Cabezas, and there fell in with a French vessel, the captain of which proposed to join him in another attempt, now being planned, to capture some of the treasure trains still passing across the Isthmus. After consultation it was agreed that twenty of the French crew should go in company with fifteen of the English, and that the former should receive half the proceeds of the raid. The expedition sailed for the Rio Francisco, and after ascending the river a short distance in 415 pinnaces marched overland, without mishap, to a spot near Nombre de Dios, within a short distance of the high road. The fleet from Cartagena still lay off that town awaiting the last shipments of treasure, and Drake had reason to believe that several richly laden trains were then on the way from Panamá. Nor was he disappointed. On the morning after his arrival the bells of the approaching train were distinctly heard, and soon there appeared in sight three companies, two with seventy and one with fifty mules, laden with nearly thirty tons of gold and silver. The escort of Spanish soldiers, numbering forty-five men, was beaten off after the exchange of a few shots, one of which wounded the French captain severely, and the adventurers were left in possession of the prize. In two hours they had secured all the gold they could carry away, and buried the remainder, with about fifteen tons of silver, under fallen trees. Meanwhile the alarm had been given at Nombre de Dios, and a strong party of horse and foot approached them from that direction. All except the wounded officer and two of his command retired to the woods and made their way back to the river.
But what had become of the pinnaces? They had been ordered to return within four days and were not even in sight. Looking seaward, Drake descried seven Spanish vessels cruising off the coast. Surely the boats had been captured and their crews forced to disclose the hiding-place of the ships that were to have carried them back home, weighed down with plunder. Of little use was now their gold, with such dismal prospects before them. The cimarrones advised them to march overland to the spot where their vessels lay, a difficult journey of sixteen days at least, through forest and across streams swollen by winter rains and with many a tall mountain lying between them and the seashore. Drake was satisfied that long before they reached the coast their ships would be taken or burnt by the Spaniards. Nevertheless he told his 416 men to banish fear, and bid them construct a raft from the trees brought down by the stream during a recent storm. A large biscuit-sack served for a sail, and for rudder an oar rudely shaped with axe and knife.
With three companions, all expert swimmers, the commander put to sea, assuring his followers "that if by Gods help he once more put aboard his Foot in his Frigot, he would certainly get them all into her in spite of all the Spaniards in the Indies." The raft was so low in the water that each wave broke over them,[XXIII‑17] fretting and chafing their lower limbs, while their bodies from the waist upward were scorched by the stinging heat of a tropical sun. Six hours passed by slowly and wearily, and night was now approaching, while under a freshening gale the waves dashed higher and higher, threatening each moment forever to engulf the four cowering figures. Little hope or life was left in them, for none could endure such hardship through all the long days that must elapse before they could expect to reach their ships. At length when all seemed lost a sail appeared, and then another. Did they belong to their own missing boats or to the war vessels of the enemy? Better to brave any danger than fall alive into the hands of the Spaniards. Drake at once affirmed them to be the pinnaces expected at the rio Francisco, and so it proved. Within an hour he was on board; before daybreak next morning he had rejoined his command, and by sunrise all had embarked for the Cabezas, where they found their vessels lying safely at anchor.[XXIII‑18] 417
The gold and silver were now divided by weight in equal shares between the French and English, and a final expedition despatched to Nombre de Dios for the buried silver, and to rescue or bring back word of the wounded officer and his two companions. Hardly had they set foot on the shore of the rio Francisco when one of the missing Frenchmen came forth to meet them. He declared that within half an hour after Drake had begun his retreat, the captain and his remaining comrade, the latter half stupefied with wine, had been taken by the Spaniards; that he himself had escaped only by throwing down his plunder, and that the hidden treasure had probably been recovered, for the ground had been thoroughly searched. Nevertheless the men were ordered to push forward, and succeeded in unearthing some thirteen bars of silver and a few wedges of gold, wherewith they returned without adventure to the coast.
The Spanish fleet was now ready to sail, having taken on board the last load of its rich freight, and nothing was to be gained by remaining longer on the coast. Drake parted on good terms with his French allies, and after capturing a vessel[XXIII‑19] laden with provisions, fitted out his ships for their homeward voyage. The cimarrones were dismissed with suitable presents for themselves, and a profusion of silk and linen for their wives. Sail was then set; and on a Sabbath forenoon, the 9th of August 1573, the squadron cast anchor in Plymouth Sound. It was the hour of divine service, as the chroniclers tell us, when news of the arrival spread through the town; and in all the churches men and women abandoned their devotions 418 and flocked to the shore to welcome their brave countrymen, who thus returned to their native land with so much gold and glory.
Among those who accompanied Drake in his expedition to Tierra Firme in 1572 was one John Oxenham, who, three years later, planned a daring but, as the event proved, a disastrous raid on the Spanish mainland and went in search of the treasure-ships which frequented its southern coast. Landing on the Isthmus with only seventy men, he beached his vessel, covered her with boughs, buried his cannon in the ground, and guided by friendly cimarrones marched twelve leagues inland to the banks of a river flowing toward the south. Here a pinnace was built, large enough to contain the entire party, and dropping down unnoticed to the mouth of the stream Oxenham sailed for the Pearl Islands, which lay in the track of vessels conveying treasure from Lima to Panamá. Prizes were made of two vessels containing gold and silver to the value of nearly three hundred thousand pesos, and the adventurers now began their homeward journey. But on the very night of their departure information of the capture was sent to Panamá, and within two days a strong force started in pursuit. The treasure was recovered, the English were defeated, and their ship being taken, the survivors, some fifty in number, fled to the mountains, where they lived for a time among the cimarrones. Finally they were betrayed to the Spaniards and all put to death, with the exception of five boys who were sold into slavery. Thus ended the first piratical cruise attempted by Englishmen in the South Sea.[XXIII‑20]
The prayer which Drake uttered when first he gazed on the Pacific did not remain long unanswered; for the great captain was one of those self-helpful men which the Almighty seldom fails to assist. On the 419 15th of November 1577 he set out upon the famous expedition which was to place him in the foremost rank of navigators. On September 6th, in the following year, he cleared the strait of Magellan, and was the first to carry the English flag into the ocean beyond. After capturing a large amount of treasure between the coast of Peru and the bay of Panamá, he sailed as far north as the forty-third parallel, expecting to find a passage eastward to the Atlantic.[XXIII‑21] Thence returning he arrived at Plymouth by way of the Cape of Good Hope, after a voyage of nearly three years, on the 26th of September 1580.[XXIII‑22] His flag-ship the Pelican was taken to Deptford, and on board the bark in which he had compassed the world[XXIII‑23] this stout-hearted mariner, who had begun life as a prentice boy on a small trading vessel, feasted his royal mistress, and bowed the knee while one of the greatest of England's sovereigns bestowed on him the title of Sir Francis Drake.
On the breaking-out of hostilities between England and Spain in 1585 Elizabeth determined to strike a blow at the Spanish possessions in the New World, while yet Philip was but contemplating the great enterprise which three years later terminated in a disaster that has no parallel in the annals of naval warfare. On September 12, 1585, a fleet of twenty-five 420 ships with a number of pinnaces set sail from Plymouth, having on board two thousand three hundred men, among them Frobisher and other captains of armada fame, and as commander Sir Francis Drake.
The expedition first shaped its course toward Spain, and after hovering for a while on that coast, capturing many prizes, but none of value, landed on the first of January 1586 in Española, within a few miles of Santo Domingo. The city was taken after a feeble resistance, but little treasure was found there, for the mines were now abandoned, the native population well nigh exterminated, and copper money was in common use among the Spaniards. A ransom of twenty-five thousand ducats was at length paid, and loading their fleet with a good store of wheat, oil, wine, cloth, and silk, the English sailed for Cartagena, captured that city almost without loss, and retired on payment of a sum equivalent to about one hundred and forty-five thousand pesos. By this time sickness had so far reduced their ranks that they were compelled to abandon the main object of their enterprise, namely, the occupation of Nombre de Dios and Panamá, and the seizure of the treasure stored on either side of the Isthmus. It was resolved, therefore, to return to England.[XXIII‑24] After touching at Saint Augustine, and securing in that neighborhood treasure to the amount of ten thousand pesos, and coasting thence northward to the Roanoke, where the members of the colony recently established[XXIII‑25] by Raleigh were taken on board the 421 fleet, Drake landed at Portsmouth on the 28th of July 1586. The spoil amounted to three hundred thousand pesos, purchased at the cost of seven hundred and fifty lives. One third of this amount only was divided among the survivors, giving as the lowest share of an individual the sum of thirty dollars.
The motto "Non sufficit orbis," ascribed by some chroniclers to the crown of Spain, was one worthy of the pretensions of Philip. What mattered the conquest of a hemisphere while the ocean was ruled by another; while the royal banner of Castile could be degraded by licensed bands of freebooters, and the commercial marts of the New World be held for ransom? Such was the sentiment which lured the Spanish monarchs to attempt ambitious schemes of conquest like that which ended in the destruction of the great armada, in which the pirate Drake played his allotted part.
After sharing with Sir John Morris the command of an expedition directed against Spain in 1589, Drake was ordered by his sovereign five years later to prepare another armament against the Spanish West Indies. In this enterprise he associated with himself Sir John Hawkins,[XXIII‑26] an old friend and once 422 his patron, and among other officers Sir Thomas Baskerville,[XXIII‑27] as commander of the land forces. On the 28th of August 1595 a squadron of six men-of-war equipped at the expense of the queen[XXIII‑28] sailed from Plymouth, accompanied by twenty-one vessels fitted out by private subscription. The entire force of the expedition mustered twenty-five hundred men.
Although every precaution was used to mask the purpose of the armament, it was known to Philip, long before the departure of the fleet, that Drake intended to capture Nombre de Dios and to march thence to Panamá, touching first at Puerto Rico to plunder a dismasted treasure-ship which lay in that harbor. The English soon found to their cost that every preparation had been made for a resolute defence. Anchoring near the town of San Juan de Puerto Rico, their vessels were exposed to a well directed fire from a battery of thirty guns. Drake's chair was struck from under him by a round-shot as he sat at supper in his cabin, and after a loss of at least fifty killed[XXIII‑29] and as many wounded the expedition sailed for the mainland. The towns of Ranchería, Rio de la Hacha, and Santa Márta were burnt in default of ransom. Nombre de Dios was captured almost without resistance and levelled to the ground; but Baskerville, despatched with seven hundred and fifty men to attack Panamá, was defeated by the Spaniards when half way across the Isthmus, and his command returned hungry, sore-footed,[XXIII‑30] and in sorry plight. 423
"It matters not, man," said Drake to one of his favorite officers. "God hath many things in store for us; and I knowe many means to do Her Majestie good service and to make us riche, for we must have gould before wee see Englande." The words were hardly uttered when the speaker grew sick, and on the 28th of January 1596, less than a week afterward, the great captain breathed his last as the English fleet entered the harbor of Portobello. A league from land he found a sailor's sepulchre; and as the leaden casket that contained his remains was lowered into the waves near the spot where first he had won repute, salvos of artillery proclaimed to the exulting Spaniards on shore that one more name was added to the list of those whose memory Spain has never ceased to hate and England to honor.[XXIII‑31] 424
Revolt of Juan Gaitan—His Defeat by the Licentiate Juan de Caballon—Expedition of Caballon and Juan de Estrada Rábago to Costa Rica—Settlements Founded—Distress of the Spaniards—Juan Vazquez Coronado Comes to their Relief—Further Expeditions—Flight of the Natives—Capture of the Stronghold of Cotu—Administration of Diego de Artiego Cherino—The Franciscans in Costa Rica—Martyrdom of Juan Pizarro—The Ecclesiastics in Nicaragua—Fray Juan de Torres—Condition of the Settlements—Slow Growth of Trade.
The revolt of the Contreras brothers served at least one good purpose. It rid Nicaragua of swarms of vagabonds and dissatisfied adventurers, most of whom found a grave, as we have seen, during their raid on the Isthmus. Still there remained in the province a residuum of floating ruffianism, the very sweepings of all the provinces, and four years after the events described in a preceding chapter a fresh disturbance broke out. A band of disaffected soldiers and runaways from Nicaragua and Honduras, joining with themselves a number of negroes, rose in rebellion under the leadership of Juan Gaitan, a criminal banished from Nicaragua by order of the licentiate Juan de Caballon, then in charge at Leon.
The rebels began by sacking the village of San Miguel,[XXIV‑1] and thence proceeding to the mines of Chuluteca captured them after a stout resistance[XXIV‑2] and despoiled the adjacent village. They then entered 425 Nicaragua and marched directly on the capital, but when within five leagues of it, Gaitan, who was a firm believer in astrology, was drawn into a controversy with his maestre de campo, Tarragona, a dabbler in the occult art. The latter predicted that they would certainly be hanged should they then continue their march on Leon, and advised that they repair first to Realejo and seize the vessels lying there. But revenge got the better of Gaitan's superstition, and he proceeded on his way to the capital, resolved to take the life of the licentiate.
Meanwhile news of the outbreak had reached Caballon. Assistance had been summoned from Realejo and Granada; the ships at the former port were ordered to put out to sea to avoid capture;[XXIV‑3] and entering Leon on the last day of pentecost 1554, Gaitan found the licentiate's forces drawn up in the public square well posted for defence. A stubborn conflict ensued; but, the powder of the rebels having become damp from the rains, they fought at a disadvantage and were finally routed. Gaitan took refuge in a convent belonging to the order of Merced, where his brother was one of the friars, but this asylum availed him nothing. The licentiate Sotomayor, an exile from New Spain, who was also an inmate, seized him and delivered him to the authorities. Next day the insurgent leader was beheaded, and that the prophecy of the maestro de campo might be fulfilled, Tarragona and others were hanged, the rest being sent into exile.
While fiscal of Guatemala, Caballon had been requested by the audiencia to undertake the pacification of Costa Rica, conjointly with a wealthy ecclesiastic, named Juan de Estrada Rábago, and it was for this purpose that he had originally proceeded to Nicaragua. In 1560 an expedition was organized, Rábago 426 furnishing the necessary funds, for Caballon had none. Each one was to found his own settlements, but to render aid and advice to the other. The former with four vessels sailed up the Desaguadero, while Caballon journeyed by land and explored the southern coast. Whether they ever met according to their original plan is doubtful, and their lack of coöperation may partly explain the failure of the enterprise.
Rábago with a party of sixty Spaniards founded the "Villa del Castillo de Austria" on the bay of San Gerónimo.[XXIV‑4] He also speaks of three other towns which he founded, and of churches which he built and furnished, but fails to name or locate them. Caballon established the Villa de Landecho, on the coast near the southern border of the province, and three days' journey thence the settlement of Castillo de García Muñoz. The reasons that induced him to select the former site were known only to himself, and are not recorded by the chroniclers. There were no Indians in its neighborhood to be enslaved; most of the land was marshy, and the high ground sterile and consisting mainly of bare rock. Caballon was soon afterward appointed fiscal of the audiencia of Mexico, and Rábago, being now left in sole charge, was ordered by the emperor not to abandon the undertaking, though the Spaniards were in sore distress. "It is now two years and more," write the members of the cabildo from Cartago, in December 1562, "since we entered this province in company with the licentiate Juan de Caballon, and it is with great difficulty that we have held out against the rebellious natives, who could not be converted and brought to obedience by peaceable means."[XXIV‑5]
After the departure of Caballon for Mexico the audiencia of the Confines perceived that a man of means and capacity was needed for the occasion, and 427 their choice fell on Juan Vazquez Coronado, who was appointed alcalde mayor of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. On him the emperor afterward conferred the title of adelantado and captain general. Coronado at once despatched a ship with reënforcements and provisions for the relief of the needy colonists, and sent by land a train of cattle laden with material for clothing, and with blankets, boots, saddles, harness, hardware, and other stores. At the head of a powerful and well equipped force he soon afterward proceeded to Nicoya, an Indian town then claimed both by Nicaragua and Costa Rica.[XXIV‑6] Here he awaited the arrival of a vessel. The rainy season had now set in, and it was impossible to reach by land the Villa de Landecho, whither he was bound; but a vessel soon afterward arriving, the alcalde mayor reached that settlement with his command, and relieving the need of the colonists, sent the ship back to Panamá, for fresh supplies and proceeded to Cartago where the royal standard was delivered to him. Rábago meanwhile had set forth for Spain and appears no more in connection with the history of the New World.
Coronado distributed his supplies bountifully, and when his own means were exhausted[XXIV‑7] contracted heavy debts in order to relieve the necessities of his countrymen. He then sent expeditions in various directions to explore and subdue the territory. The principal cacique, one named Garabito, was believed to have large forces at his command, and a company of forty soldiers under Francisco de Marmolejo was sent against him to the province of Los Botos,[XXIV‑8] reputed to be a rich and populous district, and whither it was supposed that Garabito had retired. The country was found almost deserted, there being but 428 two houses, and those inhabited by some ninety half-starved Indians. To Garabito's own province Captain Juan de Illanes de Castro was despatched, but the natives had fled; and after a fruitless search he returned with only a few women and boys, from whom it was learned that the number of the cacique's followers had been greatly exaggerated. It was ascertained, however, that four of Garabito's chiefs were at the foot of a mountain many leagues distant, and Dávila, who became the narrator of many of these expeditions, was ordered to go in search of them and bring them peaceably to head-quarters. They were found in company with about twenty men, thirty women, and a few children, all living in two houses, and declared that Garabito had gone to Los Botos,[XXIV‑9] and that it would be difficult to find him, for he never spent two nights in the same place. His subjects, they said, might number from five hundred to six hundred.
Coronado sent these chiefs to inform the natives of his arrival, promising them kind treatment; and in a few days ten or twelve others came to his head-quarters. One of them, the cacique of the province of Anzarri,[XXIV‑10] promised to guide an expedition to the most thickly populated part of the country; but when asked for four hundred carriers, he answered that even Garabito could not furnish so many. The alcalde mayor then started with seventy soldiers and about a hundred Indians for Anzarri, taking with him the cacique. Arrived there, the chieftain collected a few natives, and said they were all that he had, and that together with himself they were at the service of the Spaniards. Coronado, much incensed, placed him under arrest, telling him he must make up the required number or forfeit his life. To this the cacique only 429 replied: "Do your pleasure; other people I have not." A day or two afterward thirty more carriers were procured. Coronado now resolved to continue his march, shaping his course for the province of Quepo, where, as he was assured, was the cacique with an abundance of Indians.
On entering the territory he obtained the services of one hundred and thirty additional carriers, and was informed that if he was in search of gold he would find all he wanted at the stronghold of Cotu, a few days' journey thence. The fort was reached after a toilsome march, and Marmolejo with thirty men was ordered to surprise it by night and capture all the caciques there stationed. The Spaniards, expecting no resistance, incautiously handed their weapons to the attendant natives, and on entering the place were themselves surprised, twenty of them being wounded before they could seize their arms. Assistance soon arrived from Coronado, whereupon the Indians abandoned the fort and fled, first setting fire to all the houses, some sixty-five in number. Messengers were then sent to the caciques, asking them to tender their allegiance, and promising kind treatment. One of them returned, bringing a golden patena as a token of peace, and was followed next day by the chieftains, who also brought with them some small offerings of gold.[XXIV‑11]
Coronado then set his face toward Garci Muñoz, where he soon afterward organized a second expedition, during which, journeying far inland, he discovered a large river which he named the Rio de la Estrella. In that neighborhood he found a large amount of gold. Returning thence to the coast he took ship for Spain,[XXIV‑12] and shortly after his arrival a royal cédula was issued, ordering that testimony be taken at Santiago 430 as to whether he had actually effected the pacification of Costa Rica and was entitled to the governorship of that province. The evidence was extremely favorable, and in April 1565 he was appointed governor of Costa Rica for life, with an annual salary of two thousand pesos,[XXIV‑13] and also governor of Nicaragua for a term of three years.
Of the subsequent career of Coronado little is known, but he does not appear to have continued long in office, for in 1573 Diego de Artieda Cherino[XXIV‑14] entered into a contract with the crown to pacify and further colonize the provinces of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Nicoya, and was appointed governor and captain general of those territories. According to the terms of his contract the natives were to be taught the arts of peace, and those who should be christianized were to be exempt from tribute for ten years; commerce with the Indians was to be encouraged; agriculture, mining, and other industries were to be developed; no hostilities with the natives were to be permitted until overtures of peace had been thrice rejected; settlements were not to be founded in districts reserved for the use of Indians; the principal towns were to revert to the emperor; four ecclesiastics must accompany the expedition, two of them at least to be Jesuits. Finally, full reports of all important proceedings were to be forwarded from time to time to the crown.[XXIV‑15]
Cherino soon levied a force of two hundred men, but on account of the difficulty in procuring vessels, his Majesty having secured every available ship for a naval expedition to Flanders, it was not until the 15th of April 1575 that he took his departure, setting 431 sail from the port of San Lúcar.[XXIV‑16] He was directed first to cruise off the coast in search of English buccaneers, who were then infesting those parts; but finding no sign of their presence he landed on the shore of Costa Rica near the mouth of a river to which he gave the name of Rio de Nuestra Señora del Valle del Guaini. Sailing up the stream for two or three leagues, he founded on its banks two settlements, to one of which he gave the name of Ciudad de Artieda del Nuevo Reyno de Navarra. In the presence of most of his men he took formal possession of the site; on a tree standing on the spot selected for the plaza he marked with a cutlass the sign of the cross "in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost;" he then addressed his followers,[XXIV‑17] telling them that all who desired might select town lots and secure all the privileges granted to settlers by the emperor. Captain Francisco Paron was then ordered by the governor to make further explorations, and ascending the river for a distance of nine leagues he discovered a fertile valley, and finding the natives tractable and well disposed, took possession with the usual formalities, naming it Valle de los Pufibais y del Valderroncal. Cherino does not appear to have been successful in founding any permanent settlements in Costa Rica; for we learn that in 1586 Cartago and Esparza were the only towns in the province inhabited by Spaniards,[XXIV‑18] and that they were constantly at war with the Indians.
Thus the efforts of the Spaniards to subjugate the natives of Costa Rica were but partially successful; but meanwhile great progress had been made in the 432 pacification of the province by the efforts of the Franciscan friars. About the year 1555 Fray Pedro Alonso de Betanzos laid there the foundation of the province of San Jorge de Nicaragua.[XXIV‑19] Betanzos came to New Spain in 1542, being one of the two hundred friars who formed the mission of Jacobo de Testera, and was assigned to Guatemala. He had labored there with great zeal and success, translating the catechism into the Indian vernacular, converting many, and inducing others to quit their nomadic life and form regular settlements. Four friars, among whom were Juan Pizarro from Guatemala and Lorenzo de Bienvenida from Guatemala, the latter having previously labored in company with Testera in Yucatan,[XXIV‑20] accompanied Betanzos to Costa Rica.[XXIV‑21] Bienvenida soon afterward departed for Spain, and bringing thence thirty ecclesiastics returned to Costa Rica. The bishop of Nicaragua furnished a like number, and when all were assembled the province was founded in 1575, and four years later its establishment was confirmed by a general chapter of the order held in Paris in 1579, the number of convents assigned being twelve.[XXIV‑22]
Betanzos was a man of ability and tireless industry. In a short time he had made himself master of twelve Indian dialects, speaking them as fluently as did the natives themselves.[XXIV‑23] "When first he went to Costa 433 Rica," says Vazquez, "he would not allow soldiers to enter the territory. He travelled barefoot and accompanied only by a little boy. In two or three months he returned with many natives, all baptized and converted, bringing great store of provisions for the Spaniards. This he did many times, until by the word of God alone he pacified great multitudes. During the sixteen years which he thus labored, there remained not a palm of territory in the province which he did not traverse in search of souls." After laboring for thirty years he was attacked by fever and died near the town of Chomez in 1570, his remains being interred in a convent which he himself had founded at Cartago.[XXIV‑24]
The year 1586 was made memorable by the martyrdom of Juan Pizarro, an aged and venerable friar of the Merced order, friend and associate of Betanzos, and one who first established the Mercenarios in Costa Rica. On the day of the immaculate conception he was preaching in one of the Indian towns, when a band of natives rushed upon him, disrobed him, bound him naked to a post, and flogged him unmercifully. Not satisfied with this, they fastened a rope round his neck, beat him senseless, hanged the bruised and bleeding body to a tree, and when life had fled flung the corpse down a neighboring chasm.
The dissensions which the new code of laws had occasioned in Nicaragua were not yet at an end. Cerrato, who was still president of the audiencia, of the Confines,[XXIV‑25] was harassed on all sides. The ecclesiastics contended that the natives should be taken from the encomenderos and placed under the crown, 434 which virtually meant the church, and that their owners be recompensed directly from the royal treasury. The conquerors, however, would listen to no such proposition, but tenaciously held to their possessions.
The number of Indian towns subject to the crown in Nicaragua about the year 1555 was twenty-seven.[XXIV‑26] Nicoya, the largest, contained five hundred families; there was no other with more than one hundred, and most of them had but ten or twenty families. The extreme poverty of the natives had rendered necessary a reduction of their tribute,[XXIV‑27] and hence the salaries of civil officers and of the clergy were on a reduced scale. The aggregate tithes of the church in the province amounted in 1555 but to sixteen hundred pesos, and were decreasing from year to year. The bishop's portion was three hundred and eighty pesos, a sum insufficient for his maintenance, and he was compelled to petition the king to increase his income. Priests laboring in native villages received two hundred pesos, and in one instance the stipend was only eighty pesos.
After the death of Valdivieso, the friar Alonso de la Vera Cruz, who had for many years filled the chair of theology in the university of Mexico, and during a quarter of a century had preached to the natives in their own tongue, was nominated as his successor, but declined the preferment.[XXIV‑28] The see was then offered to the licentiate Carrasco, who took charge of the diocese, but never proceeded to consecration.[XXIV‑29] As 435 bishop-elect he made himself familiar with the affairs of the province, instituted numerous inquiries, and as the result made various suggestions to the civil authorities. He declared that the decrease in population and revenue was caused by the conduct of the alcaldes mayores, most of whom were either fools or knaves. Within three years five or six had been sent to Nicaragua by appointment of the audiencia, and the natives had been compelled each time to erect gala arches to welcome them, and to fatten fowl and prepare delicacies for their entertainment. The officers of the crown gave Carrasco but little satisfaction, and even went so far as to deny his right to demand an account of tithes received for ecclesiastical purposes, although through their peculations the amount had fallen so low as to be inadequate for the support of the bishopric. Little wonder that he soon had enough of so uninviting a field of labor.
To Carrasco succeeded Fray Gomez Fernandez de Córdoba. This princely ecclesiastic was a native of the city whose name he bore, and belonged to the highest nobility of Spain, being grandson of the great captain.[XXIV‑30] He was consecrated in Spain and took charge of the bishopric in 1553.[XXIV‑31] During his tenure of office the cathedral was completed, and a migration of Dominicans took place.
The building of the cathedral had been long retarded by misappropriation of the funds set apart for the purpose, the treasurer having invested large sums at different times in speculations and in the purchase of lands in Peru. The audiencia at length took action and ordered its completion; the means to be raised in equal proportion from the treasury, the colonists, and 436 the natives. When it was finished there remained a surplus of more than two thousand pesos, which was returned to the treasury.
Among the Dominicans discipline was somewhat lax about this period, and their mode of life such as to cause scandal throughout the province. In 1554 Fray Juan de Torres, a resident of Guatemala, was appointed the Dominican vicar provincial of Nicaragua, with orders to visit the convents in Leon and Granada and restore the ecclesiastics to becoming austerity. Failing in this, he was to give them permission to leave for Spain or elsewhere as they pleased, and bring back with him all the jewels and ornaments belonging to the order.[XXIV‑32] Arriving in Nicaragua, the vicar provincial at once imposed such severe ordinances that the friars became disgusted and resolved to return to Spain. Nothing could be more agreeable to Fray Juan, who thereupon stealthily collected all the jewels and ornaments according to his instructions and returned to Guatemala.[XXIV‑33]
This proceeding was censured even by the vicar's superiors. The general of the order, Estéfano Ususmaris, disapproved of it, and instead of lauding him for his zeal, blamed him for his indiscretion.[XXIV‑34] From Peru came a protest; and the president and oidores of the audiencia of the Confines felt aggrieved that such an important measure should be taken without consulting them. A few years later Padre Torres was ordered to Spain, that the king, council, and the general of his order might be informed on matters pertaining 437 to the election of Father Angulo to the see of Vera Cruz. His ship was captured by French corsairs when in sight of Cádiz, and all on board were made prisoners; but so elated was the ecclesiastic by the glory of thus falling into the hands of heretics, that his captors, regarding his high and holy zeal as a kind of insanity, set him ashore without ransom.
After his arrival at court, the subject of his having dismembered the convents of Nicaragua was revived, and it was decided that he should reëstablish them in person. In consideration, however, of the fact that in this matter he had merely acted according to the orders of his superiors, he was exonerated from all blame and appointed vicar general of the province of Nicaragua, which was at the same time segregated from that of San Vicente de Chiapas. He was then ordered to collect a number of friars and return to Leon, the king bearing the expenses of the expedition and providing everything necessary to refit the convents. He was heartily welcomed by the bishop, settlers, and natives, and together with his colleagues renewed his labors throughout the province; but toil and advancing years had sapped his strength, and about the year 1562 Fray Juan de Torres sickened and died at an Indian village on the Desaguadero.
After his decease the Dominicans became disconsolate and all left the province, some for Santo Domingo, others for Peru, and the rest for Spain. The ornaments and properties donated by the king to the convents were left in charge of lay brothers, but subsequently the Dominicans of San Vicente de Chiapas appropriated them as belonging to the order. They were obliged, however, by a judicial decision to return them, after which they were distributed by royal order among other churches.
At the close of the sixteenth century the chief towns in Nicaragua were Leon the capital, Realejo, and Granada. In 1586 the former was in a dilapidated 438 condition, the houses that fell into decay being never rebuilt. Realejo had but thirty settlers and its chief industry was the building and repairing of ships. Granada had two hundred vecinos and at a short distance from it were many tributary Indians. The walls of the buildings were of mud, buttressed with a few bricks and stones, the roofs being of tiles. The population included encomenderos, merchants, traders, and a few mechanics and stock-raisers. Vessels traded thence with Nombre de Dios, passing down the Desaguadero to the North Sea, though with some difficulty during the dry season.[XXIV‑35]
Notwithstanding the commercial relations thus opened with the province of Panamá, no trade of importance had yet been developed in Nicaragua. There was little money in circulation,[XXIV‑36] and the prices of all imported articles were extremely high. An arroba of wine was worth twelve pesos; cloth could not be bought for less than ten pesos, nor linen for less than fifteen reales a yard. Other commodities sold in the same proportion, and were beyond the means of all but the wealthiest settlers. This condition of affairs may be attributed in part to a clique of merchants in Seville, who had already monopolized the commerce of the New World, who shipped their goods in such small quantities as always to keep the market bare of supplies and insure extravagant prices for their merchandise, and who by their grasping policy gave rise, as we shall see later, to contraband trading. 439
Leon Abandoned—Another Site Selected—Description of the New City—The Sacrilegious Mouse—The Trade of Granada—Freebooters in Nicaragua—Church Matters—The Jesuits Enter the Province—They are Recalled—The Diocese Subject to the Archbishop of Lima—Succession of Prelates—Eruption of El Infierno de Masaya—Massacre of Spaniards in Costa Rica—Maldonado's Expedition to Talamanca—Verdelete's Mission to Tologalpa—Its Failure—His Further Attempts to Christianize the Natives—Massacre of Soldiers and Ecclesiastics.
The city of Leon was founded, as will be remembered, by Córdoba, in 1523,[XXV‑1] a few leagues from the shore of the South Sea. The murder of Bishop Valdivieso, which has already been mentioned,[XXV‑2] was believed to have entailed a curse upon the place, and after suffering a series of disasters the inhabitants abandoned its site in 1610. First keeping a solemn fast they marched forth under the flags of Spain and the municipality, and about midway between the ocean and Lake Managua in the centre of a populous Indian district named Subtiaba, established a new city which soon became noted as one of the best built in Central America. "Leon," says the English traveller Thomas Gage, an apostate monk who passed through the city in 1637, "is very curiously built, for the chief delight of the Inhabitants consisteth in their houses, and in the pleasure of the Country adjoyning, and in the 440 abundance of all things for the life of man, more than in any extraordinary riches, which there are not so much enjoyed as in other parts of America. They are contented with fine gardens, with variety of singing birds, and parrets, with plenty of fish and flesh, which is cheap, and with gay houses, and so lead a delicious, lasie and idle life; not aspiring much to trade and traffique, though they have neer unto them the Lake, which commonly every year sendeth forth some Frigats to the Havana by the North Sea, and Realejo on the South Sea, which to them might be very commodious for any dealing and rich trading in Peru or to Mixco, if their spirits would carry them so far. The Gentlemen of this City are almost as vain and phantastical as are those of Chiapa. And especially from the pleasure of this City, is all that province of Nicaragua, called by the Spaniards Mahomets Paradise. From hence the way is plain and level to Granada, whither I got safely and joyfully."[XXV‑3]
"What in Granada we observed," continues Gage, 441 "was, two Cloisters of Mercenarian and Franciscan Frayers, and one of the Nuns, very rich; and one Parish Church, which was as a Cathedral, for the Bishop of Leon did more constantly reside there than in the City. The houses are fairer than those of Leon, and the Town of more Inhabitants, amongst whom are some few Merchants of very great wealth, and many of inferiour degree very well to pass, who trade with Carthagena, Guatemala, San Salvador, and Comayagua and some by the South Sea to Peru and Panamá.... In one day there entered six Requas (which were at least three hundred Mules) from St Salvador and Comayagua only, laden with nothing else but Indigo, Cochinil, and Hides; and two days after from Guatemala came in three more, the one laden with silver, which was the Kings tribute from that Countrey; the other with Sugar, and the other with Indigo."[XXV‑4]
In 1665 Fort San Cárlos on the Desaguadero was captured by freebooters under Gallardillo, and thus Granada lay at the mercy of corsairs. The city was captured, and the invaders, disappointed in their hopes of plunder, set it on fire, putting to rout during their retreat a force of three thousand Spaniards gathered to intercept them, and thence extended their depredations to Realejo. San Cárlos was recaptured by Martin Cárlos de Mencos, the president of Guatemala, and, in October 1671, the erection of new and stronger works was ordered by the king, the site selected being near the outlet of the lake.[XXV‑5]
The ecclesiastical records of the province during the seventeenth century contain few incidents worthy of 442 record. In 1616 the Jesuits of Guatemala attempted to establish themselves in Nicaragua, and at the instance of the Conde de la Gomera, president of the audiencia, Pedro de Contreras was despatched to Granada in charge of the work.[XXV‑6] He was welcomed to the diocese of Nicaragua by the Bishop Don Pedro Villa Real,[XXV‑7] and every assistance was afforded him, the cathedral being placed at his disposal during the whole of lent. But when he made known the main purpose of his mission—the establishment of a Jesuit college in Nicaragua—the people of Granada, though they listened to him with delight, refused to respond to his appeals for aid. Means were supplied, however, by an ex-captain-general of the province, Vicente Saldívar y Mendoza, whose deceased wife had left one fifth of her property for the endowment of a college. The sum thus bequeathed was increased by Saldívar to twenty-seven thousand pesos and presented to Contreras. Until 1621 the Jesuits remained in Nicaragua, Contreras and Padre Blas Hernandez being the only names recorded in connection with the mission. It was then announced that the superiors of the order had recalled them, and immediately the widespread interest in the labors of the fathers was manifested by large public meetings, at which petitions were adopted against such a measure.[XXV‑8] But the orders of the Provincial Nicolás de Armoya were peremptory, for the location, he alleged, was deemed too remote to be governed in keeping with the strict rules of the Jesuits.[XXV‑9] 443
Meanwhile the people of Realejo had sent frequent petitions to Guatemala, and as a last resort addressed themselves directly to the king, asking for the establishment of a Jesuit college in their midst,[XXV‑10] especially as the cura of the town had made donations which would yield a revenue of six thousand pesos. The royal license for the foundation of the college was issued, accompanied by a grant from the royal treasury of three thousand ducats, whereupon the provincial relented, and notwithstanding the opposition of his fellow padres, authorized its institution. About the close of 1621 the Jesuits returned for a while to Granada, but the consent of the provincial to the establishment of the order in this province had in truth been given only with the expectation of multiplying dependencies until Guatemala could claim the dignity of a vice-provincia. When this failed the padres were not allowed to remain in Nicaragua, and henceforth the Jesuits disappear for a time from the history of the province.
The see of Nicaragua was subject to the archbishop of Lima, and the remoteness of the archiepiscopal court was a frequent source of complaint among the Spaniards, for the expense of the voyage often exceeded the monetary value of the interests involved. In 1621 Benito Valtonado was prelate at Granada.[XXV‑11] He was a man noted for his kindness of heart, and mainly from his own resources, which were ample, he founded the hospital of Santa Catalina at Leon. After his decease in 1627 little worthy of special note is mentioned in connection with the prelates of Nicaragua until after the appointment in 1667 of Andrés de las Navas y Quevada,[XXV‑12] who built an episcopal 444 palace, a church college, and received by royal order a grant of religious books.
About the middle of the seventeenth century the income of the diocese amounted to 3,000 pesos, of which sum the dean received 600 pesos, the archdeacon 400, and two canons each 300 pesos a year. At this period the convent of La Merced in Leon contained twenty ecclesiastics.
If Fray Blas del Castillo could have deferred until 1670 the journey which he made through Nicaragua in 1537, discovering, as we have seen, that providence had reserved for the ecclesiastics the molten treasures of El Infierno de Masaya,[XXV‑13] he would have had a better opportunity to test his belief. "Some assert," relates Oviedo, who it will be remembered was in that neighborhood in 1529, when a violent outburst occurred, and resided for three years in Nicaragua,[XXV‑14] "that the light caused by the eruption is sufficient to read by at the distance of three leagues." From the northern slope of the mountain poured in 1670 a volume of lava so vast as to extend almost to the lake of Managua, or as many conjecture, to reach far into the lake.[XXV‑15] 445
Toward the close of the century the raids of buccaneers, of which a description will be given in its place, coupled with the restrictions on trade imposed by the home government, were sore afflictions to Nicaragua and Costa Rica, both of which territories were rich in natural resources. The governor of the latter province, writing to the king at the opening of the eighteenth century, reports that Costa Rica does not yield enough for the support of the priests and the secular officials.
There are no reliable records of the condition of affairs in Esparza until, as we shall see later, the settlement was several times sacked by buccaneers toward the close of the century, its site being changed in 1688. Of the capital of Costa Rica, Gage, who sojourned there four days during his journey to England, writes: "We came at last through thousand dangers to the City of Carthago, which we found not to be so poor, as in richer places, as Guatemala and Nicaragua it was reported to be. For there we had occasion to inquire after some Merchants for exchange of gold and silver, and we found that some were very rich, who traded by land and sea with Panamá and by sea with Portobello, Cartagena, and Havana, and from thence with Spain. The City may consist of four hundred Families, and is governed by a Spanish Governour. It is a Bishops See, and hath in it three Cloisters, two of Fryers, and one of Nuns."
Calle, whose work was published in 1646, states that Cartago had sixty vecinos, and that in the entire province there were but a hundred and twenty vecinos and fifteen thousand peaceable Indians. The capital, he says, had two judges, and among other officials a high constable, with a salary of a thousand pesos a year.[XXV‑16]
The district of Talamanca, which lay on the coast 446 of the North Sea and within the province of Costa Rica, was not fully explored until 1601, in which year the city of Concepcion was founded on the Rio de la Estrella. The establishment of this colony was quickly followed by an insurrection of the natives who, incited by the rapacity and cruelty of the Spaniards, rose en masse on the 10th of August 1610, and massacred the inhabitants of that settlement and of Santiago de Talamanca, which had been built on the left bank of the river, slaughtering indiscriminately men, women, children, and priests.
Nothing else worthy of record occurred in this district until the year 1660, when Rodrigo Arias Maldonado, being governor and captain-general of Costa Rica,[XXV‑17] resolved upon the subjugation of the natives of Talamanca, then consisting of some twenty-six tribes. Maldonado proposed to carry the gospel in one hand and the sword in the other; but his ambition was rather to represent the church militant than to follow the example of previous conquerors.
With a corps of one hundred and ten men he started forth upon his self-imposed mission, expending his own private fortune upon the enterprise,[XXV‑18] enduring great fatigue and hardship, exploring all the coast as far as Boca del Drago and Boca del Flor, and visiting the adjacent islands. His success was remarkable. He gathered the Indians into villages, had them instructed in the faith, and erected churches; but with his retirement from the scene the natives returned to their nomadic life, the villages were deserted, and the churches fell into decay. The intelligence of his labors, when communicated to the king, won for him the title of marqués de Talamanca, but before the royal decree reached him he had turned his back upon the honors of this world, and enrolled himself 447 as a humble brother of Bethlehem, to be thenceforward known as Fray Rodrigo de la Cruz.[XXV‑19]
In 1684 the two Franciscans, Melchor Lopez, and Antonio Margil, resumed the work of christianization, and found the paths that had led to the interior overgrown and hidden as if they had never been opened, and the people as fierce and untractable as though no efforts had been made to civilize them. Yet these two priests, without arms or protection, advanced into the interior of the country and reported within five years the baptism of forty thousand Indians and the establishment of fourteen villages. The work was continued with varying success by a number of ecclesiastics, several of whom suffered martyrdom in their cause,[XXV‑20] but the final result of all efforts was failure so complete that, to use the words of Pelaez, "it was as if these mountains were the gates of hell, from within which there was no redemption."
In connection with the attempted pacification of Talamanca may be mentioned certain missionary expeditions to Tologalpa, the name given to a mountainous country lying between the Desaguadero and the Nueva Segovia river, and peopled by sambos, by the Xicaques, the Lencas, and other tribes[XXV‑21] or admixtures of tribes, differing widely in language, government, and manners. The Spanish government had repeatedly directed inquiries to be made concerning them and the best means of effecting their reconciliation;[XXV‑22] and in letters addressed to the president of the audiencia early in the seventeenth century the king 448 urges that efforts be made for the peaceful conquest of this province.
Among others who were imbued with a passion for this particular work was a Franciscan named Estévan Verdelete, who was appointed local superior in Comayagua and to whom the provincial granted a license authorizing the adoption of any measures that would be likely to prove successful. Under the guidance of some Indians, who avowed sympathy with his projects, he and his friend Juan de Monteagudo, penetrated this territory, only to be abandoned, however, by the natives when in the midst of a vast wilderness, without food, and apparently cut off from all human aid. Guided by the stars they succeeded in making their way through the wilds, and after suffering excessive hardship arrived in safety at Comayagua, whence they immediately afterward set forth for Santiago to assist at the provincial synod held there in 1606.
Not disheartened by this failure, Verdelete asked permission from the synod to proceed to Spain, for the purpose of asking the king's assistance in the conversion and pacification of the natives. His request was granted and eight assistants were appointed, whose expenses were to be paid out of the royal treasury.[XXV‑23]
In October 1609 Verdelete left Santiago in company with his party of ecclesiastics, and in passing through Comayagua obtained the services of Captain Daza and three other Spaniards, who were familiar with the country. After several days' travel they came in sight of Indian dwellings and were received with every manifestation of joy. Verdelete in the enthusiasm of the hour declared that he was prepared to live and die among them. Converts were numerous,[XXV‑24] and the mission so promising that Verdelete wrote to the provincial asking for more missionaries. 449
But soon a change came over the scene, caused mainly by the deep feeling of hostility that sprang up among the unconverted natives against their christianized brethren. A frenzy of hatred against the very semblance of religion seized upon them, and they resolved to burn down the settlement of the missionaries and to massacre the inmates. On the evening set for the execution of their purpose the ecclesiastics received warning through some children, and while yet Verdelete was exhorting them to stand steadfast in the hour of trial, hideous yells roused them to an immediate sense of peril. Issuing forth they found the village enveloped in flames, and encompassed by war-painted Indians brandishing lances and torches. Verdelete at once rushed into their midst, crucifix in hand, and with words of indignation upbraided them for their baseness and treachery, and threatened the vengeance of offended heaven. His courage inspired his associates, and at the spectacle of such boldness the natives shrank abashed, and one by one slunk away. At daybreak not an Indian was to be seen, and the missionaries then returned to Guatemala, where their story only incited a more determined effort at the reduction of the offending tribes, and another and larger expedition was organized again under the leadership of Verdelete.
The missionaries were accompanied by an escort of twenty-three soldiers under Captain Daza, and reached the confines of Tologalpa in April 1611. They found some of their old converts, and by their agency others were brought into the fold. Thus encouraged, they wished to penetrate farther into the interior, but were dissuaded by Daza, who volunteered to go in advance with some of his men and test the feeling of the natives. After waiting some time for their return,[XXV‑25] the ecclesiastics were beguiled 450 into the mountain fastnesses, and found upon turning the brow of a hill a large hostile band, brandishing lances and hideous in war-paint. Their first glance showed them the head of Daza and some of his soldiers carried on the points of lances, and at once they saw that their fate was sealed. Nothing daunted, Verdelete advanced toward them and began to expostulate. He was answered by a flight of javelins, and fell pinned to the earth by a lance. Of the entire party but two escaped,[XXV‑26] and for many years the inhabitants of Tologalpa saw no more of the Christians.
Toward the close of the century, however, the rule of the Spaniards had become somewhat milder throughout the provinces of Central America, and in 1674 two of the Tologalpan tribes sent representatives to Guatemala and besought Fernando de Espino, the provincial of the Franciscan order, to send instructors to their countrymen. Soon afterward the governor, after consultation with the provincial, resolved to send another missionary, and out of many candidates Pedro de Lagares, a young man of culture and an enthusiast in the cause, was chosen for the task. At Nueva Segovia Lagares opened a missionary school, to which all were admitted who were willing to work. He made numerous journeys into the interior, and converts multiplied until in 1678 they were counted by hundreds. His decease occurred during the following year, and his successors, though meeting with some encouragement, finally abandoned the field, though without any obvious cause. 451
Buccaneers at Santo Domingo—Tortuga the Head-quarters of the Pirates—Their Modes of Life—François L'Olonnois the Filibuster—His Vessel Cast on the Shore of Campeche—He Escapes to Tortuga—And Reappears in the Bay of Honduras—He Captures San Pedro—He Plans a Raid on Guatemala—His Comrades Desert Him—His Vessel Wrecked off Cape Gracias á Dios—His Expedition to Desaguadero—And to Costa Rica—He is Hacked to Pieces—Mansvelt Captures the Island of Santa Catarina—And Attacks Cartago—Santa Catarina Retaken by the Spaniards.
About the year 1518 an English trading ship touching at Santo Domingo was fired upon by order of the governor, and thence setting sail for Porto Rico bartered wrought iron for provisions.[XXVI‑1] A few years later the passage to the Indies became known among the nations of western Europe, and foreign vessels were often seen in the waters of the North Sea. In 1529 guarda costas were procured by the governor of Santo Domingo, and their captains commissioned to seize all craft which sailed under any flag but that of Spain, and to enslave their crews. But in that island are many excellent harbors, and the Spaniards seemed not averse to obtain at smaller cost from foreigners goods such as those on which the merchants of Seville made enormous profits; and vessels from several countries, more especially from England, France, and Holland, continued to make voyages to the New World, their 452 captains combining for mutual protection, and not unfrequently making raids on the Spanish settlements.
In 1531 French corsairs were seen off the coast of Tierra Firme; and in 1537 Bishop Marroquin, when about to depart for Spain, was dissuaded as we have observed from making the journey by his friends in Mexico,[XXVI‑2] for even at that date the North Sea was infested by pirates. Santo Domingo was the favorite calling-place of foreign marauders; for wild cattle abounded in every part of the island, and there the pirates could revictual their ships without expense.
At the close of the sixteenth century the island on which the great discoverer founded his first settlement had been thinned of its inhabitants. Moreover the mines had become exhausted and the vast wealth of Mexico and Peru had drawn away all the most enterprising of the Spaniards, and the few that remained dwelt for the most part in small villages, where they cured at their boucans, or drying establishments, the flesh of cattle and hogs, giving to the cured meat the same name as to the place where it was prepared.[XXVI‑3] Hence also the origin of the word bucaniers, or buccaneers, the latter term being used by Dampier,[XXVI‑4] whose raids will be described later.
English, French, and Dutch adventurers found in Santo Domingo places where they could lead an idle roving life, the monotony of which was relieved by an occasional fight with the Spaniards, the French being termed flibustiers,[XXVI‑5] or as we shall call them filibusters, 453 though this word was not used till the seventeenth century, and the Dutch styling themselves zee roovers.
In 1623 James I. of England granted to one Thomas Warner the island of San Cristóbal, though by what authority is not recorded by the chroniclers of the period. Warner associated with him fourteen others, who were to share the profits of the expedition, and sailed in charge of a band of adventurers for the Indies. His vessel arrived off San Cristóbal in 1625, and during that year a party of Frenchmen landed on the island, which was then inhabited by Caribs. The Spaniards had never formed a settlement there, and the English and French divided the territory between them. Fearing that the Caribs might be incited to rise against them by the crews of Spanish vessels, which frequently called there to obtain provisions, these licensed marauders attacked the savages by night, massacred the chiefs, and drove the rest from the island. Warner soon afterward returned to England, and for this gallant exploit was knighted by his learned Majesty, thus justifying the title which James I. has gained in the page of history as the greatest fool in christendom. A powerful armament was despatched to San Cristóbal by order of the court of Spain, and the intruders were dispersed; those who escaped the swords of the Spaniards taking refuge in the adjacent islands, and returning a year or two later.
Trading companies were now organized, and licenses granted to establish colonies. The islet of Tortuga, lying to the north-west of Santo Domingo, was captured almost without resistance. There storehouses were built, and there for a time were the head-quarters of the pirates. Tortuga was recaptured by the Spaniards in 1638, and the freebooters received no quarter; a few of them escaped to the woods; others were away on piratical or other expeditions; and though some of them fell into the hands of the Spaniards 454 and were massacred, the latter soon abandoned the island, and in the following year the freebooters at Tortuga mustered three hundred men. For the first time the pirates now elected a leader, and their numbers were soon recruited by French, English, and Dutch volunteers.
Though they were regarded by the Spaniards as foes, they were esteemed by other European nations as allies and champions, and so rapid was the growth of their settlements that in 1641 we find governors appointed, and at San Cristóbal a governor-general named De Poincy, in charge of the French filibusters, in the Indies. During that year Tortuga was garrisoned by French troops, and the English were driven out, both from that islet and from Santo Domingo, securing harborage elsewhere in the islands. Nevertheless, corsairs of both nations often made common cause; and in 1654 a large party of buccaneers and filibusters, ascending a river a little to the south of Cape Gracias á Dios, plundered the settlement of Nueva Segovia. In the same year Tortuga was again recaptured by the Spaniards, but in 1660 fell once more into the hands of the French; and in their conquest of Jamaica in 1655 the British troops were reënforced by a large party of buccaneers.
The monarchs, both of England and France, but especially the former, connived at, and even encouraged the freebooters, whose services could be obtained in time of war, and whose actions could be disavowed in time of peace. Thus buccaneer, filibuster, and sea-rover were for the most part at leisure to hunt wild cattle, and to pillage and massacre the Spaniards wherever they found an opportunity. When not on some marauding expedition they followed the chase, and one day's employment was like that of another. Setting forth at daybreak, accompanied by their dogs and servants, they continued their search until as many head of bullocks were slain as there were members in the party. Hides were thus provided sufficient 455 to fill contracts with the captain of a trading vessel which usually lay stationed in some neighboring bay, and were carried down to the sea-shore by bondsmen, who under the name of apprentices had been inveigled into a contract to serve for a term of years. For them there was no seventh or other day of rest. One of these unfortunates ventured on a certain occasion to expostulate with his master, quoting the divine injunction with the preamble: "I say unto thee, etc." And "I say unto thee," returned the buccaneer, "six days shalt thou kill bullocks, and strip them of their skins, and on the seventh day thou shalt carry their hides to the sea-shore."
The dress of the buccaneers consisted of a shirt dipped in the blood of a slaughtered animal, pantaloons of leather, if possible filthier than the shirt, shoes of rawhide, and a hat without rim. All goods, other than articles of virtu, were held in common; and as life was precarious, half of them at least being sure to die in the Indies, each chose a comrade with whom property of every description was shared. Though without laws or religion they had few disputes, and those were readily adjusted. They were governed by a rough code, established by themselves, and there were not wanting among them those who displayed, though usually in a brutal fashion, the possibilities of a better nature. Of Ravenau de Lussan, who figures in the history of the buccaneers, and whose operations will be mentioned in their place, it is related that he joined them only because he was in debt, and in order to obtain the means of satisfying his creditors. Of Montbar, a Frenchman of Languedoc, the chroniclers relate that on reading the story of the atrocities committed by the Spaniards on the hapless natives, he conceived such a hatred against them that he also joined the corsairs, and by his deeds of vengeance won the sobriquet of the Exterminator. Of a French captain of filibusters named Daniel, it is recorded that he shot one of his own crew in church for some indecorous 456 act committed during the performance of mass. Until 1665 there were few women among these rapscallions. In that year a governor sent out to take charge of the French settlements in Santo Domingo, brought with him a few females of lax morality, whom the buccaneers took to wife in this fashion: "Your past is nothing to me, for then I did not know, and you did not then belong to me. I acquit you of all evil; but you must pledge me your word for the future." The foul troth was thus plighted, when striking his hand on the barrel of his gun the husband exclaimed: "This will avenge me should you prove false."[XXVI‑6]
The deeds of Pierre Le Grande and Bartolomé Portuguez, who figure in the stories of buccaneering raids about the time of Montbar's exploits—the middle of the seventeenth century—require no record in these pages. The name that stands preëminent among all the cut-throats, who at this period infested the North Sea and the shores of the main, is that of a personage called François L'Olonnois, a native of France, but one whose natural ferocity almost forbids us to class him with the human race. Montbar, though his hate amounted to frenzy, was impelled only by indignation against the oppressors and sympathy for the sufferings of the oppressed, and would accept no share in the proceeds of his raids.[XXVI‑7] But no such half-human feeling, no shadow of honest intent, ever prompted the monster L'Olonnois. Montbar was an undiscerning fiend; L'Olonnois an arch-fiend, with no faculty impaired. Transported in youth to the West Indies, ere long he exchanged convict life for the more genial pursuits of a filibuster, and his first position 457 among those rovers on sea and land was that of a common mariner. In that capacity he made several voyages, and so distinguished himself by his brute strength and fearlessness that the governor of Tortuga[XXVI‑8] supplied him with a ship and armament wherewith to reap a harvest of gold.
The success which he achieved was great, and his operations attracted the attention of congenial cut-throats, who eagerly manned his decks, and at the same time stamped his name in crimson letters on the hearts of the race which he regarded as his prey. Even the elements attempted to arrest his destroying hand, and in one of his cruises cast his vessel on the shore of Campeche, where nearly all his comrades were killed by the Spaniards.
But the devil did not abandon his high-priest. L'Olonnois, though severely wounded, and regarding himself and his party as lost, smeared himself with blood without being perceived, and fell apparently lifeless among the slain.[XXVI‑9] Stripping off the dress of a dead Spaniard when the enemy had departed, he crawled over the ghastly forms of his late comrades and hid in the woods; then he boldly entered a neighboring town, and by promise of freedom induced some slaves to go with him. Stealing a large canoe, in due time they reached the isle of Tortuga.
Terrible as he was before this disaster, the future deeds of L'Olonnois were still more atrocious. "I shall never henceforward give quarter to any Spaniard whatsoever," he writes to the governor of Cuba, after having beheaded, with his own hand, all save one of the survivors on board a captured ship which had been sent against him. And he was as good as his word. He hacked to pieces captive after captive, quenching 458 his thirst with the blood that dripped from his heated cutlass. He tore out men's hearts and chewed them, and watched prisoners slowly die of hunger and thirst. If under the most agonizing torture the information wrung from a Spaniard was not satisfactory, the hapless wretch's tongue was wrenched out by the roots. Verily the cruelties of the conquerors were visited upon their descendants.
The reputation of L'Olonnois as a successful leader became so great that the most reckless and determined were ever ready to join in any enterprise projected by him. Between 1660 and 1665 he planned an expedition against the north coast of Central America and soon was in command of six ships and seven hundred men. Directing his course to Cape Gracias á Dios, he was driven by stress of weather into the bay of Honduras, where, distressed for want of provisions, his party ascended the Jagua River[XXVI‑10] in their canoes, sacking and destroying the Indian villages on the banks, and murdering the inhabitants. The pirates then cruised along the coast committing similar depredations. At Puerto de Caballos, after taking a Spanish ship of twenty-four guns and sixteen swivels, they landed and sacked two large store-houses. These with the town they burned, and having captured a number of the inhabitants inflicted upon them the most inhuman cruelties. L'Olonnois at the head of three hundred men next proceeded to San Pedro, about twelve leagues distant, and on his march thither fell in with three strong bodies of Spaniards who lay in ambush for him. These he successively routed, but not without the loss of many of his men. His treatment of prisoners and wounded captives was marked by his customary atrocities.
On arriving at San Pedro he found the town strongly fortified at the main entrance, the other parts being surrounded by impenetrable thickets of 459 thorny shrub and cactus, and his only plan was to assault the barricades. The Spaniards, however, defended themselves with desperation, and the pirates were compelled to withdraw from their first attack. Their second attempt caused such mortality among the defenders that they hoisted a flag of truce and agreed to surrender the town on condition that quarter be given the inhabitants for two hours. These terms were agreed to, and, strange though it may appear, were faithfully kept by the pirates. The inhabitants gathered up their effects and fled, but no sooner had the two hours expired than L'Olonnois gave orders for pursuit. The freebooters were disappointed, for the men of San Pedro had secreted the greater part of their valuables and merchandise, and the pirates found only some indigo to recompense them for their toil and danger.[XXVI‑11]
The star of the great Frenchman was now on the wane, and with the exception of capturing a Spanish ship of forty-two[XXVI‑12] guns after a desperate engagement his operations off the Central American coast were unimportant. But even this prize, for which the freebooters had long waited in hope of great booty, they found discharged of her valuable cargo, and a few unimportant articles of merchandise was all they obtained. The companions of L'Olonnois were becoming discontented with his want of success, and though he recklessly proposed to make a raid on the city of Guatemala, to many this seemed too desperate an enterprise, and the greater portion of his followers deserted him and turned their vessels homeward.[XXVI‑13] Misfortune now followed him relentlessly. 460 While working his poorly manned ship along the coast, she struck a sand-bank near the isle of Pearls off Cape Gracias á Dios. The crew were already half famished and there was no hope of saving the vessel. So they broke the craft in pieces and built a long-boat, occupying five or six months in this work. But when finished it would only hold half their number. Then it was decided that the half to go should be selected by casting lots. They would embark for the Desaguadero in Nicaragua,[XXVI‑14] in the expectation of seizing vessels and returning for their comrades. L'Olonnois took command of the expedition, but was unsuccessful in his attempt on the Desaguadero. Spaniards and Indians assailed him in such overwhelming numbers that he was compelled to retreat with heavy loss. But determined not to return for his companions on the isle of Pearls without a vessel in which to take them back to Tortuga, he sailed for Costa Rica, and being obliged to land for provisions near the gulf of Darien he and all his men, save one who escaped by flight, were cut to pieces by the Indians and roasted.[XXVI‑15] Thus with a fitting retribution ended the career of François L'Olonnois, who might give lessons in greatness to the leaders of armies and in savagism to the Indians who slew him.
About the year 1664 a noted buccaneer named 461 Mansvelt formed the design of attacking the town of Natá, by making a descent upon it overland from the North Sea. For this purpose he sailed from Jamaica with a fleet of fifteen vessels and five hundred men.[XXVI‑16] To obtain guides he assaulted and captured the island of Santa Catarina, or Old Providence.[XXVI‑17] There he established a buccaneer settlement, leaving one hundred men under command of a Frenchman named St Simon. Then he proceeded against Natá, but found such preparations had been made by the president of Panamá that he was forced to abandon the attempt. A Spanish prisoner, however, offered to lead him to Cartago, the capital of Costa Rica, which he represented as a rich and unfortified city. This proposal met with general approval, and the fleet sailed back along the coast as far as Port Matina,[XXVI‑18] where they disembarked.
At first their way was not difficult, and from the settlements on the road they obtained abundance of provisions; but in a few days they reached the cordillera, where provisions could no longer be procured in sufficient quantity. Mansvelt's crew was composed of Englishmen and Frenchmen, and whatever amity might exist under favorable circumstances between them was now destroyed by hardship and hunger. No fair distribution was made of such food as could be obtained. Fierce brawls ensued. Mansvelt and the afterward famous Morgan, the second in command, in vain attempted to allay the discord, which was so violent that the two factions were almost as ready to fall upon each other as on the Spaniards. Meantime the governor of Cartago had raised all the 462 forces he could muster,[XXVI‑19] and had taken up a strong position on a hill commanding the town of Turialba,[XXVI‑20] which the pirates had entered. At daybreak, before the invaders were yet under arms, the Spaniards unexpectedly opened fire upon them from the eminence. In the absence of mutual confidence the pirates were thrown into confusion, and their leaders deemed it best to return to the fleet. The Spaniards followed for a short distance, and having seized a few stragglers returned triumphant to Cartago.
But to the victors was not all the glory. The precipitate flight of so large a band of desperadoes could only have been accomplished by divine power; and, indeed, the Spaniards learned from their captives[XXVI‑21] that when the invaders' quarters were broken up they saw on the height a host of warriors commanded by a radiant female form,[XXVI‑22] who were none others than the holy virgin and an army of saints who had come to the succor of the chosen of God; so the grateful people of Cartago chose her as their patron, and instituted an annual procession to her shrine at Ujarraz,[XXVI‑23] which ceremony continued to the time of Juarros.
When Mansvelt arrived at the bay of Matina he reëmbarked and set sail for Santa Catarina. There he found his pirate colony thriving. The fortifications had been put in the best repair, portions of the island cultivated, and other measures taken for a permanent residence thereon. He therefore decided to request aid for carrying out his project from the governor 463 of Jamaica; but that official, though inclined to connive at the doings of the buccaneers, did not dare place his position in jeopardy by such an open act of hostility against Spain, with which nation England was then at peace. Mansvelt made an equally unsuccessful appeal to the governor of Tortuga, and dying ere long, the robbers at Santa Catarina were left to their own resources. Not long afterward the president of Panamá, sent a force to recover the island, and St Simon, finding that the promised reënforcements did not arrive, and considering it impossible to defend the place with the company under his command, surrendered after a slight show of resistance.[XXVI‑24] 464
An Audiencia again Established in Panamá—Its Presidents—Captain Parker's Raid on Portobello—Growth of Portobello and Decadence of Panamá—Malefeasance of Officials—Interoceanic Communication—Contraband Trading—Church Matters in Panamá—Disputes between the Bishops and the Oidores—The Ecclesiastics in Evil Repute—Destructive Conflagration—Bazan's Administration—His Downfall and its Cause—The Annual Fair at Panamá.
During the first half of the seventeenth century the province of Panamá was under the control of a governor or president, and an audiencia real, which was reëstablished toward the close of the previous century. The archives are meagre of information regarding the governors, some of them being barely mentioned, and their succession not always agreed upon by the authorities. In 1601 Alonso de Sotomayor was governor; on the 9th of June 1604 the licentiate Alonso de Coronado, an oidor of the audiencia of Guatemala, was appointed president; and on the 18th of September in the same year that office was filled by Valverde de Mercado, each of the officials receiving as salary six thousand ducats per annum.[XXVII‑1]
We have also the personnel of the ayuntamiento of Panamá,[XXVII‑2] and certain ordinances passed by that body, one of which relates to the sale of a noxious liquor 465 known as vino de Aljarafe,[XXVII‑3] and the other forbids trafficking in negro slaves.[XXVII‑4]
It was during the administration of Mercado that Captain William Parker attacked and captured Portobello. He sailed from Plymouth in November 1601 with two ships, a pinnace, and two shallops, and at least two hundred men.[XXVII‑5] After a tempestuous voyage in which he lost his pinnace and all her crew save three, he captured the town of San Vicente, on the Cape Verde Islands, and after despoiling it and giving it up to the flames sailed for the coast of Tierra Firme. Arriving at the island of Cubagua, where was a pearl-fishery, he was confronted by a company of soldiers, who resisted manfully, but were finally overcome; several barks and boats were captured, and several prisoners taken, for whose ransom he received pearls to the value of twenty-five hundred pesos. Thence he shaped his course for Cape de la Vela, off which he met with a fine Portuguese ship of two hundred and fifty tons, bound for Cartagena, and laden with negroes for the mines. An easy capture was made, and another twenty-five hundred pesos secured as ransom for the slaves. Calling at the islands of Cabezas and Bastimentos, at the latter of which he procured several negro guides, he embarked one hundred and fifty of his men in the shallops and in two small pinnaces which he had built during the voyage. He entered the mouth of the river on which 466 Portobello is situated about two o'clock in the morning of the 7th of February 1602.[XXVII‑6]
The moonlight quickly revealed the boats to the watch on duty at the fort of San Felipe, commanding the entrance of the harbor. Being challenged as to whence they came, they answered from Cartagena, the reply being given in Spanish by men taken on board at that town for the purpose. They were then commanded to anchor, and did so at once, six leagues from Portobello, "the Place where my Shippes roade," says Parker, "beinge the rock where Sir Francis Drake his Coffin was throwne overboarde."
The captain was well aware that at San Felipe were always thirty-five great pieces of brass ordnance, ready mounted, to bid an enemy welcome, and fifty soldiers to manage them. Nevertheless, as soon as all was quiet, he proceeded up the river with thirty men and two cannon in his shallops, ordering the remainder of his forces to follow him. Directly opposite the castle was a smaller fort named Santiago, mounting five pieces of ordnance and manned by thirty soldiers, some of whom, seeing the boats, cried out to them to stop, and ran along the shore in pursuit. Heedless of their noise Parker proceeded to the suburban town of Triana, landed there with his company, and in a trice, though the alarm was promptly given, set it on fire. Then, leaving it burning, he marched on Portobello, capturing on his way a piece of ordnance with the loss of only one man. The English 467 made directly for the king's treasure-house, a large and conspicuous building where the governor of the town, Pedro Melendez, was stationed, with a strong force. The flames and smoke of Triana had given warning of the invaders' approach, and Parker found before the treasury a squadron of soldiers drawn up ready to receive him, and also a company of trained civilians with two field-pieces. The conflict that followed was sharp and bloody. Soon all of the English except eight or nine were killed or wounded, and the governor at the head of sixty soldiers was now advancing to crush the remnant of their little band. "But," says the pious pirate, "God did prosper our Proceedings mightelie, for the first two Shott which went from us shot Malendus through his Targett, and went throughe both his Armes, and the other Shott hurted the Corporall of the Fielde, whereupon they all retired to their House which they made good untill it was almost daie."
Meanwhile the remainder of the captain's forces had come up, and after a fight of four or five hours the contest was decided in favor of the English. Among the prisoners taken were the governor, the king's escribano, and many of the leading citizens, all of whom were afterward released, Melendez[XXVII‑7] being carried on board the fleet and liberated without ransom after his wounds had been dressed.
The booty captured in the treasure-house amounted to but ten thousand ducats,[XXVII‑8] though had the English arrived but seven days earlier they would have made prize of a hundred and twenty thousand ducats which had just before been carried away by two frigates bound for Cartagena. Elsewhere in the town a considerable amount of plunder was found in the shape of plate, merchandise, and money, all of which was 468 divided among the men, the commander reserving for himself the sum found in the treasury.
No further injury was done to the town, except that a few negro huts were burned in order to intimidate the inhabitants. Seizing two vessels that he found in the port, and in one of which were three mounted pieces of cannon, the English, as they dropped down the river, opened fire on the forts, and were warmly answered by the Spaniards, who expected to sink their vessels. "But God so wrought for us," says the captain, "that we safely gott forthe againe contrarie to the Expectation of our Enemyes." Most of the shots fired from shore passed high overhead, though a few of the English were wounded, among them the commander, who was hit in the elbow with a musket ball which passed out at his wrist. Reaching a neighboring island, Parker was soon rejoined by his ships, and next day, the 9th of February, put out to sea.[XXVII‑9]
It has already been said that in 1585 Portobello contained not more than ten dwellings, and that in March 1597 the port of entry was removed there from Nombre de Dios. During the five years that elapsed between this change and Parker's raid the town had developed into a thriving settlement, and now contained two churches, a treasury, an exchange, a hospital rich and large, a convent and several streets, where for six weeks in the year, when the galleons were in port, merchants and artificers congregated.
Upon the arrival of the galleons, the treasurer, contador, or factor, was ordered by the governor to proceed there, taking with him the deputies of the other two officials.[XXVII‑10] When the gold and silver had 469 been put on board the galleons, and other commodities on board the merchant ships, all were visited by the royal officers to see that the king was not cheated—except for valuable consideration. The coming and going of the annual fleets was a matter of the utmost solicitude to the crown, to shippers, and to consignees. Many a treasure-laden craft either foundered at sea or fell a prey to buccaneers, and the safe arrival of a convoy was heralded with every manifestation of joy, even royalty itself not deeming it out of place to announce such an event. Thus on October 15, 1605, the king in a despatch to the president and audiencia informs them of the arrival of General Don Luis de Córdoba in January of that year.
After the departure of the galleons, Portobello was almost abandoned by the Spaniards, and left mainly to negroes and mulattoes, the inhabitants living chiefly by renting their dwellings and stores at exorbitant rates.[XXVII‑11] The town was built in the shape of a crescent; its harbor was one of the most secure in the Indies,[XXVII‑12] and ship-building and the preparation of 470 cedar lumber were its leading industries. The climate of Portobello, like that of other towns on the Isthmus, was unhealthy, as I have elsewhere stated, though less so than that of Nombre de Dios or even Panamá. The hospital was crowded with invalid soldiers, laborers, and slaves, and in 1608 an annual grant of two thousand ducats was assigned by the crown for its support.
In 1610 the city of Panamá had not more than one third of the population which it possessed in 1585,[XXVII‑13] although from the time of its establishment to the latter date it had grown steadily in wealth and population. The best indication of its decline as a commercial centre is the fact that the revenues of the casa de Cruces,[XXVII‑14] which at one time were farmed out for ten thousand pesos a year, were rented in 1610 for only two thousand pesos. There were mines, but they were not worked;[XXVII‑15] pearl-fisheries, but they lay idle; a measure of trade, but it was in the hands of monopolists, who shared their profits with the king.[XXVII‑16]
The expenses of the general government of Panamá were met by annual appropriations allowed by the 471 council of the Indies, and if we take into consideration the sparseness of the population and the comparative cheapness of the necessaries of life, the officials were exceedingly well paid for their services.[XXVII‑17] But good pay does not seem to have secured faithful service, for on the 28th of March 1605 his Majesty informs the president that he has learned that married officials, while going their official rounds, were accustomed to take with them their wives, who were always provided for at the towns they visited; he enjoins him to forbid them thus to take advantage of their position and to insist that the retinue of bailiffs and servants be reduced to the smallest possible number. Governor Valverde in his report of June 6th following, says that many of the interior towns of Tierra Firme had not been visited by an oidor for many years, and that the province of Veragua had never been visited at all. To remedy such neglect the governor orders the oidores to visit all properly designated places in rotation.
The question of interoceanic communication, to which allusion has already been made, was discussed at intervals during the latter half of the sixteenth century, and further surveys were made early in the seventeenth. "It is true," writes Gomara in 1554, "that mountains obstruct these passages, but if there be mountains there be also hands; let but the resolve be formed to make the passage and it can be made." On the 31st of December 1616 the king informed Diego Fernandez de Velasco, who at that date was appointed governor of Castilla del Oro, that the court of Spain endorsed the opinion of the commercial 472 world on this project. They believed that communication might be easily established between the oceans by constructing a canal connecting the rivers Dacil and Damaquiel, about thirty leagues from Cartagena, and that such a work would enable the king to provide better for the defence of the provinces.[XXVII‑18]
The governor was directed to report on the feasibility of the project, and to despatch a few small vessels for the purpose of making a similar investigation at the gulf of San Miguel and the Rio Darien. The conclusions arrived at by the officers employed on these surveys is not recorded in the chronicles of the age, but we learn that his Majesty was very explicit in his directions that all such explorations and surveys should be made at the expense of those who were interested, and not charged to the royal treasury.[XXVII‑19]
When Felipe IV. ascended the throne of Spain he assured his subjects in the New World that no forced loans should be required during his reign. He even reimbursed, with interest, the money seized by his predecessor, who a year before his death appropriated to his own use an eighth of the treasure on board the fleet from the Isthmus.[XXVII‑20] Nevertheless the fourth Philip was often in sore need of funds. About this time Rodrigo de Vivero was governor of Castilla del Oro, having been appointed the successor of Velasco,[XXVII‑21] and those in charge of the bullion fleet had made a practice 473 of tarrying long at the port of Perico under pretence of taking in merchandise from Spain. Claiming to be under the jurisdiction of the viceroy of Peru they refused obedience to the audiencia of Panamá. In order to prevent delay in the arrival of the treasure-ships it was ordered that all the officers and men of the fleets calling at Tierra Firme should be placed under the immediate jurisdiction of the audiencia.
The king was constantly defrauded of his revenues by contraband trading which prevailed throughout the provinces, but nowhere to such an extent as in Panamá. In the year 1624 the amount of merchandise registered as passing through the casa de Cruces was 1,446,346 pesos, while goods to the amount of 7,597,559 pesos were reported by the factor Cristóbal de Balba to have been smuggled through. No punishment was inflicted for these frauds, though his Majesty thus suffered a loss of 1,370,656 pesos, and the matter was compounded by the payment of 200,000 pesos into the treasury, the factor having received a bribe of 6,000 pesos. Smuggling was practised to such an extent that it threatened the very existence of legitimate commerce. For this condition of affairs Spain had but herself to blame. The merchants of Seville, who still enjoyed a monopoly of the trade with the provinces, despatched only a small squadron twice a year to supply the wants of the colonists. They regulated no less the supply of European goods in America than of American goods in Europe, and took care that both should be shipped in quantities so small as to ensure enormous profits. All kinds of devices were resorted to by contraband traders, both Spaniards and foreigners,[XXVII‑22] to secure a portion of the 474 rich traffic of the Isthmus, and the government finding its revenues constantly decreasing, finally declared smuggling to be a mortal sin, and made those who engaged in it liable to be tried by the inquisition.
It is now in place to allude briefly to the progress of ecclesiastical affairs in Panamá, for here, as elsewhere, they figure largely in the history of the province. With regard to moral and spiritual matters, the people of Panamá, as we have seen, were low enough. Reforms were needed, but reformers were few. On the 26th of November 1572 Pedro Castro de Vedeales, provoked by the flagrant abuses of the time, addressed the licenciado Juan de Ovando, his Majesty's counsellor of the holy inquisition and visitador of the council of the Indies, upon reforms needed in church matters. The communication is elaborate and reviews the errors and misdoings of the Spaniards, particularly in their intercourse with the natives.[XXVII‑23]
When Francisco de Toledo, the new viceroy, arrived at Panamá on his way to Peru in 1569, he restored the royal prerogative of church patronage, which in this diocese, and throughout his viceroyalty, had fallen by disuse into the hands of the archbishop and bishops. In the same year, probably, Francisco Ábrego, a secular priest, had been elevated to the bishopric of Panamá, and continued to hold that office till his decease in 1574.[XXVII‑24] During his administration the chapter 475 considered and formally ratified the decrees of the council of Trent, and in keeping with its behests appointed adjutos, or inferior ecclesiastical judges.
After an interval of four years Fray Manuel de Mercado was placed in charge; and at this time Panamá contained a cathedral, a Franciscan and a Dominican convent, and one belonging to the Merced order. Mercado was succeeded, probably in 1583, by Bartolomé Martinez,[XXVII‑25] who had formerly been archdeacon of the Santa Iglesia of Lima, and after presiding over the see of Panamá for about ten years was promoted to the new prelacy of Granada, but died en route at Cartagena.[XXVII‑26]
The successor of Martinez was Pedro, duque de Ribera, a prominent Jesuit, elected in 1594, who died like his predecessor on reaching Cartagena. The next in succession was Antonio Calderon who was transferred from the bishopric of Porto Rico, and in 1603 was promoted to the see of Santa Cruz de la Sierra.[XXVII‑27]
In 1592 the chapter resolved on the establishment of a nunnery at Panamá, and an appeal in behalf of the project met with prompt and generous response, one citizen alone providing the necessary buildings and a considerable endowment. Six years later the convent was dedicated to Our Lady of the Conception, with an assured revenue of four thousand pesos a year.[XXVII‑28] Four nuns and twenty-four assistants were 476 sent by the archbishop of Lima, whose coöperation had been heartily given.
Thus the spiritual welfare of the inhabitants of Panamá was fully provided for; but the ecclesiastics were by no means single-minded in their labors on behalf of the church. Not content with receiving maintenance, service, and tithes, as provided by law, they extorted, with the connivance of their bishops, salaries of three hundred pesos each from the Indians under their charge,[XXVII‑29] and justly aroused against them the indignation of the king, who instructed the audiencia forthwith to banish from the province many irregular friars of whose disgraceful conduct he had heard.
After the promotion of Bishop Calderon the see of Panamá remained vacant until 1605, when Fray Agustin de Carabajal was appointed prior, and assistant-general of the provinces of Spain and America.[XXVII‑30] Meanwhile the long struggle for supremacy between the authorities of the state and the church, which had now subsided into an unseemly question of precedence in the various religious ceremonials, was disposed of by a royal decree assigning the place of lay and clerical dignitaries in all such pageants. In all processions the bishop led, followed by the officiating presbyter and the clergy. Behind them came the president and audiencia. At the sprinkling with holy water before high mass, the ecclesiastics were to be first sprinkled, and then the president and the 477 audiencia. With regard to handing their bible to the president, the king declared it should not be done, it being an honor to be extended only to viceroys. The bishop's train was to be raised in ecclesiastical ceremony, even though the president and audiencia were present, but only one servant should be allowed to carry it. When the bishop went to the royal house, his train was to be carried as far as the door of the president's room and then dropped. But the main points in dispute were the momentous questions where the bishop was to place his chair on the side of the high altar in the cathedral when the oidores were present, and whether the prebendaries were to be seated beside him. The king decided these matters in favor of the church, and on the 4th of June 1614, after a consultation with the bishop, issued a decree ordering that the regulations in force in the cathedral of Quito should be observed.[XXVII‑31]
In 1611 Carabajal was appointed to the see of Guamango, having founded during his administration at Panamá the college of San Agustin and endowed it with six scholarships, according to the directions of the council of Trent.[XXVII‑32] His successor was Francisco de la Cámara y Raya, who entered upon his office in 1614. During his prelacy was convened the first synod ever held in the diocese of Panamá. During his administration four monks of the order of San Juan de Dios[XXVII‑33] arrived in that city, proposing to serve 478 in the hospitals established there or elsewhere on the Isthmus. Their admission was bitterly opposed by the audiencia, and by the prelate, who was a Dominican, and it was not until June 26, 1620, and in obedience to a provision received, that Captain Ordonó de Salazar, the alguacil mayor, enabled them to take possession of the hospital of Panamá.[XXVII‑34] The order was permanently established in Panamá by Fray Fabian Diaz, who came from Spain with Fray Francisco Lopez in 1604, became celebrated as a physician,[XXVII‑35] and grew rapidly in importance.[XXVII‑36]
In 1625 Fray Cristóbal Martinez, formerly abbot of Segovia, was appointed to the see of Panamá.[XXVII‑37] During his administration serious disturbances occurred among the Augustinian Recollets of the convent of San José, the prime mover, Fray Francisco de la Resurreccion, and his disorderly followers being arrested and sent to Spain by Enrique de Sotomayor, then governor of the province.[XXVII‑38]
The reputation of the ecclesiastics in Panamá about this period appears to have been somewhat unsavory. In 1634 Felipe IV. issued a decree ordering the members of the audiencia to see that the reputation of cloistered nuns be protected. On the 14th of July 1636 the monarch writes to the bishop ordering that he enforce the provisions of a decree addressed to the hierarchy of the Indies in the previous February, by which no mestee, illegitimate son, or person of moral or physical defect was to be ordained. Immoral or scandalous 479 priests were to be expelled from the diocese.[XXVII‑39] During the same year it was ordered that the religious processions, which had hitherto been held at night, should, in the interest of order and decency, be thenceforth conducted by daylight. Nevertheless the work of conversion went bravely on, and during four years the number of baptisms reported in the district of the audiencia exceeded thirteen thousand souls.
In 1644, during the prelacy of Fray Hernando Ramirez, the successor of Martinez, a fire broke out in Panamá which consumed ninety-seven houses, including the episcopal residence, and almost destroyed the cathedral. The latter edifice was restored by the prelate and dedicated in 1655 by his successor, Bernardo de Izaguirre, a fiscal of the inquisition of Cartagena. Its ruins exist at the present day. Great was the distress caused to the citizens by this calamity. "Panamá," writes Juan de Vega Bazan, then governor of the province,[XXVII‑40] in a letter addressed to Felipe IV., "has now but a small population, and this decreasing more and more every day, the fields and roads being filled with vagrants." The king, entertaining an unjust suspicion that the Portuguese had fired the city,[XXVII‑41] ordered their removal from Panamá and Portobello to a distance of twenty leagues 480 into the interior, and instructed Bazan to extort from them as much money as possible before sending them into banishment; but to the credit of that official it is related that he gave no heed to the mandate. For this neglect, and for the nepotism which he displayed during his administration, he was severely censured by his sovereign.[XXVII‑42]
In 1647 Bazan was again censured by the crown for a proceeding which, after due investigation by the fiscal of the audiencia, caused his downfall. Acting under the advice of the licentiate Pedro Chacon, he had caused to be driven from their homes eighteen friars of the order of San José, appointing in their places others of bad repute. The ecclesiastics took refuge in the San Cristóbal hills, but were soon afterward reinstated, and at the close of the following year the governor was superseded by Juan Bitrian de Biamonte y Navarra.[XXVII‑43] The latter died in 1651 while superintending the despatch of a fleet from Portobello, and in the parish church of that city a marble monument was erected to his memory.
Panamá appears to have recovered quickly from the prostration caused by the fire of 1644. An annual fair was held there until the year 1671, at which date the city was destroyed during the raid of Morgan and his buccaneers, as will be presently related. In 1655 the value of merchandise that changed hands during the fair is officially reported at five millions of pesos, and this sum probably represents but a small portion of the business actually done, for, as we 481 have seen, the quantity of goods that found their way into the provinces through contraband trading was often three or four fold greater than that on which duty was paid.
A rare and valuable manuscript and one indispensable to the history of the district of Darien is the report of its governor, Don Andrés de Ariza, of April 5, 1774, addressed to the viceroy, Don Manuel Guirior, entitled Comentas de la Rica y Fertilísima Provincia de el Darien. The original report, accompanied by a map, exists in the National Library of Bogotá, whence the present copy was made for the author. Three separate documents compose the report; a letter describing the generally ruined condition of the province, causes, and proposed remedies; a detailed description of the towns, military posts, and inhabitants, and a condensed account of the actual condition of the province, its inhabitants, resources, and history. These documents review in brief the history of the province for the previous sixty-two years, describing more fully the latest Indian revolts. The manuscript forms one volume in folio of forty closely written pages. 482
Morgan's Early Career—He Resolves to Attack Portobello—The Castle of Triana Blown into the Air—Capture of the City—Atrocities Committed by the Buccaneers—The President of Panamá Marches against Them—He is Driven Back—Morgan Sends Him a Specimen of his Weapons—Ransom of the City and Return to Jamaica—The Buccaneers Prepare another Armament, and Resolve to Attack Panamá—Capture of Fort San Lorenzo—March across the Isthmus—Morgan Arrives in Sight of Panamá—Cowardice of the Governor—Battle with the Spaniards—Burning of the City—Torture of Prisoners—Bravery of a Captive Gentlewoman—The Buccaneers Recross the Isthmus—Division of the Booty.
None of the "brethren of the coast," as English buccaneer, French filibuster, and Dutch sea-rover were pleased to style each other, are better known to fame than Henry Morgan, the Welshman, whose deeds have been heralded in all the principal languages of Europe. Born of respectable parents in easy circumstances, he left home still a lad, and shipped for Barbadoes in the service of a master who, on reaching port, sold him as a slave. On regaining his liberty he proceeded to Jamaica, and finding no other employment joined a piratical expedition which was then on the point of starting for a cruise in the Spanish West Indies. After storing up his share in the proceeds of three or four profitable raids, he was enabled to purchase a vessel in partnership with a few of his more thrifty comrades, and being elected captain made a successful cruise off the coast of Campeche. 483 On his return he was appointed vice-admiral of a fleet, which, under the command of Mansvelt, was preparing for an attack on the island of Santa Catarina.
On the death of Mansvelt in 1664, Morgan, whose gallantry had won the respect of the buccaneers, was appointed his successor, and soon found himself in command of a dozen vessels and seven hundred men. A council was summoned, and it was first proposed to attempt the capture of the city of Habana; but not daring to undertake such an enterprise with so slender a force, the freebooters determined to plunder Puerto Principe, an island town of Cuba grown rich by traffic in hides, and one never yet sacked by the sea-robbers. Warned by a Spanish prisoner who escaped from the fleet as it neared the shore, the inhabitants had time to conceal most of their valuables, and the spoils of this expedition amounted to but fifty thousand pesos, a sum insufficient to pay the debts of the marauders on their return to Jamaica. It was at once determined to undertake some new adventure, and though a difference of opinion between the French and English members of his command caused the former to withdraw from Morgan's service, he soon afterward set sail for the mainland with a fleet of nine ships, and a force of four hundred and sixty fighting men, revealing his design to no one, but promising his followers booty in abundance.
On the last day of June 1668 the buccaneers arrived off the shore of Castilla del Oro. On sighting land their chief disclosed his intention of attacking by night Portobello, a town often visited by the wealthiest merchants of Panamá, whose ingots of gold were there exchanged for slaves or for the merchandise of Spain, and the point to which it will be remembered were forwarded, at certain periods of the year, the gold and silver of the Peruvian and Mexican mines. The place was then accounted one of the strongest of the Spanish fortresses in the western world; it was garrisoned by three hundred troops, contained four hundred 484 citizens capable of bearing arms, and was guarded by strongly fortified castles, commanding the approaches by land and sea. Many hesitated to attack such a stronghold with a mere handful of men, but their commander spoke words of cheer,[XXVIII‑1] and stimulated by the promise of vast spoils all at last gave their consent.
In the dusk of a summer evening the fleet anchored at Porto Ponto, thirty miles west of the town. Leaving a few men to guard their ships the buccaneers ascended a small river in boats or canoes, and landing about midnight marched at once to the attack. All the avenues of approach were well known to Morgan, and among his band was an Englishman, once a prisoner among the Spaniards, who now acted as guide. A castle named Triana, situated in the eastern suburb, was selected as the first point of assault. A sentinel posted at some distance from the fortress was seized and bound by a small party sent in advance, before he had time to fire his musket. Brought into Morgan's presence he was closely questioned, and frequently menaced with death if his answers should prove untrue.
Creeping along under the shroud of night and the cover of a dense thicket, the silence broken now and then by the watchword of a drowsy sentinel, the freebooters surrounded the castle unperceived, and Morgan, coming close under the walls, bid his captive summon the garrison to capitulate, threatening sure death in case of resistance. They replied with a random volley of musketry and cannon shot. Applying scaling-ladders to the walls, the buccaneers swarmed over the parapets, and after a stout resistance the Spaniards surrendered. Morgan fulfilled his threat. Securing all his prisoners in a large chamber, near the powder-magazine, he fired it by means of match and 485 train when at a safe distance, and the citizens of Portobello, now roused by the sound of the firing, beheld the castle and all its inmates blown high into the air. The invaders fell at once on the panic-stricken inhabitants, rushing through the streets with hideous outcries, and cutting down whomever they met. Many had already fled to the neighboring forests, first casting their money and jewelry into wells and cisterns, or hiding them underground. The governor of the town rallied a small party and retired with them into the strongest of the remaining forts, whence a brisk fire was opened on the assailants. Approaching within two hundred yards the buccaneers aimed at the mouths of the cannon, picking off the Spanish gunners as they reloaded their pieces; but their ranks were repeatedly ploughed by well-directed discharges of artillery. After suffering heavy loss to little purpose, they came close up to the castle and attempted to burn down the gates. The Spaniards received them with sharp volleys of musketry, and dropping hand-grenades and missiles of every description on the heads of the besiegers, they drove them back beyond the range of the guns.
Morgan now began to despair, but rallied after remaining for a while in hesitation as to his next movement. To quote the words of Exquemelin, "many faint and calm meditations came into his mind; neither could he determine which way to turn himself in that strait." A part of his forces had been detailed to attack one of the minor fortresses, and looking in that direction he saw that his men had already planted the English colors on the battlements, and were hastening to his support. Taking heart from this success the commander at once resolved to renew the attack, and being a man ready of resource soon hit on a new expedient. He caused a number of priests and nuns to be seized and dragged from their cloisters, and ordering scaling-ladders to be made, wide enough for several to mount abreast, bid his prisoners fix them 486 against the castle walls, thinking thus to shield his men from the weapons of the Spaniards.
Driven forward at the point of sword and pike the captives came close up to the guns of the fort, and falling on their knees besought the governor by all the saints to surrender, and save his own life and their own; but orders were given to spare none who came near the walls. Priest and nun were crushed beneath falling rocks or shot down without mercy, and numbers were killed before the ladders could be adjusted. When at length the task was accomplished, the buccaneers swarmed up to the assault; and though many were hurled down by the defenders, others held their footing on the parapet, and after plying the garrison with hand-grenades and pots of powder containing lighted fuses, leaped down with sword and pistol in their midst. The Spaniards then threw down their arms and craved for mercy; that is, all but the governor, who, single-handed, maintained for a while a hopeless struggle, killing several of his assailants, and running through the body some of his own recreant soldiers. In vain the buccaneers offered him quarter, unwilling to put to the sword so gallant an officer; in vain his wife and daughter knelt and entreated him with tears to yield. His reply was: "By no means; I had rather die as a valiant soldier than be hanged as a coward."[XXVIII‑2] After several attempts to overpower or capture him, he was at length despatched.
There still remained several castles in the hands of the Spaniards, one of which was strongly fortified and commanded the entrance to the harbor. It was deemed necessary to capture it without delay in order to allow the fleet to be brought round to Portobello, for the losses of the freebooters had been so severe that time must be allowed for the recovery of the wounded. Turning against it the cannon of the captured fort, Morgan compelled his captives to work 487 the guns, and advancing under cover of the fire took it by escalade after a sharp struggle, in which all the Spanish officers were slain.
Soon after nightfall the invaders held entire possession of the city. They placed their own wounded in comfortable quarters under care of female slaves, and the wounded Spaniards in a separate apartment, without food, water, or attendance; and after posting their guards fell at once, as was their custom after victory, to feasting, drunkenness, and foul debauch. Matron and virgin, threatened at the point of the sword, were forced to yield to the embrace of these cut-throats, whose hands were yet stained with the blood of their husbands and brothers. Neither age nor condition was spared. The religious recluse torn from the shelter of the convent, and girls of tender age dragged from their mothers' arms, fell victims alike to the conquerors' lust. At length, stupefied with wine, and worn out with twenty-four hours of continuous toil, the marauders sank to rest. Fifty resolute men could then have delivered the town; but all night long no sound was heard save the moans of the wounded and the cries of heart-broken women.
At daylight the buccaneers plundered the place of all the valuables they could find, sacking the houses of the citizens, and stripping the churches of their gold and silver ornaments and their services of massive plate. Those who were believed to be the wealthiest of the prisoners were questioned as to the whereabouts of their concealed treasures; and failing to disclose them, were stretched on the rack, until many died under the torture.
For fifteen days Morgan remained at Portobello, though aware that the president of Panamá was preparing an expedition against him. His retreat was open to the ships, and the threatened attack gave him no uneasiness; but many of his men had died of wounds, of the effects of drunken excess, and of an atmosphere poisoned by half-buried corpses. Moreover 488 provisions began to run short. They were compelled to live almost entirely on the flesh of horses and mules. Many of the captive and most of the wounded Spaniards had perished from privation, having been allowed no sustenance but a morsel of mule meat and a little muddy unfiltered water. Preparations were therefore made for departure. Placing the booty on board the fleet, Morgan demanded of his prisoners a ransom of 100,000 pesos, threatening otherwise to burn the town and blow up the castles. Two of the citizens, despatched to Panamá by his orders to raise the amount, gave information of the true condition of affairs. The president had a force of fifteen hundred men at his disposal, and at once marched to relieve his countrymen, and, as he hoped, cut off the retreat of the adventurers.
Forewarned of his approach Morgan posted a hundred picked men in a narrow defile through which lay the route of the Spaniards. At the first encounter the main body of the Spanish forces was routed; many fled at once to Panamá, bearing with them the news of their defeat; and for a time the expedition was crippled. While awaiting reënforcements the president resolved to try the effect of threats, though aware that he was in no position to enforce them. Sending a messenger to Morgan, he bid him depart at once from Portobello or expect no quarter for himself or his companions. The commander of the buccaneers answered by doubling the amount of the required contribution[XXVIII‑3] and stating that he would hold the place until the ransom was paid, or if it were not paid, would burn down the houses, demolish the forts, and put every captive to death.
As further effort appeared to be useless, the president left the inhabitants of the town to work out their own salvation; but surprised that a place defended by strongly fortified castles should fall a 489 prey to so slender a force, he despatched a messenger to request of the conquerors a specimen of their weapons. Morgan received him courteously, and with grim humor handed him a musket and a few bullets, bidding him tell his master "that he was much pleased to show him a slender pattern of the arms wherewith he had taken Portobello, and begged him to keep them a twelvemonth, after which he promised to come to Panamá and take them away." The president soon returned the weapon, together with a present of an emerald ring and a message "that he did not want for arms of that sort, but regretted that men of such courage were not employed on some just war under a great prince."
Meanwhile the freebooters had agreed to deliver up the town on receiving a ransom of a hundred thousand pesos. The amount was collected and paid over. The best guns of the stronghold were then put on board the vessels; the rest were spiked, and the buccaneers sailed for Cuba, where they portioned out the spoils, which consisted of coin, bullion, and jewels, to the value of two hundred and sixty thousand pesos, counting the jewels at less than half their real value, besides large stores of silk, linen, cloth, and other merchandise. Proceeding thence to Jamaica, they squandered in riot and gross dissipation the wealth that others had accumulated by years of patient toil and self-denial. A few days of swinish debauchery among the wine-shops and brothels of Port Royal left the majority of the gang without means or credit, and clamorous for some new expedition. It was nothing unusual for some of them to spend or gamble away in a single night their entire share in the proceeds of a successful raid, and to render themselves liable to be sold next morning as slaves to satisfy an unpaid tavern score. Some would drag out into the streets a cask of wine, others a barrel of strong ale, and presenting their pistols at the passers-by, compel them, whether men or women, to drink in their company, 490 running up and down the streets, when crazed with liquor, and beating or bespattering whomsoever they met.
The standard of humanity among the buccaneers was such as might be expected among men who have been cut off from honorable intercourse with their kind. Many of them had been kidnapped in early youth, and shipped from England to the British West Indies, and there sold as slaves, and subjected to such treatment as often reduced those of weakly constitution to idiocy. They had been starved and racked and mutilated. They had been beaten till the blood ran in streams from their backs, and then rubbed with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. It is not strange that the temper of men who had passed through such ordeals should be permanently warped; that their hand should be against every man, and that they should afterward inflict on the prisoners who fell into their power tortures as cruel as they themselves had suffered at the hands of their masters.
The fame of Morgan's exploits induced numbers of both French and English to join the standard of the freebooter. To the veterans who had served under him during former raids was added a swarm of recruits, eager to share in the plunder if not in the glory of his expeditions. He was soon in command of his squadron of fifteen vessels and a force of nine hundred and sixty combatants, and appointing as a rendezvous the islet of Saona gave orders to sail along the southern coast of Española. Heavy gales were encountered during the voyage, and a portion of his ships being driven from their course he found his diminished forces inadequate for any great enterprise. Under the advice of a French captain, who had served under L'Olonnois and Michel Le Basque at the capture of Maracaibo and Gibraltar in 1666, he determined to plunder those towns and their surrounding neighborhood. The proceeds of this foray amounted, according 491 to some authorities, to two hundred and fifty thousand pesos.[XXVIII‑4] After defeating a strong Spanish squadron stationed at the entrance of Lake Maracaibo to bar the escape of his fleet, Morgan returned to Jamaica, where he found most of his missing vessels.
Learning that a treaty was being negotiated between Spain and Great Britain, which would soon put an end to further raids, the buccaneers were eager that some new expedition should be at once organized on a larger scale, and with more ambitious intent than any before undertaken. Morgan readily agreed to take command, and sending despatches to the veteran freebooters quartered in Santo Domingo and Tortuga to acquaint them with his purpose, appointed as a rendezvous Port Corillon in the island of Vache, where by the end of October 1670 his followers had assembled in force.
The first care was to obtain a supply of provisions, and for this purpose hunting parties were sent forth daily to scour the woods, while a squadron of four vessels with four hundred men under the command of Captain Bradley[XXVIII‑5] was despatched to the mainland, to obtain supplies of wheat or maize. Entering the mouth of the Rio Hacha, about fifty leagues to the north-west of the lake of Maracaibo, Bradley captured a vessel laden principally with cereals, received four thousand bushels of maize as ransom from a village on the bank of the river, and with other booty and a number of prisoners returned after an absence of five weeks.[XXVIII‑6]
Morgan next sailed for Cape Tiburon, where reënforcements from Jamaica joined the expedition, and 492 he now found at his disposal a fleet of thirty-seven ships and a force of two thousand fighting men.[XXVIII‑7]
His largest vessel carried twenty-four heavy guns and six small brass cannon;[XXVIII‑8] many of the others were armed with sixteen to twenty, and none with less than four pieces of ordnance. Morgan assumed the title of admiral; the royal banner of England was hoisted from the main-mast of his flag-ship; and commissions[XXVIII‑9] were given to the officers, authorizing the capture of Spanish vessels either at sea or in harbor, and all manner of hostilities against the Spanish nation, as against the declared enemies of the king of Great Britain.
Articles of agreement were signed stipulating that those who were maimed or had distinguished themselves in action should receive compensation or reward from the first proceeds of the raid, and that the remainder should be distributed according to the rank or office of the members of the expedition.[XXVIII‑10]
The three most tempting prizes on the Spanish 493 mainland were Panamá, Vera Cruz, and Cartagena. A council was summoned on board the admiral's ship, and it was decided that Morgan, fulfilling the promise he had made at Portobello, should show Don Juan Perez de Guzman, president of Panamá, the use the buccaneers made of their weapons.
It happened that the isthmus of Darien was little known to any of these sea-rovers, and before venturing on the mainland it was determined to capture the isle of Santa Catarina, which was then used as the penal settlement of the Spanish West Indies, and contained among its garrison men serving out their sentence under ban from Panamá. Among these outlaws some would no doubt be found who were well acquainted with the approaches to that city.
Setting sail from Cape Tiburon on the 16th of December, the fleet anchored off Santa Catarina the fifth day, and on the same afternoon the freebooters landed without opposition. The garrison and inhabitants had retired to a small adjacent islet defended by ten castles which, with a resolute defence, would have been impregnable; but the governor, when summoned to capitulate, consented on condition that he should be allowed to depart unmolested after making a show of resistance. A sham fight was maintained by night for several hours, and no powder was spared.[XXVIII‑11] The buccaneers fired with blank cartridge, and the Spaniards were ordered to train their guns so that the shot whistled harmless overhead. The place was then surrendered, the prisoners were mustered and disarmed, and the freebooters, having fasted for twenty-four hours, waged war in earnest on the cattle, poultry, and game which they found in the neighborhood. Three outlaws from Panamá, two of them Indians and one a mulatto, all well acquainted with the most favorable routes, were delivered up as guides. The Indians, aware that their own countrymen would 494 suffer from the raid in common with the Spaniards, feigned ignorance, but were betrayed by the mulatto and put to the torture. One of them died on the rack, and the survivor then confessed that he knew the roads, and consented to serve his captors.
Before landing the main body of the buccaneers on the Isthmus, Morgan determined to capture the castle of San Lorenzo, which guarded the mouth of the Chagre River. For this purpose he despatched a squadron of five vessels with four hundred men[XXVIII‑12] under Captain Bradley, remaining himself at Santa Catarina with the rest of his forces, in order to mask his main design. The castle was built on a high rock, steep enough to render it inaccessible on the southern side, and was protected on the north by the river, which widens at that point. Four bastions mounted with artillery guarded the approaches by land, and two faced seaward. At the foot of the rock were three batteries which commanded the mouth of the Chagre. At the outlet of the river is a sunken reef and a sand-bar, over which the breakers roll for almost the entire width. Only in the calmest weather can one detect a narrow passage close under the precipice, whose height is still crowned by the ruins of the castle of San Lorenzo. The fortress was surrounded with palisades, filled in with earth, and its single entrance could be approached only by a drawbridge which spanned a crevasse in the rock thirty feet in depth. The garrison consisted of three hundred and fourteen well armed and veteran troops, and a party of expert Indian bowmen under as gallant an officer as ever drew sword.
Bradley saw that the stronghold could be assailed only from the land side, and anchored his vessels in a small bay at a short distance from the outlet of the river. The freebooters went ashore soon after midnight, and after cutting their way through woods 495 tangled with undergrowth, and scaling precipitous rocks, debouched about two in the afternoon on an open space within gunshot of the fort and advanced to the attack. The garrison at once opened on them a hot fire, crying out: "Come on, ye cursed English dogs, and let your companions that are behind you come on; you shall not get to Panamá this bout." The assailants suffered severely and were driven back to the shelter of the woods; but returning at nightfall came close up to the edge of the crevasse and attempted to burn down the palisades which bordered the opposite verge. Guided by the light of the fireballs the Spaniards plied them incessantly with musketry and artillery and the Indians discharged their arrows with hardly less effect. Men fell fast, and Bradley had both his legs taken off by a round shot. The buccaneers were sorely distressed and well nigh despaired of success, when a lucky stroke turned the scale in their favor. One of their party, being pierced with an arrow, plucked it forth and winding it round with cotton, shot it back from his musket toward the fortress, where it lighted on a house[XXVIII‑13] thatched with palm leaves. The cotton, ignited by the flash of the powder, set fire to the roof. The flames were unnoticed until beyond control, and spreading rapidly soon exploded a package of gunpowder. The besieged now bent all their efforts to stay the conflagration and the freebooters crowded into the crevasse, and mounting on each other's shoulders burnt down the stakes of the palisades.
By daybreak the castle was almost a ruin, and the earth which supported the palisades had fallen into the crevasse, filling it in places to a level with the surface. A murderous fire was poured on the defenders 496 till noon, when the assailants advanced to storm the breach. Many of the Spaniards hurled themselves down the steep side of the rock, preferring death to surrender. The governor, at the head of a handful of men, still maintained a hopeless struggle, but a musket-ball through the head soon laid him low, and all resistance was at an end. Only thirty of the garrison were found alive; among them not a single officer, and scarcely a dozen unwounded men. The prisoners gave information that news of the intended raid had reached Panamá by way of Cartagena several weeks previously; that a deserter from the expedition, when at the Rio Hacha, had also revealed Morgan's design; that messengers had been despatched by the governor of the fortress to the president, with news of the invaders' approach; that ambuscades were already posted at several points on the banks of the Chagre, and that the president with the main body of his forces awaited their approach on the plains surrounding Panamá.
The Spaniards were ordered to throw down their dead to the foot of the castle rock, and there to bury them. A neighboring church served as a hospital for the wounded, and a prison-house for the captured women, who were subjected as usual to foul outrage and defilement, daughters being violated in presence of their mothers, and wives before their husbands—pantomimes of hell performed within the walls of a sanctuary.
On receiving news of the capture of San Lorenzo, the commander of the buccaneers gave orders that all the houses on the isle of Santa Catarina should be burned to the ground, and that the fortifications on the adjacent islet should be destroyed, with the exception of one of the strongest castles, which he reserved for future occupation. Casting the guns of the fortress into the sea, and placing his prisoners on board the fleet, he set sail for the mainland, and arrived off the mouth of the Chagre in January 1671. Overjoyed at 497 seeing the English colors flying from the fort, the freebooters, through careless navigation, lost four of their ships on the sunken rock at the entrance of the river, but prizes were made of several large flat-bottomed boats, and of a number of canoes built specially for the navigation of the stream. Five hundred men were left as a garrison for the castle, and one hundred and fifty as a guard for the fleet; the captives were ordered to repair the breaches in the fortress; and the main body of the adventurers, at least twelve hundred strong,[XXVIII‑14] started on their expedition against Panamá. Morgan gave orders that no provisions should be taken but a slender stock of maize, barely sufficient for a single day's rations. He told his men that, their means of conveyance being limited, they must not encumber themselves with unnecessary baggage, for they would soon replenish their supplies from the magazines of the Spaniards, who lay in ambush along the route. Moreover, the detachment left behind at San Lorenzo numbered with the prisoners over 1,000 persons, and the entire supply was hardly enough for their subsistence until his return.
The journey was begun in boats and canoes, and notwithstanding a rapid current and a want of skill in managing the overloaded vessels, about six leagues were made the first day. So little did the freebooters know of the impediments they were soon to encounter in their ascent of the stream, that they took with them five large scows laden with artillery and ammunition. A few of the party went ashore at night to search for food, as their scanty allowance of maize was soon devoured, but nothing eatable was discovered and most of the buccaneers lay down to rest supperless with nothing but a pipe of tobacco to appease their hunger. 498
On the second evening they arrived at a spot where the river-bed was shoal from drought, and choked with fallen trees. The guides assured them that a few miles beyond they would find no difficulty in continuing their route, either by land or water, and next morning, leaving a strong guard over their vessels, they attempted to make their way through the forests that skirt the banks of the Chagre. The trees were matted with vines, and the spaces between them filled with a dense wall of tropical undergrowth, in places impenetrable to sight. Most of the men were ordered to return to the river, and leaving there the scows with the artillery they managed to drag their canoes over the shallow places, a portion of them embarking wherever the water was of sufficient depth. The remainder cut a passage through the woods with extreme difficulty, and on the following afternoon all assembled on the bank of the stream, where they passed the night without food, benumbed with cold, and unable to sleep.
Worn out with toil and gaunt with hunger, their clothing torn to rags, the buccaneers resumed their journey on the morning of the fourth day, some of them already staggering from weakness and halting now and then to gnaw the roots and leaves, or to soak in water and chew strips cut from the empty leathern sacks which had contained their dole of maize. About noon one of the guides called out that he had discovered signs of an ambuscade—a cry welcome to the freebooters, who advanced at once to the attack, hoping at length to obtain a supply of provisions. Forewarned by their scouts, who had given timely notice of the enemy's approach, the Spaniards had retired to a safe distance, and none were found to offer resistance, nor any scrap of food save a few crumbs scattered round the spot where the fugitives had made a recent meal. All their bright visions of wealth now faded before the grim spectre of famine, and their one thought was to obtain the means of 499 relieving the gnawing at their vitals. Ill had it fared with any captive who might then have fallen into the hands of these famished desperadoes, for he would surely have been carved and eaten. In some neighboring huts were found a few bundles of dry hides, such as were used by the natives for making bags for the storage of corn. These were beaten between rocks, soaked in the river, cut into small pieces, rubbed by hand, and after the hair had been scraped off, were cooked and gulped down morsel by morsel with draughts of water. About sundown a spot was reached where were traces of another ambuscade, but no fragments of victuals, for orders had been given to destroy or remove everything edible beyond reach of the invaders, in the hope that they would be forced by starvation to retrace their steps. Fortunate was he that night who had reserved some scraps of hide on which to make his evening repast.
At noon on the fifth day of the journey they arrived at the village of Barbacoas, near which, after a long search, they discovered in a grotto recently hewn out of the rock, two sacks of meal, a quantity of plantains, and two jars of wine. This scanty supply was portioned out among those who were in the last extremity, many of them so weak that they had to be carried on board the canoes. Most of the buccaneers again lay down supperless to rest, some jesting at their sorry plight, but the majority threatening to desert, and uttering curses loud and deep against the man who with promise of rich spoils had lured them into a wilderness where they seemed fated soon to leave their carcasses a prey to the vultures.
Nevertheless all continued their course next morning, and about midday came in sight of a plantation which they approached with slow step and staggering gait, halting every few paces to rest through extreme weakness. At first no relief was found, and many of the freebooters were about to carry out their threat of returning to Chagre, when one of them discovered 500 a barn filled with maize which the Spaniards had neglected to remove, thinking that the invaders could not make their way so far across the Isthmus. The stronger of the party at once beat in the doors with the but-end of their muskets, and after devouring their fill of the raw grain made way for their comrades, and carried a portion down to those who lay in the canoes so enfeebled with their long fast that they were unable to crawl further. When all had satisfied their hunger, enough remained to give each man a good allowance. Toward nightfall they came in sight of a body of Indians posted on the opposite side of the river. Morgan at once ordered a party to give chase, hoping to capture some; but being more fleet of foot and in better condition, they easily made their escape, after discharging a flight of arrows, which laid low two or three of their pursuers, the natives crying out as they brandished their weapons: "Ha, perros, á la savana, á la savana."
At sunrise on the seventh day the freebooters crossed the river and continued their route on the other side, arriving in a few hours in sight of the village of Cruces, about eight leagues from Panamá, and the head of navigation on the Chagre. Smoke was soon observed rising from the chimneys, and the buccaneers ran forward, exclaiming: "They are making good fires to roast and boil what we are to eat." One more disappointment was in store for them: the place was found to be deserted and the houses in flames. The only provisions discovered were a single leathern sack of bread and some jars of wine. A number of dogs and cats left straying around the neighborhood were instantly killed and devoured. The wine, acting on stomachs weak with fasting and disordered by unwholesome diet, caused a violent sickness, and for a while they believed themselves poisoned.
At daybreak next morning two hundred of the best armed and strongest were sent forward to search for 501 ambuscades and to reconnoitre the road, Morgan himself following a few hours later with the rest of his forces. After a few hours' march the advanced guard arrived at a spot then called Quebrada Obscura, a ravine enclosed between walls of rock, and so narrow that three men could with difficulty walk abreast. A flight of arrows, discharged by an unseen foe, fell upon them as from the clouds. For a moment the most stout-hearted hesitated. They were not the men to shrink from peril, but they saw that a handful of resolute troops could hold the pass against an army. Before them lay a forest from which artillery and musketry could sweep the pass. Overhead were sheer precipices from which rocks hurled on their heads might easily have destroyed the entire force. The buccaneers observed some Indians gliding among the trees in their front, and pushing forward after a brief delay to a point where the pass widened, fired a volley into the woods at random. The Indian chieftain, recognized by his parti-colored plumes, fell wounded, and, when the freebooters offered him quarter, raised himself on his elbow and made a pass at one of them with his javelin. He was instantly shot through the head, and his followers took to flight. In this skirmish no prisoners were taken, and the loss of Morgan's advanced guard was about ten killed and as many wounded.[XXVIII‑15]
The main body of the buccaneers soon arrived, and after a brief halt the march was resumed, for toward dusk a heavy storm of wind and rain set in, and continued far into the night. It was the custom of the Spaniards to burn the houses that lay on the line of 502 route, and the men passed the night without shelter, sitting huddled on the ground. A few shepherds' huts afforded scant protection for the wounded, and storage room for the arms and ammunition. The robbers were on foot at the first gleam of dawn, and after discharging their fire-locks at once fell into the ranks. Toward noon on this, the ninth day of the journey, they ascended a lofty hill which yet bears the name of El Cerro de los Buccaneros, and from its summit looked down for the first time on the Pacific. The storm had broken, and a few white sailing boats were seen gliding among a group of islands that lay a few leagues to the south of Panamá; but a far more interesting sight to these toil-worn and famished marauders was a neighboring valley, where droves of oxen and bands of horses were quietly grazing. No enemy appeared, and some of the cattle were at once shot down. Hacking them piecemeal they cast the flesh into hastily kindled fires, and snatching it from the flames while still half raw, tore it with their fingers and devoured it with the greed of starving wolves, the blood streaming down their beards and dripping from their garments. Before the meal was over, Morgan ordered a false alarm to be sounded, fearing that the Spaniards might take them by surprise. It soon became evident that this was no needless precaution, for an hour or two later a strong detachment of Spanish cavalry appeared almost within musket shot. Finding the enemy prepared to receive them they quickly withdrew, and the sound of drum and trumpet soon gave notice to the retreating squadrons that the buccaneers were in sight of Panamá.
Two or three piers of a shattered bridge, a fragment of wall, a single tower, and a few remnants of public buildings, half buried under a dense growth of creepers, still mark the spot where, in 1671, stood a city with fine streets and beautiful edifices, among which were stately churches richly adorned with altar-pieces and rare paintings, with golden censers and goblets, 503 and tall candelabra of native silver. There were the abodes of the merchant princes of the New World, some of them the descendants of men who had fought under Cortés when he added the empire of the Montezumas to the realms of the Spanish crown. There were vast warehouses stored with flour, wine, oil, spices, and the merchandise of Spain; there were villas of cedar surrounded with beautiful gardens, where fair women enjoyed the cool evening breeze as they gazed seaward on the untroubled waters of the Pacific.
But what was Don Juan Perez de Guzman doing while Morgan was on his way up the Chagre, after capturing the high-mounted castle of San Lorenzo? Masses were being said daily for the success of the Spanish arms. The images of our lady of pure and immaculate conception were being carried in general procession, attended by all the religious fraternity of the cathedral. Always the most holy sacrament was left uncovered and exposed to public view. Oaths were being taken with much pious fervor in the presence of the sacred effigies, and all the president's relics and jewelry, including a diamond ring worth forty thousand pesos, were laid on the altars of the holy virgin and of the saints who held in their special keeping the welfare of Panamá. Surely if the favor of celestial powers can be bought with prayers and money they have here received their price, and should deliver this city, especially when the pirates neglect to glorify God with their spoils.[XXVIII‑16] Sleek friars, with downcast look, gathering up these votive offerings, and taking in charge the gold and silver ornaments of the churches, invoked the blessing of God on the royal banners of Spain, and hurried off beyond reach of the coming fray with the treasures thus lavished upon them through the instrumentality of Satan. The forces of the Spaniards, consisting of 400 horse and 2,400 foot, with a few pieces of cannon, were then 504 drawn up in the plain without the city. Yet another mode of warfare, unique in New World adventure, presents itself, as 2,000 wild oxen, under the guidance of Indians, were placed on the flanks of the army ready to break through the enemy's ranks.
The buccaneers pitched their camp near the brow of a hill in full view of the plain. There were yet two hours of daylight, and the Spanish artillery at once opened on them with round shot, but at too long range to take effect. Morgan posted his sentries without the least misgiving, and his men, after making their supper on the remnants of the noonday meal, threw themselves upon the ground to obtain what rest they could.
As soon as the first gleam of dawn heralded the approach of the last day the doomed city was destined to witness after an existence of one hundred and fifty years,[XXVIII‑17] the morning gun from the president's camp gave the signal for both armies to fall into the ranks, and a few minutes later the freebooters were on the march toward the city. Warned by their scouts that ambuscades were posted along the line of the main road, they cut their way with some difficulty through a neighboring wood, and debouched on the summit of a small eminence that still bears the name of El Cerro de Avance. The Spanish battalions, ill armed with carbines, fowling-pieces, and arquebuses, but dressed in parti-colored silk uniforms, the horsemen prancing on mettlesome steeds as though attending a bull-fight, lay before them almost within musket shot. Morgan drew up the main body of his forces in three columns, and sending in front a strong detachment of his best marksmen, descended into the plain to give battle. The enemy's artillery, posted in a part of the field where it commanded the main avenues of approach to the city, was far out of range, but 505 the horse, under Francisco de Haro, at once moved forward with loud shouts of Viva el rey! to hold the enemy in check. The ground was swampy, yielding to the foot, and unfavorable for the action of cavalry; moreover Morgan's veterans were not of the stuff to be daunted by a battle-cry and the onslaught of a few squads of troopers. Forming in close order with front rank kneeling, and reserving their fire until the Spaniards came up almost to the points of their muskets, they poured in a volley which told with murderous effect. Don Francisco led his men repeatedly to the charge, but no impression could be made, and the shattered lines at length wheeled off to a safe distance, leaving their gallant chieftain dead on the field.
Meanwhile the captain-general, after being confessed by the priest and repeating his Ave Marías and prayers to the saints, had come forth from his tent to see how the battle was progressing. The Spanish foot were then ordered to assail the enemy in front, while bands of oxen were driven in on their flank to break through their battalions. The buccaneers had the wind and sun in their favor, and could concentrate on a given point as many men as their opponents could bring against them; for in rear of the latter lay a large morass which prevented them from wheeling their main body. The infantry were received with a hot fire and handled so roughly that they began to retreat. Morgan's left wing then attacked them in flank and their retreat was soon turned into a rout. The wild cattle, maddened by the uproar, the smell of blood, and by the red flag shaken in their faces—many of their drivers being shot down by a party of musketeers detailed for the purpose—were driven back on the flying columns. The president made a feeble effort to rally his men, until the staff which he carried in his hand, the only weapon apparently which he bore that day, was grazed with a shot, when, yielding to the entreaties of his chaplain, he retired from the fight, giving thanks to the blessed 506 virgin, "who had brought him off safe from amidst so many thousand bullets."[XXVIII‑18]
In two hours the battle was won. Six hundred of the Spaniards lay dead on the plains; the cavalry were almost annihilated, and the infantry threw away their arms and scattered into small parties, many of them hiding among the bushes by the sea-shore where they were afterward discovered and butchered. A party of Franciscan friars, who had remained with the army to offer the last consolations of religion to the dying, were captured and shot without mercy. Orders were at first given that no quarter should be granted, as the buccaneers were too much crippled to encumber themselves with prisoners. An exception was made, however, in the case of a wounded Spanish officer, who was brought into the commander's presence and gave information that the city contained only a garrison of one hundred men, but that the streets were protected by barricades and by twenty-eight pieces of cannon, and that the president would probably reoccupy the place if he could reorganize his forces. Morgan at once assembled his troops, and telling them they must lose no time in seizing the prize, put his columns in motion by way of the Portobello road, which lay beyond reach of the enemy's fire, and within an hour made his entrance into Panamá without opposition.[XXVIII‑19] Warning was given to the men to keep out of range of the cannon that were posted in the plaza 507 mayor, but most of them ran to and fro without heed, in search of plunder or in pursuit of fugitives, and the Spaniards, pointing their pieces at several thickly clustered groups of the enemy, poured in a volley from guns loaded to the muzzle with musket balls and scraps of iron. This was the last shot fired in defence of Panamá; for the cannoniers were cut in pieces before they had time to reload, and the freebooters rushed through the streets hewing down all who offered resistance.
Except large stores of silk and cloth little booty was discovered in the fallen city, for the greater part of the inhabitants had fled to the neighboring islands, taking with them their wives and children and all their portable property. Morgan's first precaution was to forbid his men to taste wine, under the pretence that it had all been poisoned. He feared that after their long fast they would as usual celebrate their victory with feasting and drunkenness, and thus afford the Spaniards a chance to rally and overpower them when stupefied with liquor.
The buccaneers had barely time to post their guards, and take up their quarters in the deserted dwellings when flames were seen breaking forth from some of the largest houses. The president having received information that Morgan had among his party a young Englishman whom he intended to crown king of Tierra Firme, had given orders for the metropolitan city to be burned if it should fall into the hands of the pirates.[XXVIII‑20] The fire spread rapidly, although the 508 freebooters did their utmost to check its progress. Several houses were torn down, and others blown up with gunpowder, but all efforts were in vain. A fresh breeze had set in from the Pacific, and the buildings, almost entirely of wood, many of them well stored with costly furniture and adorned with pictures and tapestry, fell an easy prey to the flames. Within an hour an entire street was consumed, and by midnight a single convent, one or two public buildings, and the cabins of a distant quarter, wretchedly built, and occupied only by muleteers, were all that remained of the seven thousand houses of cedar, the two hundred warehouses, the monasteries and churches of a city which but a few days before was peopled by thirty thousand inhabitants, and famed as the abode of one of the wealthiest communities in the western world.
Morgan sent a detachment of one hundred and fifty men to Chagre to carry news of his victory and bring back word as to the welfare of the garrison, and ordered the remainder of his command to camp in the plains, thus keeping them in hand and ready for action in case the president should rally his forces and renew the fight. Troops of Spaniards and Indians were seen flitting to and fro along the edge of the forest which skirted the savanna, but it was evident that they had no confidence in their captain-general, for as he himself naively remarked in his intercepted despatch: "Although he afterward attempted several times to form an army, yet he could not do any good of it, because no man would be persuaded to follow him." The buccaneers soon returned, therefore, to take up their quarters in the few buildings that had 509 escaped the conflagration. As no spoils of value had yet been found except a few gold and silver utensils hidden in wells and cisterns, or buried beneath the ruins, parties were sent to scour the neighboring woods and hills in quest of fugitives who might be subjected to torture.
A bark laden with goods for the use of the refugees who had fled to a neighboring group of islands had been captured on the evening that Morgan took possession of Panamá. Orders had been given that all sea-going vessels should take their departure, but the captain had lingered for the turn of the tide, not deeming it possible that so sudden a disaster could befall the city. The vessel was at once despatched with a company of twenty-five men to search for the treasures which, as the buccaneers learned from their captives, had been conveyed beyond their grasp. The men landed the next day at one of the smallest islands, and having managed to smuggle on board a few jars of wine, were soon half stupefied with liquor. Toward evening a Spanish ship, which lay off the opposite side of the islet, put ashore to obtain water, and the crew were captured by some of the party who had yet sense enough left to point a musket. A prize was now within their reach of greater value than all the booty that the adventurers were destined to obtain from their raid. A galleon of four hundred tons, ill manned, poorly armed, and carrying no canvas but the upper sails of the mainmast, so deeply laden with ingots of gold and silver, with the plate and treasures of the wealthiest merchants of Panamá, and with the golden vessels and decorations of church and monastery that no other ballast was needed,[XXVIII‑21] lay almost within cannon-shot. The captain of the bark did not venture to make the attack at nightfall with his feeble and drunken band, feeling satisfied, moreover, that he would have an opportunity of capturing the vessel at 510 daybreak; but alarmed at the non-arrival of the boat, the commander of the galleon ordered the anchor slipped long before midnight, and the ship, favored with a strong breeze, was out of sight when the sun appeared above the horizon.
The detachment returned from Chagre with news that all was going well; so Morgan determined to prolong his stay at Panamá, and wrest from the Spaniards a portion at least of their concealed riches. Parties were sent forth to scour the country and bring in prisoners. The captives were placed in the convent of Mercedes, San José, and there subjected to such ingenuity of torture as might satisfy even Great Britain that her people were not behind the age in brutal barbarities. One instance only need be related. A servant, dressed in his master's garments, from one of which depended a small silver key, was captured by the buccaneers. Ordered to reveal the hiding-place of the cabinet to which the key belonged, he replied that he knew it not, and merely had the key in his possession because he had ventured to don his master's attire. No other answer coming, he was stretched on the rack and his arms disjointed. A cord was then twisted round his forehead until, to use the words of Exquemelin, "his eyes protruding from their sockets appeared as big as eggs."[XXVIII‑22] His ears and nose were then cut off, and the wounds seared with burning straw. When beyond power of speech, and insensible to further suffering, a negro was ordered to end his life by running him through the body.[XXVIII‑23]
Women who had the ill-fortune to fall into the hands of the freebooters could only escape torture and starvation at the cost of their chastity or by payment 511 of a heavy ransom. Among the prisoners taken at the islands of Taboguilla and Taboga was a young and beautiful gentlewoman, the wife of a wealthy merchant of Panamá. Like many of her countrywomen she had learned to regard the buccaneers not as rational beings, but as monsters in human shape. The lady was brought into Morgan's presence and at first treated with respect, lodged in a separate apartment, waited on by female slaves, and supplied with food from his own table. Surprised at this usage, and mistaking the frequent and blasphemous oaths of her captors for pious ejaculations, she blessed her fate that the pirates of England were such fine specimens of Christian gentlemen. But Morgan had his little game to play. His amorous proposals were met by a firm refusal, but in such mild language as to avoid rousing his anger. For a while he sought to gain her consent by persuasion, and was lavish with his gifts of rare jewels. All failing she was threatened with torture. "My life is in your hands," she said, "but sooner shall my soul be separated from my body than I submit to your embrace." Exasperated, Morgan ordered his attendants removed, and then attempted violence. She tore herself from his arms, and warning him not to approach her again, cried out: "Imagine not that, after robbing me of my liberty, you can as easily deprive me of my honor." As he still persisted in following her, she drew a dagger and said: "See that I know how to die if I cannot kill thee." She then sprang at him and attempted to drive the blade into his heart. The commander recoiled several paces, but finally succeeded in gaining possession of the weapon. He then retired from her presence, and ordered her to be stripped of most of her apparel, cast half naked into a dark and fetid cell, and fed only 512 with the coarsest food, in quantities so small as barely to sustain life.
Morgan had made several prizes of sea-going vessels, one of which was well adapted to a piratical cruise. A plot was concocted by some of the men to embark on an expedition to the islands of the Pacific, thence after obtaining sufficient booty to sail for Europe by way of the East Indies. Cannon, muskets, ammunition, and provisions had been secretly obtained in sufficient quantity not only to equip the vessel but to fortify and garrison one of the islands as a base of operations. Warned of the design by a repentant conspirator, Morgan ordered all the ships in the harbor to be burned, and at once made preparations to return to Chagre. Beasts of burden were collected to convey the plunder to the point where the canoes had been left on the river; some of the wealthier Spaniards were despatched under guard to obtain the amount of their ransom; and a strong detachment was sent to reconnoitre the line of march by which the buccaneers were to return.
On the 24th of February, after holding possession for four weeks of Panamá, or rather of the site where Panamá had stood, the marauders took their departure with six hundred prisoners, men, women, and children, and a hundred and seventy-five pack-animals laden with plunder. When fairly out on the plain the forces were put in order of march, and the captives placed between the van and rear guard. Many of them, fresh from the rack, well nigh perishing of hunger, and scarcely able to drag themselves along, were goaded and beaten, and with foul oaths made to quicken their pace until they dropped fainting or dead. The women, among whom were mothers with infants at the breast, cast themselves on their knees and pleaded in vain for leave to return and build for themselves huts of straw amidst the pile of ashes which had once been their native city. Dragged along between two of the buccaneers was the gentlewoman 513 who had been subjected to Morgan's suit, and whose ransom was fixed at thirty thousand pesos. Learning that it was his intention to carry her to Jamaica, she begged for a brief respite, affirming "that she had given orders to two of the priests, on whom she had relied, to go to a certain place and obtain the sum required; that they had promised faithfully to do so, but having procured the money had employed it to release some of their friends." Morgan was conquered at last. He inquired into the truth of her assertion, and found it confirmed by a letter delivered to the lady by a slave, and afterward by the confession of the priests; whereupon he ordered her and her parents, who were among the prisoners, to be set at liberty.
Midway on their march across the Isthmus the freebooters were mustered and all made to swear that they had concealed none of the spoils, but had delivered all into the common stock. After this ceremony the commander ordered each one searched, himself first submitting. Clothes and baggage were carefully examined, and even the muskets were taken to pieces, to see that no precious stones were concealed between the barrel and stock. This proceeding excited much indignation, and threats were made against Morgan's life, but the search-officers were told to conclude their work as quietly as possible without divulging the names of the offenders, and an outbreak was avoided. A day or two afterward the expedition arrived at the castle at San Lorenzo, where it was found that most of those who had been wounded in the assault on that fortress had perished of their injuries, and that the garrison was almost destitute of provisions, being reduced to a small allowance of maize. A vessel having on board the prisoners taken at the isle of Santa Catarina was then despatched to Portobello to demand a ransom for the castle at Chagre, but returned with the answer that none would be paid. 514
A division of the spoils was next in order; and there were none who expected to receive for their share less than two or three thousand pesos, for the entire value of the booty was set down, according to the highest estimate, at little short of four and a half millions.[XXVIII‑24] Loud were the complaints and fierce the threats, therefore, when Morgan declared that, after paying the extra allowances to the captains and officers of the fleet, the compensation to the wounded, and the rewards to those who had distinguished themselves in action, each man's share amounted but to two hundred pesos. He was accused, and no doubt with justice, of setting apart the most valuable of the jewelry and precious stones for his own portion, and of estimating the rest at far less than their real worth, for the purpose of buying them in as cheaply as possible. He knew that most of his men cared for money only to squander it among the taverns of Port Royal, and turning his opportunity to good use he managed to store away for himself and a few of his accomplices the lion's share.
Morgan now began to fear for his personal safety and for the security of his stolen treasures, and determined to make no longer stay at Chagre. Assuredly he was the best prize his fellow-pirates could find at this juncture. He silenced the remonstrances of his followers, however, as best he could, and set them at work demolishing the castle of San Lorenzo. The neighboring edifices were burned; the surrounding country was laid waste; the guns of the dismantled fortress were placed on board the fleet, and all were ordered to hold themselves in readiness to embark. 515 The commander then stole on board his ship by night and put to sea, accompanied by only three or four of the English vessels, the captains of which were in his confidence. The remainder of the band awoke next morning in time to see the topmost sails of the vanishing squadron disappear below the horizon, and at once determined to give chase; but they soon found that nearly all the ammunition and provisions had been secretly carried off by the fugitives. Seven or eight hundred of the buccaneers, including all the Frenchmen who had joined the expedition, now found themselves in a strait. They were compelled to separate into small parties, and after obtaining the means of subsistence by pillaging the shores of Castilla del Oro, returned almost empty-handed to Port Royal.
Morgan landed in Jamaica without mishap, and soon began to levy forces for an expedition to the isle of Santa Catarina, intending to make it a common rendezvous for the brethren of the seas; but the hideous atrocities committed during these piratical raids had at length roused the English ministers to a sense of shame, and awakened compunction even in the breast of the English monarch. A new governor was despatched to Jamaica, with orders that the treaty lately ratified between Spain and Great Britain should be strictly enforced. A general pardon and indemnity was proclaimed for past offences, and the ex-admiral of the buccaneers soon afterward repaired to England, where, by a judicious use of his wealth, he obtained from Charles II. the honor of knighthood, as before mentioned. The gibbet would have been a more fitting distinction.
Sir Henry Morgan, appointed commissioner of the court of admiralty and afterward deputy governor of Jamaica, held office until the accession of James II. when the court of Spain procured his arrest. He was sent a prisoner to his native country, and was cast into prison, where we will leave him. He was a ruffian, whose hell-born depravity of heart was relieved 516 by no gleam of a better nature, and for whom one may search in vain for a parallel, even among those so-called heroes who dragged the banner of the cross through the blood of myriads of innocent victims, as they bore westward the glad tidings of Christ's redemption. 517
The New City of Panamá—Portobello Sacked by Pirates—A Buccaneer Fleet Assembles at Boca del Toro—The Corsairs Plan a Raid on Panamá—They Capture Santa María—And Thence Sail for Plantain Island—Massacre of their Captives—Desperate Conflict in Panamá Bay—Some of the Marauders Return across the Isthmus—The Remainder Proceed to the Island of Taboga—And there Capture Several Prizes—They are Asked to Show their Commissions—The Answer—They Sail for the Coast of Veragua—Their Repulse at Pueblo Nuevo—Their Operations on the Coast of South America—Some of Them Return to England—They are Tried and Acquitted.
When tidings of the destruction of Panamá reached Spain, the court ordered that a new city be forthwith built on a site that could be so strongly fortified as to render it impregnable. The one finally chosen was a small peninsula a little more than two leagues from the old city, at the base of the hill of Ancon. The foundations were laid in 1671. The town was surrounded by a wall, from twenty to forty feet high and ten feet wide, crowned with forts and watch-towers two or three hundred feet apart. So costly were the works that the council in Spain when auditing the accounts wrote to inquire whether the fortifications of Panamá, were of silver or gold. A deep moat divided the city from the mainland, the entrances being through three massive gates. Seaward the city was protected by coral reefs, extending for more than half a mile into the bay. Even at high tide vessels of heavy draught could barely approach within cannon shot and an invading 518 force would be compelled to land from boats which would be exposed to the fire of the garrison. Thus the site, when fortified, though ill chosen in view of the commercial interests of the city, afforded the inhabitants, as they supposed, sure protection against the raids of buccaneers.
The new city of Panamá was laid out almost in the form of a square; having streets regular, but narrow, and so overhung with projecting balconies that one might pass through it during a heavy shower without being drenched. It was especially distinguished for its church architecture,[XXIX‑1] a large portion of its area being occupied by the buildings of the ecclesiastics. The church and convent of Santo Domingo was one of the finest and most important establishments, not only in Panamá, the city of churches, but in the New World. The main building, a hundred feet in length by fifty in breadth, with massive walls perforated by numerous arched windows, was separated from the porch by a strong brick arch about twenty feet high and with a span of forty feet; the radius at the key-stone being not more than two feet. The edifice remains to day apparently as firm as ever, a monument of the architectural skill of the Spaniards in the seventeenth century.
The cupola and bells for the new cathedral were fashioned at Madrid. When the bells were ready for casting, the queen invited the public to be present, and at the hour appointed the cupola was surrounded by an assemblage more brilliant than any that had ever met for such a purpose in Spain. Her Majesty, with maids bejewelled and all attired in rich silks, and dignitaries of court and state, with a vast concourse of the populace, gathered for the ceremony of blessing the bells. As it progressed, and one after another advanced with a piece of coin or of plate, enthusiasm 519 increased. Women tore off their ornaments and flung them into the heated mass; decorations of office and mementos of affection were eagerly sacrificed, and the dedication was concluded amidst an outburst of religious zeal.
But the deity would not at the price sell deliverance from the corsairs, who could be as Christian as any of them upon occasion. In 1679 Portobello was plundered by pirates, the spoils amounting to a hundred and sixty pesos per capita; and during the same year a buccaneer fleet assembled at the Boca del Toro, where lay two English privateers.[XXIX‑2] From them intelligence was received that the Darien Indians had rendered aid to the French captain, Bournano, in an attack on the town of Chepo. Repulsed before that place, they had offered to guide him to a large and rich city named Tocamora, but as this enterprise called for a stronger armament than he had at his disposal, he went in search of reënforcements, promising to return in three months.
The pirates who had sacked Portobello agreed to take part in the contemplated foray, and at once set about careening and refitting their vessels. As soon as the necessary preparations were completed the fleet sailed eastward along the coast to the Samballas, or isles of San Blas, where they were visited by the natives.[XXIX‑3] The Indians dissuaded the leaders of the party from making a raid on Tocamora, suggesting instead a descent on Panamá, to within a few leagues of which city they could guide them undiscovered. This proposition, backed by the argument that the 520 march to Tocamora was difficult and provisions almost unattainable, while at Panamá they could not fail of immense booty, inclined the majority to follow the Indians' counsel.[XXIX‑4]
The French contingent considered so long a land journey too hazardous, and parted company, while the remainder of the fleet, numbering seven vessels, with thirty-six guns and three hundred and sixty-six men, sailed under the guidance of the Cacique Andrés to the Golden Island, the most easterly of the Samballas, where this chief had his head-quarters,[XXIX‑5] arriving there the 3d of April 1680. The Indians now proposed an attack upon the town of Santa María, situated on a large river of that name, which flows into the gulf of San Miguel. Here was maintained a garrison of four hundred men, for it was the entrepôt through which passed the gold on its way from the neighboring mines to the vaults of Panamá. If Santa María failed in booty, they could sail to Panamá, where success was certain. This plan was generally approved, and on April 5th they landed a strong force, divided into seven companies, each marching under its distinctive banner and led by its own captain, the supreme command being intrusted to Captain Bartholomew Sharp. The native allies accompanied the column under Andrés who acted as guide.
However perilous this expedition may appear, there were those among the rovers whose hopes soared 521 higher than a mere swoop on Panamá, and who meditated a triumphant return through the straits of Magellan in a fleet of prizes freighted not with the gold of Panamá alone, but with the wealth of the South American coast. Burdened only with their weapons and a slender stock of provisions the buccaneers began their march on Panamá. After passing through the outskirts of a wood, they crossed a marsh[XXIX‑6] about a league in length, and struck into a well wooded valley which they ascended by a good path for two leagues more, reaching the bank of a river for the most part dry at this time of year. Here they constructed huts and encamped. They were now visited by a cacique who recommended them to carry out their proposed raid on Santa María, and volunteered to lead them in person, informing them naively that "he would have joined them at once, but his child was very ill; however, he was assured it would die by next day," when he would overtake them. The chieftain then departed, cautioning them against lying in the grass, on account of the snakes, which were poisonous and of great size. Stones found in the bed of the river when broken showed traces of gold, a harbinger of the yellow harvest toward which their steps were bent; but this was not enough to prevent four of the company from returning to the ships, thus early discouraged at the prospect of a long and tedious journey.
The following morning they climbed a steep hill, on the other side of which appeared a river, said by Andrés to be that on which Santa María was situated. The line of march then led over another hill, more precipitous than the former, where at times the path would admit of but one man in file, until with evening they reached the foot and encamped upon the same river, having marched that day six leagues. 522 Next day they followed the course of the stream; the current was extremely strong, and the depth varied from knee to waist deep, A short though fatiguing day's march brought the column to a halt at an Indian village. This was the abode of Andrés' son, Antonio, styled Bonete de Oro, or King Golden-cap, by the same whimsical buccaneer nomenclature which dignified his father with the title of emperor. Messengers had been sent forward to announce their approach and the presence of Andrés with the column. Preparations were made for the reception of the corsairs. Golden-cap visited them in state, accompanied by his queen, his children, and his retinue. The monarch wore a golden circlet round his head, gold rings in his ears, and a gold crescent depending from his nose. He was modestly clad in a long cotton robe, which reached his ankles, and he carried a long lance. His three sons, each armed with a lance and wearing a cotton garment, stood uncovered in his presence, as did his retinue.
The queen was tastefully attired in a pair of red blankets, one girt about her waist, the other draped over her shoulders. She carried a young child, and was accompanied by two daughters, both of marriageable age, their faces streaked with red paint and their arms and necks loaded with variously colored beads. His Majesty did not disdain to barter his stock of plantains for knives, pins, and needles. He was generous enough, however, to present three plantains and some sugar-cane to each man, gratis.[XXIX‑7] The band halted at this village all the following day, when a council of war was held to determine how they might best reach Santa María undiscovered. It was resolved to embark in canoes, but to provide a sufficient quantity taxed the resources of the chief, as the number was now increased by a hundred and fifty Indians, all 523 armed with bow, arrows, and lance, and under the immediate command of their caciques. At this council Captain Sawkins was appointed to lead the forlorn hope, consisting of eighty picked men. Resuming the march next day, April 9th, they continued to follow the course of the river, occasionally passing a solitary house, at which times the owner would generally come to his door to watch them pass by, and give each either a ripe plantain or some cassava-root. That night they halted at three large Indian huts, where a quantity of provisions and some canoes had been collected by Golden-cap's orders. Early next morning, before breaking camp, a quarrel arose between Coxon and Harris, when the former levelled his fusil and fired, but without effect. Harris was about to return the fire, but was restrained by Captain Sharp, who succeeded in adjusting the difficulty, and the fifth day's travel began.
Captains Sharp, Coxon, and Cook, with about seventy men, were detached from the main body and embarked in fourteen canoes. Andrés and Antonio accompanied them, and with two Indians to navigate each canoe put off down the Santa María River.
Canoeing, however, was found no more comfortable than trudging afoot, as the crews were continually obliged to leap out and haul the boats over shoals, rocks, or fallen trees, and sometimes to make portages over the land itself. These vexations attended the voyage for three days, and were varied only by the visit of a wild animal to one of their camps, at which they dared not fire lest the report should betray their presence to the Spaniards.[XXIX‑8] As they did not fall in with their comrades of the main body on April 12th, Sharp and Coxon's detachment began to suspect treachery on the part of the Indians, who might have designed to divide their forces and betray them into 524 the hands of the Spaniards. Happily these fears proved groundless, for the next day they reached a point of land at the confluence of another branch of the river, a rendezvous of the Indians in their warfare with the Spaniards, and halting there in the afternoon were joined by their brethren in arms, who had been provided with canoes the day before, and were also in a state of anxiety as to the fate of their comrades.[XXIX‑9] The entire company, thus reunited, pitched their camp on this spot to get their arms in order and prepare for action, which was now believed imminent. Meanwhile the commissariat department was not neglected, for several canoes arrived with a supply of plantains and peccary pork.[XXIX‑10]
Very early the next morning they all embarked, the flotilla numbering sixty-eight canoes. The "emperor" and the "king," says Captain Sharp, continued their voyage, the former "Cloathed with a loose Robe or Mantle of pure Gold, which was extraordinary Splendid and Rich. The King was in a White Cotton Coat fringed round the bottom, about his Neck a Belt of Tygers Teeth, and a Hat of pure Gold, with a Ring and a Plate like a Cockle Shell hanging at it of Gold in his Nose, which is the Fashion in this Country for the people of Quality."
Hitherto the canoes had either drifted with the stream, or been propelled with poles; but new oars and paddles were constructed, and every nerve strained to 525 reach the goal as soon as possible. It was after midnight when a landing was effected on a piece of swampy ground in the neighborhood of Santa María, and the weary adventurers stealthily sought shelter in the woods, where they proposed to lie until daybreak.
At dawn on April 15th the corsairs were aroused by a discharge of small arms in the town and the sounding of the reveille. Quickly seizing their weapons they formed in line and began their advance. On emerging from the shelter of the woods they were in full view of the enemy, who had been apprized of their landing and were fully prepared to receive them, having already removed the whole treasure to Panamá. Instantly betaking themselves to the shelter of the fort, a kind of tambour-work composed of stockades twelve feet high, the Spaniards opened a random and ill-judged fire upon their assailants before the latter had approached near enough for the fusillade to be effective.
Undismayed at the warmth of their reception, the advance guard, led by Sawkins and Sharp, charged with a force impossible to withstand, and tearing down a few stockades carried the work by storm, with no further casualty than two men wounded. The rapidity of the operation may be convinced from the fact that the freebooters were masters of the situation before fifty of their men were brought into action. The Spanish loss was twenty-six killed and sixteen wounded, out of two hundred and sixty engaged. The garrison was ordinarily much stronger, numerically, but at this time two hundred were absent serving as escort of the treasure on the way to Panamá. The governor, the priest, and most of the principal inhabitants had also sought safety in flight.
The causes of this cheaply bought success are not far to seek. The fort was doubtless an excellent defence in an Indian fight, but was in no way adapted for protection against the corsairs, the stockades being 526 neither strengthened by brickwork or masonry nor protected by a ditch. In all probability there was no banquette, so that when once the stakes were forced the defenders would have no advantage over their assailants, both being on level ground.
The Spaniards emptied their pieces at random, instead of reserving their fire till the enemy came to close quarters, when it could have been employed with deadly precision. Their foemen, on the other hand, wasted no time on a useless fusillade. Relying implicitly upon their acknowledged superiority in a hand-to-hand fight, added to the well founded terror of their name, they may be said, practically speaking, to have burnt no powder at all, their brilliant coup-de-main being effected with the cutlass alone. Panic-stricken at the ease with which their defences were forced, the Spaniards opposed but a feeble resistance to the ruthless assailants of Portobello. Hemmed within their own stronghold, from which there was no retreat, they flung down their arms and sued for quarter, and the town of Santa María was in the hands of the dreaded buccaneers.
As regards booty, it was a barren victory. The gold which came in from the mines was shipped to Panamá two or three times a year, the river at Santa María being nearly six hundred yards wide, and at high tide fifteen feet deep. The last shipment—three hundred pounds' weight—was despatched just three days before the attack. This was a cruel disappointment to the pirates. Worse almost than that, they found provisions enough to feed them for only three or four days, instead of the abundance they anticipated.
In the town was recovered the eldest daughter of Antonio Golden-cap, who had been abducted by one of the garrison, by whom she was at that time pregnant.[XXIX‑11] This had greatly embittered the chief's 527 hatred of the Spaniards,[XXIX‑12] and now the Indians, who during the action had avoided stray bullets by taking advantage of a depression in the ground, seized many of the prisoners, led them into the neighboring woods, and butchered in cold blood as many as had previously fallen in fight.[XXIX‑13] Such deeds by Indians the Europeans deemed brutal, though falling far short of some of their own in this quarter; at all events the pirates put a stop to it as soon as it was discovered, and confined the Spaniards in the fort, guarding them closely.[XXIX‑14]
As soon as possible after the capture of the town Captain Sawkins with a party of ten embarked in a canoe and started down the river to overtake and capture the governor and others who had escaped, in order to prevent their carrying news of the capture to Panamá. Failing to secure their prey, the pirates determined not to retrace their steps empty-handed, but to push on to Panamá, where they felt certain of a prize worth the risk. It is true that some at least of the company murmured at this project, and wished to return to the ships, more especially Captain Coxon. In order therefore to secure unanimity in the adventure Coxon was elected commander-in-chief.[XXIX‑15] As a matter of precaution, a few of the prisoners, together with the small amount of plunder taken, were sent back to the ships under a guard of twelve men.
The Indians were averse to proceeding farther, and most of them receiving presents of knives, scissors, 528 and axes, returned home. Nevertheless, Emperor Andrés and King Antonio Golden-cap determined to go on to Panamá and see the end of this display of European savagism and be present at the sack of the city. Andrés indeed promised, if necessary, to raise an army fifty thousand strong to assist in the work. Additional encouragement was afforded by the Spaniard who had abducted the chief's daughter, and who volunteered, in consideration of being protected from the just revenge of the Indians, to conduct them not only to Panamá, but to the very chamber-door of the governor, when they might seize him and make themselves masters of the city before they could be discovered.
After holding Santa María for two days, the victors took their departure on April 17th, first burning the fort, church, and town to gratify the rancor of the Indian chief. They then embarked on board thirty-five canoes and a piragua,[XXIX‑16] which last was captured while lying at anchor in the river, and dropped down toward the gulf of San Miguel, whence they could gain Panamá Bay. The Spaniards begged hard to be allowed to go with them, rather than be left to the mercy of the Indians.
It was with the greatest difficulty that the freebooters had secured canoes enough for themselves, as their Indian allies had taken so many in their retreat; yet the terrified Spaniards managed to find a few old boats and construct a few rafts, and so ventured to accompany them.
In the Santa María River the ebb and flow of the tide is remarkable, and at night the navigation is extremely hazardous, many shoals and channels being encountered at low water. Still, having good native pilots on board, the flotilla paddled down on the ebb until midnight, when a native embarcadero was 529 reached, and it was decided to land and fill the water-vessels, the river water being salt, and none suitable for drinking likely to be met with for several days. At the landing-place Captain Sawkins was found awaiting them. He had failed to overtake the governor, who had by that time made good his escape to the open bay. The canoes were then hauled ashore for the night, as there was too much risk in continuing the voyage down the estuary at that hour. Next morning they again got under way and proceeded down the river, finding two mouths by which they could reach the sea, one of them being deep and flowing out with a swift current.
About noon the sea was sighted, and shortly afterward the pirates landed on a small island, where the governor in his flight had left two women, in order to lighten his canoe. On this island the party remained waiting for the next ebb, when they crossed to another isle two leagues away, making land just before nightfall. Here were found two canoes, with some bows and arrows, which were destroyed; their owners were also seen, but managed to elude capture. Camp was then pitched, and Captain Sawkins once more despatched in chase of the governor, with orders to await their arrival at Plantain Island, whether successful or not. The following day, while continuing the voyage, a severe squall struck them, the wind freshening from the seaward and meeting the ebb. One canoe, manned by seven Frenchmen, capsized; the crew was rescued with difficulty, and after the loss of all their arms.[XXIX‑17] A heavy rain-storm followed, and compelled them to run for shelter into a sandy bay, where the canoes were beached, and the tired rovers took up their quarters for the night.
Meanwhile, on the evacuation of Santa María, one 530 canoe was left a long way astern, being heavy and manned by five men only. It was under the command of Basil Ringrose, the buccaneer historian, who afterward gave the world so faithful a narrative of the exploits in which he took part.
Ringrose had no Indian in his canoe to pilot him; so as the tide ran out and many shoals were exposed, he entered the wrong channel, and ran two miles inside a shoal before discovering the mistake. There he was obliged to lie until high tide, when he proceeded in hopes of overtaking the other boats. That night at low water he moored the canoe to an oar stuck in the sand, and the men took turns at sleeping; at dawn they rowed two leagues farther and came up with the main body as they were just putting off from the watering-place. As it was absolutely necessary to water there they went ashore with their calabashes, and on regaining the river-side found the flotilla was once more out of sight. They rowed in chase as hard as they could, but became bewildered among the numerous islands near the mouth of the river, and so again lost their way. At length they hit upon the Boca Chica, but by that time the tide was running in with great force, and finding that they could make no way against it, beached the canoe and made it fast to a tree, awaiting the turn of the tide which rose there upward of twenty feet.
As soon as practicable they pulled away to an island outside the mouth of the river, in the gulf of San Miguel, narrowly escaping being swamped, and passed the night in the utmost misery, drenched with rain, and not daring to light a fire. Next morning at daybreak, April 19th, they once more launched the canoe and shaped their course for Point San Lorenzo, but as the boat neared one of the many islands of the gulf a heavy sea overturned it and they had to swim for their lives. Happily all made the shore in safety, and immediately afterward the canoe was cast up high and dry. Their cartouch-boxes and powder-horns 531 being made water-tight, and lashed with their arms to the canoe, were preserved, but all their provisions and water were spoiled. It soon appeared that they were not alone in misfortune. A party of six Spaniards, lately their prisoners, had been washed ashore from their broken boat, in worse plight than Ringrose's party. Their common fate united the castaways, and Spaniard and Englishman ate their meal in peace over the same camp-fire.
While debating whether to go forward or return to their ships at the Golden Island, an Indian was seen, and it became manifest that yet another party shared their isle of refuge. A piragua, manned by eight of their Darien allies, had for some reason put in there, and Ringrose learned by signs that if the whole company embarked in the Indian piragua they could overtake the Panamá expedition by the following morning. The natives wished to kill the Spaniards, and were with great difficulty prevented from doing so, but Ringrose succeeded in saving their lives by allowing one to be taken as a slave, and placing his own canoe at the disposal of the remaining five. He and his men, together with the Spanish slave, joined the Indians, and making sail on the piragua soon doubled Point San Lorenzo. During that night two camp-fires were sighted on the starboard bow, whereupon the Indians exhibited great delight, and shouting the names of their chiefs, Antonio and Andrés, headed direct for the land. No sooner were they in the breakers than out rushed some sixty Spaniards from the thickets adjacent, seized the vessel, and dragged her up on the strand. The Indians leaped overboard and made good their escape to the woods, but the others were seized and made prisoners.
None of these Spaniards could speak French or English, but Ringrose entered into conversation in Latin with their leader, and found that they also were from Santa María, and had been landed at that place by the buccaneers to preclude any possibility of their 532 carrying tidings to Panamá. While the Spanish leader was interrogating Ringrose preparatory to the slaughter of the party, up stepped the Spaniard whom Ringrose had given the natives as a slave. He related the whole circumstances of the wreck of his canoe upon the island, and the preservation of the lives of his party by Ringrose. This put a new aspect upon affairs. The Spanish captain embraced the Englishman, and after giving them supper permitted both pirates and Indians to depart. After this Ringrose and his party held their course all night, in drenching rain, and next morning observed a canoe rowing rapidly toward them. Closer inspection revealed one of the buccaneer craft, which was about to attack the piragua, under the impression that it was a Spanish vessel. They were mutually delighted to meet again, Ringrose and his crew having been given up for lost. Then all joined the flotilla, which soon continued its way.
After clearing the bay the buccaneers steered for what appeared a lofty point about seven leagues distant, and there made Plantain Island. Landing in the afternoon, they climbed a steep ascent and surprised the sentinel, an old man who had not seen them or suspected their approach until they swarmed around his hut. From him it was ascertained that their approach was unsuspected at Panamá; so they thought they would surprise the city. Captain Sawkins, who joined them here in accordance with his instructions, reported that the governor of Santa María had sailed thence for Panamá the previous day. Sawkins was once more sent in chase, but returned unsuccessful.
Shortly before nightfall a thirty-ton bark anchored off the island, whereupon two canoes were hastily manned, and the vessel captured. The crew stated they were eight days out from Panamá,[XXIX‑18] and had landed a detachment of troops at a point on the mainland 533 not far distant for the purpose of inflicting chastisement on certain Indians and negroes. Into this craft were immediately placed a hundred and thirty men, under command of "that Sea-Artist, and Valiant Commander, Captain Bartholomew Sharp."[XXIX‑19]
Anchoring off the island that night the pirates continued their voyage on the following morning, making for the isle of Chepillo, near the mouth of the river Chepo.[XXIX‑20] Sharp, however, parted company with the fleet, and bore up to King, or Pearl islands, in search of water, and while there captured a new brigantine, to which he transferred his crew after scuttling his own vessel. Having obtained water and provisions he set sail for the rendezvous about four o'clock in the afternoon, but owing to contrary winds failed to make it, and anchored at an isle five leagues distant. On the following day at noon he proceeded, but did not reach Chepillo before nightfall. Sending a canoe ashore he ascertained that his men had left the island a few hours before, as their fires were still burning, and that a fight had taken place, as was indicated by a number of dead bodies. Sharp now stood in toward Panamá.[XXIX‑21]
After the canoes had separated from the bark, Captain Harris succeeded in capturing another vessel, which was forthwith manned with thirty buccaneers. In the pursuit, however, the fleet became so scattered that it was not until the following day that they rejoined company at the island of Chepillo. Before their arrival a bark had been chased by Coxon, but escaped capture, after inflicting on her pursuers a loss of one man killed and two wounded.[XXIX‑22] This failure caused the pirates much annoyance, as the vessel 534 which had eluded their grasp would carry to Panamá the news of their raid.
At Chepillo they took fourteen prisoners and found a piragua which they manned, and having procured some plantains and hogs again got under way about four o'clock the same afternoon, expecting to reach Panamá before daybreak, the distance being only seven leagues. But before they left the island they perpetrated one of those ruthless acts so common in their career of crime. As it was not convenient to take along the prisoners, and to leave them alive would be unsafe, it was determined to kill them. The captives were then handed over to the Indians, who were instructed, after they should have amused themselves with a little gladiatorial performance, to slay them. The sea-shore supplied a fitting arena, and under the eyes of the whole fleet the murderers opened their attack. But the victims, though unarmed, made a rush, and despite spear and arrow some of them escaped to the neighboring woods.[XXIX‑23]
The pirates now departed. They no longer hoped to surprise Panamá, but in the bay were richly freighted ships which they would like to seize. On the 23d of April they came in sight of the city before sunrise,[XXIX‑24] and presently discovered five large men-of-war and three good-sized barks at anchor near the island of Perico. Their approach was no sooner perceived than three of the men-of-war got under way and bore down upon them. The flag-ship was 535 manned by eighty-six Biscayans under command of Jacinto de Barahona, the high admiral of the South Sea. The second ship with a crew of seventy-seven negroes was commanded by Francisco de Peralta, an Andalusian. In the third were sixty-five mulattoes under the command of Diego de Carabajal.
The pirate flotilla was much scattered, the two piraguas being unable to keep up with the canoes, on which were only thirty-six men. These, however, as the squadron bore down upon them, succeeded in getting to windward of it and were presently joined by the smaller piragua, which raised the force of the buccaneers to sixty-eight. Sawkins and Ringrose placed themselves in front and soon were engaged with Carabajal's ship, which at the first broadside wounded four of Sawkins' crew and one of Ringrose's. The deck of the Spanish vessel, as she tacked, was swept by a deadly volley. The flag-ship then came up, and was encountered by the five canoes. As soon as she was within range the steersman was struck, and the vessel, luffing, was taken aback. This mishap the pirates immediately took advantage of, and ranging astern raked her deck fore and aft, killing every one who attempted to take the helm, and committing havoc with the ship's tackling. By this time Peralta was coming to the support of the flag-ship, whereupon Sawkins, whose canoe was sinking, went on board the piragua, and leaving the flag-ship to the attentions of the four canoes engaged Peralta single-handed. Meantime the first ship, delayed by the lightness of the wind, had slowly come about, and was again bearing down to take part in the action. She was, however, met by two of the canoes under Springers and Ringrose before she could render any assistance to the admiral, and so deadly was the fire of the pirates that Carabajal was glad to sheer off and escape with the few efficient men he had left. Springers and Ringrose now hastened to the support of their comrades, who still maintained the conflict with the flag-ship. 536 Their return was greeted with a wild cheer of exultation, which was answered by the crew of the piragua. Drawing so closely under the stern that they "wedged up the rudder," the pirates, now confident of victory, again beset the doomed vessel. The admiral and pilot were shot dead; two-thirds of the crew being killed, and most of the survivors wounded, the flag was struck, and the triumphant ruffians boarded their prize. A shocking spectacle met their eyes. Out of eighty-six men twenty-five only were alive, and but eight capable of bearing arms. "Their Blood ran down the Decks in whole streams, and scarce one place in the Ship was found that was free from blood."
As soon as they had taken possession of the vessel the victors despatched two canoes to the assistance of Sawkins, who meantime had maintained a desperate fight with Peralta. Three times the buccaneer had boarded his antagonist, and three times had he been repulsed by the valiant Andalusian, whose indomitable bravery had gained for him the outspoken admiration of his foes. As soon as the canoes came up they saluted Peralta with a volley, which was followed by a heavy explosion in the stern of the Spanish vessel. All the men in that part of the ship were blown into the air; yet Peralta had no thought of yielding, and with voice and hand encouraged his men. But fate was against him. Soon there was another explosion in the forecastle, and in the smoke and confusion Sawkins once more boarded, and the ship was taken. As the light wind slowly carried away the smoke a scene was revealed on board which defies description. "There was not a Man, but was either killed, desperately wounded, or horribly burnt with Powder. Insomuch, that their Black Skins were turned White in several places, the Powder having torn it from their Flesh and Bones."[XXIX‑25] 537
The obstinacy of this battle, and the unflinching courage with which it was fought, are indicated by the heavy losses on both sides and the length of time the engagement lasted. From shortly after sunrise until noon the fight was carried on, and of the sixty-eight pirates engaged, only about a score came out unwounded.[XXIX‑26] The reputation of the Spanish captains for bravery was of the highest, and elicited the admiration of their foes. The success of the latter was undoubtedly owing to the lightness of the wind, which enabled them to take a position against which the Spaniards could not direct their cannon; nor does it appear that, with the exception of the single broadside fired by Carabajal, the Spanish guns were used during the engagement.
Having attended to the wounded the pirates steered for the island of Perico, where they found the five vessels anchored there abandoned, the largest, the Santísima Trinidad, of four hundred tons, having been set on fire. The marauders, however, succeeded in suppressing the flames and converted the vessel into a hospital. Of the others, two were burned; one of a hundred and eighty tons was assigned to Captain Cook, and the third of fifty tons to Captain Coxon.[XXIX‑27]
Two days after this action Captain Sharp joined company, and a little later the bark captured by Captain Harris.[XXIX‑28] The pirates remained for about ten days before Panamá, during which Captain Coxon withdrew from the gang. He had been charged with displaying more caution than courage during the engagement, and resenting the imputation he determined 538 to go back to the North Sea. With his adherents, to the number of fifty,[XXIX‑29] he accordingly weighed anchor one night, leaving about twenty of his own wounded, but taking with him the best surgeon and nearly all the medicines. With him the Darien chief also went back and the chiefs Antonio and Andrés.
This defection did not discourage the remaining buccaneers, and weighing anchor on the 2d of May,[XXIX‑30] they stood off to the island of Taboga two leagues from Perico. This formed an excellent point of observation, every vessel passing in or out of the port of Panamá being plainly visible. Several small craft were captured which supplied the adventurers with provisions, and on the eighth day they seized a vessel containing wine, gunpowder, and fifty thousand pesos, intended for the pay of the Panamá garrison.[XXIX‑31] To the merchants of Panamá, who had now opened a trade with them, they sold the wines,[XXIX‑32] and these same traders on two occasions conveyed a message from the governor asking them to explain their presence before the city, and to state from whom they held their commissions.[XXIX‑33] Captain Sawkins replied to the first message that they had come "to assist the King of Darien, who was the true Lord of Panamá," and demanded five hundred pesos for each man and one thousand for each commander as the terms under which they would peaceably depart. His answer to the second communication 539 was "that as yet all his company were not come together; but that when they were come up" they would visit him at Panamá and bring their "Commissions on the Muzzles of their Guns, at which time he should read them as plain as the Flame of Gunpowder could make them."
On the 15th of May, contrary to the wish of Sawkins, the fleet sailed to the isle of Otoque,[XXIX‑34] and thence to that of Quibo, off the coast of Veragua,[XXIX‑35] famous for its pearl fisheries. While at this island Sawkins, who had been appointed chief in command, and Sharp, conceived the project of making a descent on Pueblo Nuevo, a town situated on the mainland eight leagues off. Taking with them about sixty men,[XXIX‑36] they ascended the river on which the place was situated, but soon found that defensive measures had already been taken against them, trees having been felled across the river, and the town protected by three strong breastworks.[XXIX‑37] Undeterred by obstacles, the pirates attempted to take the place with a rush, as in the case of Santa María; but they suffered a serious repulse, and Sawkins was killed while leading on his men, the remainder of the marauders retreating to their canoes.[XXIX‑38] 540
Sawkins was held in high esteem among his comrades,[XXIX‑39] and his death was much regretted. It caused, moreover, a serious dissension. His men mutinied, and were determined to retrace their steps across the Isthmus. No inducements held out to the malecontents by Sharp could prevail upon them to remain, and on the 31st of May more than sixty of them[XXIX‑40] separated company, taking with them all the Indians who had remained. After the departure of the mutineers trouble arose between Cook and his men, which resulted in his resigning the command and going on board Sharp's vessel, the Trinidad. His own ship[XXIX‑41] was placed under the orders of John Cox, who thus became second in command.[XXIX‑42]
It was now decided to cruise southward, and on the 6th of June the freebooters set sail. After careening their vessels at the island of Gorgona in latitude 1° N. they engaged in a series of operations on the South American coast, plundering towns and capturing many Spanish vessels. The booty they amassed was immense. During this cruise another mutiny occurred,[XXIX‑43] 541 which resulted in the deposition of Sharp and the elevation of one John Watling to the post of commander. Their project had been to sail homeward through the straits of Magellan, but they now changed their intention and again directed their prows northward. At an unsuccessful descent on Arica Watling lost his life, and the command was again conferred on Sharp,[XXIX‑44] but not without much dispute. Nor was the question easily settled, and it was at last arranged that the matter should be put to the vote, and that the minority should take the long-boat and canoes and go where they wished. Their votes were cast on April the 17th near the island of La Plata, and resulted in the defection of forty-seven of the malecontents, among whom was William Dampier, who sailed for the Isthmus with the intention of returning overland.[XXIX‑45]
Sharp, passing by the bay of Panamá, now paid a visit to the shore of Costa Rica, and entering the gulf of Nicoya anchored in the bay of Caldera. Here he was occupied some time in careening and refitting his ship, to aid him in which work he pressed into his service some carpenters employed in ship-building on the bank of a neighboring river. Then, after sacking and burning the town of Esparza,[XXIX‑46] he again sailed 542 southward, and took, near the line, the treasure-ship San Pedro with thirty-seven thousand pesos. Still pursuing a southerly course, these human scourges made themselves the terror of the coast, plundering, burning, and destroying on land and sea.[XXIX‑47]
In the latter part of the year 1681 Sharp bore away for the straits of Magellan, but being unsuccessful in his endeavor to find the passage rounded Cape Horn and steering northward, well out of sight of land, reached the Barbadoes on the 28th of January 1682, but dared not enter port, as a British frigate lay at anchor at Bridgetown. He therefore steered for Antigua, where he arrived on the 1st of February. There this godless crew dispersed, the ship being given to those who had gambled away their money, while the more fortunate took passage for England.
At the instance of the Spanish ambassador in London Sharp and some of his companions were tried for piracy. They pleaded in defence that they had acted under the authority of a commission granted by the caciques of Darien, who were absolutely independent princes and in no sense subjects of Spain.[XXIX‑48] The validity of this plea was fully established,[XXIX‑49] and a verdict of acquittal obtained. 543
Dampier and his Comrades on the Santa María River—They Meet with Spanish War Vessels—Their March to the North Sea—They Fall in with a French Ship—And Sail round Cape Horn to the South Sea—They Attack Realejo—They Sail for the Island of La Plata—Here They are Reënforced—They Proceed to the Coast of South America—Where they Gain Intelligence of the Treasure Fleet—The Pirates Sail for the Pearl Islands—Their Defeat in the Bay of Panamá—Raids on Leon, Realejo, and Granada—Piety of the Filibusters—Further Operations of the Pirates.
Dampier and his comrades,[XXX‑1] after they had parted company with Sharp, shaped their course for the Santa María River flowing into the gulf of San Miguel, and on the following day captured a small bark anchored to leeward of Cape Pasado. This was a piece of great good fortune as their boats were too small for them. On the 24th of April they touched at the island of Gorgona where, having taken some prisoners, they learned that a piragua crossed over from the mainland every two or three days to reconnoitre, and that three ships were kept in readiness to intercept them on their return. With a favorable breeze they sailed from Gorgona the same evening, and on the morning of the 28th, on emerging from a rain squall, espied two large ships to windward about a league and a half distant. Dampier's men were in a hazardous position, between the Spanish cruisers and the shore, which was only two leagues off. Happily the 544 rain again came on and enabled them to pass the enemy unseen. The next morning they anchored off Point Garachina, about seven leagues from the gulf of San Miguel, where they remained all day drying their ammunition and preparing their weapons in anticipation of their landing being opposed. Soon after daybreak on the 30th they entered the gulf and came to anchor outside a large island four miles distant from the mouth of the Santa María. Though the tide was favorable for ascending the river they took the precaution to send a canoe ashore to reconnoitre, and a ship was discovered lying at the mouth and a large tent pitched on the land adjacent. Though disheartened at this news the freebooters were, nevertheless, bent upon making their return overland. So the canoe was again sent to the island and succeeded in capturing one which had put off from the enemy's ship for the island. From the captives they learned that for six months the vessel, which had twelve guns, had been guarding the mouth of the river, and that the force amounted to one hundred and fifty soldiers and sailors, the former being quartered on shore. Three hundred more were expected to arrive from the mines on the next day.[XXX‑2] The pirates now determined to land elsewhere at any risk that night, or early the following morning.[XXX‑3] With wind and tide against them they reached Cape San Lorenzo at daybreak and sailing about a league farther ran into a creek sheltered by two small islands. Here they landed and, putting their effects ashore, sunk their vessel and made all preparations for a march into the interior.[XXX‑4]
As some of the company did not appear in condition 545 to undertake so long a journey, the desperate resolution to shoot all stragglers had been previously adopted to prevent them falling into the hands of the Spaniards alive and betraying their companions. Yet this terrible alternative did not deter a single man, and in the afternoon the band of freebooters began their march and advanced a league north-easterly. On the following morning, striking an Indian trail, they reached some native houses, where being well received they purchased provisions, and for a hatchet obtained a guide to other Indian settlements.[XXX‑5] Next day they struck the Congo at a point three leagues from their last night's halting-place,[XXX‑6] and arriving at the house of an old Indian with great difficulty induced him to urge their guide to accompany them two days longer for another hatchet.[XXX‑7]
On the 4th of May they continued their course, continually wading through rivers and streams, drenched with the heavy rain which when they halted prevented them from obtaining fire enough to warm themselves or cook their food. Weary and hungry their miseries were such as to banish all thought of the Spaniards, their only anxiety being to obtain food and guides. For several days they journeyed on under incredible hardships, feeding on monkeys and such vegetables as they could obtain from the native settlements through which they passed.
By this time they had obtained a fresh guide, and crossing the Congo had arrived at another river, the depth of which caused them great trouble, as they were compelled to ford it several times,[XXX‑8] leaving behind 546 on the last occasion two of the party who were unable to keep up with the main body. Night fell on them unprovided with shelter, and to add to their miseries a thunder-storm with heavy rain broke over them.
Next morning, the 8th of May, the guide informed them that the river would have to be crossed again, but it was now so swollen that fording was impossible. It was decided, therefore, to send a man over with a line. One of the band, George Gayny, accordingly made the attempt, but the line which he had fastened about his neck became entangled, and the man on shore who was paying it out suddenly stopped it. This threw Gayny, who was half way across, on his back. The man in charge of the rope then threw it into the river, hoping that Gayny might recover himself, but being weighted with three hundred pesos, which he carried on his back, the impetuous current carried him away and he was drowned.[XXX‑9]
After this failure they felled a lofty tree across the river, and over it all passed in safety. Their guide now left them, having obtained a substitute. Crossing another river their way led through a beautiful valley adorned with trees. Five miles beyond they came to a settlement and were somewhat alarmed at the sight of some wooden crosses on the road-side, thinking that Spaniards were there. They prepared for action, but found none but Indians in the town, where they were kindly received.[XXX‑10]
For the next ten days they struggled on with several changes of guides, incessantly crossing rivers[XXX‑11] and forcing their way through the trackless forest, 547 some days not advancing more than two or three miles. Exhausted and famished,[XXX‑12] with blistered feet, and limbs chafed and raw with wading, they were indeed in evil plight.
On the 20th of May the way-worn corsairs reached the Chepo River, which they crossed, and on the 22d to their great joy sighted the North Sea from a high mountain-ridge. The weather was fine, and glad at heart they descended the heights and encamped on the bank of the river Concepcion, the first which they found flowing north. The following day they moved down the stream, and ere long procured canoes to carry them to its mouth. During their absence many English and French ships had been there, but all had departed with the exception of a French privateer which lay at La Sound Key.[XXX‑13] After lying a night at the mouth of the river, they crossed over to the island, and went aboard the vessel which was commanded by Captain Tristian. Purchasing from the crew beads, knives, scissors, and looking-glasses with which to reward their guides they dismissed them with the additional gift of half a peso to each. With this the Indians were well satisfied, and the good feeling for the English was manifested by their kind treatment of Doctor Wafer and the others who had remained behind in their settlements.
The journey across the Isthmus had occupied twenty-three days, during which they travelled for about thirty-seven leagues over mountains, through valleys, and among "deep and dangerous Rivers." They had arrived on the south coast just as the rainy season began, and the rivers were soon swollen, and 548 yet only one man perished. They had chosen a circuitous route, going seventeen leagues farther than if they had ascended the Chepo or the Santa María, by either of which courses the journey could have been made from sea to sea in three days, the Indians frequently accomplishing it in a day and a half.
The hardships which Dampier underwent during this trip did not deter him from another adventure on the South Sea. In the latter part of 1683, having joined a ship commanded by a Captain Cook, he was again cruising in company with another vessel under Captain Eaton off the western coast of South America. Although they had sailed round Cape Horn, their operations were unimportant during the whole of their voyage up that coast. Their intention, indeed, was to try new ground and make a raid upon Realejo and Leon in Nicaragua. When they arrived about the beginning of July at Cape Blanco, on the Costa Rica seaboard, Captain Cook died, and John Davis was appointed to his place.[XXX‑14]
While engaged in burying their late captain on the shore of Calderas Bay they captured three half-breeds from whom they learned that the Spaniards had been warned by the people of Panamá to beware of buccaneers. This news did not prevent them, however, from proceeding on the 20th of July toward Realejo where they arrived three days later. Their operations here were unprofitable, as they found the Spaniards thoroughly prepared for them. They therefore sailed to the bay of Fonseca for the purpose of careening their vessels. Here an attempt to establish friendly relations with the Indians of one of the islands was interrupted by the rough action of one 549 of the buccaneers, which caused a panic among the natives, who fled to the woods. Davis, however, succeeded in inducing the chief and half a dozen of his tribe to visit the ships, and having won their good-will by presents, obtained, during the time they remained in the bay, fresh beef from an island to which they directed them. After careening and repairing their vessels, they abandoned their intentions against Realejo for the time, and on the 3d of September Davis again sailed southward, having parted from Eaton with whom he had had trouble.[XXX‑15]
On the 20th he reached the isle of Plata,[XXX‑16] and while lying there was joined, October 2d, by Captain Swan of the Cygnet and Captain Peter Harris, nephew of the buccaneer of that name who was killed in the engagement before Panamá in 1680. Swan had been supplied by London merchants with a cargo of goods for trade in these seas, but having fallen in with Harris and his comrades who had come overland, his men compelled him to join the freebooters.[XXX‑17] The meeting of the rovers was marked by wicked joy. Independently or collectively they engaged in a series of cruises off the coast of South America, the isle of Plata being the rendezvous. After a failure to surprise the town of Guayaquil, they took a packet-boat carrying letters from Panamá to Lima. Though the Spaniards threw the letters overboard with a line attached, the ruse was detected, and from the package which the buccaneers recovered, they learned the joyful news that the armada from Spain had arrived at Portobello and that the president of Panamá had sent 550 this boat with instructions to hasten the departure of the treasure-fleet from Peru. This occurred on the 1st of January 1685. The wildest excitement followed as the prows of the vessels were turned toward the Pearl Islands, the best place from which to seize the treasure-ships. They arrived there the 25th, having captured on the way a ninety-ton vessel laden with flour. Then they careened and cleaned their vessels, and by February 14th all was in readiness. The marauders then proceeded to Perico and engaged in correspondence with the president of Panamá for the release of two of their men who had fallen into the hands of the Spaniards.[XXX‑18] The result was an exchange of prisoners, the crew of the vessel last taken, to the number of about forty, being surrendered as ransom for the two freebooters.
Meanwhile the Spaniards continued in their puerile efforts to rid themselves of the vipers. On one occasion a pretended merchant, under pretext of wishing to traffic, steered a vessel laden with combustibles close up to them while at anchor. Having ignited his fire-ship, he and his crew escaped in canoes, while the buccaneers were forced to cut their cables in all haste to avoid destruction.[XXX‑19]
Soon afterward they were joined by no less than two hundred and eighty French and English buccaneers who had crossed the Isthmus, and who reported that one hundred and eighty more English were following under Captain Townley.[XXX‑20] This accession was gratifying; the ninety-ton prize was at once surrendered to the French, who numbered two hundred under Captain Grogniet, while the English were received on board the ships of Swan and Davis.[XXX‑21] 551
On the 3d of March they were joined by Townley, who had captured two barks at the mouth of the Santa María, and a few days later an Indian brought word that another band, three hundred strong, were on their way overland from the North Sea.[XXX‑22]
For the next two months they cruised about the bay of Panamá, vigilantly watching for the treasure-fleet. Meanwhile they took the town of Chepo, made some captures, and intercepted letters from which they ascertained that the pilots of Lima had been in consultation as to the best course which could be adopted in order to elude the pirates, and had given directions accordingly. They also learned that the fleet was to be manned with all the available strength of Peru, but had orders not to engage with the buccaneers if a battle could possibly be avoided.
On the 28th of May the pirate fleet lay between Pacheca Island and the mainland, Captain Grogniet being a mile to the northward. It consisted of ten sail carrying fifty-two guns and nine hundred and sixty men.[XXX‑23] About eleven o'clock the weather, which had been rainy, cleared, and the Spanish fleet numbering fourteen ships[XXX‑24] beside piraguas, carrying 552 one hundred and seventy-four guns and manned by more than three thousand sailors and marines, was seen approaching. Disparity of numbers did not, however, intimidate the buccaneers, and for the great prize that now lay in sight they would have engaged with even half their force.[XXX‑25] Being to windward of the Spaniards they weighed anchor about three o'clock in the afternoon, but night fell upon them before they could effect more than the exchange of a few shots.
Although Spanish arms had greatly deteriorated since the days of the conquerors, there was still something of the Spanish stratagem left which in this instance proved a match even for pirate cunning. When the darkness had set in the admiral of the treasure-fleet hung out a light as a signal for his vessels to come to anchor. In half an hour the light was extinguished, but some time afterward the buccaneers saw it again, stealing away from Panamá. Being well to the windward they kept under sail all night in sight of the signal, but when morning dawned they discovered that they had been decoyed to the leeward by a solitary vessel sent in that direction and that the enemy had now the weather-gage, and was bearing down upon them with all sail set. Thus were the tables turned, and their only safety lay in flight. During the whole day they maintained a running fight, and having sailed almost round the bay of Panamá anchored their now battered vessels again off the isle of Pacheca.[XXX‑26] In the morning three leagues to leeward 553 the Spanish fleet was observed at anchor, and a light south breeze presently springing up it sailed away to Panamá, without attempting to press further the advantage gained.[XXX‑27]
Thus after nearly six months of planning and patient expectation their great prize eluded their grasp, and the disappointed and exasperated pirates bore away for the isles of Quibo. There a consultation was held, which resulted in a determination to attack the city of Leon in Nicaragua. They at once began preparations and built a number of canoes in which to effect their landing.[XXX‑28] These being completed they sailed for the port of Realejo on the 20th of July,[XXX‑29] and arrived on the coast about eight leagues distant from the harbor on the 9th of August. They now manned their canoes, to the number of thirty-one, with five hundred and twenty men, and made for the harbor, the others taking charge of the ships. On the way there were two heavy squalls which placed them in extreme peril, but by dint of hard rowing the marauders entered the port that night. At daylight on the following morning they rowed up the creek leading 554 to Leon, at the head of which, on the river bank, they found a breastwork. Their approach was discovered by the watchmen who fled to Leon and reported it.[XXX‑30]
The pirates now quickly effected a landing and four hundred and seventy men were detailed in four detachments under the command of Townley, Swan, Davis, and Knight,[XXX‑31] while Dampier with the remainder was left in charge of the canoes.[XXX‑32]
Townley with his company entered the town about two miles in advance of the others, and overthrew a body of nearly two hundred horsemen who charged him in the main street. The infantry, to the number of five hundred, were drawn up in the plaza, but perceiving the discomfiture of the cavalry fled without offering resistance, and Leon, captured by eighty men, lay at the mercy of the freebooters.[XXX‑33]
At noon on the following day the governor sent in a flag of truce with offers to ransom the town,[XXX‑34] but 555 the demands of the marauders were so exorbitant[XXX‑35] that all he could do was to endeavor to prolong capitulations until he could assemble a force strong enough to dislodge the invaders. In a few days, however, they became aware of his design, and on the 14th of the month, having collected all available booty, they set the city on fire and marched back to their canoes.
The pirates next directed their attention to Realejo, which they entered without opposition. But here again they were balked, finding nothing but empty houses. So, for a week, they ravaged the surrounding country, killing cattle and sacking sugar-mills. Then they burned the town, and returning to their canoes rejoined their ship. The following day, which was the 25th, Davis and Swan agreed to separate, the former being anxious to return to the South American coast, while Swan was desirous of trying his fortune off the shores of Mexico. Their separation was, however, amicable, and the two freebooters, when they parted company on the 27th, fired salutes as they turned their prows in opposite directions.[XXX‑36]
But the unfortunate cities of Nicaragua were not fated to be left in peace after the departure of this band. Grogniet, with three hundred and twenty men in his ship and five canoes, after separating from Swan cruised slowly northward. His first operations, however, were of little importance. During their voyage along the coast the party landed at Realejo, which they found abandoned, and thence marched to Leon, but did not attack the town, finding it too strongly 556 garrisoned.[XXX‑37] They then proceeded against Pueblo Viejo, and having foraged the surrounding country again directed their course southward and entered the bay of Calderas with the intention of taking Esparza, to execute which design fifty men were sent ashore. They were deterred, however, from making the attempt by learning that the Spaniards had gathered in considerable force to oppose them. Their sufferings from hunger became excessive, and they were compelled to kill and eat some horses which they captured, after four days' starvation.[XXX‑38]
Their ship had been despatched to the island of San Juan de Pueblo as their general place of rendezvous,[XXX‑39] and thither the canoes now turned their course. Their next operations were directed against Chiriquita, which they succeeded in surprising on the 9th of January 1686 with a force of two hundred and thirty men. Having secured a number of prisoners, for whom they afterward obtained a ransom, they burned the town and retired.[XXX‑40]
On their return to Pueblo a Spanish fleet of seven ships, twelve piraguas, and three long barks made its appearance, and was recognized as a squadron sent against them from Peru. Their ship being no longer serviceable through want of sails, they ran her aground, and took up a favorable position on the banks of a river, where they had already begun building large-sized piraguas. Here the enemy dared not attack them, and having burned the stranded vessel bore away.
On the 14th of March, having completed the construction of the piraguas, they left Pueblo in two 557 barks, a forty-oared galley, ten piraguas, and ten canoes, and having held a muster of their men, found that their number had been reduced by thirty since their separation from the English freebooters.[XXX‑41] Their design was to carry out a previously formed intention to attack Granada in Nicaragua, but being half dead with hunger they attempted a descent upon Pueblo Nuevo, and were somewhat roughly handled by a detachment of the Spanish fleet left at the mouth of the river.[XXX‑42] Hereupon the pirates again visited the bay of Calderas and the town of Esparza, which they found abandoned. They obtained, however, some provisions from a plantation on the bay. They now consulted as to their method of attack on Granada, and made certain regulations among themselves which they thought would ensure the success of their enterprise.[XXX‑43]
On the 22d Grogniet fell in with Townley and one hundred and fifty men in five canoes, and by way of retaliation for the treatment which his men had received at the hands of the English buccaneers, made them prisoners. After keeping them in durance for several hours the Frenchmen gave them to understand that no harm would be done them, and restored their canoes to them. This led to friendship, and Townley and his men eagerly requested to be admitted as associates in the meditated operations against Granada, a proposition which was listened to with satisfaction.
The combined forces on the 7th of April 1686[XXX‑44] 558 landed three hundred and forty-five men,[XXX‑45] who by forced marches advanced into the interior; but notwithstanding all possible precautions they were discovered, and the alarm conveyed to Granada while they were still at a considerable distance.[XXX‑46] Perceiving that a surprise could not be effected, on the 9th they halted to rest and refresh themselves, enfeebled as they were with hunger and fatigue. On the following day they advanced upon the city which they found to be well fortified and protected by fourteen pieces of cannon and six swivels, the inhabitants having intrenched themselves in the great square.[XXX‑47] Nevertheless they at once charged up the leading street with a recklessness that astonished their foes;[XXX‑48] and having put to flight a strong force which they encountered in the suburbs, were soon actively engaged with the fort.
The fire of the artillery was heavy and rapid, but rendered in a great measure ineffective by the pirates adroitly bending to the ground at every discharge, so that the balls passed over them; seeing which the Spaniards ignited false primings, and postponed the discharge of their guns till the freebooters had assumed an upright position. Then the latter ranged themselves beside the houses, and having gained a small eminence at a convenient distance, so plied the defenders with bullets and hand-grenades that after a brave resistance for an hour and a half they abandoned the inclosure and sought refuge in the principal church. They were quickly dislodged, however, and the city of Granada was in possession of the pirates, 559 who had only four killed and eight wounded,[XXX‑49] while the loss of the Spaniards was severe.
Now French filibusters were no less devoted servants of God and followers of the gentle Christ than were the English freebooters.[XXX‑50] Though they were reckless of their lives and bodies, it was far otherwise with regard to their souls. They might, it is true, burn towns and cut off the heads of captives whose ransom was not promptly forthcoming, but they did not neglect their devotions. So they reverently chanted the te deum in the great church of Granada; then hunted for plunder and women, and getting neither, opened negotiations by means of a prisoner for the ransom of the city from fire.[XXX‑51] The Spaniards, however, were indifferent, fully relying upon the assertion of a straggler whom they had captured, that his companions would not set fire to Granada, as it was their intention to return some months later, and pass through the country by the lake to the North Sea,[XXX‑52] and that the destruction of the city would be inconvenient. But the others thought differently, and exasperated at their bootless and toilsome journey, burned the cathedral and principal buildings.[XXX‑53]
The pirates now deemed it prudent to retire, and on the 15th began their march to the sea, directing their course to the town of Masaya, situated on the 560 lake of that name. Their sufferings were great on their return march. Parched with thirst, scorched by the vertical sun, and choked with the stifling dust, they toiled along discontented and miserable, incessantly exposed to ambushed foes.[XXX‑54] For a day they rested in Masaya, where the Indians received them kindly and implored them not to burn their town. On the 17th, as the freebooters were emerging from the forest upon an open plain, they were opposed by a body of five hundred Spaniards, who had hoisted a red flag in token that no quarter would be given. But the pirates, never fearing, attacked and overthrew the enemy, capturing fifty of their horses.
After this, feeling more secure, they slowly wended their way to the ocean, halting at convenient places and resting from the fatigues of their exhausting march. By the 26th they reached the sea-shore, where they again embarked. They now once more made a raid on Realejo, captured a number of the inhabitants,[XXX‑55] and then proceeded to Chinandega and burned the town. During these forays they suffered greatly from hunger, since the Spaniards systematically destroyed all provisions wherever the freebooters made their appearance, and had also driven their cattle from the coast.
It was a profitless enterprise that these rovers had been engaged in, from first to last. Their booty was insignificant,[XXX‑56] many of their wounded had died from privation and the effect of the climate, and difference of opinion as to future movements finally displayed itself. At a consultation held on the 9th of May a separation was decided upon, and a few days later a division of barks, canoes, and provisions was made. 561 One hundred and forty-eight of the French with the English under Townley sailed for Panamá, while Grogniet with the remainder of his countrymen steered westward up the coast.
Townley's project was to attack Villa de los Santos[XXX‑57] on the Rio Cubita. He succeeded in surprising the town and captured merchandise estimated to be worth a million and a half of pesos, besides fifteen thousand pesos in money and three hundred prisoners of both sexes. But disaster was in store for the marauders on their return, and parties of them were surprised by ambuscades; many were killed and the booty retaken by the Spaniards. Then followed mutual retaliation. The bodies of the slain pirates were mutilated and their heads fixed on poles, while their comrades, out of revenge, decapitated a number of their captives and treated the heads in like manner. Yet these pastimes did not interrupt negotiations; the remainder of the prisoners were ransomed, and the Spaniards purchased a bark of which their amiable visitors had deprived them.
Townley, having thus arranged matters with the inhabitants of Los Santos, bore away for Pearl Islands, and for the next two months cruised about the bay of Panamá making descents on the land and capturing prizes. The slaughter of the Spaniards in some of these engagements was great. On the 21st of August the buccaneers attacked a frigate and a bark, the former of which vessels had eighty killed and wounded out of a crew of one hundred and twenty, and of the crew of the latter only eighteen out of seventy remained unhurt. But Townley's career now came to a close. During the next two days they captured three more vessels, and in one of the engagements the captain of the pirates was mortally wounded, and died on the 8th of September.
During the remainder of the year the buccaneers 562 cruised among the islands and in the bays on the coast of Veragua, frequently landing on the main in order to procure food, and so dire was their necessity that on occasions they imperatively demanded provisions as a ransom for their captives instead of money.[XXX‑58]
At the beginning of 1687 freebooters were again off the Costa Rica coast and infesting the gulf of Nicoya, keeping the Spaniards in a state of constant alarm, wringing from them ransom for captives, and torturing prisoners to obtain information.[XXX‑59] On the 26th of January they were rejoined by Captain Grogniet, whose movements had been principally confined to the bay of Fonseca and the coast of Nicaragua, but dissension occurring, eighty-five of his men separated from him, and with the remaining sixty he turned once more toward Panamá.[XXX‑60]
Again this brood of ocean-banditti directed their course to the rich coast of South America, where they and their fraternity had acquired so infamous a reputation that the women they captured were in dread of being eaten by them.[XXX‑61] After amassing immense wealth they sailed northward and coasted along the Central American and Mexican shores as far as Acapulco, burning, destroying, and murdering as was 563 their wont. But in spite of their sufferings from toil, hunger, and thirst, the pirates had amassed much wealth, and they now wished to return to the North Sea, where their hardships would end, and they could squander and enjoy their ill-gotten riches. Having consulted as to the best course to pursue, they decided to march overland through the province of Segovia to Cape Gracias á Dios. So on the 2d of January 1688, after they "had said their Prayers," they started on their perilous journey, two hundred and eighty in number.[XXX‑62]
Their overland march through the wildest part of Central America was somewhat extraordinary. The journeys of the pirates across the Isthmus, like those of the discoverers and conquerors, were full of danger and sufferings; but the difficulties overcome by these dauntless villains in some respects surpassed anything on record.
Their route lay from the bay of Fonseca to Wank River, down which they proposed to descend on rafts. Marching first to Nueva Segovia, they found the inhabitants ready to oppose them. In the woods their road was impeded by felled trees; in the open country the grass was set on fire, so that to avoid suffocation they were often compelled to halt until the fire should spend itself. The cattle were driven away and provisions removed or destroyed, while ambushed Spaniards assailed them everywhere.
There was nothing for them, however, but to trudge along, which they continued to do until they reached Nueva Segovia on the 11th. The town was deserted. Everything that could maintain life had been carefully 564 removed. As they continued famished and footsore toward the river, now twenty leagues distant, they were harassed by a force of three hundred Spanish horse, constantly threatening their annihilation.
The road, which led over a steep mountain, was found on the second day from Segovia to be intrenched. Thus beset in front and rear, between two bodies each largely outnumbering their own, what were the pirates to do? Blood-besmeared and determined, they were now to the effeminate Spaniards what the early Spaniards had been to the Indians. It was on a bright moonlit night that the filibusters encamped before the intrenchment. Nevertheless two hundred of them managed to steal into the forest unperceived by their enemies.[XXX‑63] With incredible labor they worked their way round rocks and through quagmires, till, guided by the voices of the Spaniards at morning prayer, by daylight they found themselves in the road above, and in the rear of the intrenched Spaniards. A dense mist which had arisen just before dawn concealed them from sight, but while it in some measure aided them, it rendered their operations more dangerous from the nature of the ground. It appeared that there were three intrenchments, one behind the other, and with the reversed position the defenders of the rear one were not protected. Upon this exposed detachment, numbering five hundred men, the freebooters fell so suddenly that the Spaniards fled panic-stricken, and the successful assailants were in possession of the barricade. It was equivalent to victory. There was no hope for the Spaniards now. Guided in their aim by the flashes of the enemy's fire, the pirates, well protected, poured volley after volley upon the Spaniards, who did not know where to shoot or what to do. For an hour they held out; but when, 565 still enveloped in the mist, the pirates charged upon them, unperceived till almost within reach of sword-blow, they turned and fled. What followed was mere butchery. The Spaniards, impeded in their flight by their own defences, were slaughtered till the ferocious victors, "weary of running after them and killing," desisted.[XXX‑64]
The cutthroats are now master of all before them, but nature still interposed her forces to the best of her ability. On the following day, it is true, they arrived at another intrenchment, but the terror they had inspired was so great that they passed it unmolested, and on the 17th reached the banks of the longed-for river which was to carry them to the sea.[XXX‑65] The current was swift, and for leagues the waters rushed down rapids or plunged in cataracts over opposing rocks, eddying and seething in their course. Yet the freebooters hailed it with delight, and with wild enthusiasm constructed for themselves small rafts each capable of carrying two men.[XXX‑66] Trusting to these they launched themselves, many of them to their death. Besides paddles they were provided with long poles to aid them in avoiding the rocks. It was a fearful passage; the boldest trembled, and his brain grew giddy as he was swept past an overhanging precipice or whirled about in the surging flood. Most of the rafts were so overweighted that the men stood 566 up to the waist in water. Among those who had escaped with their lives were many who had lost all their gains acquired by years of hardship and of crime.[XXX‑67] Numerous portages and the building of new rafts long delayed them, and it was not until the 20th of February that they arrived at the broader and less impetuous part of the river. In the mean time, in spite of peril and suffering, the evil passions of human nature were not dormant. As there were no Spaniards present to kill they killed each other as occasion offered.[XXX‑68]
When the river became navigable for boats the freebooters built canoes, and on the 1st of March one hundred and twenty of them,[XXX‑69] in four boats, started down the river, and arrived at the mouth the 9th of March. On the 14th an English vessel arrived from the isles of Pearls,[XXX‑70] on board of which about fifty of them, among whom was Lussan, embarked. This band of the survivors eventually reached French settlements in the West Indies. Of the subsequent fate of those left behind little is known;[XXX‑71] but the gratitude of the devout ruffians whom Lussan accompanied for their deliverance is thus chronicled: "When we were got all ashoar to a People that spoke French, we could not forbear shedding Tears of Joy, that after 567 we had run so many Hazards, Dangers, and Perils, it had pleased the Almighty Maker of the Earth and Seas, to grant a Deliverance, and bring us back to those of our own Nation."[XXX‑72]
A peculiar feature in the history, particularly of Spanish America, is presented by the buccaneers, a New World revival of the vikings, whose adventures were the absorbing theme of the old Norsemen, as preserved in the sagas, and a counterpart of their successors, the corsairs, who maintained equal sway in sunnier climes, spreading terror over entire kingdoms and exacting tribute to support a regal state of their own. The European hordes who under the name of conquerors were ever alert for plunder under the pretence of extending the domain of their divine and royal masters scattered freely the seeds from which sprang the freebooters, to whom the rivalry between Saxon and Latin races gave a desired opportunity to prey upon cities and commerce. Next to the early-discovery voyages none are so absorbing as the expeditions of these wild fellows, culled from all nationalities, and their narratives include not only daring raids, bloody feuds, and hair-breadth escapes by sea and land, but cover the usual topics of exploring voyages. Indeed, their transgressions against society, while covered in most cases by the mask of patriotism and of just war, or retaliation, were frequently condoned by discoveries for the benefit of trade and science, by the extension of geographic knowledge, of natural history, ethnology, and other branches.
The first special account of the buccaneers appears to be the Zee Roover, by Klaes Compaen; Amsterdam, 1663; but the great original for the many subsequent works on them is the book written by A. O. Exquemelin, corrupted by the English into Esquemeling, and by the French into Oexmelin. An employé of the French West India Company, he had in 1666 gone out to the Tortuga Island, but trade failing here, the company sold its effects and transferred its servants. Exquemelin fell into the hands of the lieutenant-governor, under whom he suffered great hardship till a new and kinder master left him at liberty. Finding nothing better to do, he joined the filibusters and sailed with them till 1672, sharing in many notable exploits. He then returned home to Holland, and employed his leisure in writing a history of buccaneer expeditions in the Antilles and adjoining regions, including his own adventures. This was issued as De Americaensche Zee-Roovers. Behelsende een Partinent Verhael van alle de Roverye en Onmenselÿcke Vreetheeden die de Engelsche en France Roovers Tegens de Spanÿaerden in America Gepleeght Hebben; t'Amsterdam bÿ Jan Ten Hoorn, 1678, sm. 4o, 186 pp. Few books have been so extensively used, wholly or in part, or as a foundation for romances and dramas; but the ones used have generally been of the numerous foreign editions, particularly the Spanish, published with more or less variation, and often without credit to the author. The original is exceedingly rare, one copy only besides my own being known to Müller. It is a black-letter 568 specimen, on coarse paper, illustrated with curious maps and plates, depicting battle scenes, burning towns, and portraits of leading captains, as Morgan and L'Olonnois. The title-page is bordered by eight scenes of freebooters' warfare and cruelty. Beginning with his voyage to the West Indies, Exquemelin proceeds to depict the geography and political and social condition of the islands, including the rovers' retreat, and then relates their doings in general. In a second and third part he gives special sketches of the different leaders and their expeditions; and in an appendix are found some valuable statistics for the Spanish possessions on wealth, revenue, and officials. The information is not only varied, but has been found most reliable. The English edition was first published in London by Th. Newborough in 1699, under the title of The History of the Buccaneers of America. The second and third editions of this translation appeared in 1704.
Several of the buccaneers have become known to readers in special treatises by their own hand, or by biographers, as Raveneau de Lussan, Journal d'un Voyage, Paris, 1689; Dampier's New Voyage, London, 1697, and others, which have also proved rich sources for compilers. To the edition of Exquemelin, issued in 1700, Ten Hoorn added two parts, one being an account of English buccaneer voyages under Sharp, Sawkins, and others, written by Basil Ringrose, who had also been a member of the fraternity, and had kept a journal from which the first edition was prepared and issued in 1684. The second part gives Lussan's Journal, followed by the Relation de Montauban, captain of freebooters, on the coast of Guinea in 1695.
Ringrose's account furnishes some particulars not found in other buccaneer narrators of the same expeditions. Though he disapproved of Sharp as a leader, his statements may be considered truthful as well as fuller than those of the other writers, all of whom corroborate Ringrose in the main points. His narrative is also published in the above mentioned work, The History of the Buccaneers of America, under the title of The Dangerous Voyage and Bold Attempts of Capt. Bartholomew Sharp and others in the South Sea. It contains numerous rude cuts of islands, points, capes, etc., on the western coast of America. Ringrose was killed with all his company near a small town 21 leagues from Compostela, in Jalisco, owing to the insubordination of his men. Dampier, Voy., i. 271-2, says: 'We had about 50 Men killed, and among the rest my Ingenious Friend Mr Ringrose was one.... He was at this time Cape-Merchant, or Super-Cargo of Capt. Swan's Ship. He had no mind to this Voyage, but was necessitated to engage in it or starve.' The most important other authorities for the history of this enterprise are Capt. Sharp's Journal of his Expedition, Written by Himself, published by William Hacke in A Collection of Original Voyages (London, 1699). Sharp omits all mention of the defection of the men whom Dampier accompanied across the Isthmus.
The Voyages and Adventures of Capt. Barth. Sharp. London, 1684. The author is anonymous, and was a strong partisan of Sharp, omitting much told against him in other accounts and frequently bestowing upon him fulsome praise. Many pages of the narrative are taken up by mere log-book entries of the ship's sailing and contain no other information. Dampier, A New Voyage round the World. London, 1697-1709, 3 vols. This writer touches in his introduction very briefly upon Sharp's expedition 'because the World has 569 accounts of it already in the relations that Mr Ringrose and others have given' of it; but his account of his return across the Isthmus is interesting and minutely described. Wafer, A New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America, Giving an Account of the Author's Abode there. London, 1699, also only cursorily alludes to Sharp's voyage, but supplies a valuable description of the Isthmus at that time. Wafer, who accompanied Dampier on his return, had been compelled to stay behind on account of a severe wound caused by an explosion of gunpowder, and remained several months with the Indians on the Isthmus. His treatise is principally confined to a description of the physical features of the country, its flora and fauna, and the occupations and customs of the inhabitants. It contains several copper-plates in illustration of these latter, as well as a map of the Isthmus and charts of coast-lines.
A Collection of Original Voyages, by Captain Wm. Hacke, London, 1699, 12o, with some rude cuts and map, contains among other narratives Cowley's Voyage round the Globe, touching Central America, written by himself. As a sequel to these publications may be named Johnson's General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most Notorious Pyrates; London, 1724, which was added as a fourth volume to the French Exquemelin collection of 1744 and later editions. Similar combinations, more or less complete and changed, exist in different languages, from the early Bucaniers of America, London, 1684, to the History of the Buccaniers of America, Boston, 1853, and later editions. The first thorough book on the subject, however, and one which enters into the causes of the filibuster movement, carrying on the narrative till its suppression in the beginning of the eighteenth century, is Admiral Burney's History of the Buccaneers, London, 1816, a special issue of a part of his Chronological History of Discovery. 570
The Scots Colony—They Propose to Establish Settlements in Darien—Subscriptions for the Enterprise—Departure of the Expedition—Its Arrival at Acla—Sickness and Famine among the Colonists—They Abandon their Settlement—A Second Expedition Despatched—Its Failure—Cartagena Sacked by Privateers—Indian Outbreaks—Conflagrations in Panamá—Pearl Fisheries—Mining—Spanish Commerce Falling into the Hands of the British—Seizure of British Vessels and Maletreatment of their Crews—Jenkins' Ears—Declaration of War—Vernon's Operations on the Isthmus—Anson's Voyage round the World—Vernon's Second Expedition—Its Disastrous Result.
Yet another phase of life and restless human endeavor on the Panamá Isthmus here presents itself. Great Britain is seized by an idea, born of greed and nurtured by injustice; and this conception expands until it covers the earth, and until the good people of England and Scotland are in imagination masters of the whole world, which possession is acquired not through any honest means, but after the too frequent vile indirections of the day and the nation; in all which the people of those isles give themselves and their money over to Satan.
In June 1695 a number of wealthy Scotchmen under the leadership of William Paterson[XXXI‑1] obtained 571 from the Scottish parliament a statute, and later letters patent from William III.,[XXXI‑2] authorizing them to plant colonies in Asia, Africa, or America, in places uninhabited, or elsewhere by permission of the natives, provided the territory were not occupied by any European prince or state. Paterson had spent several years in the Indies and had explored the province of Darien. Near the old settlement of Acla he had found a port safe for shipping. Three days' journey thence, on the other side of the Isthmus, were other suitable harbors. By establishing settlements on either shore, he purposed to grasp the trade whereby Europe was supplied with the products of North and South America, China, Japan, and the Philippine Islands, with European goods. From the Isthmus to Japan and parts of China was but a few weeks' sail, and the products of Asia could thus be landed in Europe in far less time than that occupied by the vessels of the India companies. Moreover on the rich soil of Darien, sugar, indigo, tobacco, and other articles of value could be raised. "Trade," said the projector of the bank of England, "will beget trade; money will beget money; the commercial world shall no longer want work for their hands, but will rather want hands for their work. This door to the seas and key to the universe will enable its possessors to become the legislators of both worlds, and the arbitrators of commerce. The settlers of Darien will acquire a nobler empire than Alexander or Cæsar, without fatigue, expense, or danger, as well as without incurring the guilt and bloodshed of conquerors."
Paterson was either knave or fool; having been both preacher and pirate he may have been both fool and knave. It was impossible for him to have explored the Isthmus as he claimed and not know that the climate was deadly, and that to the wild highlander, 572 fresh from the cold north, the harbors of Darien could prove nothing but pest-holes, breeding swift destruction. As for the people who blindly threw themselves into the adventure, they were as sheep, and differed little from the human sheep of the present day.
Spain had at least the right of discovery and conquest to her possessions in the New World, even though such conquest had been attended with cruelty almost as great as that of the English in Hindostan. The natives of Darien were never indeed entirely subdued. Yet even according to the European code of robbery it does not appear that Great Britain had any more right to plant colonies in Tierra Firme than she now has to establish them in portions of the United States that may be infested by hostile Indians. Nevertheless in the year 1699 when, as we shall see, the scheme was on the verge of failure, the English monarch, in answer to a petition from "The Company of Scotland trading to Africa and the Indies and their Colony of Darien," as the association was styled, asking that "His Royal Wisdom be pleased to take such Measures as might effectually vindicate the undoubted Rights and Privileges of the said Company, and support the Credit and Interest thereof," replied, "Right Trusty and Well-beloved, We greet you well: Your Petition has been presented to us by our Secretaries, and we do very much regret the Loss which that our antient Kingdom and the Company has lately sustained."[XXXI‑3]
"To prove," says a writer of the period,[XXXI‑4] "the Falsehood of the Allegation, That the Province of Darien is part of the King of Spain's Domains: It is positively denied by the Scots, who challenge the Spaniards to prove their Right to the said Province, either by Inheritance, Marriage, Donation, Purchase, Reversion, 573 Surrender, Possession or Conquest." "And as to their Claim by the Pope's Donation," writes another author of the period,[XXXI‑5] "the very mentioning, and much more the pleading of it, is a ridiculing, as well as bantring of Mankind; seeing even on the supposal that the Roman Pontiffs should be acknowledged the successors of St Peter, which as no Protestants are forward to believe or confess, so they have never hitherto found, nor do they think the Pontificans able to prove it: Yet this would invest them with no right of disposing the Kingdoms of the World as they please and unto whom they will. For Peter being cloathed with no such Power himself, nor having ever pretended to exert such a Jurisdictive Authority as some Popes have had the Vanity and Pride to do, how could he convey it unto, and entail it upon others, under the quality and character of being his Successors"? These and similar excuses, however sorry, were all that the apologists for the Scots' colony had to offer for thus grasping at this territory. It may be remarked that the claim of Great Britain to her colonies is in few instances based on discovery, and that nearly all her most valuable possessions have been gained at the point of the sword. Might is right.
Six hundred thousand pounds were required for the enterprise and the amount was quickly subscribed, in Scotland, England, Hamburg, and Amsterdam. The scheme was a bold one, but the promise of returns was vast, and as will be remembered this was the era of gigantic and insane speculations. In Scotland alone the subscriptions summed up three hundred thousand pounds, an amount which absorbed almost the entire circulating capital of the country. All who possessed ready money ventured at least a part of it in the enterprise. Some threw in all they had; others all they could borrow. Maidens invested their portions; widows pledged their dower, expecting to be repaid 574 fifty or a hundred fold. In England half the capital stock was subscribed for in nine days, one fourth being paid in specie or bank notes, and the rest in bills payable on demand. The total of the subscriptions from all sources was nine hundred thousand pounds, a sum which at the close of the seventeenth century was enormous even in the money capital of Great Britain. Soon the success of the scheme aroused the jealousy of English merchants, who feared that the commerce of the world might pass into the hands of the Scotch. William III. was at heart opposed to the scheme, although he had granted letters patent to the association; and partly through his influence the contributions in England, Hamburg, and Amsterdam were withdrawn. Nevertheless, another hundred thousand pounds was raised in Scotland, thus making up a capital of four hundred thousand pounds sterling.
Permission was given by the crown to Paterson and his associates to fit out men-of-war, to plant colonies, build cities and forts, make reprisals for damage done by land or sea, and to conclude treaties of peace or commerce with princes and governors. They were also allowed to claim the minerals, the valuable timber, and the fisheries in sea or river, and "in the name of God and in Honour and for the Memory of that most Antient and Renowned name of our Mother Kingdom" the country was to be named New Caledonia. The enterprise was under the control of a council of seven,[XXXI‑6] to whom was intrusted all power, civil and military. Paterson was of course one of the members, but from all deliberations he was excluded, and in the final arrangements for the fleet he 575 was not even consulted, his reasonable request that an inventory of supplies be taken before setting sail being refused.
The expedition had been planned and ordered in keeping with the first subscriptions[XXXI‑7] and was the largest and most costly of any that had yet been fitted out for schemes of colonization in the New World. On the 26th of July 1698 twelve hundred men, among them three hundred youths belonging to the best families of Scotland, and many veterans who had been discharged from the British army after the peace of Ryswick, assembled at the port of Leith. A wild insanity seized the entire population of Edinburgh as they now came forth to witness the embarkation. Guards were kept busy holding back the eager aspirants who, hungry for death, pressed forward in throngs, stretching out their arms to their departing countrymen and clamoring to be taken on board. Stowaways when ordered on shore clung madly to rope and mast, pleading in vain to be allowed to serve without pay on board the fleet. Women sobbed and gasped for breath; men stood uncovered, and with choked utterance and downcast head invoked the blessing of the Almighty. The banner of St Andrew was hoisted at the admiral's mast; and as a light wind caught the sails, the roar of the vast multitude was heard far down the waters of the frith. The breeze freshened, and as the vessels were carried seaward, cheer after cheer followed the highlanders, who now bade farewell, most of them, as it proved, forever, to their native land. 576
On the 4th of November, having lost fifteen of their number during the voyage, they landed at Acla; founded there a settlement to which they gave the name New St Andrew; cut a canal through the neck of land which divided one side of the harbor from the ocean, and on this spot erected a fort whereon they mounted fifty guns. On a mountain at the opposite side of the harbor they built a watch-house, from which the view was so extensive that there was no danger of surprise. Lands were purchased from the Indians, and messages of friendship sent to the governors of several Spanish provinces.
On the week following the departure of the expedition, the Scottish parliament met and unanimously adopted an address to the king asking his support and countenance for the Darien colony, but no time was lost by the India companies in bringing every means to bear to ensure its ruin; and notwithstanding the memorial of the parliament, the British monarch ordered the governors of Jamaica, Barbadoes, and New York not to furnish the settlers with supplies.[XXXI‑8] To such length did rancor go, that the Scotch commanders who should presume to enter English ports, even for repairs after a storm, were threatened with arrest.[XXXI‑9]
A stock of provision had been placed on board the fleet sufficient as was supposed to last for eight months, but the supply gave out in as many weeks, since those who had been placed in charge of the 577 commissariat department had embezzled the funds. Fishing and the chase were the only resources, and as these were precarious the colonists were soon on the verge of famine. As summer drew near the atmosphere became stifling, and the exhalations from the steaming soil, united with other causes, wrought deadly destruction on the settlers. Men were continually passing to the hospital and thence to the grave, and the survivors were only kept alive through the friendly services of the Indians.[XXXI‑10]
Matters daily grew worse with the colonists. A ship despatched from Scotland laden with provisions had foundered off Cartagena. The Spaniards on the Isthmus looked on their distress with complacency. No relief came nor any tidings from Scotland; and on the 22d of June 1699, less than eight months after their arrival, the survivors resolved to abandon the settlement. Paterson, the first to enter the ship at Leith, was the last to go on board at Darien. Ill with fever and broken in spirit, his misfortune weighed so heavily on him that he became temporarily deranged.[XXXI‑11] Of the rest, four hundred perished at sea.
Eight weeks after Paterson's departure two ships arrived from Scotland with ample stores of provisions and three hundred recruits. Finding the colony at New Saint Andrew abandoned they set sail for Jamaica, leaving six of their number, who preferring to remain on the Isthmus, were kindly treated by the natives, and after they had lived there long enough to satisfy themselves were safely brought away.
Not until several months after the departure of the first expedition did the court of Spain protest against the invasion of her territory. And no better policy could have been devised than to have thus let death do the work; but on the 3d of May 1699 a memorial 578 was presented[XXXI‑12] to William III. by the Spanish ambassador stating that his Catholic Majesty looked on the proceeding as a rupture of the alliance between the two countries and as a hostile invasion, and would take such measures as he thought best against the intruders.
Provoked by this interference, and as yet ignorant of the fate of their colony, the Scotch soon afterward[XXXI‑13] despatched another expedition of thirteen hundred men in four vessels. The ships were hastily fitted out, and during the voyage one was lost and the others scattered. Many died on the passage, and the rest arrived at different times broken in health and spirit. The dwellings of the first settlers had been burned, the fort dismantled, the tools and agricultural implements abandoned, and the site of the settlement was overgrown with weeds. Meanwhile two sloops had arrived in the harbor with a small stock of provisions; but the supply was inadequate, and five hundred of the party were at once ordered to embark for Scotland.
In February 1700 Captain Campbell arrived at New Saint Andrew with a company of three hundred men who had served under him during the campaign in Flanders. Intelligence had now reached the colony that sixteen hundred Spaniards lay encamped on the Rio Santa María expecting soon to be joined by a squadron of nine vessels, when it was proposed to make a concerted attack on the settlement. Campbell resolved to anticipate the enemy, and marching against them at the head of two hundred veterans, surprised their camp by night, and dispersed them with great slaughter. Returning, he found that the Spanish ships were off the harbor, and that troops had been landed from them, cutting off all chance of relief. Nevertheless for six weeks the Scotch sustained 579 a siege, and when their ammunition gave out they melted their pewter dishes and fashioned them into cannon balls. At length provisions ran short and the Spaniards cut off their water supply. A surrender became inevitable. Campbell with a few comrades escaped on board his vessel and made his way to New York and thence to Scotland. The rest capitulated on condition that they be allowed to depart with their effects,[XXXI‑14] but so weak were the survivors and so few in number that they were not able to weigh the anchor of their largest ship until the Spaniards generously came to their assistance. All but two of the vessels were lost; only thirty of the men succeeded in reaching home, and after the loss of more than two thousand lives and several millions of money, the Scotch abandoned further attempts at colonization in Tierra Firme.[XXXI‑15]
While the Spaniards were thus annoyed by foreign encroachments in Darien, the capital of the neighboring province was captured by filibusters. This was in 1697. To Pedro de Heredia had been assigned in 1532, as will be remembered, a province in Nueva Andalucía; and there had been founded the colony of Cartagena, which toward the close of the sixteenth century had become a flourishing settlement. A hundred years later Cartagena ranked next to Mexico among the cities of the western world. Situated on a capacious harbor, esteemed as one of the best in the Indies, it possessed several large streets, each nearly one sixth of a league in length, with well built houses of stone, a cathedral, several churches, and numerous convents and nunneries. Its population was probably little short of twenty thousand, of whom about three thousand were Spaniards and the remainder negroes and mulattoes. It was strongly fortified by nature 580 and art, and had to some extent superseded the cities of the Isthmus as an entrepôt of commerce between the hemispheres. Here the pearl fleet called once a year, an entire street being occupied with the shops of the pearl-dressers, and here was brought, by way of the Desaguadero, the sugar, cochineal, and indigo sent from Guatemala for shipment to Spain.
Cartagena was therefore a tempting prize for the banditti who infested the waters of the North Sea. Drake's operations off that city have already been related. A few years after the decease of that famous adventurer it was laid in ashes by French privateers; and now, in 1697, it was captured by a French fleet having on board twelve hundred men, of whom seven hundred were filibusters under command of Le Baron de Pointis. The spoils of this raid were variously estimated at from eight to forty millions of livres; and yet it is said that before the capture of the city a hundred and ten mule-loads of silver were despatched to a place of safety.
In 1726 the governor of Panamá gave authority to the mestizo, Luis García, a man whose exploits had brought him into prominence, to lead the Indians in a war of extermination against the French filibusters, who still continued to devastate the Isthmus.
A brief but sharp campaign resulted in the death of the French leader, the notorious Petitpied, and García, on his return to Panamá, was amply rewarded. The Cana mines proved too great a temptation to García after his return to his home in Darien, and finding that some of the caciques whose territory extended to the Balsas River were in a state of mutiny on account of grievances inflicted by the curates in the name of the church and the king, he made a compact with them to throw off Spanish allegiance, withdraw their forces to the mountain fastnesses, and form a government of their own. A rendezvous was established in the Cordillera, and García, growing more 581 resolute, resolved on an aggressive war upon the Spaniards and their Indian allies. The campaign opened in a frontier town on the river Yavisa, where they killed the cura, the teniente de justicia, a few Spaniards, and all the Indians who would not join them; then they plundered the place. Elated by this victory, García continued his march until he reached Santa María, where he attempted the same system of spoliation and slaughter. He was less successful, for the inhabitants had fled with most of their valuables. García's men entered the town, burned it, and killed every Spaniard they could capture in the neighborhood.
Meanwhile news of the revolt had reached the president, and seventy picked men well officered had been sent to suppress it. This and other attempts threw the people of Darien, now numbering twenty thousand, into consternation, and concerted action was planned with Panamá. A large reward was offered for the body of García, dead or alive; he perished at last by the hands of a negro.[XXXI‑16]
Although the Isthmus was the seat of the first Spanish settlement in America, as I have said before, the natives of Darien were never completely subdued. The Spaniards built strongholds, gathered the Indians into settlements, introduced missionaries, guarded the coast with men-of-war, but all in vain. In 1745 Fort San Rafael de Terable was built by Governor Dionisio de Alcedo on a small peninsula bordered by the river and bay. In 1751 the natives carrying out an oft repeated threat attacked this stronghold, and of the garrison but two or three wounded men escaped. In 1756 the population of Yavisa, composed chiefly of friendly Indians, was massacred by the Chucunaques. A fort was erected in 1760 at this point, and a few years later it became the capital of the province and the seat of the residence 582 of the governor. In 1768 the Chucunaques slaughtered the garrison at Port Ypelisa, plundered the place of arms and tools, and in the same year laid waste the banks of the Congo.
Ten years later another extensive raid occurred; but in 1774 Andrés de Ariza, being appointed governor, dealt vigorously and skilfully with the hostile tribes. He discovered numerous secret passes and well cut roads from their quarters to various portions of the province; he deciphered a system of alarm signals, and found a number of caves where the light boats of the natives were constructed. By his efforts the Indians were kept at bay or brought under control.
But outbreaks among the natives and the raids of corsairs were not the only misfortunes to which the Isthmus was exposed. During the eighteenth century the city of Panamá was thrice devastated by fire. On the 1st and 2d of February 1737 a conflagration occurred which destroyed two thirds of the buildings; March 30, 1756, a second fire destroyed one half of the city; and on the 26th of April 1771 fifty-five houses were burned.[XXXI‑17]
While the people of Tierra Firme thus suffered many disasters at this period of their history, and as we shall see later were frequently subject to attack from the armaments of hostile powers, they appear to have been remarkably free from the internal dissensions which prevailed at an earlier date. The unseemly strife between the church and the audiencia had now entirely ceased, and little worthy of note is mentioned by the chroniclers. During the latter portion of the seventeenth century, and for the first few years of the eighteenth, records as to the succession of governors in Panamá are meagre. In 1708 the marqués de Villa Rocha was in power; but incurring the displeasure of the audiencia, he was deposed in June of that year, and confined in the castle of Portobello. 583 His successor, Fernando de Haro Monterroso, the senior oidor, who had been mainly instrumental in effecting the downfall of the marquis, held the reins of government for about six months when he was prosecuted for alleged outrages of so grave a character that he was sent in custody to Spain for trial.[XXXI‑18] From Alcedo we learn that Juan Bautista de Orueta y Irusta, alcalde del crímen of the audiencia of Lima, succeeded to the gubernatorial office, and ruled until 1710, when a governor of the king's appointment arrived, and Orueta returned to Lima.
In June 1711 Villa Rocha, having been released and seeing an opportunity of seizing the reins of power, hastened to the capital and proclaimed himself governor. His career was short, for within twenty-four hours José Hurtado de Amedzaga, mariscal del campo of the royal forces, compelled him to abdicate, and he himself took possession of the governor's chair, occupying it until 1716, by which time he had rendered himself so obnoxious to the people that he was removed by the king's order. The government was then placed in the hands of the bishop of the diocese, and the authority of the audiencia was suspended. Following Haya we find that Doctor Fray José de Llamas y Rivas, bishop of Panamá, administered the government from the deposition of Villa Rocha to January 1719. Authorities differ as to the order of succession of the different governors. I have selected Haya as probably the most accurate. This writer informs us that Governor Alderete began his administration of Panamá on the 25th of April 1725, and that he was deposed and sent to Spain in 1730.
The successor of Alderete was Juan José de Andia, marqués de Villa Hermosa, who was promoted from the governorship of Cartagena to the presidency of Panamá. In 1735, after five years' service, he was 584 given a generalship in the royal army of Spain, and returned there with honors.
Dionisio de Alcedo y Herrera was appointed a few years later with authority over all the fortified cities which had been the objective point of the English in the war which they had declared in 1739.
On the day before Christmas 1749 the governorship of Panamá was conferred on Jaime Muñoz de Guzman; but on the same day one appointed by the crown arrived in the person of Manuel de Montiano, who held the office until the 11th of November 1755. Montiano was promoted to this position from the governorship of Florida, and was a mariscal de campo.
While engaged in geodetic surveys at the Isthmus about this time, Ulloa had an opportunity of witnessing the manner in which justice was bought and sold. Matters had come to such a pass that the members of the audiencia chose the most dexterous of their number and empowered him to negotiate with rival parties as to what amount of bonus they were respectively disposed to pay in consideration of a favorable verdict.
Panamá, in 1758 had for its governor Antonio Guill, an officer of unusual merit, and one whose executive ability was highly prized by the crown. He was promoted to the captain-generalship of Chile in 1761. In the following year José Raon succeeded, and was promoted to the presidency of Manila two years later. In 1764 José Vasco y Orosco became governor. He died in 1767, and was succeeded in January 1769 by Vicente Olaziregui, others acting provisionally during the interval. Temporary appointments were made till 1779, when Ramon de Carbajal took charge, returning to Spain in 1786.
Until 1718 the three provinces of the Isthmus were subject to the viceroy of Peru, but after that they were incorporated with New Granada, the viceroy 585 of which resided at Santa Fé de Bogotá. The latter was endowed with the prerogatives of royalty, the only checks upon his authority being the residencia and the right of appeal to the audiencia of Panamá. The audiencia enjoyed the privilege of direct communication with the sovereign, and with the council of the Indies. Any beneficial effect which that institution might have had was counteracted largely by the vast powers of the viceroy and their consequent means of influencing any and every subordinate.
In 1774 there was instituted at Panamá a new audiencia real y chancillería, having for its limits the province of Castilla del Oro as far as Portobello, the province of Veragua, and toward Peru as far as the ports of Buenavista and the river Darien, the territory under its control being bounded on the east and south by that under the jurisdiction of the audiencias of Granada and Quito; on the west by that of Guatemala; and on the north and south by the two oceans.
It has already been stated that about the close of the sixteenth century the fisheries of the Pearl Islands became exhausted, and that they were abandoned for several decades thereafter. In 1697 the Italian traveller Gemelli Careri visited Panamá, and according to his report the fisheries then yielded pearls equal to those found near Ceylon. He mentions one belonging to a Jesuit priest that weighed sixty grains, and for which the owner refused seventy thousand pesos.[XXXI‑19]
About the same time the industry of gold-mining was revived on the Isthmus. In Darien and Veragua, but especially in the former province, mines which had been abandoned were again worked, and new ones discovered. The operatives were slaves, free negroes, sambos, and mulattoes, who received for their wages 586 a certain amount of pay-dirt, and often pilfered gold dust enough to make them as rich as their masters. It was the delight of the negroes to give fancy balls to their inamoratas, at which they would appear with their hair glistening with golden trinkets, sometimes sprinkling the ball-room floor with gold dust.
A slave of Antonio de Sosa discovered a pocket of gold which is said to have yielded sixty thousand castellanos; and making this known to his master, was rewarded with his freedom and that of his wife, and presented with a house and lot in Panamá and a moderate income wherewith to enjoy his liberty. Of a vagabond mulatto it is related that he suddenly reappeared in the church of Santo Domingo, and attracted the gaze of all by a remarkably brilliant rosary formed of large nuggets of purest gold. The place of discovery was subsequently known as the Rosario mining district. Among other nuggets unearthed was one found at the mines of Santa María, weighing, according to Dampier, a hundred and twenty pounds. Instances like these might be multiplied, but enough has been said to show the value of the mines from which at this time more gold was sent to Panamá than from all the others in the Spanish provinces. As late as 1720 they yielded a handsome revenue to the Spanish crown.
The mines of Cana in the mountains of Espíritu Santo were especially rich, and in the early part of the eighteenth century were so frequently exposed to the raids of robbers that for a season they were abandoned. In 1702 and 1712, at the former of which dates the town of Cana contained nine hundred houses, the place was sacked by the English; in 1724 by the French; and in 1727 by the Indians. During these and later years other parts of the Isthmus were several times invaded by corsairs, or by the armaments of England ostensibly by way of reprisal for injuries inflicted on British commerce.
In 1713 Great Britain obtained an asiento for supplying 587 the Spanish colonies with negro slaves,[XXXI‑20] and also the privilege of sending annually to Portobello a five-hundred-ton vessel laden with European merchandise. British factories were soon established at Cartagena and Panamá. And British merchants, prompt to take advantage of this license, poured in goods without limitation or restraint. Instead of a vessel of five hundred tons they usually sent one of nearly double that capacity, accompanied by two or three smaller ships, which, mooring in some neighboring creek, supplied fresh bales of goods when the stock on board the larger vessel became exhausted. The inspectors of the fair and the officers of the revenue were bribed, and gradually the immense commerce of the merchants of Seville was diverted, and the squadrons that were wont to be the pride of Spain and the envy of the nations sank to insignificant proportions, the galleons having little other freight than that furnished by the mines and the royal tribute. In 1719 an effort was made to regain this lost ground, foreign commerce being interdicted and increased facilities being given for domestic trade by a cédula of December 1st.[XXXI‑21]
After the treaty of Seville was concluded between Spain and England, complaints were frequently made of the depredations committed by Spanish guarda costas on British commerce in the West Indies. The English of course retaliated. Whereupon the Spaniards, not satisfied with plundering British merchant-ships, maltreated their crews. A squadron of four 588 twenty-gun ships and two sloops was despatched to the Indies, and accounts of the atrocities inflicted or permitted by the captains of Spanish vessels were continually brought by vessels arriving from the New World. In 1738 the house of commons determined to investigate the matter, and to ascertain the number of ships that had been seized by the Spaniards, the value of their cargoes, and the nature of the alleged cruelties. An instance which was related before a committee of inquiry appointed by the commons aroused a feeling of resentment throughout Great Britain. One Captain Jenkins, master of a brig trading from Glasgow, stated that his craft had been boarded by a guarda costa, that his crew had been ill used, and one of his own ears cut off, the captain of the vessel placing it in his hand and bidding him carry it home to the king, whom he declared he would treat in the same manner if he had him in his power. Discredit was afterward thrown on this story; but whether it were true or false it was at the time believed by the commons and the people of England. On the 14th of January 1739 a convention was signed between the two countries, wherein Spain agreed to indemnify British merchants for their losses, but the Spaniards afterward refused to pay the stipulated sum. In consequence of which, and of the maltreatment of British subjects, letters of marque and reprisal were issued by the admiralty in July of that year, but not until October following was war formally declared.
It was now resolved to despatch a strong squadron to the West Indies[XXXI‑22] for the protection of British commerce, and, in retaliation for the injuries inflicted by the Spaniards, to attack Portobello. So strongly was this city fortified that during a debate of the house of commons one of the members stated that it could not be captured with less than fifty or sixty 589 men-of-war; whereupon Captain Edward Vernon, himself a member, happening to be present, rose and said: "I will forfeit my life if I cannot take it with six ships." The offer was promptly accepted; the captain was given the command of an expedition, and being promoted to the rank of vice-admiral set sail on the 20th of July 1739. Touching at Port Royal he obtained a reënforcement of 240 troops, and after waiting in vain for more land forces from England, put to sea with seven vessels, six of them having on board 2,735 men and 370 guns; one was ordered to cruise off Cartagena, that the commander might make good his promise to capture the city with six ships only. On nearing the coast three Spanish war-vessels were sighted and chased, but made good their escape, and found safe shelter, as their captains supposed, under the cannon of the forts.
At daybreak on the 21st of November the British squadron entered the harbor in line of battle. A brisk fire was at once opened from the strongest fort of the Spaniards, known as the Iron Castle, and against this point Vernon directed his attack. The Hampton Court, a vessel with 70 guns and 500 men, led the way, and, anchoring almost within a cable's length of the fort, bore for some minutes the whole brunt of the fight. Within half an hour two other vessels came into action, and soon the upper portion of the castle wall was battered down, when many of the Spaniards abandoned their guns and fled. Observing this the admiral ordered a lieutenant with forty sailors and a party of marines to land and carry the fort by assault. He then anchored his own ship, the Burford, within half a cable's length of the enemy's cannon, in order to cover the storming party. He met with a warm reception, for the Spaniards opened a point-blank fire on the Burford, and every gun took effect. One shot passed through the fore-top-mast, another struck within two inches of the main-mast, a third broke through the bulwarks of the quarter-deck, close 590 to the spot where Vernon stood, killing two men and wounding five others. The stern of the admiral's barge was shot away, and a large carronade on the main-deck was disabled. But soon the flag-ship brought her starboard broadside to bear on the castle, and at the first discharge drove the Spaniards from their lower batteries; then swinging round on her cable she poured in another volley from her larboard guns. The fire of her small arms commanded the lower embrasures; the men meanwhile had made good their landing from the boats; and soon the white flag was hoisted from the Iron Castle. Firing was continued until dark from two other forts, which then guarded the harbor of Portobello, but on the following morning the city, the fortifications, and all the vessels in port were finally surrendered to the English.[XXXI‑23]
Vernon would not allow his men to pillage the town[XXXI‑24] or molest the inhabitants; but ten thousand 591 pesos intended for the pay of the garrison were found concealed, and distributed among the English forces.[XXXI‑25] The most serviceable pieces of ordnance were placed on board the fleet; the rest were spiked; the ammunition was secured, and after blowing up all the fortifications of the city, Vernon, being now reënforced by several vessels, returned to Port Royal, whence after refitting his fleet he sailed on the 25th of February 1740 for the mouth of the Chagre with six men-of-war, and several fire-ships, bombketches, and tenders.
The castle of San Lorenzo which, it will be remembered, was demolished by Morgan in 1671, had been rebuilt and strongly fortified. Vernon now resolved to destroy it and thus strike another blow at Spain's dominions in Tierra Firme; but first to punish the inhabitants of Cartagena from which city the Spanish admiral, Don Blas, had sent him while at Portobello a message which savored of insolence. The don had accused him of fear, and remarked that "to take Cities and destroy Royal Fortifications was an unusual and unexpected Way of making Reprisals." This remark the British commander deemed sufficient excuse for shelling the city, during which process the customhouse, the Jesuit college, a church, and other buildings were laid in ruins though he did not succeed in capturing Cartagena. The castle of San Lorenzo was surrendered with but slight resistance; and after committing further depredations on the coast Vernon set sail from the shores of Tierra Firme. 592
About three weeks after the declaration of war between England and Spain, Captain George Anson arrived at Spithead from his cruise off the coast of Africa and in the West Indies. He was placed in charge of an armament consisting of six vessels with 1,510 men and 236 guns, and was promised a force of infantry composed of several hundred choice troops, the purpose of the expedition being to operate on the coast of Peru, and thence to proceed northward, attack Panamá, and capture the treasure-fleet.
In 1741 Vernon, who was now at Jamaica, was placed in charge of the largest fleet and army that had ever been despatched to the West Indies. Twenty-nine ships of the line, with a large number of frigates, bombketches, and fire-ships, manned by 15,000 seamen and having on board about 12,000 troops, were here collected for a descent on the mainland. Anson was directed to coöperate with Vernon by way of the Isthmus; and had not these expeditions suffered a series of reverses, caused in part by the vacillating policy of the British ministry, Spain's dominion in the western world might now have come to an end.
But in place of choice troops a number of raw recruits were placed on board Anson's ships, the only veterans being invalids; and the departure of his squadron was delayed until the 18th of September 1740. After clearing the straits of Magellan they encountered a furious storm which lasted for fifty-eight days. The vessels were parted, and on the 9th of June in the following year the admiral's ship, the Centurion, arrived at the island of Juan Fernandez with her crew prostrated by scurvy. Here he was soon rejoined by two others of the squadron, and after remaining a hundred and four days at the island set sail for the coast of South America, sacking and burning the town of Paita and taking several vessels, by the men on board one of which he was told that Vernon had been defeated at Cartagena. It was resolved 593 not to make any attempt on Panamá; and after some further adventures Anson sailed toward Manila, and captured in that vicinity a prize which rewarded him and his followers for all their toil and suffering. This was a Spanish galleon having on board nearly a million and a half of pesos. Anson then set his face homeward and arrived in England by way of the Cape of Good Hope on the 15th of June 1744, having occupied three years and nine months in his circumnavigation.[XXXI‑26]
After his repulse at Cartagena Vernon returned to Jamaica, where he was soon reënforced by four men-of-war and three thousand troops despatched from England. On the 9th of March 1742 he sailed for Portobello, intending to proceed thence to Panamá and capture that city. On arriving at the Isthmus he found that the rainy season had already set in; his men sickened, and a council of war being held it was resolved to return once more to Jamaica. Hence he was soon afterward ordered home, the remnant of his forces now mustering but a tenth part of the number that had been intrusted to his command. Thus in disaster ended an expedition sent to the conquest of an empire.
Notwithstanding the defeat of Vernon's expedition the settlements on the North Sea had been so frequently laid waste that after 1748 there was little intercourse between Spain and her colonies in Tierra Firme and South America except by way of Cape Horn. The despatch of fleets to the Isthmus was discontinued. Licenses were granted, however, to vessels called register ships, and in 1764 a monthly line of packets was established for intercommunication with Portobello 594 and Cartagena. A few years later restrictions on trade were removed by international treaty; but long before the close of the eighteenth century the commerce of the Isthmus declined, and the road from Panamá to Portobello could no longer be called one of the chief commercial highways of the world. Agriculture and manufactures were neglected; the mines were exhausted; and the trade which had for more than two hundred years been the life-blood of Panamá existed no more. 595
The Sambos of Mosquitia—Their Territory—A Mosquito Chieftain Crowned King—Treaties between Spain and England—The British Occupy Mosquitia—Galvez Captures an English Settlement on the Black River—An Armament Despatched from Jamaica to Mosquitia—Surrender of the Spaniards—Colonists Ordered to Leave the Coast—The Governors of Nicaragua—The British Defeated at Fort San Cárlos—They Capture Fort San Juan—But are Compelled to Retreat—Church Matters—Missionary Expeditions to Talamanca—Affairs in Costa Rica.
On the eastern coast of Nicaragua and Honduras there lived in the seventeenth century a people known among themselves as Misskitos, and called by the Spaniard Mosquitos, or more frequently sambos, the offspring probably of cimarrones and native women. They were ruled by an hereditary king, whose territory, when buccaneers first visited his domain, was of very limited extent, though the Mosquito language, which was identical with the one spoken by those of similar origin in the West Indies, spread in after years from Cape Honduras to the Desaguadero, and as far inland as Black River. They were a warlike race, and, as we shall see, could hold their own against the Spaniards. Their chief weapons were the bow and arrow, in the use of which it is said that the women were as expert as the men. The bow was of ironwood, often six feet in length, and strung with twisted bark. The arrow was of wood or reed, hardened in the fire, and tipped with fish-bone, flint, or 596 teeth, poisoned in the juice of the manzanilla tree. They fought also with lances of cane, nine feet in length, and with javelins, clubs, and heavy sharp-pointed swords made of a poisonous wood. Their defensive armor was of plated reeds covered with tiger-skins and bedecked with feathers. Toward the close of the century the Mosquitos could put more than forty thousand warriors into the field; they selected as leader on each expedition the bravest and most experienced of their number.[XXXII‑1]
"The inner parts of the Mosqueto country are very barren," states an Englishman who was in those parts near the close of the seventeenth century and wrote his description about 1699, "but in the woods near the river sides, and by the great lagunes, are many sorts of fruits, wild beasts, and fowls, in plenty.... Plantains, and bananas, ... they have plentifully, in small plantations, in obscure parts of the woods, near the river sides.... Pine apples too ... they have enough of, and mammo, which last is a very sweet fruit ... and grows on middling low trees like apples. Saffadilla trees, which bear berries as big as sloes, of a yellowish colour, which are very pleasant to the taste and wholesome, of extraordinary virtue, ... are very frequent in their woods; as are likewise a sort of a pleasing plum tree, which grows very large, and is of a most delicious odour.... Great Indian wheat, or mais, they plant a little of to make drink with; and likewise some cocoa trees, ... but their laziness will not permit them to plant much of the last, because they can steal it ready gathered from the Spaniards, who have large plantations thereof at Carpenters river, not many leagues from them. Sugar-canes I have seen growing in old king Jeremy's plantation, much larger than I ever saw in Jamaica, but the Indians not knowing how to make sugar or rum, neglect them.... Pappaw trees which bear a sweet fruit, almost like a 597 musk-melon in shape and taste ... are very plentiful. Cocoa-nut trees, cocoa-plums, and large grapes, growing on great trees, with large stones in them ... grow up and down near the water-sides. Monelo trees, whose fruit hangs down like french-beans, and are a very rich perfume when dried, and the best for chocolate, grow very plentiful on the banks of Black River, in this country. All the flesh that these people eat ... they get by hunting.... They have a small sort of fallow deer, like our English, with shorter horns, which haunt the inner sides of the woods, close to the Savanna.... The mountain cow, which the natives call Tilbu, is of the bigness of an English calf of a year old, having a snout like an elephant and not horned; they hide all day in muddy plashes, to escape the tigers, and in the night swim across the river to get food.... Warree and pickaree abound in great herds, and are two sorts of Indian wild hogs, having both their navels on their backs.[XXXII‑2] ... Some parts of this country are pretty well stocked with fowls.... A pretty large sort of fowl haunt their plantain walks, which the natives call quawmoes and the English corasaoes; they are a small sort of Indian turkey.... Wood pigeons ... and a sort of fat doves creeping commonly on the ground, are plentiful enough.... The woods are stocked with a variety of other fowls, most curiously painted, which are good for food.... In the fresh water rivers they have a sort of tortoise, called cushwaw, ... and on the coast abundance of large sea-tortoises.... They have great shoals of mullets, silver-fish, cat-fish, cavallies, sharks, nurses, snappers, growpers, some seal, stingrays, whiprays, and sea-devils.... Their best fish is the manatee, or sea-cow ... they are sometimes found straggling in the lagunes ... but are not suffered to increase, thro' the greediness of the Indian, who spares no pains when he hath a prospect of getting any."[XXXII‑3] Here, 598 then, was a territory rich in natural resources, which, though discovered by Columbus in 1502, was left undisturbed by the Spaniards for some two centuries, the reason being chiefly that no gold was discovered there. The western or North American division of the coast of Central America, from Cape Gracias á Dios to the gulf of Urabá, was granted as we have seen to Diego de Nicuesa, whose disastrous expedition to Veragua has already been presented.[XXXII‑4] In 1576 the coast of Mosquitia was conveyed by royal cédula to the licentiate Diego García de Palacios, Captain Diego Lopez being appointed by the licentiate governor and captain-general of the province, and undertaking to attempt the conquest of the territory at his own risk.[XXXII‑5] But it does not appear that the captain took any action in the matter, and the natives, cimarrones and Mosquitos, were left undisturbed until the arrival of the buccaneers, who found in the intricate bays and winding rivers of Mosquitia, many places well adapted for the concealment of their light swift-sailing craft. The head-quarters of the freebooters were at Cape Gracias á Dios. Here they met to divide their booty and decide upon new expeditions; and, whenever opportunity offered, they darted thence like hawks upon the galleons that were freighted with the riches of Peru.
English settlements with which it was pretended that the buccaneers had no connection were established in this territory before 1670, and by the treaty of Madrid, signed at that date, the rights of Great Britain were recognized. The seventh article of this treaty stipulated that "the King of Great Britain his heirs and successors shall hold, and possess for ever, with full right of sovereign dominion, property and 599 possession all lands, countries, islands, colonies and dominions whatever, situated in the West Indies, or in any part of America which the said King of Great Britain and his subjects do at this present hold and possess." In the same year an alliance, offensive and defensive, was made between Great Britain and Mosquitia.[XXXII‑6]
In 1687 one of the Mosquito chieftains was sent to Jamaica in order to place his native land under British protection. "But," says Sir Hans Sloane, "he escaped from his keepers, pulled off the clothes his friends had put on him, and climbed to the top of a tree." He was presently induced by promise of kind treatment to descend, whereupon he received a cocked hat and a piece of writing under the seal of the governor dubbing him king of Mosquitia.
In truth the action of the British government at this time admits of little excuse so far as it concerns the Spanish possessions in the Indies. The governors of Jamaica connived at the raids of the buccaneers, and as we have seen, Sir Henry Morgan, the titled buccaneer, held high office in that island; although when he became rich by swindling his fellow-cut-throats, he punished those who did not bribe him with a share of their spoils. The governors were frequently changed in order that Great Britain might remain on friendly terms with Spain, but this measure did not prevent the outrages which have been described in previous chapters.
After the conclusion of the peace of Ryswick in 1697 we hear no more of piratical raids, and in that year the island of San Cristóbal was restored to Spain. Treaties were signed between Great Britain and Spain in 1713, 1715, and 1721, in the last of which it was stipulated that commerce and navigation should be left free to the Spaniards in the West Indies, and that the limits of New World possessions 600 should remain as they were in the days of Cárlos II. of Spain.
In 1720 a treaty was concluded between Sir Nicholas Lawes, then governor of Jamaica, and Jeremy, then king of the sambos, whereby the latter agreed to assist the English planters in capturing runaway slaves, the Mosquitos being provided with boats, arms, and ammunition, and receiving pay for their services.[XXXII‑7] But the natives thus armed and equipped took advantage of their opportunity to make raids on the neighboring Spanish settlements.
The archives of Guatemala contain the report of an alcalde mayor of Tegucigalpa, then resident in that province, and made by order of the president in obedience to a royal cédula previously issued. "The sambos," says the alcalde, "have plenty of vessels, provisions, arms, and ammunition, for they are supplied by the English of Jamaica, who egg them on to hostilities against the Spaniards. Their country is also a place of refuge for the mulattoes, negroes, and other evil-doers who flee from justice in the Spanish settlements, and who give them information of the Spanish plans, as well as join them in the execution of their own. They have had the effrontery to call their chief 'Jeremías, Rey del Mosquito.' This man gives letters of marque to his so-called vassals, who ravage the coast from Belize to Portobello, keeping the subjects of Spain, who traffic in those seas, in constant alarm—some of whom have lost their lives, others their liberty, and others their property. These people inhabit the region from the jurisdiction of Comayagua to that of Costa Rica, always near the coast. Between them and the Spanish settlements is a cordillera, for which reasons they make their incursions by ascending the rivers. Their country has a width of some six leagues between the mountains and the sea, the half nearest the sea being where 601 they have their cultivated lands and their cattle, the other portion being useless. They live in rancherías, or in scattered houses—even in the rancherías the houses never being one near the other—so that if one house be attacked, the people of the others may have time for defence or flight. Their principal settlement is about the centre of this coast line. It is in a lagoon, and here dwell their so-called king and his principal men. The settlement is surrounded by a wall, a moat, broad and deep, and covered in such a way that the apparently solid earth gives way under the tread of the unwary stranger seeking to enter the town. There are but two entrances into the town, and these are known only to these people, to Spaniards who have been prisoners, and to the refugees."[XXXII‑8]
In this report further depredations of the natives are mentioned; and it is recommended that expeditions be sent against them by land and sea to exterminate the guilty persons. In 1740, England and Spain being then at war, the governor of Jamaica, in a letter to the duke of Newcastle, states that there were then about a hundred English in the territory and suggests that they might be used to incite the sambos to a general uprising against the Spaniards. Colonel Robert Hodgson was sent to that coast during the same year on a special mission, and winning over the sambo king and the leading men obtained from them a cession of their territory and hoisted the English flag on the shore of Mosquitia; but the failure of Anson's and Vernon's expeditions, which have already been described, and the refractory spirit of most of the natives prevented any invasion of the Spanish provinces. In 1744 Hodgson was appointed superintendent of the Mosquito shore, subject to the governor of Jamaica, and troops were forwarded, forts were erected and mounted with ordnance, the British thus taking possession of the country. The Spaniards 602 never ceased their remonstrances against these encroachments, and in 1750 threatened to expel the intruders by force. Hodgson was then instructed to represent that his presence was merely for the purpose of restraining the natives from committing depredations on Spanish settlements. This explanation was accepted at the time, through motives of policy, but still the depredations continued, and the disputes arising in connection with England's policy in this matter helped to bring about the rupture ended by the treaty of Paris in 1763, wherein it was stipulated that Great Britain should destroy all forts that she had caused to be erected in the Spanish provinces, including the Mosquito Coast.
When England withdrew from the military occupation of Mosquitia most of the settlers still remained; and believing that Great Britain would ere long establish a provisional government on the coast, some of them purchased lands from the natives suitable for the cultivation of sugar-cane, cotton, and cacao. In 1771 eight persons joined in the purchase of a large tract on the Polloy River, said to contain gold, and extending thirty miles on either bank. Two years later a number of miners were set to work, but through their misconduct, as it is alleged, the venture met with poor success.
Mosquito Coast.
A new system of administration for the British settlements in Mosquitia was framed by Lord Dartmouth in 1775, and put in execution by Sir Basil Keith, then governor of Jamaica.[XXXII‑9] Hodgson was ordered home, and in 1776 Colonel Lawrie took his place. The new superintendent found the natives and settlers greatly agitated on account of the seizure by Spaniards of an English vessel on the Black River,[XXXII‑10] 604 and the attitude of the latter toward the sambos and their allies. The colonists were in a dilemma, for the Spaniards hated them, and the English government gave them little encouragement.[XXXII‑11]
In March 1782 Matías de Galvez, the captain-general of Guatemala, left Trinidad with a flotilla well manned and equipped, for the avowed purpose of chastising the men of Mosquitia, and driving the English from the shore. Galvez had chosen his time well. After the disaster of 1780, which will be described later, the English had left Black River in a defenceless condition, and in the April following a detachment from Trujillo had scattered the few remaining colonists, pillaging and destroying their settlements. Soon afterward Superintendent Lawrie returned to Black River, with the remnant of the settlers, much reduced and in precarious health. There were stationed at that point twenty-one regular soldiers, according to the English official report, besides settlers, negroes, and several hundred natives. They were ill prepared for defence, being short of arms and provisions.
The Spanish forces advanced from the southward, with 1,350 foot and 100 horse, and from the westward, with 1,000 men. A line-of-battle ship and a frigate came to anchor in the river and under a heavy fire landed 500 men. The day after these vessels arrived Captain Douglas, who commanded the English militia, spiked his guns and while in retreat was captured by the Spaniards. A council of war was held and it was resolved to retire to Cape Gracias á Dios, which point the British and their allies reached in safety, though suffering severely from sickness caused by want of food and clothing. 605
Galvez soon afterward returned to Guatemala by way of Trujillo, leaving garrisons at several points on the river. These soon found themselves in a critical position on account of the numerous hostile parties who roamed the neighboring woods to intercept provisions and cut off foraging parties. By sea the winds and currents rendered supplies difficult to obtain. Moreover, heavy rains had made the roads almost impassable. At a council held July 10th it was resolved on abandonment unless relief came by the last of the month. Before that time arrived, however, a number of veterans, under one Terry, succeeded in reaching the Black River. The garrison was further encouraged by the news that an armed merchant vessel was lying at Trujillo awaiting orders from the president to operate in their behalf.
The decisive naval victory of the English over the French in April enabled the governor and admiral at Jamaica to turn their attention to the Mosquito shore. A small squadron, with a detachment of troops, furnished with arms, stores, ammunition, provisions, and presents for the natives, sailed from Port Royal, and the 17th of August arrived at Cape Gracias á Dios, the purpose of the expedition being to assist the settlers and natives in expelling the Spaniards from the neighborhood of the Black River.[XXXII‑12] Here they found the superintendent at the head of eight hundred settlers, Mosquitos and negroes, intending to start in a few days for an attack on the Spaniards.
The armament sailed from the cape on the 26th of August, Colonel Despard in command, and on the 28th landed at Plantain River, where it was joined by a number of free men and negroes in that neighborhood, and by Captain John Campbell, who, with about 150 volunteer negroes, had attacked and 606 carried Fort Dalling, which was defended by a like number of Spaniards.
On the 29th the entire body, mustering about a thousand men, advanced to the bluff at the mouth of the Black River, and the next day encamped on the banks of the lagoon opposite the enemy. The Spanish commander then opened conference with Colonel Despard, which resulted in a capitulation, and his men, though numbering more than seven hundred regular troops, surrendered as prisoners of war.
In 1783 a treaty was concluded between England and Spain, in which the former agreed to abandon all settlements on the Spanish continent; but England would not concede that the Mosquito Coast was included in this definition.[XXXII‑13] Hence disputes arose; and three years later a supplementary treaty was negotiated, on the first article of which it was distinctly stipulated that "His Britannic Majesty's Subjects, and the other Colonists who have hitherto enjoyed the Protection of England, shall evacuate the Country of the Mosquitos, as well as the Continent in general, and the Islands adjacent, without exception, situated beyond the line hereinafter described, as what ought to be the Frontier of the extent of territory granted by his Catholic Majesty to the English."
In article II. certain territory in Yucatan is ceded to the British, of which mention will be made in its place.[XXXII‑14] Positive orders were soon afterward sent to the settlers to depart from the coast. Most of them obeyed,[XXXII‑15] though slowly and reluctantly, a few only remaining at their own risk, and carrying on a trade with Jamaica, principally in slaves.
After the treaty of 1786 the British government held no further relations with the natives of the Mosquito 607 Coast until Spain had lost her possessions in Central America.[XXXII‑16] Meanwhile there were several attempts by governors of the Spanish provinces to make permanent establishments in Mosquitia, but without success. In 1796 the sambos captured their last settlement on Black River, and drove the Spaniards from their shore.
Of affairs in Nicaragua during the eighteenth century little need be said. The administrations of Pablo de Loyala, the first governor of whom we have any record[XXXII‑17] during this period, and of Miguel de Camargo, were uneventful. To Camargo succeeded José Calvo de Lara, and in 1721 appears the name of Sebastian de Aransivia y Sasi, who was superseded in the following year by Antonio Poveda, the latter losing his life during an insurrection of the Indians. In 1728 Tomás Duque de Estrada was appointed to office, and in 1730 Bartolomé Gonzalez Fitoria. In 1744 José A. Lacayo de Briones[XXXII‑18] was in power, and in 1757 Melchor Vidal de Lorca y Villena Vivas was acting governor.[XXXII‑19] In an official report, dated 1759, appears the name of Colonel Pantaleon Ibañez as ruler.
Among the governors of Nicaragua in this period was Alonso Fernandez de Heredia, mariscal de campo of the royal army. As to the precise year authorities differ. Juarros mentions 1760 as the date, while Pelaez states that a report of the guardian of missionaries 608 alludes to him as acting in 1747.[XXXII‑20] Domingo Cabello was governor in 1766, as appears from the audiencia's book of sentences of December in the following year, and Manuel de Quiroga in 1780.
About this time was an eruption of the volcano Nindiri at no great distance from El Infierno de Masaya. In 1775, when the outburst occurred, a torrent of lava rolled into the lake of Masaya, destroying the fish and heating the lands adjacent so that the cattle perished. A brigadier of the royal army, named José Estacheria, was made governor of Nicaragua in 1783, and ruled until 1789, when he departed for Spain. He was afterward appointed governor of Pamplona, and eventually president of Guatemala. The last governor to whom reference is made in the eighteenth century was Juan de Ayza, probably he who defended San Juan[XXXII‑21] during the attack of the British under Polson and Nelson, which will be mentioned later.
The Desaguadero had in 1727 twelve military stations along its winding course of nearly one hundred and twenty leagues. Among these was the castle of San Juan and Fort San Cárlos, which had been captured and restored. Fort San Juan was built at a bend of the river, and could command it from above and below. The hill upon which it stood was steep and rocky, and it could be approached only on one side by a narrow tortuous path. Through this port flowed the commerce of Nicaragua with Europe and the West Indies. It was made a port of entry by royal order of the king in February 1796, and by a cédula of the month following regulations were issued for furthering the settlement of the adjacent country. In 1769 the English, with an armament of two thousand 609 men and fifty vessels, attempted the capture of Fort San Cárlos, which they desired as a basis for future operations. Pedro de Herrera, the governor of the post, lay in the throes of death, and surrender seemed inevitable. But his daughter, a maiden of sixteen, at once issued orders from her father's death-chamber for the defence, and then placed herself at the head of the Spanish troops. Inspired by her fearless mien, the garrison fought with a courage rarely seen among Spaniards of that day, and repulsed the assailants with loss, the governor's daughter firing with her own hand the two last cannon shot at the discomfited British.
A few years later the English government decided on an expedition against Nicaragua, intending to strike a blow at the power of Spain in the heart of her possessions, and control the communication between the two oceans. The plan of operations was finally arranged at Jamaica in January 1780. It was purposed to capture Fort San Juan, take possession of the Desaguadero and Lake Nicaragua, occupy the cities of Granada and Leon, and thus sunder the Spanish provinces of Central America. Another object in view was the capture and retention of the route for an interoceanic canal, a project then dear to the heart of the English nation.
Nelson's and Polson's Expedition, San Juan.
The British force consisted of at least eighteen hundred men,[XXXII‑22] including three regiments of the line and a party of marines, the latter being under command of Horatio Nelson, then a post captain of about twenty-three years, but one who had already given proof of the qualities which afterward raised him to the foremost rank among naval commanders. The English proceeded up the Desaguadero in boats, encountering many difficulties. On a small island named San Bartolomé,[XXXII‑23] in a portion of the stream 610 where the current was swift and shoal, a small garrison had been stationed and earthworks erected, mounted with a few swivel-guns. On approaching this spot Nelson leaped from his boat, followed by a few of his men, and though sinking ankle-deep in the mud and exposed to a hot fire, captured, or, as he expresses it, 'boarded' the island. Here the English remained for a brief rest, and the future hero of Trafalgar narrowly escaped being bitten by a poisonous snake, and afterward suffered severely from drinking the water of a spring into which poisonous leaves had been thrown. The English were now joined by 'George King,' a Mosquito chieftain, and a large number of his subjects, together with several English smugglers.[XXXII‑24] The Mosquitos proved invaluable allies 611 indeed, and but for their bravery and fidelity it is probable the British would have perished to a man.
Two days after the capture of San Bartolomé the expedition arrived before Fort San Juan. Nelson advised an immediate assault, believing it could be carried, but his senior officer, Major John Polson, decided otherwise. Next day the English secured a hill in rear of the fort, threw up batteries, and began the siege. Nelson was now seized with a violent attack of dysentery, and was compelled to return to Jamaica,[XXXII‑25] where he arrived in such weak condition that he was carried on shore, life being saved only through skilful nursing.
After a siege of ten days the fort was surrendered, the garrison being allowed their liberty and permitted to march out with the honors of war, and vessels being furnished to convey them to any port of Spanish America that might be agreed upon. The situation of the English was now very critical, and they found it impossible to proceed farther. The rainy season had begun and brought with it malaria and deadly fevers. Their force was soon decimated and their condition was distressing and helpless in the extreme. There were not strong men enough left to build a hospital. It became impossible even to bury the dead with decency, and many were dropped in the river and devoured by carrion birds. Longer stay became impossible, and a retreat was ordered of all the men engaged in this expedition. Exclusive of the Mosquito contingent, only three hundred and eighty survived; and of Nelson's crew of two hundred, only ten lived to return.[XXXII‑26] Thus ended the first attempt of the 612 British to gain a foothold in Nicaragua, and to obtain possession of the route for an interoceanic canal.[XXXII‑27]
During the eighteenth century fifteen prelates are recorded as having occupied the bishopric of Nicaragua. Diego Morcillo was the first; he took possession in 1704, and in 1709 was promoted to La Paz.[XXXII‑28] Bishop Benito Garret took charge of the diocese in 1711. He became involved in a turbulent controversy with the audiencia of Guatemala, and was dismissed from office on the 4th of July 1716. On his way to Spain he was ill at Pedro Ursula, and died the 7th of October. In 1718 Andrés Quiles Galindo, a graduate and afterward a professor in the university of Mexico, was on the eve of departure for Europe, as pro ministro provincial, when he received his nomination to the bishopric of Nicaragua. He did not live to reach the diocese.[XXXII‑29] A native of Leon de Nicaragua, José Giron de Alvarado, was consecrated bishop of this see and assumed the administration of its duties in 1721, but died within the same year, his successor being Dionisio de Villavicencio, whose decease occurred in 1735. In the following year Domingo Antonio de Zataram, precentor of Pueblo de los Angeles, was chosen bishop of Nicaragua, and was consecrated in Guatemala the 5th of October 1738. Isidro Marin Ballon y Figueroa, an honorary chaplain 613 of the king and rector of the college of the order of Alcántara at Salamanca, was elected bishop in 1743 and died in 1749. In the year of his election was finished the great cathedral of Leon, which had occupied thirty-seven years in its construction, and cost five millions of pesos. On the decease of Ballon, Pedro Agustin Morel de Santa Cruz, dean of Cuba, was appointed. In 1751 and 1752, he made an inspection of his diocese, giving seven months to an examination of every part of its wide domain, preaching, confessing, and confirming wherever he went. He was soon after promoted to the bishopric of Cuba.
José Antonio Flores de Rivera, a native of Durango, New Spain, venerable in years and distinguished in scholarship, was elected to the episcopacy of Nicaragua in 1753. He was consecrated with great pomp May 1, 1754, in the city of Mexico, and entered on his duties in February 1755, amidst the rejoicings of the people, for his reputation for kindliness and charity had preceded him. But their joy was short-lived; he died in July of the following year,[XXXII‑30] being succeeded by Mateo de Navia y Bolanos, a native of Lima, and the latter by Juan de Vilches y Cabrera, dean of the cathedral of Nicaragua, who was in charge of the diocese until his death in 1774.
In 1775 Estéban Lorenzo de Tristan was appointed to the see, and remained in that position until 1783. He labored zealously in his cause. During his administration and a few years previously several attempts were made to pacify the Guatusos, but without success.
In 1750 Father Zepeda left Guatemala for the purpose of exploring this region. He followed the entire 614 chain of the mountains of Tilaran, "the country of many watercourses," to say nothing of the many volcanoes,[XXXII‑31] and braved all manner of hardships until he came to the great plains beyond, where he spent several months, and reported the existence of more than five hundred houses and gardens occupied by the natives. In 1751 the guardian of the Franciscan convent at Esparza communicated the information received from the padre to the government of Costa Rica, and being instructed to follow up the discoveries, accordingly set forth with several comrades, but the party lost its way and came near being starved to death. In 1761 were captured in the mountains several natives, whom the chroniclers describe as of a mixed breed, and who, when taken to Esparza, revealed some knowledge of Christian doctrines. The many conjectures to which the circumstances gave rise were soon to be explained by the fact that a native of Tenorio, who had qualified for orders, came under the displeasure of the bishop and fled to the country of the Guatusos. There he lived and died, not being permitted to return.
The cura of Esparza and the friar Zamacois then volunteered for the work and took the captured natives as their guides, who led them into the forests and there deserted them. Father Tomás Lopez in 1778 made another attempt to penetrate the country. Setting out by water from the island of Ometepec in Nicaragua, he proceeded to the Rio Frio, entered it, and ascended the stream until he reached cultivated gardens and plantations. But the moment his attendants caught a glimpse of a raft, evidently manned by the Guatusos, they turned the boat and fled. In vain did Lopez threaten and implore; he could not even prevail on them to allow him to land alone.
In 1782 Lopez, accompanied by Friar Alvarado of Cartago, entered the country by way of Tenorio; but 615 after seventy-five days of wandering found himself on the shores of Lake Nicaragua, a long way above the mouth of the Frio. President Galvez, considering it necessary to make a survey of this river and the adjacent country, sent Captain Brizzio for that purpose in the same year. He ascended its banks until he saw a number of fishing canoes and many large cultivated fields; but it does not appear that he had any communication with the Guatusos themselves.
Bishop Tristan, when informed of Brizzio's discovery, applied for and was granted two vessels with which to follow up the latter's exploration. On the 20th of February 1783 the prelate and his suite entered the Frio. On the fourteenth day they discovered in a secluded and shaded bower on the banks of the river, three fishermen "of good size and white," who at the sight of them at once threw away nets, provisions, and everything except their bows and arrows, and took to flight. They were followed by Lopez with cries of peace and good-will in the language of the island of Solentanami, but he was not heard, or if so was disregarded.
The bishop, concluding that a town could not be far distant, and that a few would be less likely to cause alarm than if the whole party came in sight of it, sent a small boat forward containing fathers Lopez, Mejía, Alvarado, and Corral. They soon beheld evidences of populous life, and saw descending the river a raft on which was a solitary voyager with plantains and provisions, a fire being lit on the raft. The Indian landed in a grove of cacao trees, which seemed to extend as far as the eye could reach. Lopez followed him, attended by a servant and three natives of Solentanami to act as interpreters. No sooner had these gone ashore than the voyager reappeared upon the bank of the river, and raised loud and peculiar outcries, which soon brought to his aid numbers of the natives, who, without parley, began to discharge arrows at the padre and his companions. 616 One of the interpreters was wounded, and, overcome with fear, plunged into the river and swam down the stream. The missionary lay down in the boat and made signals of peace, which were unheeded. The padre then advised his attendants to leap overboard and escape, which advice, nothing loath, they followed. Lopez then rose, crucifix in hand, and presented himself defenceless and alone before the crowd of assailants. The attack ceased, and in compliance with his signs of entreaty a number entered his boat and escorted him to their village. The companions of Lopez, who had fled for safety, observed these proceedings from a distance, but as they were soon after pursued by a party of the natives, they continued their flight.
The wounded interpreter had in the mean time reached the boats left by Lopez a little lower on the river, and reported that the latter and his companions had been attacked and killed by a multitude of natives; whereupon the party hastened down the Frio to inform the bishop of the catastrophe. They accomplished in three hours a distance which had taken a day and a half when rowing against the stream, and the bishop and his associates decided to return immediately to Granada. The morning after their retreat, the attendants who had left Father Lopez and witnessed his movements toward the village, having seized an abandoned canoe, overtook the bishop, and somewhat calmed the excited party by their disclosures. It was decided to continue the retreat, however, and Fort San Cárlos was soon reached. The commandant immediately applied to the governor of the province for aid to attempt the rescue of Lopez; but it is not known whether the request was granted, or what became of the padre. No further expeditions were attempted and the matter remained a mystery. Who the Guatusos were, and how they lived; what their religion, language, customs, and whence derived, none knew, and it seemed as though none were destined 617 to know. They appear to have sworn that no one, not born of them and among them, should set foot within their domain. Armed soldiers succeeded no better than peaceful missionaries, and the see of Rome saw fit in after years to bar this inscrutable region from the benefits of clergy.[XXXII‑32]
In 1784 Juan Felix de Villegas, inquisitor of Cartagena, was appointed bishop of Nicaragua, but was promoted to the archbishopric of Guatemala in 1794, when Juan Cruz Ruiz de Cabañas y Crespo was appointed his successor, but while preparing to set forth was elected to the see of Guadalajara. The last bishop of the century in this diocese was José Antonio de la Huerta Caso, who was consecrated by the archbishop in Guatemala May 29, 1798.[XXXII‑33]
Resuming the narrative of the pacification of the Talamancans in connection with the expeditions which resulted in the subjugation of their territory, we find the Franciscans the leading spirits in all that was undertaken, although to the college of Jesus in Guatemala it had been first assigned. If the Talamancans had in 1502 a civilization of their own, and in 1602 a civilization imported by the Spaniards, they had by 1702 reverted to a barbarism which lacked the vitality of the first and the grace of the second, without any compensating element. The close of the seventeenth century witnessed the establishment of the Franciscan missionary college at Guatemala, and thence in 1694, under the direction of Lopez, had 618 proceeded Francisco de San José and Pablo de Rebullida to the territory of the Changuenes. Andrade and Benavides returned to Guatemala from a brief visit of inspection in 1605, and through the guardian of the college made the oft-repeated demand for a military escort. On the 31st of March a council of war adopted the system put in force half a century before in Vera Paz when dealing with the Chols and Manches. Fifty soldiers, with Captain Noguera as governor, accompanied the fathers to Talamanca.
Francisco Bruno Serrano de Reina, who was governor of Costa Rica in 1704, does not appear to have acted with much alacrity in the matter, and the guardian Arrivillaga reported complainingly to the audiencia on the 4th of April 1707.[XXXII‑34]
Many of the Talamancans were gathered into settlements;[XXXII‑35] but none the less insecure was the position of the missionaries; their danger so increased that Andrade started for Guatemala to beg more adequate protection than the remnant of an escort left with them. It was too late. While the question was being discussed in Guatemala the Talamancans rose in revolt, burned their churches, tore down their dwellings, and killed the friars and the soldiers, the latter but ten in number. Rebullida's head they cut off on the 28th of September 1709.
On the 20th of May preceding this catastrophe a royal cédula ordered the conquest of Talamanca, with a view to improve the communication between Guatemala and Costa Rica with Veragua.[XXXII‑36] Lorenzo Antonio de Granda y Balbin, the governor of Costa Rica, reported to the audiencia the massacre in Talamanca, 619 and in accordance with their orders took summary vengeance on the natives. Balbin collected a large force, and sent one detachment by the pueblo Tuiz, heading himself a force of two hundred who made a detour by the province of Boruca. Both detachments met at San José de Cabecar, in the heart of the enemy's country, where they intrenched themselves. They killed many of the Talamancans and captured others, bringing with them over five hundred prisoners of all ages and both sexes.[XXXII‑37] The rebels were utterly routed, and their cacique was tried, sentenced, and executed as an instigator of revolt.
In 1719, in a report on the condition of the country to the king of Spain, Governor de la Haya[XXXII‑38] of Costa Rica says: "In reference to the establishment and maintenance of missions which had been the primary object in the conquest of Talamanca, nothing had been done since the massacre of September 1709; no precautionary measures had been taken in behalf of missionaries."
The Recollets did not believe this policy of indifference and neglect to be according to the royal pleasure, and petitioned the king for the establishment of a suitable garrison and the founding of a Spanish settlement. By whatever motives impelled, several parties came from the mountains of Talamanca at sundry times between 1713 and 1716, to request the presence of missionaries from Cartago.
In response to the petition of the Recollets, the king, by cédula dated September 1, 1713, directed the president to convene a junta of state officials and persons familiar with Talamanca, to devise and adopt 620 by majority vote plans for the occupation of that territory. The junta, which was not held until the 9th of September, 1716, consisted of the president of Guatemala, the oidores, royal officials, two Recollets, and a representative of the revenue of Cartago. The Recollets advocated the planting of mission stations protected by a garrison. The rest of the council favored the establishment of a military guard of fifty soldiers, and the removal of fifty families from Cartago to Boruca; it was a compromise measure, but it carried the votes.
The fathers were discouraged. The town chosen was without the missionary field, and the force named inadequate to effect subjugation, and needlessly strong for a simple escort. But the arrival of a new president, Rivas, and the disastrous earthquake of 1717 in Guatemala, crowded such matters from view.
In a report dated the 14th of March 1723 Haya tells us how, from the 16th of February till the 14th March, there had been rumblings beneath the city of Cartago, as if from the rushing of subterranean rivers, while the volcano of Irazu kept open jaws, and belched forth billows of smoke. The sulphurous exhalations well nigh stifled the people alike on the slopes and in the valleys. Sheets of flame illumined the sky by night, until miles of the horizon were brighter than in the glare of day. Red-hot cinders and scoriæ multiplied in volume until the waters of the neighboring stream, river, and lake were turned into seething mud; the city was strewn with burning dust; and buildings were loosened from the trembling earth.
Costa Rica, if we can believe Haya, was the poorest province in all America. The only currency was cacao; silver was never seen, and the name for aught its people knew might have been adopted in derision. Officers were incapable and stupid; the people quarrelsome, chimerical, and unruly. There was not in all the province a physician or apothecary; nor even 621 a barber. Of foreign trade there was practically none.
In Cartago the ayuntamiento had come to an end; at Esparza, the only other city of the province, there had been none for thirty-nine years past, for no one had money enough to send to Spain to have an appointment confirmed.[XXXII‑39]
The decay of the settlements in Costa Rica might have been irremediable but for the sharp pruning judiciously applied by Haya.[XXXII‑40] His successor, Francisco de Valderrama, made a report to the captain-general of Guatemala in 1732 containing a curious revelation of the condition of affairs. The governor describes himself as fulfilling the functions of a clerk rather than those of a governor, as there was not a single person in the province capable of writing. Offices remained vacant, because the poverty of the country did not allow of even its chief residents appearing in the plaza in a coat. If the erection of Fort Matina, then in progress, was to proceed, an artificer would have to be sent out, as the only one familiar with such work was an old Indian whose proper business it was to repair roofs, and he unfortunately had just died of the small-pox.[XXXII‑41] Twice during the year 1740 the province was harassed by pirates, who carried off, as was their custom, the crop of cacao, and such slaves as they could lay hands upon.
The military force stationed in Costa Rica about the middle of the eighteenth century was little short of one thousand men, and yet the magistrates throughout the province were unable to enforce their authority. The administration of justice had ceased. 622 Judges did not dare to impose, nor governors execute sentence upon criminals.[XXXII‑42] Even the forms of restraint disappeared. Yet officials were numerous enough. The governor appointed on the first day of the year 1740 five lieutenant-generals, one each for Cartago, Esparza, and Matina, and two for the valley country, invested with civil and criminal jurisdiction, besides four alcaldes, an attorney-general, and an administrator.
After 1746 we have no reliable records as to the succession of governors in Costa Rica until 1773. In the former year Francisco Fernandez de la Pastora was in power;[XXXII‑43] in the latter Joaquin de Nava. To him succeeded in 1779 José Perie, and then occur in the order of their succession the names of Juan Fernandez Bobadilla in 1780, Juan Flores in 1782, and José Terci in 1785. 623
Buccaneer Settlements in Yucatan—The Pirates Engage in Wood-cutting—Governor Figueroa Ordered to Expel Them—Raid of the Wood-cutters on Ascension Bay—They are Driven Back by the Governor—Their Settlement in Belize Destroyed by Figueroa-They Return in Stronger Force—Further Expeditions against Them—The Wood-cutters under British Protection—They are Attacked by Governor Rivas—The Boundaries of Belize Defined by the Treaty of Versailles—Stipulations of a Later Treaty—Further Encroachments of the English.
Not the least valuable among the spoils obtained by the buccaneers during their depredations on the Spanish main were the quantities of dye-wood which they found deposited at certain points on the coast of Yucatan and Honduras awaiting shipment. With the decline of their lawless pursuits, the more industrious, especially the English, turned their attention to the cutting and shipment of dye-woods and mahogany, and with this object established settlements on the coasts of these two provinces. The most extensive of their settlements were those in the bay of Términos. Here they remained for many years, varying their industrial pursuits with occasional incursions into the surrounding country, or attacks on the Spanish vessels which plied between Campeche and Vera Cruz.
Neighbors so dangerous could not long be tolerated, and, as soon as circumstances permitted, the authorities of New Spain took measures to expel them. The wood-cutters successfully resisted the many expeditions sent against them, not unfrequently retaliating 624 by laying waste the Spanish settlements, until about 1717, when they were finally driven from that part of the coast and their establishments destroyed.
In the latter half of the seventeenth century that portion of Yucatan bordering on the bay of Honduras was abandoned by Spaniards, owing to the destruction by pirates and Indians of the town of Bacalar.[XXXIII‑1] Its henceforth isolated position, together with the ruggedness of the surrounding country and the numberless reefs and shoals on its sea-coast, made it peculiarly fitted for the haunts of the buccaneers. One of these, Peter Wallace, a Scotchman, landed with some eighty companions at the mouth of the Belize river, and erected on its banks a few houses, which he enclosed with a rude palisade. His name was given both to the river and settlement, and subsequently to the whole region occupied by the English. By the Spaniards this territory was variously termed Walis, Balis, and Walix, and the word became finally corrupted into the present name of Belice or Belize.[XXXIII‑2]
The district was rich in dye-woods and mahogany, and wood-cutting soon became the chief occupation of the freebooters, whose numbers had gradually increased. With the same object, many Mosquito Indians had also settled in the country. The buccaneers who were driven from the bay of Términos also harbored in Belize, and after attempting in vain to retake their settlements finally settled there.
The existence of the piratical establishment of Wallace and his companions was not discovered by the Spaniards until the beginning of the eighteenth century. In 1725 Antonio de Figueroa y Silva was ordered to expel the English from Yucatan, and for 625 this purpose was appointed governor of that province.[XXXIII‑3] Soon afterward, in obedience to instructions from the crown, he visited the ruined town of Bacalar, or Salamanca, as it was also called, and erected a fort which he garrisoned with forty-five men. This fortress, situated on a lake of the same name and connected with the bay of Espíritu Santo by a navigable river, was to serve as the base of future operations. To insure its permanency it was decided to rebuild the town. The want of settlers in Yucatan, however, compelled the transportation of a colony from the Canary Islands, the first portion of which did not arrive until several years later.[XXXIII‑4]
Meanwhile governor Figueroa began the preparations for a combined sea and land expedition against the English settlements, which, it was hoped, would result in their complete destruction. Apprised of this design, the wood-cutters of Belize not only prepared for a determined resistance, but with their usual intrepidity resolved to anticipate the Spaniards by invading their territory. A large force of Indians was obtained from Mosquitia, and an expedition despatched by sea to Ascension Bay marched on the important town of Tihosuco. The first settlement encountered, named Chuhuhú, was taken and sacked, but ere long Figueroa arrived with a large force and drove them back to their vessels with considerable loss.[XXXIII‑5]
This event induced Figueroa to hasten his preparations, 626 but it was not until about the end of 1732, or the beginning of the following year,[XXXIII‑6] that the expedition set out for Bacalar. The land force it would appear numbered considerably over seven hundred men,[XXXIII‑7] but of those who went by sea no mention is made. Arrived at Bacalar the troops embarked, and the fleet sailed in the direction of Belize.
The wood-cutters in the mean time had strengthened their fortifications at the mouth of the Belize river, mustered all their available force, and were said to have received aid from the governor of Jamaica. Their number at this time it is difficult to ascertain. According to the report of a Spanish missionary in 1724, there were at that date about three hundred English, besides Mosquito Indians and negro slaves, these latter having been introduced but a short time before from Jamaica and Bermuda. It is equally difficult to ascertain the extent of territory occupied by the wood-cutters at this period, for although previous to 1718 their settlements extended between the rivers Hondo and Belize,[XXXIII‑8] in 1733 they were apparently confined to the course of the latter river.[XXXIII‑9]
Belize.
Figueroa's plan was to land his troops on the coast at some distance from the mouth of the Belize, and while the fleet engaged the attention of the enemy by a feigned attack in front, to make a detour with a land force and fall on the rear of the town. This 627 proved successful, for while the English were eagerly awaiting the approach of the fleet, Figueroa suddenly appeared in their rear, and attacked them with such impetuosity that despite their efforts their town with nearly all its defenders was within three hours in the hands of the Spaniards. Having destroyed the town and fortifications, and all other settlements on the 628 river, and seized or destroyed the vessels and other property, the expedition returned.[XXXIII‑10]
The Spaniards were greatly rejoiced at this success, but their joy was short-lived. The wood-cutters soon returned with reënforcements and a strong fleet, reoccupied their former settlements, successfully resisted all subsequent attempts to expel them, and, as we shall see, the English government afterward extended over them its protection. In 1736, after various unsuccessful efforts to dispossess them, the governor of Yucatan proposed to the Spanish crown that a strong fort be erected at the mouth of the Belize River to prevent the passage of vessels, but this suggestion does not appear to have been acted on.[XXXIII‑11]
In 1739 war again broke out between Spain and England, and, compelled to defend their coasts from a powerful English fleet, the Spaniards desisted for a time from further operations against Belize, although the determination to regain their territory thus usurped had not been abandoned. Peace was declared in 1748; but it was not until two years later, in a subsequent treaty, that the commercial relations between the two countries were settled. The damage caused by Figueroa had in the mean time been made the subject of diplomatic negotiations, and though no definite understanding was reached, the efforts of England appear to have been limited to the protection of her subjects from molestation in the bay of Honduras, while the Spanish government continued secretly to adopt measures for their expulsion.[XXXIII‑12]
In April 1754, a formidable attempt was made to 629 expel the wood-cutters. An expedition of fifteen hundred men was organized for this purpose at Peten, Guatemala, but upon reaching the coast after a long and difficult march, they were met by two hundred and fifty of the English and completely defeated. This appears to have been the last expedition sent against Belize for several years.[XXXIII‑13]
During the seven years' war in Europe, which began in 1756, England, in her endeavors to induce Spain to join her against France, offered among other things to evacuate the establishments made by her subjects in the bay of Honduras since October 1748, including Mosquitia, all of which had been made the subject of complaint. This does not necessarily imply, as certain Spanish writers would have us believe, that England thereby acknowledged the illegality of the wood-cutter's right to occupy that territory.[XXXIII‑14]
Indeed, it is clearly evident that England considered, or pretended to consider, that her subjects in Belize had acquired the right to cut and ship dye-woods and mahogany in this and other districts, without molestation, for in the subsequent treaty with Spain, in 1763, although agreeing to demolish "all fortifications which her subjects may have constructed in the bay of Honduras, and other places of the territory of Spain in that part of the world," England insisted upon the insertion of a clause in the treaty whereby the cutters of log-wood were guaranteed the right to continue unmolested the cutting and shipping of the same, and the erection of the necessary buildings for this purpose, within those districts.[XXXIII‑15]
This weakness on the part of Spain, attributed to the incapacity of her commissioner, the marqués de 630 Grimaldi, though apparently a simple relaxation in favor of the English of the law which excluded all foreigners from the Spanish colonies, was virtually a recognition of the right of the English to occupy indefinitely a portion of her territory; and though not explicitly surrendering her sovereignty, no limits were fixed to the encroachments of the wood-cutters, nor were they in any way made subject to the Spanish authorities. Thus the way to future complications was opened.[XXXIII‑16]
Soon after the ratification of this treaty, the English government commissioned Sir William Burnaby to proceed to Belize, establish the limits within which wood-cutting was to be confined, and draw up a code of laws for the regulation of the colony. This he did; and though we have no information as to the limits fixed, for many years the Burnaby Code, as it was called, formed the only laws by which Belize was governed. The establishment of limits, however, availed but little; for, emboldened by their previous success in resisting the Spaniards, and encouraged by the protection of the English government, they gradually extended their wood-cutting operations beyond these boundaries, and carried on smuggling to the great prejudice of Spanish commerce. In consequence, the governor of Yucatan forbade all communication between Belize and the Spanish settlements; required that all persons settling in Belize should present a permit to that effect from either the English or Spanish government; expelled the wood-cutters from the coast district of the Hondo River, and ordered that all wood-cutting should be confined to the region lying between the Belize and New rivers, and not farther than twenty leagues from the coast.
As a result of these measures the business of the wood-cutters was injured, as they claimed, to the extent of one hundred and eighty thousand pesos. In the latter part of 1764 a demand for the satisfaction 631 of these losses was presented by the English minister at the court of Spain, who also insisted that the governor of Yucatan be reproved for his conduct, and that the wood-cutters be permitted to return to the Hondo River district. The English minister intimated that war would be the result if these demands were not granted; but after a protracted correspondence he succeeded only in obtaining permission for the return of the wood-cutters to the districts from which they had been expelled; and the claims were added, for future settlement, to the long list of those already pending between the two governments.[XXXIII‑17]
During the next five years there is no evidence that the wood-cutters were disturbed; but in 1779, war having broken out afresh between Spain and England, the former determined to profit by the opportunity to give the final blow to the existence of the English settlements in her territory. In that year Don Roberto Rivas Vetancur, the recently appointed governor of Yucatan, in accordance with his instructions began to organize an expedition against Belize, Bacalar as before becoming the base of operations. The wood-cutters were soon informed of the declaration of war, and made all haste to fortify the mouth of the Belize River and St George Key, which lies directly opposite. Not content with this, they determined again to anticipate the Spaniards by capturing Bacalar, which ever since its reëstablishment they had regarded as a standing menace to their safety. In this, however, they were disappointed; for Governor Rivas, informed of their design, hastily organized a force of some eight hundred men, and procuring canoes and piraguas hastened on to Bacalar. Thence, though his men were ill equipped, he proceeded against the English; and having driven them from the Hondo River district, and captured and 632 armed three small vessels, he sent a strong force against St George Key, and captured the fort with its garrison.
Further operations were prevented by the sudden appearance of three English vessels of war sent by the governor of Jamaica. The Spaniards had barely time to escape with their prisoners and prizes, the latter including many small craft. Proceeding up New River they drove the English from this region, destroying over forty establishments, and inflicting a loss on the wood-cutters of more than five hundred thousand pesos. At this juncture reënforcements arrived for the wood-cutters, and Rivas was compelled to abandon their territory; but in consideration of the important results accomplished with so small a force, his conduct was approved by the Spanish crown.[XXXIII‑18]
The sixth article of the treaty of Versailles, signed September 3, 1783, defined the limits of Belize and the rights of the wood-cutters. The boundaries now fixed as unalterable were the Belize and Hondo rivers, the north-western boundary being almost a straight line between the two rivers so as to pass through the source of New River, the south-eastern boundary being the coast. The navigation of these two rivers was to be open to both nations; certain places, to be agreed upon by the respective commissioners, were to be marked out where the wood-cutters might erect all necessary buildings; and it was provided that the foregoing stipulations should not be "considered as derogating in any wise" to the rights of Spanish sovereignty. All English subjects in the Spanish colonies, in whatever part, were to retire within this district before the expiration of eighteen months, dating from the ratification of the treaty; and the right of fishery on the coast and among the adjacent 633 islands was granted, but no establishments could be made on such islands.[XXXIII‑19]
Although this treaty so clearly defined the boundaries subject to British colonization, there were certain points which had been omitted, and accordingly another and final treaty was celebrated between Spain and England "to prevent even the shadow of misunderstanding which might be occasioned by doubts."
This treaty was signed at London July 14, 1786. While confirming the former one of 1783, and expressly stating that "all the lands in question" were "indisputably acknowledged to belong of right to the crown of Spain," it contained the following additional privileges and restrictions. The Sibun, or Jubon river, was made the western boundary of Belize, which included all the territory between it and the Belize as far inland as the source of the Sibun. Within six months, all possible facilities being provided by the Spanish government, English subjects in any part whatsoever of the Spanish colonies were to retire within the boundaries of Belize; in addition to the existing privilege of cutting dye-woods, that of cutting all other woods, mahogany included, was granted; all the natural or cultivated products of the soil could be used and carried away, but no "plantations of sugar, coffee, cacao, or other like articles, or any fabric or manufacture by means of mills or other machines," saw-mills excepted, could be established under any pretext. On account of the insalubrity of the adjacent coast St George Key was granted for the purpose of settlement, but it could not be fortified, nor could any armed force be stationed there. Certain small islands off the coast about midway between the mouths of the Sibun and Belize rivers were granted, together with the intervening waters, for the purpose purely of refitting ships; no government, either 634 military or civil, could be established except such as could be agreed upon by the two powers for the maintenance of peace and order. To preserve entire the right of Spanish sovereignty over the territory granted, such settlements only would be permitted as should be necessary for the trade in wood and fruits. Finally, two commissioners, one from each government, were to visit the country twice a year to see that these stipulations were observed.[XXXIII‑20]
By these treaties the respective rights of the two countries in the territory of Belize were clearly defined. Spain held undisputed sovereignty; England's right was limited to an indefinite occupation for purposes of trade. But it is not always sufficient to declare rights; the powers of Europe keep their agreements when compelled by force of arms, and this, Spain, with her declining strength, was eventually unable to do.
Colonel Enrique de Grimarest, the Spanish commissioner, arrived in Belize early in 1787 and was soon joined by the English commissioner and superintendent of the colony, Colonel Edward M. Despard. Article thirteen of the treaty of 1786 required that all other portions of the Spanish colonies should be evacuated by the English before the new grants could take effect. The Mosquito kingdom appears to have been the only territory then occupied by the English besides Belize, and nearly all of its inhabitants having arrived at this latter colony by the middle of 1787, the commissioners proceeded to mark the boundaries; but the formal transfer of the territory between the Sibun and Belize rivers was not made until the 11th of August. In the course of the survey of the Belize River it was found that the wood-cutters had anticipated this new grant of territory by extending their operations beyond the former boundaries, the country 635 for some distance on the western side of the river not only being stripped of mahogany, but several establishments were found in active operation outside the boundaries newly assigned. These the owners were compelled to abandon and retire within the limits of the colony, but it was hardly to be expected that men who claimed independence, and denied even the right of England to make their laws, would respect the boundaries after the departure of the Spanish commissioner. Indeed they openly declared their intention of establishing a government and framing laws of their own. The Spanish commissioner complained of this condition of affairs, but without any apparent result.[XXXIII‑21]
In October 1796 England declared war against Spain, and upon the receipt of this news in Yucatan, Arturo O'Neill, the governor of that province, began immediate preparations for an attack on Belize. It was not until May 20, 1798, however, that the expedition, consisting of between two and three thousand men and a large fleet of small vessels, departed for Belize, escorted by two Spanish frigates. The frigates accompanied them only part of the way, returning, it is said, on account of lack of provisions, and the shallowness of the water on the coast. The remainder of the expedition continued the voyage. Nothing was accomplished, however, as the settlers were fully prepared; and being reënforced by many of the planters who had been ordered to abandon Mosquitia, and aided by the English sloop-of-war Merlin, they prevented the Spaniards from effecting a landing. After hovering off the coast for a few days the expedition returned to Yucatan.[XXXIII‑22] This was the last attempt made by the Spaniards to expel the men of Belize. Thenceforth the stipulations of 636 treaties were disregarded, and the territory as far south as the Sarstun was gradually taken possession of and held by right of conquest, the subsequent revolution throughout the colonies rendering the Spaniards powerless to prevent these encroachments.[XXXIII‑23] 637
Piratical Raids on Trujillo and Puerto de Caballos—Condition of the Settlements—Church Matters—Missionary Expedition to Tegucigalpa—Martyrdom of the Missionaries—Labors of the Franciscans in Honduras—Interference of the Bishop—Trujillo Destroyed by the Dutch—Fort San Fernando de Omoa Erected—Its Capture by the English—And Recovery by President Galvez—Roatan Several Times Occupied by Buccaneers—Their Final Expulsion.
In Honduras, and Higueras as the northern portion of this territory was termed, there were, it will be remembered, but seven Spanish colonies about the middle of the sixteenth century;[XXXIV‑1] and of these, Trujillo, the largest, contained only fifty settlers. It is probable that the entire number of Spaniards in the province at this time did not exceed two hundred; and so slightly had the resources of the country been developed that the few who lived there were by no means wealthy.
But poor as the colonists were, their condition did not shield them from the depredations of freebooters, who during the latter portion of the century made several raids on the coast of Honduras. In 1576 Andrew Barker, a so-called merchant of Bristol, resolved to reimburse himself for loss of property confiscated by the Spaniards during a trading venture to the Canary Islands, and set forth on a piratical expedition. Fitting out two vessels, he sailed from Plymouth in June. After touching at various points 638 and capturing a small amount of treasure, he arrived at the mouth of the Chagre, where men were sent in search of friendly cimarrones who might act as guides. As none could be found, the expedition sailed for Honduras, captured on the way a ship containing a little gold and a small quantity of arms, and anchored off the island of San Francisco. Here, on account of a quarrel with his chief officer, Barker was forcibly sent on shore, where, with thirty of his men, he was surprised by a party of Spaniards, and nine of the English were slain, himself among the number. A detachment from the ships was then sent in a pinnace to capture the town of Trujillo, where but slight resistance was encountered, and a good store of wine and oil was secured, but not an ounce of treasure. A squadron of Spanish men-of-war now appeared in sight, and the robbers were glad to regain their pinnace, leaving on shore eight of their number, of whom no tidings were afterward heard. On the homeward voyage one of the vessels was capsized in a squall, and fourteen of the men lost with most of the treasure. The survivors arrived in England without further adventure, and the proceeds of the expedition yielded but thirty pesos as the share of a common soldier. This was vengeance indeed!
In 1592, when Puerto de Caballos and Trujillo were attacked by pirates, affairs seem to have been more prosperous, for considerable booty was found at the former place. "Wee remained in the towne all night," says one who took part in the expedition,[XXXIV‑2] "and the next day till towards night: where we found 5 or 6 tuns of quick silver, 16 tuns of old sacke, sheepe, young kids, great store of poultrie, some store of money, & good linnen, silkes, cotton-cloth, and such like; we also tooke three belles out of their church, and destroyed their images. The towne is of 200 houses, and wealthy; and that yere there were 639 foure rich ships laden from thence: but we spared it, because wee found other contentment."
In 1595 a raid was attempted on Puerto de Caballos by the French, but on this occasion the corsairs were defeated, many of them being killed or captured, and the remainder compelled to put to sea "blaspheming and averring that neither they nor the English had met with similar disaster in any part of the Indies."[XXXIV‑3] During the next year Trujillo and Puerto de Caballos were again assailed by the English under Sherley and Parker, and the latter town was once more sacked; but, says the chronicler who described the expedition: "It was the most poore and miserable place of all India."[XXXIV‑4]
Notwithstanding the depredations of freebooters, the colonies of Honduras appear to have been fairly prosperous at the close of the sixteenth century. The lands around Trujillo were then under cultivation, producing large crops of maize and fruit; grapes, oranges, and lemons being raised in abundance. On two sides of the town were rivers abounding in fish. Pasture was abundant, and the cattle introduced from Spain multiplied so rapidly that they were of little value except for their hides. The walls of the houses were of bushes interlaced, plastered within and without, and covered with palmetto-leaves. The cathedral and the convent of San Francisco, the latter being founded in 1589, were the most prominent buildings.
"This is a woody and mountainous Country," writes Thomas Gage, who journeyed through the western part of Honduras, on his way from Trujillo to Santiago in 1636; "very bad and inconvenient for Travellers, and besides very poor; there the commodities are hides, Canna fistula, and Zarzaparilla, and such want of bread, that about Truxillo they make use of 640 what they call Cassave, which is a dry root, that being eaten dry doth choak, and therefore is soaked in broth, water, wine, or Chocolatte, that so it may go down. Within the country, and especially about the city of Comayagua (which is a Bishop's seat, though a small place of some five hundred inhabitants at the most), there is more store of Maiz by reason of some Indians, which are gathered to Towns, few and small. I found this Country one of the poorest in all America. The chief place in it for health and good living is the valley which is called Gracias á Dios, there are some rich farms of Cattle and Wheat; but because it lieth as near to the Country of Guatemala as to Comayagua, and on this side the ways are better than on that, therefore more of that Wheat is transported to Guatemala and to the Towns about it, than to Comayagua or Truxillo. From Truxillo to Guatemala (Santiago) there are between four score and a hundred leagues, which we travelled by land, not wanting in a barren Country neither guides nor provision, for the poor Indians thought neither their personal attendance, nor any thing that they enjoyed too good for us."
Small as may have been Comayagua—or as it was now termed by the Spaniards Nueva Valladolid—in comparison with other cities which Gage visited during his travels in the New World, it was the most flourishing settlement in the province, and continued to prosper until 1774, when it was destroyed by earthquake. In 1557 it was declared a city, and in 1561 its church was raised to cathedral rank. The seat of the bishop's diocese was soon afterward transferred there from Trujillo, the chapter including a dean, archdeacon, rector, and doctor of common law.[XXXIV‑5] In 1602 there were in Nueva Valladolid convents of the orders of La Merced, San Francisco, and Juan de 641 Dios, and an endowed college under the patronage of the king.
The unseemly disputes which occurred among the ecclesiastics at an earlier period in the history of Honduras[XXXIV‑6] were now at an end. On the death of Bishop Pedraza, whose high-handed measures had rendered him unpopular with the colonists, and driven nearly all the religious from the province, Gerónimo de Corella, a Jeronimite, was appointed to the see. To Corella succeeded Alonso de la Cerda in 1572,[XXXIV‑7] and in January 1588 the mitre was bestowed on Gaspar de Andrade, a Franciscan, who held office until his decease in 1612.[XXXIV‑8]
The income of the bishopric at this date was three thousand pesos a year; there were five prebends; and within the diocese a hundred and forty-five Indian towns, with nearly four thousand heads of families.[XXXIV‑9] In 1610 the metropolitan of the diocese, the archbishop of Santo Domingo, empowered the dean of the chapter in Honduras, to hear and determine appeals in order that the expense and delay incident to the journey to Santo Domingo might be avoided. In October 1613 Alonso Galdo was consecrated bishop, and during this and the following year visited all parts of the province, confirming more than seven thousand persons, some of whom were over ninety years of age. During his administration two synods were held, the last one in April 1631. Three years before that date Luis de Cañizares was appointed coadjutor in the diocese at the request of the prelate, 642 who was now aged and enfeebled by incessant toil. After the death of Galdo in 1645[XXXIV‑10] the see remained vacant until 1647, when Juan Merlo de la Fuente accepted the bishopric of Honduras, after having refused that of Nueva Segovia.
Between Honduras and Nicaragua lay the district of Tegucigalpa, of which mention has before been made in connection with missionary labors.[XXXIV‑11] In the principal Indian town, which was known by the same name, was founded in 1589 a convent of the Franciscans, and later one of the Merced order. Nevertheless the greater portion of this territory had never yet been visited by the ecclesiastics. In 1622 the missionaries Cristóbal Martinez de la Puerta and Juan Vaena, accompanied by five native interpreters, sailed from Trujillo, and landing at Cape Gracias á Dios journeyed toward this region. On their way they several times came in sight of bands of natives, but all fled at their approach. The interpreters could not obtain a hearing, and in vain the missionaries held forth the cross and beckoned peaceful overtures to the timid savages. Puerta and his colleague were becoming discouraged, when one day they beheld a vast multitude of Indians approaching them, and in their midst a venerable chieftain with long white hair, who advanced to welcome the missionaries. He told them that their coming had been eagerly anticipated, as it had been foretold in a vision by the most beautiful child he had ever seen, with melting tenderness of glance and speech, that he should not end his days before being a Christian, and that men would come for the purpose of teaching him. The natives at once erected a dwelling and church for the missionaries, and the baptism of the aged leader and all his family speedily followed. 643
Vaena then proceeded to Guatemala, where his tidings caused great excitement. Many volunteered their services, and from them Benito Lopez was chosen, accompanying the former on his return in January 1623. Meanwhile seven hundred adults had been baptized, and seven villages founded by the different tribes of the country. The chief difficulty of the missionaries was to overcome the nomadic instinct of the natives, who would depart for the woods or the mountains when least expected and without apparent cause.
During the year the three ecclesiastics visited the country of the Guabas, where they met with remarkable success, baptizing some five thousand persons. While the missionaries were thus gathering a rich harvest of souls, they and their converts were attacked and overpowered by a hostile tribe named the Albatumas, and the former were put to death with cruel tortures. A large force was sent to punish the natives, and the remains of the missionaries were recovered but their murderers had fled to the mountain fastnesses. The bodies of the martyred men were conveyed to Trujillo, where they remained until the city was captured by pirates, when the guardian of the convent had them removed to Santiago, and they were there interred with great ceremony in the church of San Francisco.
About the year 1661 the Xicaques, whose territory bordered Tegucigalpa on the north, made frequent raids on the Olancho Valley. One of the principal sufferers by these forays, Captain Bartolomé de Escota, resolved on their suppression, and capturing a large number gathered them into settlements in Honduras. Accompanied by three Lencas he then proceeded to Guatemala in search of a priest to instruct them. The president urged the Franciscans to undertake the task, as they had been the pioneers in the work, and now an abundant harvest seemed to 644 await the gathering. Fernando de Espino, at the time a member of the convent of Almolonga, was a native of Nueva Segovia, a town bordering on the lands of the Xicaques, and was familiar with the Lenca language and people. He undertook the work and associated with himself Pedro de Ovalle. They started from Guatemala in May 1667, and met with moderate success. In 1668 Espino was recalled, and Ovalle, with additional assistants, carried on the work despite multiplying difficulties, through many years. In 1679 seven small villages contained upward of a thousand christianized natives and the number was continually increasing. Lopez paid a visit to this district in 1695, and became so enthusiastic in the work that he spent the remainder of his life there, dying in 1698 in the midst of work accomplished or projected for the good of the people.
The Franciscans were greatly impeded in their labors by the opposition of the bishop of Honduras,[XXXIV‑12] who caused a portion of their buildings to be destroyed, and placed them and their converts under the ban of excommunication. According to Vasquez these proceedings caused him to be suspended from office.[XXXIV‑13] The prelate lived to repent of his error, and during his last sickness was waited upon by members of the order which he had sought to injure. 645
The few remaining records that have come down to us concerning the history of Honduras until the close of the eighteenth century, apart from the social, political, and industrial condition of the province, which will be mentioned in a future volume, relate chiefly to the raids of freebooters and hostilities with foreign powers.[XXXIV‑14]
In 1643 Trujillo was once more captured and pillaged, the town being almost destroyed by the Dutch, although protected by a fort mounting seventeen heavy guns and a number of smaller pieces. So disheartened were the Spaniards by this disaster that the place was abandoned and remained in ruins until 1789, when it was rebuilt and fortified by order of the king. In 1797 it was again attacked by an English squadron; but after a sharp fight the assailants were repulsed with loss.
In obedience to a royal cédula dated August 30, 1740, a fort named San Fernando de Omoa was built on a harbor of the same name, near Puerto de Caballos, as a further protection for the coast of Honduras, and to serve as a calling-place for the guardas costas employed in those parts. The works were begun in 1752 by Vazquez de Sotomayor, president of Guatemala, and completed three years later. Although the site was very unhealthy, a town was established there which soon contained a considerable population, and became the outlet for the commerce of eastern Guatemala. On the 25th of September 1779, Spain and Great Britain being then at war, the fort was attacked by four English men-of-war. It was gallantly defended by its commandant, Desnaux, with five hundred men, and the British, not being in sufficient force, were compelled to retire.[XXXIV‑15] 646
On the 16th of October, the English returned with twelve line-of-battle ships, a large body of troops, and a horde of Mosquito Indians. As on the previous occasion they at once opened fire; but the guns of the fort replied so vigorously that one of the vessels was disabled; and another having run aground, the attack was suspended. By this time, or soon after, a body of auxiliaries from Puerto de Caballos had gained the heights opposite the town, after setting fire to all rancherías which interfered with siege operations. The besieged, being surrounded, and attacked on all sides, were soon forced to surrender. A better fate might have attended them had not some of the negro artillerymen and a company of regulars, dismayed by the odds against them, turned recreant and broken down with their axes the gates of the fortress.[XXXIV‑16] Four hundred prisoners and an immense booty, said to have exceeded three millions of pesos, were captured, besides several vessels ready freighted for Europe.[XXXIV‑17] The conquerors destroyed the town; but no sooner had they secured their plunder than a violent storm came on, and the ship on which the treasure was placed foundered, the rest of the fleet having a narrow escape.
At this time Don Matías de Galvez ruled in Guatemala, and no sooner did he hear of the disaster than he despatched messengers to the governors of Cuba and Yucatan, and to Viceroy Mayorga, of Mexico, calling for contributions of men and material. 647 The viceroy responded at once, sending reënforcements by way of Oajaca.[XXXIV‑18]
Galvez soon organized the militia of the settlements, and collecting all the regulars he could muster advanced on San Fernando de Omoa. By the 26th of November he had constructed six lines of intrenchments before the castle. Fruitless negotiations were held, and on the last day of the month a midnight attack was made on the English, who being partially surprised slowly retreated from the fort after spiking the guns, and succeeded in gaining their ships, carrying off the leading men among their prisoners, together with considerable booty.
Of the numerous islands that studded the bay of Honduras, more or less thickly peopled when discovered by Columbus at the beginning of the sixteenth century, but three were to any extent inhabited a hundred years later. These, Roatan, Guanaja, and Utila, remained quietly subject to the Spanish rule until 1642, when they were taken without resistance from the natives, and garrisoned by English pirates. The situation became critical for Spanish interests, as the robbers could dart out from the islands like hawks and pounce upon the commerce of the seas, or make unexpected descents upon the main.
A few years later the governors of Guatemala, Habana, and Santo Domingo united in an expedition for the recovery of these islands. Four ships of war under the command of Francisco de Villava y Toledo sought to surprise the English, and arrived at Roatan before daybreak. They were discovered by the sentinels, and the assault successfully resisted. The Spaniards, after expending all their ammunition, re-embarked and sailed for Santo Tomás de Castilla to obtain a fresh supply and await reënforcements. 648
In 1650 a second expedition consisting of 450 men was despatched for the same purpose, and after a sharp resistance the English were compelled to betake themselves to their ships. From that date Roatan was left undisturbed by the British until 1742, when they again took possession of the place and fortified it with materials obtained at Trujillo. There they remained until 1780, when they were again driven out by the governor of Guatemala. In 1796 the English once more gained possession of the island and stationed there a guard of two thousand negroes; but in the following year José Rossi y Rubia, being ordered by the governor of Honduras to attempt its reconquest, induced the garrison to capitulate without resistance. 649
President Castilla—Port Santo Tomás Founded—Factions—A Gambling President—Condition of the Colonists—Grievances—Patronage of the Crown, the Audiencia, and the Cabildo—Disputes—Defensive Measures—Rule of President Caldas—Reorganization of the Audiencia—President Barrios and Bishop Navas—Political Dissensions—A Troublesome Visitador—The Berropistas and Tequelies—A Line of Bishops—Wealth of the Regular Orders—A Prelate Bewitched—The Bethlehemites—Royal Order Concerning Curacies—The New Cathedral and Festivities—Succession—The Progress of Chiapas.
Although the Guatemalan historian Juarros passes an encomium upon President Castilla, who it will be remembered was appointed governor of Guatemala in 1598,[XXXV‑1] it is much to be doubted whether the citizens of Santiago, over whom he ruled, gave unqualified assent to his praise. In the records of the cabildo appear frequent complaints charging him with encroachment upon the prerogatives of the municipal authorities, with neglect of his magisterial duties, and with interference with the privileges of citizens,[XXXV‑2] and rights of 650 precedence on public occasions. But more than this, the gradually increasing poverty of the nobles was laid at his door by these jealous petitioners, who were strongly opposed to an equal division of property, as is evidenced by their representing to the king that the subdivision of the encomiendas had rendered such property almost valueless. In view, also, of exposure to attack on their frontiers, they besought the king not to appoint a civilian as their president, but a man of military training.
It was during the administration of Castilla that the bay of Amatique was discovered, and the port of Santo Tomás founded. The immediate cause of the establishment of this port was a piratical raid in 1603 on Puerto de Caballos, which town had for some time been exposed to attacks from corsairs. In that year a squadron of eight vessels, under command of Pié de Palo and a mulatto named Diego, with a force of more than twelve hundred men entered the harbor, and notwithstanding the brave resistance of Captain Juan de Monasterio, who had only two ships, they defeated him and captured his vessels.[XXXV‑3]
This disaster induced the president to order an exploration to be made with the object of discovering a more secure site; and in March of the following year Estévan de Alvarado, assisted by Francisco Navarro, an experienced pilot, surveyed the coast. Their favorable report of the bay of Amatique[XXXV‑4] induced the audiencia to give orders for the founding of a town which was called Santo Tomás de Castilla in compliment to the president.[XXXV‑5] The removal of the population of Puerto de Caballos was effected as quickly as possible, and by the beginning of 1605 the commerce of Guatemala 651 on the Atlantic was carried on through the new port.[XXXV‑6] Although the advantages of San Tomás were evident and the king approved of the change, no fortifications had been constructed there for several years at least. In 1607 eight Dutch pirate vessels appeared in the bay just as Monasterio was ready to sail for Spain, but on this occasion the pirates were driven off with the loss of one ship sunk, the rest of the squadron having sustained much damage.[XXXV‑7] So inactive was the Spanish government in taking measures for the protection of the town that Monasterio determined to fortify it himself, and in 1609 mounted seven pieces of artillery on a large rock near the shore.
Though situated on a spacious harbor, easy of access, and well sheltered from the winds, the new settlement did not prosper; for the surrounding country was so sterile as not to yield provender enough, even for the mules employed in transporting merchandise. It was consequently gradually abandoned for Puerto Dulce, lying to the west.
In August 1609 Antonio Peraza Ayala Castilla y Rojas, conde de la Gomera, was appointed by royal cédula to succeed President Castilla, and entered upon his duties in 1611, during which year his predecessor died while undergoing his residencia.[XXXV‑8] The new president gave but little satisfaction to the people of Santiago. He extorted money from the settlers by unlawful means,[XXXV‑9] and three years after his installation 652 violent disturbances broke out. The political condition of the country attracted the attention of the viceroy of Mexico, and the visitador Juan de Ibarra was sent, in 1614, to investigate the affairs of the audiencia. Matters became more complicated. Gomera was suspended, and retired to the town of Patulul. The whole province was divided into factions and the people so incensed that a riot was imminent. This state of affairs continued until 1617, when Gomera was reinstated in the presidency, which office he held until 1626, when he retired to his birthplace in the Canary Islands.[XXXV‑10] He was succeeded by a man of very different character, one Juan de Guzman,[XXXV‑11] who, having lost his wife on the voyage to Guatemala, lost with her all interest in life. After governing for a term of five years with a mildness and beneficence which ill suited the grasping disposition of his associates, he was, as it were, driven from the presidency by their persistent disagreement with his views.
Alvaro de Quiñones y Osorio, marqués de Lorenzana, was the next to fill the presidential chair,[XXXV‑12] being transferred from Panamá. His spirit of covetousness was in strong contrast with the unselfish disposition of his predecessor, and he soon became extremely unpopular. Gambling was a favorite pastime in the capital of Guatemala, and while the president strictly prohibited all gaming in private houses, his own palace was converted at night into a regular 653 gambling establishment, of which he reaped the profits, frowning upon the moneyed men who cared not to frequent his tables.[XXXV‑13] In 1642 he was succeeded by Diego de Avendaño, and on his voyage to Spain the vessel on which he had taken passage foundered, and he was lost. Avendaño's rule was marked by integrity and disinterestedness. He died in August 1649, and the presidency was given to the licentiate Antonio de Lara y Mogrobejo, who held office till 1654.
The condition of the colonists during the first half of the seventeenth century was prosperous. The city put on an appearance of wealth and even grandeur. Magnificent private residences, and large mercantile houses filled with valuable goods, surrounded the public squares and stood upon the principal streets; while stately churches, with richly furnished interiors, convents and nunneries of different orders, and public institutions were scattered throughout the capital. Daily markets in which all kinds of provisions in great abundance were disposed of at low prices proclaimed the absence of poverty,[XXXV‑14] while the wealth of the merchants was such as to make them the peers of any in the New World. Nor was the prosperity of the country behind that of the city. Agriculture thrived and immense tracts of lands were under cultivation. But the most prominent industrial feature were the numerous and extensive cattle and sheep farms which had been established in the province, and which furnished meat for the surrounding towns at a price within reach of the poorest inhabitant.[XXXV‑15] Commerce was no less prosperous, and an extensive trade was carried on by mule trains with Mexico, Chiapas, Nicaragua, 654 and Costa Rica, and on the oceans with Peru and Spain.
"This city," says Thomas Gage, who lived for three years in Santiago, "may consist of about five thousand families, besides a Suburb of Indians called el Barrio de Sto Domingo, where may be two hundred families more. The best part of the City is that which joyneth to the Suburb of Indians, and is called also el Barrio de Santo Domingo, by reason of the Cloister of Saint Dominick, which standeth in it. Here are the richest and best shops of the City, with the best buildings, most of the houses being new and stately. Here is also a daily Tianguez (as they call it) or petty Market, where some Indians all the day sit selling Fruits, Herbs and Cacao, but at four in the afternoon, this Market is filled for a matter of an hour, where the Indian women meet to sell their Country slap (which is dainties to the Crioltans), as Atolle, Pinole, scalde Plantains, butter of the Cacao, puddings made of Indian Maiz, with a bit of Fowl, or fresh Pork in them, seasoned with much red biting Chille, which they call Anatamales."
"The climate is very temperate, far exceeding either Mexico or Guaxaca. Neither are the two forenamed Cities better stored with fruits, herbs for sallets, provision of flesh, Beef, Mutton, Veal, Kid, Fowls, Turkies, Rabbets, Quails, Patridges, Pheasants, and of Indian and Spanish Wheat, than is this City: from the South Sea (which lyeth in some places not above twelve leagues from it), and from the rivers of the South Sea Coast, and from the fresh Lake of Amatitlan and Petapa, and from another Lake lying three or four leagues from Chimaltenango, it is well and plentifully provided for of fish. But for Beef there is such plenty, that it exceeds all parts of America, without exception, as may be known by the Aids which are sent yearly to Spain from the Country of Guatemala, where they commonly kill their Cattel, more for the gain of their Hydes in Spain, 655 than for the goodness or fatness of the flesh, which though it be not to compare to our English Beef, yet it is good mans meat, and so cheap, that in my time it was commonly sold at thirteen pound and a half for half a Rial, the least coyn there, and as much as three pence here."[XXXV‑16]
Taxation was a ground of grievance, and the complaints raised by the citizens of Santiago eventually caused a reduction of an impost, which during the years 1614 to 1626 more than doubled itself,[XXXV‑17] and was doubtless offensive. Another cause for dissatisfaction was the patronage which appertained respectively to the crown, the audiencia, and the cabildo. To the crown belonged the appointment of the president and five oidores,[XXXV‑18] ninety-two judicial and military officers, one fiscal with the same salary as that of an oidor, a contador and treasurer,[XXXV‑19] and various other minor officials. At the disposal of the president were nearly one hundred salaried appointments: namely, those of the corregidores, to the number of about fifteen, including the corregidores of Nicaragua and Honduras;[XXXV‑20] that of the alcalde mayor of San Tomás de Castilla, and other patronage.
The audiencia disposed of the offices of the alguacil mayor, the receiver and treasurer of fines and court fees, two escribanos and chief secretaries of the audiencia, 656 the assessor of taxes and six receivers, the secretary of the court of estate pertaining to interstates, and several other positions. All these offices were salable.[XXXV‑21] The positions of all officers of the municipality were also open to purchase.[XXXV‑22] With regard to the patronage of the cabildo, it was much more limited, and naturally confined to appointments within the city limits.[XXXV‑23] Under such a system of patronage and sale of public offices, it was but natural that important positions were frequently held by incompetent favorites or by exacting officials. Hence arose repeatedly disputes and discord between the cabildo and people on the one side, and the audiencia and royal officers on the other.
Nor were the colonists exempt from calamities caused by pestilence and natural phenomena. In 1601 an epidemic carried off great numbers with startling rapidity, and the years 1607, 1621, 1640, and 1651 were signalized by fearful earthquakes which caused great loss of life.[XXXV‑24] In 1686 a pestilence decimated the population. The peculiarity of this epidemic was that the robust and healthy fell victims to it more readily than the weak and sickly. This calamity was followed in 1687 by a violent earthquake which caused great destruction to churches and houses, and a loss of over three hundred lives. A similar disaster equally destructive occurred in 1689.[XXXV‑25] 657
In May 1654 Fernando Altamirano, Conde Santiago de Calimaya, took possession[XXXV‑26] of the presidency of Guatemala. His rule was made notorious by the sanguinary quarrels of the Medenillas and Carrazas, in which implacable family feuds most of the nobles of Guatemala became involved, and the president unfortunately took part.[XXXV‑27] He died in 1657; and during the administration of his successor, Martin Cárlos de Mencos, formerly commander of the galleons, the audiencia was engaged in frequent disputes relative to privileges and jurisdiction.[XXXV‑28]
The ayuntamiento was at this time a much more powerful corporation than formerly, owing to the greatly increased number of its members, and the marked favors bestowed upon it by various sovereigns of Spain during this century. In the valley of Guatemala it had civil and criminal jurisdiction over no less than seventy-seven villages, a prerogative repeatedly confirmed by royal cédulas.[XXXV‑29] Questions of precedence, however, had for the time to give place to that of self-defence owing to the presence of freebooters on the northern coast. The fortifications of San Felipe on the Golfo Dulce had been begun in March 1651, and although in the following year the oidor Lopez de Solis objected to further expenditure without direct permission of the crown, the oidor Lara Mogrobejo, the fiscal Esquivel, and the royal 658 officers Santiago and Sotomayor proved their right to use certain sums originally assigned for the defence of Trujillo and Santo Tomás, and the fortifications of San Felipe were completed in 1663.
In 1667, Mencos' term of office having expired, he returned to Spain, and in the same year the new president, Sebastian Álvarez Alfonso Rosica de Caldas, arrived.[XXXV‑30] Caldas advocated with enthusiasm the already projected conquest of the Lacandon country, which will be described later, and in a letter to the king offered to effect its subjugation at his own expense, on condition that it be called after his own name.[XXXV‑31] This proposal led to no result so far as the president was concerned, but its publication[XXXV‑32] stimulated inquiry and ultimately caused the opening of a road between Yucatan and Guatemala.
The administration of Caldas was warmly approved by the cabildo, and in an important question regarding authority the members espoused his cause. The fiscal, Pedro de Miranda Santillan, being accused of barratry, the president not only suspended him, but caused him to be imprisoned in San Felipe.[XXXV‑33] The king disapproved of this high-handed measure touching one of the officers of the crown, and to make matters worse the fiscal died in prison on the 9th of October 1669. Before hearing of the decease of Santillan his 659 Majesty had, by cédula dated May 6, 1670, appointed him an oidor of the audiencia, and by another cédula of the same date Bishop Juan de Santa María Saenz Mañosca was appointed visitador and president. A tedious investigation followed, but before it was concluded Caldas died.[XXXV‑34]
The new president was noted for extreme punctiliousness in questions of etiquette. On one occasion being on foot an oidor drove by without stopping his carriage as a mark of respect, for which dereliction the president fined him two hundred pesos. At another time an oidor gave offence by making great display with his carriage and four horses, attended by two outriders. A decree was forthwith published, prohibiting a repetition of such ostentation by any one except the bishop.
By a royal cédula issued on the 18th of May 1680, the constitution of the audiencia was reformed. The position of president and captain-general was made similar to that of the viceroy of Mexico, his rule being independent of the oidores, while their department of justice could in no way be interfered with by him, his official signature only being required to authenticate their despatches and affirm their sentences.[XXXV‑35]
On January 26, 1688, President Barrios y Leal took the office.[XXXV‑36] His arrival was unattended by the usual 660 display. He had experienced on his way from Golfo Dulce such hardships that he requested the cabildo to omit the ceremony of welcome and devote the funds appropriated for the purpose to improving the defences at Golfo Dulce.[XXXV‑37] His rule was no less troublesome to him than his journey had been. Differences had again arisen between the regular and the secular clergy.[XXXV‑38] Bishop Navas, then in charge of the diocese, was greatly excited, and addressed a memorial to the cabildo, soon after the arrival of Barrios, upon what he considered flagrant abuses, stating that in view of the many disasters which the country had experienced during the last six years from various causes, taxation was taking the life-blood of an already impoverished people. The bishop was one quick to discern evils which he was powerless to remove; apt at the formation of plans he lacked the perseverance to execute; and assumed the attitude of a partisan, where it especially behooved a prelate to be unbiassed. Thus he was incessantly interfering in political matters, and personal relations between him and the president were soon exceedingly unpleasant,[XXXV‑39] finally becoming a matter of inquiry at the Spanish court. On the 13th of March 1690 a royal cédula was issued severely reprimanding the bishop[XXXV‑40] for his conduct toward the president.
On January 25, 1691, Fernando Ursino y Orbaneja, 661 an oidor of Mexico, was appointed visitador to Guatemala, and he provisionally removed President Barrios. In 1694 Barrios was reinstated in office. The principal occupation in which he had previously been engaged was the conquest of the Lacandon country, into which he had personally led an expedition as will be narrated hereafter. He now began preparations for a second campaign. While thus employed his health failed, and he died on the 12th of November 1695.
The death of Barrios was followed by dissension in the audiencia relative to his provisional successor. By law the right of succession fell on the senior oidor, Francisco Valenzuela Venegas, but the licentiate José de Scals was by some means installed in the presidency. Hence arose a violent party feud,[XXXV‑41] and when Gabriel Sanchez de Berrospe arrived in March 1696, as the appointed president, the government was in a state of confusion which no efforts of his could rectify. In fact a political storm closed the history of Guatemala for the century. The opposition, led by Scals and his ally, the oidor Amézqueta, baffled Berrospe's attempts at legislation, by every artifice that could cause delay.[XXXV‑42]
On the 17th of June, 1699, Diego Antonio de Oviedo y Baños, an oidor of Santo Domingo, Gregorio Carrillo y Escudero, and two others were appointed oidores of Guatemala pending an investigation concerning the audiencia, with right of succession at the close of the former oidor's term. Oviedo was named as senior oidor, but being detained in Santiago de Cuba, Carrillo usurped the position and refused to 662 give place to the former on his arrival.[XXXV‑43] Controversies continued until the coming of the licentiate Madriz as visitador in 1699, when affairs became still more serious, and acts of violence were resorted to by the two bitter factions which were immediately formed under the denominations of Berropistas and Tequelies.
The first act of Madriz was to depose Berrospe and appoint Amézqueta as provisional president. The oidores Carrillo and Duardo were then deprived of office, but they promptly affirmed that their removal was illegal, and resuming their seats ordered the arrest of the visitador, which they endeavored to effect on Palm Sunday, 1700. Madriz took refuge in the college of the Jesuits, which on the following day was surrounded by the friends of Carrillo and Duardo. The bishop came to his relief, and he made good his retreat to Soconusco where he incited the people to rise in arms against the Berropistas. Berrospe sent the oidor Pedro de Ezguaras with an armed force to suppress the tumult, and if possible effect the capture of Madriz. Ezguaras was at first repulsed, but in a subsequent encounter Madriz and his followers were put to flight and peace was restored. Berrospe had no easy time. Madriz had a powerful ally in the bishop, who issued manifestoes exhorting all persons to obey the visitador and not the pseudo audiencia. Against those who attempted to lay violent hands on Madriz he threatened excommunication. In February 1701 the visitador returned with an armed force from Oajaca whither he had fled, and in an encounter between the rival parties lost sixty of his men, while the loss of the audiencia was only ten.[XXXV‑44]
Berrospe now retires from the scene, having either returned to Spain or died while the political struggle 663 was still undecided.[XXXV‑45] The other chief actors continued the contest somewhat longer. In 1702 José Osorio, oidor of Mexico, was appointed to supersede Madriz as visitador, and in September of the same year the latter was arrested in Campeche, and sent prisoner to Mexico, as the originator of the disturbances in Guatemala. Bishop Navas had constantly identified himself with the Tequelies, and when ordered by his metropolitan, the archbishop of Mexico, to withdraw his ban of excommunication against certain Berrospeists he refused to do so. He died in the midst of these dissensions, not without grave suspicions of having been poisoned.
Concerning the ecclesiastical history of the province, we learn that after the decease of Bishop Córdoba, in 1598,[XXXV‑46] the mitre was bestowed on Juan Ramirez de Arellano, a man said to be of royal lineage. The honor was bestowed in recognition of his zeal in the conversion of the natives of Miztecapan. He had previously made a pilgrimage from Spain to Home on foot, in as humble guise as ever journeyed the apostles of old, and was received with peculiar honor by the pope. When he arrived in Guatemala in 1601, he changed in nothing the austere mode of life for which he was noted when a simple friar. His fervor and determination in the cause of the church brought on him the enmity of the cabildo,[XXXV‑47] whose members prayed the king that the bishop might be removed to some other diocese, and their own allowed a period of tranquillity. His death, which occurred not long afterward, released the citizens of Santiago from 664 further anxiety. During the administration of Ramirez it is commonly supposed that the bishopric of Vera Paz was abolished and its territory annexed to that of Guatemala.[XXXV‑48] Bishop Juan Cabezas Altamirano of Cuba was transferred to Guatemala in 1610, and took possession of the episcopal chair the following year. In 1613 he consecrated with imposing ceremonies Alonso Galdo, bishop-elect of Honduras, this being the first ceremony of the kind performed in Guatemala. Two years later Altamirano was seized with apoplexy and died, when the mitre was offered to Pedro de Valencia, who before his arrival in Guatemala was promoted to the bishopric of La Paz. The bishopric remained vacant till 1621, Francisco de la Vega Sarmiento, dean of Mexico, having declined to accept it, and Pedro de Villa Real, bishop of Nicaragua, the next one appointed, dying before he reached the diocese. It was then bestowed on Juan Zapata y Sandoval, bishop of Chiapas, who was born of one of the noblest families in Mexico. He was noted for his charitable disposition and was the first bishop who conferred degrees in the college of Santo Tomás of Guatemala. After occupying the episcopal chair for nine years he died in January 1630, and was buried in the cathedral of Guatemala.[XXXV‑49]
The next occupant, Bishop Agustin de Ugarte y Saravia, came also by promotion from Chiapas, and presided over the diocese for nine years. He made valuable presents to the monastery of La Concepcion; laid the foundation stone of the convent of Santa Catarina Mártyr, and founded the convent of Nuestra Señora del Cármen. He was promoted to Arequipa in Peru in 1641, and afterward to Quito, where he died in 1650.
His successor, Bartolomé Gonzalez Soltero, had 665 held a variety of important trusts, having been thrice rector of the university in Mexico, visitador of libraries, fiscal, and afterward member of the inquisition. How soon after Saravia's transfer to Peru Soltero entered upon his duties is not quite certain, but probably not for some time.[XXXV‑50] His rule was peaceful, and his devotion to the sick, during a time of pestilence, won the respect of the cabildo.[XXXV‑51] He died on the 25th of January 1650, and was buried in the cathedral of Santiago.
The income of the diocese in 1648, as officially reported, was eight thousand pesos per annum, and at that time there were in the city of Santiago convents belonging to the Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians, Jesuits, Mercenarios, and the order of San Juan de Dios. In charge of the Dominicans was the hospital of San Alejo, and in 1641 that of Santiago was assigned to the care of the friars of San Juan de Dios.[XXXV‑52] Under the management of this society was also the hospital of San Lazaro. There were, moreover, in the city four nunneries, two in charge of the Dominican order, one of the order of La Concepcion, and one of the order of Santa Catarina Mártyr, the latter containing four hundred inmates besides a large number of pupils.
In wealth and luxuries these orders had reached a degree second only to that attained by the regulars in 666 Mexico and Peru. The cloister of the Dominicans, for instance, had large revenues flowing in from its Indian dependencies, water-mill privileges, and farms, sugar plantations, and a silver mine.[XXXV‑53] Within the ample grounds of their convent were artificial lakes, fish-ponds, and fruit and flower gardens, and their church was rich with costly ornaments and jewelry. The Dominicans may have fared better than the other orders, but to none was lacking either comfort or affluence. Hardly less wealthy than the Dominicans was the cloister of the nuns of La Concepcion, the inmates of which were very numerous. It is narrated by Gage that one fair sister of this society, Doña Juana de Maldonado, daughter of the judge, so bewitched the bishop with her youth and charms, that to gratify her he strove to install her as lady superior and abbess, despite her youth and inexperience. In fact the prelate's conduct was such as to create scandal, and many noted citizens, whose relatives were inmates, entered the convent prepared to effect a change by compulsion. The intervention of President Guzman and the young lady's father resulted in a relinquishment of her ambitious designs.
The Bethlehemites appeared in Guatemala about the middle of the seventeenth century, the founder of their order being Fray Pedro de San José Vetancur. Their first habitation was a small house which was purchased for forty pesos obtained by contribution. The order did not, however, long remain in poverty, and in a few years large gifts of money were annually presented to the society. In 1667 Vetancur was succeeded by Fray Rodrigo as the leader of the brotherhood, and soon afterward a church was erected by the Bethlehemites in Santiago at an expense of seventy thousand pesos,[XXXV‑54] as well as other costly edifices. 667 In 1667 they adopted a code; but the Franciscan provincial objected to its approval, as it provided the same habit as that worn by his own order. This difficulty obviated, the rules and regulations were approved by the bishop on the 6th of February 1668.[XXXV‑55] The society was reorganized in 1681 on a basis which was sanctioned by the pope and the king, but not until Fray Rodrigo had spent fifteen years in advocating its cause in Madrid and Rome.
After Bishop Soltero's death the episcopal palace was not occupied by a prelate until 1659. Juan Garcilaso de la Vega was first appointed to succeed him, but died at Tehuantepec on the 5th of May, 1654, while on his way to Santiago. His remains were conveyed thither and interred in the cathedral. Fray Payo Enriques de Ribera was next appointed to the vacant see, and took possession in February 1659.
In 1660 a royal order arrived rendering more obligatory former instructions as to the extent and stipends of curacies. Curates had been employing secular assistants, to whose charge they either partly or entirely committed their spiritual duties. They nevertheless collected all fees and dues. It was not permitted for a curate to have charge of more than four hundred natives, and when the renewed mandate arrived Bishop Ribera undertook to enforce its observance. The fiscal, Pedro Frasso, however, claimed that right and also all surplus moneys received by curates who had more than the legal number under their charge. The controversy waxed warm and extended to great length.[XXXV‑56] 668
Ribera traversed the length and breadth of his diocese in his zeal for the church, and the establishment of the hospital of San Pedro in Santiago was due to his labors. He was transferred to the bishopric of Michoacan and left Guatemala in February 1668.
His successor, Juan de Santo Matías Saenz Mañosca y Murillo, arrived in the following June, having previously occupied the see of Habana. The most important ecclesiastical event during his rule was the founding of a new cathedral, the corner-stone of which he laid with imposing ceremonies on the 30th of October 1669. The edifice was completed in 1680, and its dedication marked by brilliant ceremonies and festivities which lasted for eight days. The mornings were devoted to religious services and the evenings to banquets and balls. Two bands of dancers had been trained with great care and performed on alternate days; the one, composed of twelve young men, chosen from the noblest families, and arrayed in splendid costumes, exhibited the ancient dances of the New World; the other, formed of the same number of young women of great accomplishments, richly dressed in Spanish style, represented sibyls. Midnight was made radiant by spectacular fireworks provided by the different orders and congregations. When the programme of the clergy had been exhausted, three additional days were given to unreserved enjoyment. Theatrical performances, bull-fights, horse-races, and other amusements were provided, and attended by throngs of people.
After the close of his duties as president of the audiencia, Mañosca remained in office until his decease in the year 1675, having just before received notification of his appointment as bishop of La Puebla de los Angeles.[XXXV‑57] 669
In February 1676 the new bishop Juan de Ortega y Montañez arrived, and held office until 1682, when he was promoted to Michoacan, being succeeded by Andrés de las Navas y Quevedo, whose politico-ecclesiastical views and mode of administration have won for him an unenviable prominence among the Guatemalan prelates of the seventeenth century.
During this period the province of Chiapas reached its highest degree of prosperity. From the time of its subjugation by Mazariegos the natives had made no attempt to recover their political freedom, and uninterrupted tranquillity had reigned in the land. The natives submitted quietly to their lot, and the Spaniards enjoyed the fruit of their labors. It is true that the territory possessed no mines, but the productiveness of the soil was such that abundance prevailed. Cacao, cochineal, and cotton were produced in large quantity and were of great commercial value, while agriculture and cattle-raising prospered in all parts of the country. Populous towns[XXXV‑58] were situated in the fertile valleys,[XXXV‑59] the rivers of which supplied the inhabitants with abundance of fish, and the forests abounded with game. But during this period a great change was gradually taking place in the character and constitution of the two races. The Spaniards became enervated and effeminate from indolence and inactivity, while the Indians were acquiring a knowledge of manly exercises and sports which their too slothful conquerors no longer practised with energy or performed with skill.[XXXV‑60] With regard to the capital of the province Gage calls it "one of the meanest 670 Cities in all America,"[XXXV‑61] nor is he more complimentary to the Spaniards inhabiting it. These he describes as being grossly ignorant, pompous, arrogant, and cowardly, while the female portion of the community, with no high reputation for virtue, had gained a terrible notoriety as poisoners when their jealousy was aroused or their anger excited by slight or indifference; but we must not forget that Gage was a foreigner and a fanatic.[XXXV‑62]
The government of the province was as heretofore vested in an alcalde mayor,[XXXV‑63] whose power was almost despotic, though subject to a certain extent to the president and audiencia of Guatemala.[XXXV‑64] With occasional exceptions the political and ecclesiastical authorities seem to have worked more in harmony than those of other provinces, and the episcopal seat was successively occupied by prelates who yearly made the circuit of their diocese to administer confirmation.[XXXV‑65] Churches were built and convents founded, and the Christian faith so successfully inculcated that it was professed throughout the length and breadth of the land. But as will be seen later, this tranquillity was pregnant with the elements of revolt. The contributions collected by the ecclesiastics for the performance 671 of the religious ceremonies were burdensome to the natives, and the taxation and exactions of the governors even more oppressive; nor can it be asserted that the harsh treatment to which the Indians were subjected by the earlier rulers was, to any extent, mitigated by their successors. 672
Early Efforts at Pacification—Priests and Soldiers Sacrificed—Massacre of Mirones and his Party—El Prospero Expedition—Indifference of the Orders—Bishop Navas in the Field—A Tripartite Campaign Determined upon—Expedition of President Barrios—Meeting with Mazariegos—Velasco's Operations—The Expeditions Return—Further Expeditions—Fate of Velasco and his Command—Failure—Ursua's Enterprise—Progress of Paredes—Negotiations with the Canek—Opposition of Soberanis—Ursua Takes Command—Treacherous Allurements—The Itzas Conquered—Peten Garrisoned—Jealousy of Soberanis—Unsatisfactory Operations—Questionable Possession.
The region which lay between Yucatan and the pacified portions of Guatemala was inhabited by various unsubdued nations, conspicuous among which were the Lacandones, Itzas, Manches, and Choles. In 1603 certain members of the Dominican order, led by Juan de Esguerra, succeeded in penetrating a considerable portion of the Manche territory, and induced many of the natives to accept Christianity. In 1608 no less than eight villages[XXXVI‑1] were regulated by Christian custom and teaching, and the aspect of affairs was encouraging until 1626, when the Lacandones made a sudden and fierce assault upon the christianized natives and Spaniards of that district, advancing as far as within six leagues of Copan. Many native Christians were slain, and a still greater number carried off prisoners. This onslaught was followed the 673 next year by an invasion of the Itzas, when more than three hundred of the native converts were captured, including the principal chief, Martin Cuc. These disasters had a bad effect on the Manches, who finding that the Spaniards would not protect them, threw off their allegiance, and with it their profession of Christianity.
Meanwhile efforts to convert the Itzas had been made from Yucatan by the Franciscans. Of all the nations inhabiting this wild country the Itzas were the most powerful and aggressive. The difficulties of penetrating their territory, and their secure position on the islands of the great lake of Peten,[XXXVI‑2] rendered them apparently secure and independent. To attempt peaceful intercourse was, indeed, a bold proceeding; and yet in 1618 friars Bartolomé Fuensalida and Juan de Orbita, both conversant with the Maya tongue, left Mérida on such a mission. On their arrival at Tipu, after delays and difficulties, the cacique Cristóbal Na received them hospitably, and despatched an embassy to Tayasal, the capital of the Itzas.[XXXVI‑3] This attention obtained from the canek, or Itza king, an invitation for the missionaries to visit his city. On reaching the lake by night, they were received with welcome; a flotilla of canoes was sent to escort them across the water; the town was illuminated with torches, and a vast crowd assembled to greet them. Having visited the canek, or king, they were conducted through the city, after which Fuensalida, by the canek's permission, addressed the people in his presence, and explaining the doctrines of Christianity touched upon the object of their visit. The friar was listened to with dignified attention, but the answer, though politely expressed, was not encouraging. The fathers were welcome, but certain prophecies were current in the nation which 674 declared that in time the Itzas would become Christians. That time, however, had not yet arrived, and the strangers, when their visit was terminated, could go back to their people and return at a more convenient season.
Hospitable as was the reception of the missionaries, an act of folly on the part of Orbita changed friendly feeling into indignation, and placed the visitors' lives in jeopardy. Entering one of the cues, the great idol, Tzimenchac,[XXXVI‑4] an image of a horse sejant, excited the wrath of the friar, who, seizing a stone, battered it to pieces, and scattered the fragments on the temple floor. The outcry was vehement, and it was only through the intervention of the friendly cacique of Tipu that the friars were allowed to depart unharmed.[XXXVI‑5]
The persistent friars, nevertheless, again attempted to introduce the faith among the islanders of Lake Peten, and a few months later, accompanied by a large escort of Tipus, paid them a second visit. The canek received them with kindness as before, but the priests of Itza were on their guard, jealous for their religion. If they could induce the canek to view the matter as they did, all would be well. To this end the king's wife was importuned by the Itza priests, and through her the fears of the king were aroused. It was then arranged that the mitote[XXXVI‑6] should be celebrated with unusual grandeur; and at this feast the canek should learn that the gods of Itza did not wish the missionaries to remain. The preparations for this ceremony excited the alarm of the Tipus, who 675 warned the friars of danger. Nor were their fears unfounded. On the morning of the festival an armed multitude surrounded the dwelling of the missionaries, and having forcibly entered, hurried off the friars with violence[XXXVI‑7] to the lake, where they cast them into an old canoe, and left them to make their way back as best they could. Famished and dispirited they arrived at Tipu, and thenceforth abandoned all efforts to convert the Itzas.
Yet in the propagation of the faith, as is well known, failure usually excites to greater activity. In 1621 one Franciscan father, Diego Delgado, labored in the province of Bacalar, establishing a new town, Zaclun, in the mountains of Pimienta. This success induced Captain Francisco Mirones to enter into a contract with Governor Cárdenas for the subjugation of the Itzas. While waiting at Zaclun for reënforcements, which were slow in coming, the dealings of Mirones with the natives were so unjust as to excite their resentment. Delgado remonstrated in vain; Mirones became more and more arbitrary in his extortions till the town was ripe for an outbreak.
Meanwhile the friar obtained permission of his provincial to depart for the capital of the Itzas; and in 1623, accompanied by several Spaniards and about four score friendly Tipus, he proceeded to Lake Peten, where he was received by the Itzas with their customary kindness. Allured by false professions the ill-fated party passed over to the island, where as soon as they landed they were overwhelmed by numbers[XXXVI‑8] and bound, presently to be immolated on the heathen altar-stone. Delgado was reserved as the last. The heads of the victims were then placed on stakes erected on the hillside in full view of the city. Shortly afterward 676 Mirones sent two Spaniards to inquire how Delgado and his party had fared, but their heads were soon added to the ghastly collection. A native guide who accompanied them managed to escape to tell the tale,[XXXVI‑9] but not believing it Mirones put him to torture.
The patience of the Zaclunes was now exhausted, and they determined to throw off the yoke. On the 2d of February 1624, while Mirones and his party were attending mass, and unarmed, they were assailed in the church and taken alive. The vengeance of the Indians was satisfying and complete. The hearts of Mirones and the officiating priest were torn from their breasts in the sacred building, and their bodies thrown into a hole, while the remaining captives, having suffered a similar death, were placed on stakes fixed in the road, by which Spanish reënforcements were expected. Then church and town were burned, and the natives betook themselves to the mountains.[XXXVI‑10]
This uprising was followed by that of the Tipus; and though some of those who had massacred Mirones and his party were captured and put to death, the country was no longer under subjection. And it further pleased the aboriginals to manifest their scorn and insult by erecting ludicrous figures of Spaniards in the mountain passes, which were guarded by images of hideous idols.[XXXVI‑11]
Royal cédulas were so frequently issued to the rulers of New Spain, Guatemala, and Yucatan, enjoining the conquest of the country which lay between the two latter territories, that from time to time individuals 677 had proposed to the crown to undertake the enterprise at their own cost. Such a proposition was made by Diego Ordoñez de Vera y Villaquiran, a military officer and encomendero of Mita. His offer was accepted by the council of the Indies in 1639, and the title of adelantado of the province, which was to be named Reino del Próspero, was bestowed as a reward for his anticipated services.[XXXVI‑12] In 1645 Villaquiran arrived in Yucatan to make preparations for his expedition, and being without the necessary means,[XXXVI‑13] received assistance from the governor and the religious provincial. He then published the terms of capitulation with the crown, distributed offices, and made preparations for taking possession of his province.
The zeal of missionary friars, however, made them anxious that the cross should precede the sword in the work of pacification; hence in February 1646 two Franciscans, Hermenegildo Infante and Simon de Villasis, proceeded from Campeche to Usumasinta, the most advanced Christian settlement of Yucatan. They were shortly afterward joined by Villaquiran, who, finding the friars still resolute in going before, addressed a letter to the commander of Nohhaa, one Captain Juan de Vilvao, a mestizo, and the cacique Pedro XIX., instructing them to render the missionaries every assistance. Attempts were made by messengers from Nohhaa to dissuade them from visiting the town, but they were unavailing; and on their arrival at that place Vilvao warned them of danger, and extended to them a churlish hospitality. It was evident that they were not welcome, and the treatment which they received soon gave cause for alarm. To add to the difficulty of their position their first letters to Villaquiran, who had returned to Campeche, were never delivered, and it was with difficulty that they 678 at last succeeded in sending a messenger to him.[XXXVI‑14] The continued absence of tidings from Villaquiran caused Fray Simon to return to Mérida, but having suffered from severe illness and hardship on the road, his health no longer permitted him to take part in the mission. Fray Bartolomé de Gabaldá was now sent to assist Infante in his dangerous position, but well nigh perished on the road before he reached his destination.
The adelantado again arrived at Usumasinta about the beginning of 1647 at the head of his forces. But he was a man utterly unfit for command. Instead of proceeding to Nohhaa, the true centre of action, as Infante, who had joined him, urged him to do, he tarried day after day at Usumasinta, till his inactivity disgusted his followers, who, seeing no hope of success under such a leader, gradually abandoned him. At last with a remnant of his former force[XXXVI‑15] he moved on to Nohhaa, where he arrived on the last day of July, 1647.[XXXVI‑16] The Indians, having previously ill-treated the friars, had fled to the mountains, but their cacique had already made his peace with Villaquiran, and Father Infante was now despatched to Guatemala to obtain pecuniary assistance, as the adelantado was destitute of funds. At Palenque, however, he received letters from Villaquiran informing him of his illness. Infante hastened to return, but found that in his absence threats of coercion on the part of the adelantado, for the purpose of obtaining provisions from the cacique, had so enraged the Indians that they had set fire to the town, and the adelantado with his followers 679 had barely escaped with their lives to Petenecte.[XXXVI‑17] In this outlying Indian village, Diego Ordoñez de Vera y Villaquiran,[XXXVI‑18] broken down in mind and body, lingered in destitution till April 1648, when death released him from anxiety and suffering. He was buried in Petenecte, and with him ended all attempt to establish the province of El Próspero, a name not specially appropriate to the scene of so ill-conducted and unfortunate an undertaking.
This expedition was not followed by any others for a number of years. Some little work was effected by the Dominicans in the country of the Choles, between 1675 and 1677, and the missionaries succeeded in establishing several towns. These, however, had no permanency, and though many natives were baptized the Choles relapsed into idolatry and the friars abandoned the field.[XXXVI‑19] Complaints were made against the Dominicans by the alcalde mayor of Vera Paz, and a royal cédula, dated November 30, 1680, ordered that they resume their work and be provided with all needful assistance from the treasury. The Dominicans were not slow to defend themselves; but there is little doubt that their dissensions with civilians caused some indifference on their part, while the extortionate oppression of the latter roused among the Choles a hatred of Christianity which the friars could not control.
Cédula followed cédula, issued by the Spanish monarch, impatient over the delay in the pacification of the Choles, Lacandones, and Itzas; but no positive 680 measures were taken until 1684 when Bishop Navas of Guatemala announced his intention of visiting Vera Paz with the object of insisting that the royal wishes should be carried out. This had some effect. President Guzman convened a council, and promised to extend all possible assistance to the undertaking. He also addressed the governor of Yucatan, asking for his coöperation. The zeal of the ecclesiastics was again awakened, and both the Dominican and Merced orders offered their aid. It was finally agreed that in the ensuing spring attempts should be made simultaneously by way of Vera Paz and Huehuetenango. Accordingly in the beginning of 1685 the bishop, accompanied by Agustin Cano the Dominican provincial and other friars, proceeded to Vera Paz, while Diego de Rivas, the provincial of La Merced, went to Huehuetenango. Neither attempt met with success. From Cajabon,[XXXVI‑20] under the instructions of the bishop, the parish priest sent an embassy of five Indians with a friendly invitation to the Choles. The messengers were assailed while asleep at night in the house of a cacique, and only one returned to tell the tale.[XXXVI‑21] This failure so cooled the zeal of the bishop that he returned to Santiago. Cano was a man of more mettle, and with his brother friars, penetrating some distance into the mountains, reached San Lúcas, one of the villages formerly established in the country of the Choles, and induced a number of them to settle there. It was but labor in vain. In 1688 the fickle neophytes apostatized, set fire to the town and church, and again returned to their nomad life.
Nor was the undertaking conducted by the Provincial Rivas, at the head of the Merced friars, attended with better result. He fearlessly pushed his way into the Lacandon country accompanied by Melchor 681 de Mencos, corregidor of Huehuetenango, with ten soldiers, and reached one of the head-waters of the Tabasco River.[XXXVI‑22] Abandoned corn patches and deserted dwellings were discovered, and at the summit of a hill was found an ancient temple, also abandoned, built of stone and lime, in which was an idol in the form of a lion sejant. This they destroyed and trod underfoot, erecting in its place a large cross. A blessing was then pronounced upon the place, which was dignified with the name of Nuestra Señora de Belen. But the few Lacandones, who occasionally appeared in sight, always fled at their approach. Considering it dangerous to advance farther along a route which was now becoming almost impassable they retraced their steps.
Once more on the 24th of November 1692 the council of the Indies transmitted a peremptory order of the king that the conquest of the Choles and Lacandones be undertaken simultaneously from Vera Paz, Chiapas, and Huehuetenango; but as President Barrios had been temporarily suspended, operations could not be opened immediately. Upon his restoration in 1694 the matter was pressed upon his attention by two Franciscans, Melchor Lopez and Antonio Margil, who had already a varied experience among those natives, having, at the request of the alcalde mayor of Copan, twice penetrated into the Lacandon country at the risk of their lives. In June 1694 they went to Guatemala, and in forming the plan of the future campaign their views were carefully considered.
Meantime Martin Ursua, the prospective governor of Yucatan, had in 1692 proposed to the crown to undertake the reduction of the Itzas and the Lacandones, and suggested that the opening of a highway through their country between Yucatan and Guatemala would contribute greatly to the success of the 682 undertaking. This road he offered to construct at his own cost. His proposal was accepted; various cédulas were issued containing instructions relative to the method of conducting the campaign,[XXXVI‑23] and directing Ursua to act in unison with three expeditions which had been already ordered to advance into the country.
Early in 1695 preparations were completed, and a general enthusiasm prevailed, for predatory inroads had been made in different parts by the Itzas during the previous year. President Barrios himself took the command,[XXXVI‑24] and arranged that with his division he should enter the hostile territory from Chiapas, while Melchor Rodriguez Mazariegos and Juan Diaz de Velasco, at the head of the two other divisions, should march from Cajabon and Huehuetenango respectively.[XXXVI‑25] Several ecclesiastics accompanied each command, among whom may be mentioned fathers Rivas, Cano, Margil, and Pedro de la Concepcion.
Proceeding to Huehuetenango, the president sent Guzman in advance, with a detachment of his troops, to Comitán, in Chiapas, and followed in person a few days afterward. Here he decided to make the invasion by way of Ococingo, and having appointed the 28th of February for a concerted movement, arrived on the following day at what was supposed to be the intended site of the city of El Próspero, selected by the unfortunate Villaquiran. The ruined dwellings were repaired, a hermitage erected, and the place named Santa Cruz del Próspero.[XXXVI‑26] From this point Barrios advanced into the interior, encountering innumerable difficulties and dangers in the wild trackless 683 region. Despite dense forests, precipitous gulches, and mephitic swamps, the country was scoured day after day in many directions; but no Indian town or village was discovered. On the 12th of March the different detachments reunited in a spacious dell named San Juan de Dios, situated in one of the mountain fastnesses. Here the exhausted troops rested for eight days, waiting for provisions to be forwarded from Ococingo. Barrios then pushed forward under the same difficulties in an easterly direction until the end of March,[XXXVI‑27] when he again encamped during easter week at the foot of a mountain to which the name of Monte Santo was given. For the next fourteen days the expedition slowly and laboriously advanced till further progress was barred by a wide lake. On its margin, while searching for a route, a troop of soldiers captured an Indian, who was pressed into service as a guide. Under his direction they reached on the 19th of April a rapid stream over which was stretched a solitary beam of wood,[XXXVI‑28] and while making preparations to cross it Mazariegos and his troops arrived upon the spot. The joy at this meeting was great on both sides. Mazariegos in fact had been somewhat more successful than his superior. On the appointed day he had left San Mateo de Istatan, where he had been stationed, and after discovering vestiges of ancient buildings reached the village of Labconop.[XXXVI‑29]
Proceeding thence under difficulties similar to those encountered by Barrios, he arrived on the 10th of March at the river called San Ramon, along the banks of which he held his course, though frequently compelled to ford the stream. It was not, however, 684 until the 6th of April that any success rewarded the toils of the invaders. On that day footprints were discovered by Fray Pedro de la Concepcion, who with four Indians was in advance of the army. These eventually led them into a path which brought them in sight of an Indian town. Sending back the natives the friar entered it alone; but though he plainly perceived that he was no welcome visitor, he was not molested. Meanwhile Mazariegos rapidly advanced on the town; and meeting Fray Pedro on the way, was informed by him that the inhabitants were preparing to depart, and when the Spaniards entered not a person was to be seen. The Spanish leader tried to persuade the people to return; he also instituted a search for the president, his meeting with whom has already been narrated.
Meanwhile Velasco and Father Cano had induced five hundred families of the Choles to settle in villages, and explored the country as far as the River Mopan. Meeting everywhere with a friendly reception, Velasco recommended that in this neighborhood a Spanish settlement be established as a base, having to the south the Choles, to the east and north the Itzas, and on the west the Lacandones, which was done. A wooden fort was erected, and to the settlement here founded was given the name of Los Dolores. A fence of palisades was built, and thirty Spanish soldiers with a force of natives were left to garrison the fort under Captain Solis, Father Rivas with his companions remaining with them. Meanwhile the rainy season had set in, and Mazariegos and Barrios with the main body returned to Guatemala. Velasco continued his progress toward Lake Peten, and on the 1st of April was within a few leagues of the place, when the expedition was met by a hunting party of Itzas, who rushed upon them with loud outcries. The Mopanes attempted to parley, but the answer was a flight of arrows. Exasperated, though unhurt, the Spaniards discharged their arquebuses at 685 the natives, who thereupon took to flight. The reconnoitring party now fell back, and to escape pursuit set fire to the grass and retreated to an encampment which had been formed on the bank of the Chajal, about ten leagues from Lake Peten. Several chance encounters proved the Itzas no contemptible foe; and as nothing was heard from the president or Mazariegos, Velasco led his command back to the Mopan. On his return, while Barrios was making preparations for another expedition, he fell sick and died. Scals, upon whom the government devolved, entered heartily into his predecessor's designs. A council of war approved the outline of the campaign already formed, the general features of which were the same as those of the one preceding. Jacobo de Alzayaga, regidor of Guatemala, was to lead the party from Huehuetenango to Los Dolores, and deal chiefly with the Lacandones; while the oidor, Bartolomé de Amézqueta,[XXXVI‑30] was to conduct a force through Vera Paz, and march against the Itzas by way of Mopan.
About the middle of January 1696 the troops left Guatemala; Alzayaga, on arriving with his division at Los Dolores, found the village thriving, more than five hundred native converts being settled there. He then proceeded in search of the Lacandon towns and eventually discovered two, Peta and Mop, each containing more than a hundred families. The people readily received the faith. And Alzayaga, concluding that he had found all the Lacandon villages, went in quest of the Itzas by way of the Lacandon River.
After descending some thirty-two leagues the expedition came to another and larger river, which they ascended for many leagues,[XXXVI‑31] making inquiries whenever possible for a road to the Itza capital; but all in vain; and finally, after fifty-seven days of search 686 they returned to Los Dolores,[XXXVI‑32] where they arrived the 29th of April 1696. A report was sent to the president, Berrospe, and from him orders were received to leave a company of soldiers with some priests at Los Dolores and return to Guatemala, as no further expeditions would be undertaken in that direction, unless so ordered by the king.
The expedition under Amézqueta encountered a more tragic fate. Reaching Mopan about the last day of February, and taking Velasco into his confidence, Amézqueta intrusted him with the command of a company of twenty-five Spanish soldiers, which was increased at San Pedro by a similar number sent in advance, together with thirty-six Zalamá archers. Velasco was to proceed to his former camping-ground on the Chajal, and there, or in that neighborhood, to open communication with the Itzas by means of the cacique Quijan, who had been detained as a prisoner since the occupation of Los Dolores. Disregarding these instructions Velasco, without waiting for the main body, pushed on. The subsequent fate of his command and of the priests was never ascertained with certainty, as none of them were ever seen afterward.
The general made every effort to discover the lost detachment, and following their footprints arrived with a small escort at Lake Peten. Although he entered into communication with the Itzas he could obtain no information of Velasco. The Itzas made every effort to induce him and his company to pass over to their city. This he was too cautious to do; and ordering a final blast of bugles, retreated. The hostility of the natives now became evident, and a swarm of canoes, with warlike demonstrations, put off from the island. Amézqueta, however, successfully effected his retreat, and rejoined the main body, which was encamped at the Chajal, where he awaited orders from the president.[XXXVI‑33] 687
The Itzas frequently attacked the Spaniards by night, and in such increasing numbers that retreat became necessary. Amézqueta therefore withdrew to the savanna of San Pedro Mártyr, where he fortified himself. At this juncture despatches arrived from Alzayaga announcing the failure of his expedition, whereupon the president ordered the withdrawal of the troops, not only from San Pedro but from Mopan.
Meanwhile the expeditions despatched from the north were progressing more favorably. When Ursua heard that Barrios had started for the Indian country, he hastened to participate in the work, and sent an advance corps to coöperate under the president's instructions. Alonso García de Paredes was placed in command of the company, which consisted of fifty Spanish soldiers and a larger number of natives. Leaving Campeche he advanced to the frontier of Yucatan, but while reconnoitring he was assailed by a large force of Quehaches, and a fierce encounter ensued. The Quehaches were defeated, whereupon they fled, and from some captives taken during the encounter Paredes ascertained that the mountain people were assembled in force. Not daring to press on with his slender band he returned to Campeche. Ursua now applied for fresh troops and supplies. Volunteers were numerous, and by June Paredes had a much larger force under his command. "This expedition," says Villagutierre, "reached the boundary and frontier of Christianity in that direction" on the 11th of June 1695.
By the middle of July Paredes arrived at Zucthock, and here for the first time natives visited the camp, and 688 the friars entered vigorously upon their missionary work. Here also reënforcements arrived from Ursua, and despatches ordering Paredes to march on Los Dolores and there establish a fort.
The expedition left Zucthock on the 10th of August, and passing through several abandoned villages, crossed the Ucun or Concepcion River, and arrived at the plains of Chuntuqui, where they found another deserted village.[XXXVI‑34] Eighty-six leagues of road had now been cut through the forest, and the path lay open almost to Lake Peten; but in the beginning of September the rains set in and further progress was impossible. Paredes, therefore, withdrew to the north of Zucthock, and there awaited the return of the dry season.
Thus far all was well; but the work was now threatened with interruption from political causes. Ursua was only acting governor. A suit had for some time been pending with regard to the respective claims of Ursua and Roque de Soberanis to the governorship of Yucatan. This was decided in favor of the latter, Ursua being appointed his successor. The law required that in future one holding the title of governor could not reside in the province; but Ursua contended that the new road had been advanced so far beyond the settled limits of Yucatan as to exempt him from the rule, and considered that the future control of it belonged to him. As Soberanis was still detained in Mexico, he continued his preparations for the campaign of the ensuing year.
At this time news was brought by the Tipus, who had returned to their allegiance, that the Itzas were anxious to be reconciled with the Spaniards, and a Tipu messenger, Mateo Bichab, was sent with presents to the canek.
Although Bichab found the Itzas mustering for war, the canek expressed his wish to enter into peace 689 with the governor of Yucatan, as the time for the fulfilment of the prophecies had now arrived. Ursua consequently sent presents,[XXXVI‑35] and a suitable reply in the Maya language, by the hand of the father comisario, Andrés de Avendaño, who was accompanied by two brother friars. No sooner had Avendaño departed than news came that an embassy was already approaching from the Itzas, headed by Can, a nephew of the canek. Its reception was made as impressive as possible, and the governor and his chief officers met Can outside the city and conducted him and his colleagues with a military escort to the cathedral of Mérida, where mass was performed. At the official interview which followed, Can presented to Ursua, in behalf of the canek, a crown of feathers of divers colors, in token of submission, and requested that he and his companions might be baptized. His request was granted, and the name of Martin Francisco Can was given to the ambassador, Martin de Ursua acting as godfather. The embassy was dismissed with presents for the canek, and an escort of thirty men at arms, under Captain Hariza, with seven priests, was assigned to accompany them home.
Paredes was now directed to take possession of the Itza country in the name of the king of Spain, and the like instructions were given to Hariza, should he arrive first at the capital of the great lake. Meanwhile Avendaño and his companions had met with an unfriendly reception from the Itzas, who on their arrival at the island conducted them into a hall where were exposed the sacrificial table and the seats of the twelve officiating priests. The sight was not encouraging, but the calm bearing of the father comisario secured him a hearing, and he was permitted to read Ursua's address to the excited multitude which thronged around the building. The conciliatory tone 690 of the message made a favorable impression, and the friars now received better treatment. There was, however, a faction, headed by the cacique Coboxh, averse to any dealings with the Spaniards, and several days were consumed in considering the answer to be sent to Yucatan, during which time the lives of the priests were more than once in peril. They were finally suffered to depart with a peaceful reply in which the canek promised to surrender the islands of the lake to the Spaniards.[XXXVI‑36] No allusion was made to Martin Can's mission, nor did the friars know anything of the matter until their arrival in Yucatan. On their return homeward the fathers lost their way, and for several weeks strayed amidst the mountains. When almost at the point of death from starvation, two natives of Yucatan who had accompanied them discovered the road which was being opened by Ursua. Help was obtained from a passing mule-train, and the exhausted friars were conveyed to the camp of Paredes, whence they proceeded to Mérida.
Soon after the departure of Avendaño from Mérida, Paredes was ordered to proceed to Lake Peten, but falling ill transferred his command to Pedro de Zubiaur, who with sixty troops, and accompanied by father Juan de San Buenaventura, started forth about the time Avendaño was lost in the mountains. On arriving at the lake the hostile intent of the Itzas was speedily disclosed. Buenaventura, accompanied by Agustin de Sosa and a lay brother, endeavored to pacify them. All were seized and carried off to the canoes so swiftly that recapture was impossible. The Spaniards charged and killed about forty of the Itzas; but numbers were against Zubiaur,[XXXVI‑37] who after maintaining the fight for some time retreated in good order. Francisco de Hariza heard at Tipu of this change of affairs at Peten, and Martin Can and his 691 comrades, who were under charge of Hariza, also hearing the news, took an early opportunity of making their escape. It was proved later, however, that they had acted in good faith.
There were now but eight leagues of unexplored country between the terminus of the road under construction from Yucatan and Los Dolores; but this portion presented the greatest difficulty, and could not be finished until the Itzas were reduced. An active contest was now going on between Ursua and Soberanis for the honor of completing it. Eventually the viceroy Ortega Montañez, bishop of Michoacan, decided that to Ursua properly belonged the completion of the work, and Soberanis was enjoined to render all possible aid. Letters soon afterward arrived from the king commending Ursua's labors and assuring him of protection. A cédula was also addressed to Governor Soberanis ordering him[XXXVI‑38] to render all possible assistance. The president of Guatemala was instructed to aid the enterprise by directing a body of soldiers against Peten from the south, while the viceroy of New Spain was to furnish at cost the provisions and ammunition necessary for the undertaking.
Sending his infantry and artillery in advance, Ursua on the 24th of January 1697 left Campeche with the cavalry. The forces reached Lake Peten without encountering any serious obstacle, and the construction of a galliot was at once begun. The Spaniards were harassed by the Indians, who plied them with missiles, but Ursua would not allow his men to retaliate, and treated kindly the Itzas whom he captured, so that in time their countrymen began to visit the encampment. Among the first to enter the camp was Martin Can, who explained that the reason of his previous flight was fear of unjust punishment for 692 his countrymen's assault on Zubiaur's command. He, moreover, informed Ursua that the Itzas were preparing for war. Not long afterward a flotilla of canoes approached, the largest of which bore a white flag which betokened the presence of the high priest, Quincanek, cousin-german and next in authority to the canek. A guard of honor was drawn up for his reception, and the chieftains were escorted to the general's tent with due formality. Mutual assurances of friendship were exchanged, and Quincanek declared that the Itzas were willing to open a road from the lake to that which led to Guatemala.
A day was named on which the canek himself would visit the encampment, but the promise was not kept. In his place a tempting bevy of attractive women was sent, evidently meant to captivate and beguile; but their deportment betrayed the purpose for which they were sent, and strict discipline was maintained. An almost unanimous feeling prevailed that kindness would not pacify the Itzas. This was evident from the opinions of the captains expressed at a council of war; but the general was firmly determined to abide by the spirit of the king's cédulas, to employ only peaceful measures until all resources in that direction were exhausted; and being ready to sail to the island of Peten, he proclaimed that the penalty of death would be inflicted upon any one who should enter upon hostilities under any provocation without his express order.[XXXVI‑39]
On the 13th of March 1697, after confessing their sins and celebrating the solemn rites of the church,[XXXVI‑40] one hundred and eight men set out for the island on board the galliot, every soul on board being stirred by religious enthusiasm. On their approach to Peten 693 they were surrounded by countless canoes, whose occupants ceaselessly plied the Spaniards with arrows, until a soldier, named Bartolomé Duran, being painfully wounded, discharged his arquebuse. This was followed by a general volley. Ursua, who had hitherto endeavored to convince the Itzas of his peaceful intentions and had restrained his men by voice and example, could no longer control them. The galliot was nearing the island, and the Spaniards in their impatience to get at close quarters leaped into the water and fought their way to land. Then forming in close order they charged the Itzas with such fury that they, already panic-stricken, broke and plunged by thousands into the lake.[XXXVI‑41] Great numbers were drowned, or shot from the pursuing galliot, on which had remained twenty men besides the rowers. So great was the terror inspired that those in the canoes lost their presence of mind, and casting away weapons and paddles jumped overboard, the surface of the lake, from the island to the shore, being thickly covered with the heads of the swimmers.[XXXVI‑42]
Ursua now planted the standard of Castile upon the summit of the temple, which after due thanksgiving was converted into a church, and consecrated by the vicar-general in full canonicals. The chief island received the name of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios y San Pablo. The natives were gradually induced to return to their habitations. On the last of March Chamajcuca, chief of the Alain nation, came in, bringing the fugitive canek with all his family, and an era of good-will was inaugurated. The unfinished road to Guatemala was meantime pushed forward, and Captain Paredes was sent with despatches to the audiencia. The tidings were received by the oidores with rejoicing, and appropriations were made for the maintenance 694 of a garrison of fifty soldiers at Los Remedios, as Ursua's means were nearly exhausted.
On hearing of this friendly assistance, Ursua caused a redoubt to be erected and mounted with artillery. Then leaving on the island a garrison of seventy-five men under Captain Estenoz, he returned with the remainder of his force to Campeche. The enthusiasm caused by his success was shared by all save his rival Soberanis, who, straining his prerogatives as governor, subjected Ursua to vexatious insults, and even temporary arrest. While in Campeche Ursua received letters from Peten, showing the necessity of finishing the work of subjugation. The larger isle was being deserted, and the smaller ones were under no control, while the tribes beyond the lake were hostile. Ursua was in a strait. He felt the necessity of immediate action, but the unfriendly feelings of Soberanis and his own reduced means delayed him until 1698, when cédulas were again addressed to the viceroy of Mexico and the governor of Guatemala and Yucatan,[XXXVI‑43] ordering them not to throw impediments in the way of Ursua; while a complimentary despatch was addressed to the latter,[XXXVI‑44] appointing him governor and captain-general of the whole country through which he had opened a highway, and making him answerable only to the viceroy of Mexico.
Ursua was now enabled once more to take the field, and having obtained assistance from the military commander of Campeche, began his march for Peten in January 1699. A simultaneous movement was also made from Guatemala by Melchor Mencos, with a force of two hundred men.
On Ursua's arrival at Los Remedios on the 11th of February following, he found the garrison almost out of ammunition, and in want of provisions. Accordingly he despatched messengers to hasten forward the 695 forces from Guatemala, which were well provided with stores of all kinds. Meanwhile the latter had begun the campaign in two divisions, one of which, under the command of Melchor Mencos, was to unite with Ursua at Peten, by way of Vera Paz, and the other, commanded by Estévan Medrano y Solórzano, was to proceed through Los Dolores to the same destination.[XXXVI‑45] Mencos arrived at Peten on the 14th of March, but Medrano did not appear until the 1st of April.
The result of these combined expeditions was most unsatisfactory. The commissariat, which followed in the rear of the Guatemalan divisions, did not come up, and Ursua could not undertake the campaign with any hope of success. The foraging parties effected little, and sickness came. Ursua called a council of war, at which the general opinion was that a garrison should be left at Los Remedios, and that the rest of the troops should return. This resolution was carried out on the 11th of May, when Ursua and Mencos began their march for Yucatan and Guatemala respectively, each equally disappointed. Francisco Cortés was left in command of the fort with seventy men and officers, and with him remained the vicar-general Rivas, with other missionaries and some private families. Almost immediately after Ursua's return Soberanis died, and the former assumed the government of the province.[XXXVI‑46]
Of the future operations against Peten but little is known;[XXXVI‑47] of the Lacandones it may be remarked that to this day they have maintained their independence. 696
The Tzendal Rebellion—A New Miracle—Atrocities—A Novel Hierarchy—The Tzendales Repulsed—Segovia's Operations—President Cosío Assumes Command—Fall of Cancuc—Spread of the Rebellion—Its Suppression—Decadence of Chiapas—Earthquakes—Riots—Venality of the Clergy—Establishment of the Archbishopric—Heresy—Boundaries of Provinces—Abolition of Corregimientos—Another Great Earthquake—Quarrels Over Removal—Expulsion of the Jesuits.
When the storm raised by the Berropistas and Tequelies had subsided, a political calm appears to have prevailed for a period in Guatemala. Unfortunately, in other respects the colonists were far from enjoying repose, and the eighteenth century was the most calamitous epoch in the history of the country. Nor was the freedom from strife between church and state permanent, since humiliating contests for authority in time sprang up afresh.
The first important event which disturbed the quiet order of affairs, was the rising of the Tzendales[XXXVII‑1] in Chiapas during the presidency of Toribio José de Cosío y Campa.[XXXVII‑2] In 1712 the Tzendales formed an alliance with numerous kindred nations, and grafting some Christian rites upon their paganism, followed the lead of an Indian girl, who claimed inspiration from the virgin Mary. 697
The first outbreak occurred at Diasolo, where Fray Pedro Villena was beaten almost to death in the church while attempting to remove certain ornaments which were to be conveyed to a neighboring town by the bishop. This outrage was followed by the seizure of the Spaniards who resided there. They were, however, released two days afterward. Somewhat later the bishop visited the disaffected town, and was openly informed by the Indians that it was their intention to rise in arms.[XXXVII‑3]
About the middle of the year Simon de Lara, priest of Cancuc, was informed of the miraculous interposition, which was on the wrong side of his orthodoxy, a miracle of Satan's; and that the natives had erected a chapel near that town in consequence of the event. He immediately convened the inhabitants, who promptly assembled, bringing with them the Indian girl to whom the divine revelation had been made. Standing in their midst she calmly told how the virgin had appeared to her, and commanded that a chapel to her glorification should be built on the spot where she had made her presence visible. Had this divine display been free from the taint of aboriginal faith, much capital might have been made of it by the fathers. Padre Lara addressed the Indians on the matter and wished to destroy the chapel, but the Tzendales induced him to allow it to remain, that it might serve as a place in which to make bricks. In spite of the bishop's prohibition, religious rites continued to be celebrated there, and owing to the inertness of the authorities at Ciudad Real the hydra of rebellion grew apace. The neighboring towns entered into a compact with the people of Cancuc, and the league spread far and wide in the neighboring districts.
Thus passed the month of July. In the beginning of August the Cancucs sent messengers to all the Tzendales, in the name of the virgin, and with letters 698 signed in her name, commanding them to bring to her chapel at Cancuc all the silver and ornaments of the churches, and all the money and books, for there was now neither God nor king of the Spaniards. On receiving this summons the leaders of the rebellion in each town artfully evoked the fanaticism of the low orders by calling upon them to hasten to the assistance of the virgin, who they asserted was going to be put to death.[XXXVII‑4] A multitude was gathered, and on the 10th a great feast was celebrated at the chapel of Cancuc, where a council of war was held in order to complete their plans for the extermination of the Spaniards. The towns of Tenango and Chilun were soon afterward attacked by a body of Tzendales, two thousand strong, who were called the "soldiers of the virgin." Tenango fell an easy prey; the fiscal Nicolás Perez was flogged till he died, and many others were put to death with every ingenuity of torture.[XXXVII‑5] At Chilun the feeble garrison defended itself for some time; but when their ammunition was exhausted and they had no hope of escape or further defence, they gave up their arms under assurances that their lives would be spared. Most of them were immediately clubbed or stoned to death, and the remainder died under the scourge.
In obedience to the commands of their prophetess the Tzendales then proceeded against Ococingo, but the Spaniards retreated in time to Comitán. Aware that neither woman nor child had been harmed at Chilun, they unfortunately left their families behind. 699 When the Tzendales entered the town they were deceived by the women as to the direction their husbands had taken. On discovering the deceit the Indians were enraged, and returning to Ococingo they tore the children from the mother's arms and murdered them before their eyes; then after beating the women they sent them to Cancuc.
A high festival was held to celebrate their success, and over it presided their prophetess, whose word was law. In the chapel at Cancuc she issued her mandates. Before the spurious altar of the virgin hung a screen of Indian matting, behind which the priestess would retire; thence issuing forth she pronounced the commands of holy Mary.
The inventor of this imposture was a Tzendale, who henceforth assumed the name of Sebastian Gomez de la Gloria. He asserted that Saint Peter had taken him up to heaven and appointed him his vicar on earth, with power to elect bishops and priests. And he went on to the full completion of his holy mission. All the fiscals of the towns were summoned to Cancuc and the elect ordained. The only qualifications required were ability to read, and to perform the feat of kneeling for twenty-four consecutive hours, candle in hand, reciting the rosary; after which La Gloria sprinkled the priest-elect with holy water, and the ordination ended.
The hybrid faith spread apace. Sebastian celebrated mass; and on the first performance a great feast was held, bull-fights and games being celebrated in honor of the event, while the church was converted into a dancing-hall. The priestess also celebrated mass, and daily preached to the natives, dressed in sacerdotal robes; in the surrounding towns, too, the newly consecrated priests zealously plied their calling by discoursing from the pulpit and administering the sacraments.
But ere long murmurings began to prevail. The natives had been led to believe that the virgin had 700 oracularly announced that there should be no more tribute and no more priests.
By dint of flogging the new hierarchy maintained order for a time, but as the discontent increased Nicolás Vasquez, styling himself captain-general, in the name of Gomez de la Gloria, envoy of Saint Peter, fulminated a proclamation against the malecontents.[XXXVII‑6]
The next action of the Cancuc ecclesiastics was the appointment of a bishop, and the individual selected was offered the pleasant alternative of accepting the bishopric or being hanged. The test of his ability to fill the office is curious. For three days and nights he was kept fasting in the chapel at Cancuc under threat of instant death at the first display of weakness. Having passed this ordeal he was consecrated by Gomez de la Gloria with appropriate solemnity and mummery.[XXXVII‑7]
A government was also formed, the head of which was Doña María Angel the priestess. She was assisted by twelve of the principal Tzendales, styled majordomos.[XXXVII‑8] Sessions were held in the chapel where contributions were received with which to defray the expenses of government, and to propitiate the virgin. Thither also were conveyed the gold and silver taken from the different churches.[XXXVII‑9] 701
The new régime did not long give satisfaction. Discontent soon showed itself among the multitude, and dissension among the members of the government. The Tzendal angel took offence at one of her chief supporters, and caused him to be flayed alive; other offending officials were publicly scourged, and an Indian named Juan Lopez was hanged for having in the division of plunder taken at the sacking of a town appropriated the virgin's share. Disputes arose, and it was only by dividing among the confederated towns the money in the chapel treasury that the inhabitants of Cancuc avoided war with their neighbors.
At this juncture an opposition miracle was announced at Yajalon by Magdalena Diaz, an aunt of Doña María Angel. Magdalena considered that she had not received the attention to which she was entitled, and denouncing the Cancuc miracle as false proclaimed herself a divinely inspired agent of heaven. This apostasy and counterfeit imitation of the original miracle was too criminal to go unpunished. The Cancuc priestess therefore sent a strong force of the soldiers of the virgin to Yajalon to bring the false prophetess to her. With some bloodshed this was accomplished. Magdalena Diaz was hanged, and with her an Indian of Tila who proclaimed that he was Christ. So perish all who oppose the true faith!
Meanwhile the Spaniards were making preparations to suppress the rebellion. When it first broke out there were not more than thirteen hundred armed men in the province, and these were scattered in the different garrisons. It chanced at this time that there was no one at the head of the government as chief executive, and the alcalde's ordinaries of Ciudad Real did not consider that they had the power to act in such an emergency. One of them, however, despatched a message to Pedro Gutierrez, the commanding officer in Tabasco, informing him of the state of affairs and soliciting aid. Gutierrez at once hastened 702 to Ciudad Real, and having presently received from the president and audiencia of Guatemala his appointment as lieutenant-general and chief-justice of Chiapas, called the panic-stricken inhabitants to arms.
While Gutierrez was on his way to Ciudad Real the alcalde Fernando del Monje had marched with one hundred and fifty raw recruits to Huistlan—the nearest town in the direction of the revolted districts. Here he had fortified himself, but was besieged by the Tzendales in great force,[XXXVII‑10] under the leadership of Nicolás Vazquez,[XXXVII‑11] who made several fierce assaults upon the place but was repulsed with severe loss.
Gutierrez hastened to the relief of Huistlan with one hundred and forty Chiapanecs and two hundred men of Ciudad Real. Forcing his way through the Tzendales he united his troops with the besieged Spaniards, and a sortie being made the besiegers were thrown into confusion and many slain. The Tzendales abandoned the siege,[XXXVII‑12] and Gutierrez at once prepared to pursue them, but the timidity of the people of Ciudad Real fettered his movements. News had reached the capital that Sinacantlan had revolted and that an immediate attack upon Ciudad Real was determined upon by the Tzendales. This intelligence struck terror into the pusillanimous inhabitants and Gutierrez was implored to return.
Meanwhile the parish priest of Sinacantlan, Padre José Monroy, who was at Ciudad Real when these events occurred, went to his disaffected flock and urged their return to allegiance. The news of the disaster before Huistlan had so discouraged the Sinacantlans 703 that the padre had little difficulty in effecting his object.[XXXVII‑13]
Thus matters remained for some weeks, Gutierrez being unable to organize any expedition against the insurgents, through want of means and the lack of spirit in the people he had come to support. The magnitude of the revolt was now realized by President Cosío, and in October he appointed Nicolás de Segovia, an officer experienced in Indian warfare, commander-in-chief of the operations against the Tzendales, and despatched him with troops to Ciudad Real. This able officer was soon prepared for an active campaign, and about the 20th of the month took the field at the head of four hundred Spaniards, fifty-four negroes, and one hundred and fifty Chiapanec warriors, accompanied by a number of Dominicans, whose order had rendered great assistance in supplying men, horses, and money. Segovia marched to Occhuc, while Gutierrez in command of a strong force[XXXVII‑14] proceeded to San Pedro Chimalco.
A series of engagements followed. Segovia, who had divided his forces by sending two detachments of one hundred men each to occupy towns in the vicinity of Cancuc, was besieged in Occhuc by six thousand of the enemy; but every assault upon his position was repulsed with heavy loss to the Tzendales, who at last took to flight and were pursued with great slaughter. This was on the 22d of October; and shortly afterward a reënforcement of these men arrived under command of the maestre de campo, Juan de Lozada.[XXXVII‑15] On the 26th the Tzendales, hoping to effect a surprise,[XXXVII‑16] again assaulted Occhuc, but were 704 beaten off with heavy loss. They then sought for a parley, and endeavored to induce the Spaniards to surrender their arms by the same specious promises that had been so fatally alluring at Chilun. But the two positions were not similar, and it was only through the efforts of the fathers that the indignant Segovia was restrained from firing upon the treacherous truce-seekers. The Tzendales were summoned to return to their allegiance, and one hour's cessation of hostilities was granted. The time of the armistice was occupied in burying their dead. They then retreated in the direction of Cancuc.
President Cosío, deeming it necessary to march against the rebels in person, on the 10th of November left Ciudad Real,[XXXVII‑17] in company with the auditor-general, Diego de Oviedo, in charge of a strong detachment destined for Occhuc. Though formidable intrenchments had been thrown up by the enemy on the line of march, the Spaniards by a skilful movement compelled the Tzendales to abandon them, and a juncture was effected with Segovia. The combined forces then advanced against Cancuc and encamped in front of the town. The enemy was strongly intrenched and several assaults directed against the fortifications were repulsed by the Tzendales, the officers being ill supported by their men. In one of these Segovia was wounded; many of the soldiers were also severely injured by the stones hurled against them with remarkable skill and force.[XXXVII‑18] Success eventually crowned the Spanish arms, and Cancuc fell into their hands.
Owing to the hiatus in García's manuscript, it is impossible to say what were the military movements 705 on both sides during the remainder of the year; but it is certain that the rebellion spread widely, and that even the native population of Ciudad Real rose in revolt. With the exception of Chamolla, in fact, the whole province appears to have risen in arms.[XXXVII‑19]
At the beginning of 1713 the Spanish army was stationed at Chamolla, and the insurgents after a series of defeats had become dispirited. Sebastian Gomez de la Gloria had fled; dissension was rife in the ranks of the Indians; and the end of the struggle was drawing near. Marching from Chamolla at night, the president with his forces advanced against Ciudad Real. His approach was conducted with the greatest precaution and in silence, for strong fortifications had been erected by the enemy about three quarters of a league from the capital. These he passed unnoticed, and about an hour after midnight Ciudad Real was surrounded. The alcalde, who resided in the outskirts of the city, was surprised and seized, and forthwith despatched to warn the people to make no attempt at resistance. Bugles were sounded on all sides to intimate to the inhabitants how closely the city was invested, and the army moved silently on to San Pablo, where the Guatinpan female leader was captured. Henceforth the Spaniards were everywhere triumphant; the Indians returned to their allegiance; and about the month of March the Tzendal rebellion was at an end. All attempts to capture Gomez de la Gloria and Doña María Angel proved unsuccessful; they escaped into the woods and nothing more is known of them.[XXXVII‑20] 706
The effect of the Tzendal rebellion was disastrous in the extreme; and later in the century other causes tended to hasten the decline of the Spanish settlements in Chiapas. In August 1785 Ciudad Real with the surrounding country was flooded; numbers perished; houses were swept away; the churches and convents were injured, and the growing crops destroyed. The report of Intendente Sayas in 1800 represents a lamentable condition of affairs. Roads were almost impassable, bridges dilapidated, and churches falling in ruins; the country towns possessed no decent municipal buildings, and even the jails were so dilapidated that prisoners could not be securely confined. Sayas in fact describes the province as in a state of decay.[XXXVII‑21]
By a royal cédula of November 6, 1714, the term of Cosío's presidency was extended for a period of two years in acknowledgment of his able management during the Tzendal insurrection. He then meditated an expedition against the Mosquito Indians, but while engaged in preparations for the campaign was promoted to the presidency of the Philippine Islands, and was succeeded by Francisco Rodriguez de Rivas in 1716. This president continued in office until 1724. 707 During his term occurred a destructive earthquake. There were also violent eruptions in 1702, 1705, and 1710 which occasioned much alarm and considerable damage to buildings, and in 1717 the city of Santiago was almost totally destroyed by shocks which continued for many days. Particulars of some of the events of this year are preserved in the official report of the licentiate Tomás Ignacio de Arana, oidor of the audiencia, and an eye-witness of many of the scenes described. From August 18th to September 27th, the Volcan de Fuego vomited fire and ashes, while intermittent shocks of earthquake kept the people in constant alarm. On the night of the last named date a shock more violent than any that had ever shaken the city occurred, and not a building of any importance was left uninjured. A scene of terrible confusion ensued. Men, women, and children rushed from the doors, or threw themselves from windows into the street in the wildest consternation. Even the ties of relationship were forgotten in the awful belief that divine judgment was at hand. The lamentations continued, as the people, carrying crucifixes and images of the virgin, thronged the churches and public squares. The bishop, holding aloft the host, solemnly exorcised the evil spirits of the human race.
The following day was the feast of San Agustin, and both civil and ecclesiastical authorities exhorted the people to prayer and confession; but while thus engaged, about sunset an eruption took place, and from the sides of the mountains sprung rivulets of fire. Again the people resorted to the sanctuaries, and an image of the Christ was borne in a procession to the church of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, which was thronged with an awe-stricken crowd, anxious to be near the sacred shrine. The bishop in sacerdotal robes implored the divine mercy, and when the flames died out there was the usual miracle attributed to the bishop and the sacred image.
Next day, before sunrise, subterranean noises and 708 fresh flames, vomited from the mountain's crater, again struck terror to the inhabitants;[XXXVII‑22] and on the 30th a tremendous convulsion shook the earth,[XXXVII‑23] the sky being hidden by a dense black cloud, which hung over the city like a funeral pall. The instinct of preservation prompted flight, and the roads were covered with fugitives, even modest nuns mingling with the frightened throng and hurrying away on foot from the crumbling city.[XXXVII‑24]
The loss of life had been great; and when the convulsions had ceased the appearance which Santiago presented was that of a city crushed by the hand of omnipotence. The cathedral was in ruins, and the churches and convents more or less shattered. The wrecks of demolished houses were seen in every direction, and the few persons who remained were painfully impressed by the silence which had now succeeded to the busy hum of a populous community. Throughout all these distressing circumstances the president and the bishop displayed unflinching courage, and strove to alleviate distress and assuage alarm.[XXXVII‑25]
Many meetings of the audiencia were held to discuss the question of again locating the city. It was finally left to the decision of the king; but when 709 a license for the removal at length arrived, the inhabitants had recovered from their panic, returned to their dilapidated dwellings, and repaired the greater part of the city.
On the 12th of April 1718 the cabildo of Santiago addressed a memorial to the king,[XXXVII‑26] setting forth the pitiable condition to which the city had been reduced, and the impoverishment of its citizens. His Majesty was petitioned to take liberal measures for their relief, and that the church edifices and public buildings might be restored or built anew.[XXXVII‑27] Pedro Antonio de Echevers y Suvisa succeeded Rivas in the presidency.[XXXVII‑28]
During his administration serious riots occurred, caused by the assassination of the presbyter Lorenzo de Orozco, and the barbarous murder of all his household for purposes of robbery. The evidence of a widespread conspiracy was brought to light, and though no arrests were made, many persons were implicated during the progress of the inquiry. Grave disputes also arose between the president and two members of the audiencia; and when the former attempted to banish them, they were rescued by a mob and took refuge in the cathedral.[XXXVII‑29]
A more serious matter, involving the right of sanctuary and leading to a civil and ecclesiastical conflict, arose from the conduct of one Juan Manuel Ballesteros, who had fatally stabbed a man. The murderer sought refuge in a convent church, whence he was dogged by a force sent by the alcalde, García 710 de Hijas. He sought refuge behind the grand altar; but the sanctity of the place was not regarded, and despite his struggles he was arrested. The prisoner was immediately put to the torture, and died under its effect. The alcalde was promptly excommunicated, and the ecclesiastics appealed to the king, petitioning for a royal declaration of their rights in such cases. The monarch, by a decree of the 18th of June 1720, decided that in this case the prelate was justified in proceeding against the alcalde, but that all doubtful cases, as a rule, must be decided by the king himself in council.[XXXVII‑30]
During the next twenty years no political event occurred that is worthy of record. Several able prelates occupied the episcopal chair,[XXXVII‑31] but their administration was greatly interfered with by the improper action of the secular and regular clergy. So flagrant were the abuses committed by the priests in the exercise of their duties, that the bishops were embarrassed in their visits, and the natives oppressed by the venal conduct of their pastors. The abuse of this mock religion was carried to such an extreme that the sale of the sacraments, the failure to visit the dying sick, and the charges for the performance of funeral ceremonies[XXXVII‑32] brought on the ecclesiastics the censure of the crown.
In 1729 Juan Gomez de Parada succeeded to the bishopric, and the reforms which he effected were so 711 beneficial that the cabildo ordered his portrait to be painted and preserved, with an appropriate inscription—an honor which had been paid to no prelate except Marroquin. In 1736 Parada was promoted to the see of Guadalajara, and the next bishop of Guatemala, Pedro Pardo de Figueroa, took possession of the episcopal chair.[XXXVII‑33]
The occasion of Figueroa's consecration was made memorable through the action taken by the cabildo, the members of which deemed that their right of municipal claim to seats of honor was not duly acknowledged. The audiencia, the religious orders, and all the principal personages of the city had convened in the cathedral at nine o'clock in the morning, and for some time awaited the arrival of the municipal authorities. These, however, after an ungracious delay, sent a message to the effect that the day was not one on which they could be called upon for the transaction of business. The audiencia attempted to negotiate, and after a fruitless loss of time, without proceeding to their hall of sessions, appointed in the cathedral other alcaldes and regidores, and notified the contumacious cabildo that its members were to consider themselves under arrest. Owing to this jealous claim for precedence on the part of the municipality the enthronement of the bishop did not take place till two o'clock in the afternoon.[XXXVII‑34]
Figueroa decorated the cathedral with sumptuous altars, rare paintings, and exquisite works of art; restored the convent of the Carmelite friars; enlarged the episcopal palace, and rebuilt the church of Esquipulas, in which a so-called miraculous image of the crucifixion was preserved.
During the seventeenth century the elevation of the see of Guatemala to an archbishopric had been frequently brought before the notice of the kings of Spain; and not without reason; the bishopric of Honduras was a suffragan of Santo Domingo, while the far distant archbishopric of Peru was the metropolitan of Nicaragua. In 1742 Pope Benedict XIV. at the request of Felipe V. issued a bull conferring the pallium upon the bishop[XXXVII‑35] of Guatemala.
The suffragan bishoprics were those of Chiapas, Nicaragua, and Comayagua. The pallium was brought to Vera Cruz by Isidro Marin, bishop of Nicaragua, and thence to Guatemala by Francisco Molina, bishop of Comayagua, who arrived at the capital October 28, 1745. On the 14th of November the archbishop was installed and formally invested with the insignia of office by José Cabero, bishop of Chiapas. The event was celebrated with great rejoicings. The archbishop died on the 2d of February 1751, at Esquipulas, and was interred at the foot of the grand altar of the cathedral, beside the remains of Alvarado and other celebrities distinguished in the history of the country.
The suffragan sees of Honduras and Chiapas present little additional material for history during this half century, the proceedings of the church and regular orders being one uninterrupted continuance of labors which year by year became less arduous and were less carefully attended to.[XXXVII‑36] In the latter province the 713 regular orders had become much impoverished by the devastations caused by the Tzendal insurrection, and the Dominicans in particular were so much reduced by the ravages committed upon their sugar and cacao plantations that the proceeds of those estates, together with the yield of their grist-mill, did not supply the means wherewith to repair their church.[XXXVII‑37]
Whether owing to the increasing carelessness and indolence of the ecclesiastics, or to the pertinacious adherence on the part of the natives to the creed of their forefathers, heresy became so prevalent during this epoch that the inquisition of Mexico in 1745 fulminated a terrible anathema against offenders in Central America. In this edict every curse, plague, or misfortune that could fall upon the greatest sinners of mankind was invoked upon the head of apostates.[XXXVII‑38]
In the middle of the eighteenth century the captain-generalcy of Guatemala included the territory lying between 7° 54' and 17° 49' north latitude,[XXXVII‑39] being about 714 six hundred leagues in length from north-west to south-east, and varying in width from sixty to one hundred and fifty leagues, making an approximate area of sixty-four thousand square leagues.[XXXVII‑40]
At this time the ruler of Guatemala held control over the provinces of Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Soconusco, San Antonio, San Salvador, Chiapas, Sonsonate, and Vera Paz; and the districts of Huehuetenango, Atitlan, and Tecpanatitlan, Quesaltenango, Chiquimula de la Sierra, Escuintla and Guazacapan, Tegucigalpa, Sutiaba, Realejo, Sebaco, and Nicoya.[XXXVII‑41] In 1787 the territory subject to the captain-general included thirteen provinces—those of Soconusco, Chiapas, Suchitepec, Vera Paz, Honduras, Izalcos, San Salvador, San Miguel, Nicaragua, Jerez de la Choluteca, Tegucigalpa, Costa Rica, and Guatemala.[XXXVII‑42]
By royal cédulas of the 11th of March and 20th of June 1776, the office of regent of the audiencias was 715 created.[XXXVII‑43] Although little is said about their doings in Guatemala, they were invested with great powers, and their authority was greater than that of the president. In January 1778 Vicente de Herrera was appointed regent, and between that date and 1800 the office was held by six of his successors.[XXXVII‑44]
In no other respect does any change appear to have been made in the officers composing the government.[XXXVII‑45] Important changes, however, had been introduced in the system of government. Since its organization the political divisions had been subject to many variations. During the seventeenth century there were as many as thirty-two, of which four were governments, nine alcaldías mayores, and nineteen corregimientos.[XXXVII‑46]
About 1660 eight of the corregimientos were abolished and united to the governments,[XXXVII‑47] and from the 716 beginning of the eighteenth century until about 1790 the corregimientos were further reduced, new alcaldías mayores being formed and others abolished.[XXXVII‑48]
At about this latter date the intendencias[XXXVII‑49] were established, reducing the number of provinces to fifteen, which embraced four intendencias, thirty-nine subdelegaciones, four politico-military districts, three corregimientos, and seven alcaldías mayores.[XXXVII‑50]
Between 1752 and 1773 eight governors ruled in Guatemala; but their administrations were marked by no event worthy of special notice. With the accession 717 of Martin de Mayorga at the latter date,[XXXVII‑51] however, began one of the most eventful periods in the history of the country.
Notwithstanding the disasters which the city of Guatemala had experienced, it had continued to increase in wealth and importance, until at this time it was noted for the number and elegance of its private and public buildings and the magnificence of its numerous churches and convents. It still maintained its rank as the second city in North America, being inferior only to Mexico in its advantages of location, scenery, climate, and varied resources. On every side of its well watered and fertile valley extended villages and farms, where cultivated fields and green pastures afforded a pleasing prospect; while high above the hills and mountains, which flanked it on either side, towered in majestic grandeur the three dreaded volcanoes. 718
In the centre of this beautiful valley, and nearly opposite the Volcan de Agua, stood the city. Over a mile in width at its narrowest part, its numerous streets were broad, well paved, and, excepting in the suburbs, laid out at right angles. Every portion of the city was abundantly supplied with water, and in the principal square there was a large and handsome stone reservoir, fed by two streams. Facing on this square were the governor's and archbishop's palaces, the city hall, mint, and cathedral. The government buildings were remarkable for their solidity; and within their spacious corridors, formed of columns and arches, was displayed every variety of merchandise. The churches of Guatemala, of which there were nineteen, were famed for their architectural beauty, their size, and the richness of their ornaments. Besides the cathedral and the churches, there were eighteen convents and eleven chapels. The cathedral was over three hundred feet in length, one hundred and twenty in width, and sixty-six feet high. It had three naves with eight chapels on each side. Its interior was richly carved and gilded, and decorated with rare and costly statues, paintings, and tablets, while it possessed many precious relics, and numerous utensils of gold and silver. The high-altar was of exquisite design.[XXXVII‑52]
The private dwellings were many of them of great beauty, solidly and commodiously built, richly furnished, and with spacious gardens and courts. The number of inhabitants at this time was little short of twenty-five thousand,[XXXVII‑53] and from the neighboring pueblos, the chief occupation of whose inhabitants was agriculture and various industrial arts, Guatemala was supplied with all the necessaries and many of the luxuries of life.[XXXVII‑54]
Such, in June 1773, was the fair city of Guatemala, destined for a second time soon to be laid low by envious powers. During the past twenty-three years the metropolis had experienced frequent disturbances, some of a political nature, others in the appearance of that familiar and dreaded visitant—earthquake. Two severe shocks, occurring March 4, 1751, did considerable damage, chiefly to the churches;[XXXVII‑55] in 1757 a shock was felt to which the natives gave the name of San Francisco. Two more were felt in 1765; the first, called the holy trinity, was disastrous to the province of Chiquimula, and the second, called San Rafael, desolated the province of Suchiltepeque, but neither did any damage in the city of Guatemala.[XXXVII‑56]
About 1756 a riot occurred in the city on account of the prohibition of the sale of certain liquors, but was soon suppressed by the personal courage and prompt measures of President Arcos.[XXXVII‑57] In 1766 a serious outbreak was threatened because of the establishment of the tobacco monopoly, and was only prevented by reducing the price of that article. The alarm and excitement caused by this danger was increased by the atrocious murder of two friars.[XXXVII‑58]
The minds of the people were for a time diverted from their local troubles by the funeral obsequies of the queen of Spain. The official notification of her 720 death was received in Guatemala March 25, 1759, and on the 29th of the following June pompous funeral ceremonies were celebrated.[XXXVII‑59]
Two years later the oath of allegiance to Cárlos III. was taken.[XXXVII‑60] In October 1762 the valley was flooded, and the town of Petapa, and the portion of the city known as the Barrio de los Remedios was inundated.[XXXVII‑61] But the crowning disaster was yet to come. A few slight shocks of earthquake in the latter part of May 1773 gave no cause for apprehension and were almost forgotten, when on the 11th of June they returned with such violence as to damage several houses and churches, notably the Carmelite and Dominican convents, and the hospital of San Juan de Dios. The shocks continued for several days with diminishing force and frequency until they had nearly ceased. On the 25th of July they were again renewed, but although frequent and violent there was no serious damage until the 29th, when the people had partially recovered from their alarm. Then they were startled by a sudden shock, coming on about four o'clock in the afternoon, which, though comparatively slight, seemed portentous of evil. So great was the apprehension felt by the inhabitants that many instantly abandoned the city, and those who remained were ready at the first indication of its return to flee from their dwellings. Scarcely ten minutes had elapsed since the first shock when there was a second, and of such violence that with the first vibration the work of destruction began. The motions were as varied as they were sudden and destructive; now horizontal, now vertical, the latter uplifting the earth with explosions, and compelling man and beast to remain prostrate. On every side were heard the crash of falling walls, the doleful clangor of the church bells as their towers rocked under the impulse of unseen powers, 721 and above all the loud wailings of the terror-stricken people, who, collected in the squares and streets, vainly implored divine protection.
Throughout the night the shocks continued at brief intervals, and the horrors of darkness were increased by a severe rain-storm, accompanied by thunder and lightning, to which the thinly clad inhabitants were fully exposed, none daring to seek shelter from its fury lest a worse fate should overtake them. When day broke they were enabled to realize the full extent of the calamity. Of the magnificent cathedral nothing was left but a heap of ruins. Not a house in the city had escaped either destruction or serious damage. In many cases where the houses remained standing their foundations had settled or their walls were shattered or twisted. The greatest ruin, however, was caused in that portion called the Barrio del Candelaria. Here every house, including the church and the Dominican convent, was levelled to the ground. In many parts of the city even the pavements of the streets and the tiled floors of private dwellings were uplifted and shattered. The deaths, strange to say, were comparatively few, not exceeding one hundred and thirty within the city, and probably a smaller number in the surrounding country.[XXXVII‑62]
On the following day the duty of interment was begun under the direction of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. Fearful of pestilence the dead were buried wherever found, the grounds having first been consecrated. Hunger and thirst next stalked about the ruins. Most of the supplies within the city had been destroyed or buried beneath the fallen houses, and none dared venture in those yet standing, as the shocks still continued. The aqueducts had been destroyed, and but a scanty supply of muddy water could be obtained. This distress, however, was soon relieved by the prompt measures of the president, who caused to be distributed a quantity of stores destined for the fortress of Omoa. Vigorous measures were also taken to suppress the pillage of the ruined houses, already begun. Thefts to the value of ten pesos or more were made punishable by death, and for lesser amounts, the breaking-open of any trunk, or the approach after evening prayers to the temporary quarters of the nuns, two hundred lashes and ten years' penal servitude was the penalty fixed. As proof of their determination to carry out these measures the authorities caused a gallows to be at once erected in the principal square. The presence of the militia, who had been summoned from the neighboring town, also helped to keep the criminal classes in check.[XXXVII‑63] 723
Many had left the city for the adjacent villages, or had erected temporary shelters in the outskirts, but more lingered near their homes suffering from lack of food, clothing, and shelter. Within a few days when the shocks had gradually diminished, and it was a question whether the city should be rebuilt or removed to a new site, the president convoked a meeting of the civil and church authorities and prominent citizens, and it was finally decided to remove to the valley de la Ermita, the portion known as the Rodeo being chosen, and the choice approved by a decree of May 24, 1774. But finally, at the instance of the new fiscal of the audiencia, the site was changed to the plain of the virgin adjoining La Hermita, where were greater advantages.
Although a removal was favored by a majority of the prominent persons, subsequent events showed that it was not the free expression of the popular will. Many of the citizens were not in a condition to reason calmly. The apprehension of fresh calamities was kept alive by the continued shocks, which on the 7th of September and 13th of December were unusually severe. Those of the latter date were said by some to have equalled in violence that of the 29th of July, and caused further damage to the remaining buildings. As time went on, however, the fears of the 724 people disappeared, and the opposition to a removal grew stronger among all classes; but still the audiencia objected. This body, together with the royal officials and the troops, had been established in the Hermita since September; but few if any of the citizens appear to have joined them, and not even a petechial fever, which appeared and raged until May 1774 could induce them to abandon the ruined city.[XXXVII‑64]
The president would fain have compelled the removal, but the royal decree which arrived in the latter part of 1774, made the selection of the site subject to the approval of the viceroy of Mexico, and ordered that until such approval was obtained the erection of permanent buildings should not be made. The viceroy was duly informed of the choice of site, but instead of approving it he reported the matter to the crown.
The removal of the city to the plain of the virgin was confirmed by royal decree of November 1775, and immediately following its receipt President Mayorga issued decrees inviting the citizens to select their lots in the new locality. But few responded to this invitation, and none began the construction of houses, believing that this site would be ultimately abandoned.
Toward the end of December a second royal decree arrived with instructions as to the manner of removal, but forbidding the total abandonment of the old city. Suppressing such portions of these instructions as suited his design, the president continued his measures of coercion, but apparently with little success, for on the 29th of July, 1777, he found it necessary to decree that within a year the old city must be abandoned and all buildings pulled down. The ayuntamiento had been ordered to take up their permanent residence in La Hermita at the end of 1775, and their protests, first to the president and subsequently to 725 the crown, appear to have availed nothing.[XXXVII‑65] The archbishop, however, and the ecclesiastics still remained in the ruined city.
The archbishop had opposed the removal from the beginning, and in his numerous representations to the crown had occasion to complain of the minister Galvez. One of these letters fell into the hands of Galvez, who determined on revenge. Through his influence secret and stringent orders were issued for the total abandonment of the ruined city, and a former resignation of the archbishop, made in 1769, and rejected by the crown, was reconsidered and accepted. The orders issued by the president became more and more stringent, but as he refused to show the royal decrees to the archbishop the latter paid no heed to them.
Thus affairs continued until August 1778, when Don Matías Galvez, a brother of minister Galvez, arrived in Guatemala with the rank of inspector-general and acting president of the audiencia in the absence or sickness of Mayorga. In the beginning of 1779 the entry to the ruined city of all kinds of merchandise was forbidden; repairs on houses, grounds, or streets were prohibited; music, bull-fighting, and all other public diversions were interdicted; the temporary huts in the streets and squares were ordered removed, and all artisans, militia, and others of this class were ordered to transfer their residence to the new site within a limited period.
On the 5th of April Galvez took temporary possession of the presidency, Mayorga being promoted to the viceroyalty of New Spain, for which place he set out toward the end of the month. The appointment of Galvez arrived the 14th of May when he took formal possession of the office. Through his subordinates he at once issued peremptory orders to all seculars for the immediate abandonment of the old city under severe penalties. This tyrannical measure could not be fully carried out, and such was the suffering it 726 caused among the poorer classes that many were allowed to remain among the ruins. The principal cause of all these troubles, however, was the archbishop. The civil authorities could not compel him to leave the old city, and it was hoped that a systematic course of annoyance would induce him to repair to Spain, and that during his absence the new archbishop who had already been appointed would quietly take possession. Having set out on a pastoral visit, August 21, 1778, it was supposed that he had departed for Spain; but in September 1779 he was again in Guatemala City, whence he issued an edict disputing the validity of his successor's claims, this latter, Cayetano Francos y Monroy, having arrived in Guatemala during the preceding month. From the 9th to the 30th the struggle between the archbishop and the audiencia continued. To the former's threats of excommunication the latter replied with demands for the recognition of the new archbishop, and this proving ineffectual he was ordered to depart for Spain, and the recognition of Monroy by the people enjoined under heavy penalties. It is uncertain to what extremes the president might have proceeded had not Archbishop Cortés secretly left for Spain at the end of the month. Monroy at once took possession, and thus ended this scandalous affair.[XXXVII‑66]
Notwithstanding its want of resources the new city, aided by the cession of the revenues for ten years made by the royal decree of 1774, was soon rebuilt, and in 1800 had its paved streets, fine squares, public buildings, and churches. The cathedral, of smaller proportions than that of the old city, and the Jesuit college, were still unfinished.
Alarms and disaster still followed the people of Guatemala. On the 11th of July 1775 a violent though harmless eruption of the volcano of Pacaya occurred; in 1776 the eruption of the volcano De 727 Tormentos, near Amatitlan, destroyed the village of Tres Rios, three leagues distant, and filled with lava the rivers from which it took its name.[XXXVII‑67]
In 1780 the new city was visited by small-pox, which extended over the whole country and carried off many victims. The use of vaccine was now for the first time tried in Guatemala, and proved a success, as few if any of those inoculated died.[XXXVII‑68]
Before these events had fairly passed, the declaration of war between England and Spain in 1779, and the almost immediate invasion of Honduras and Nicaragua, compelled the reorganization of the military force of the kingdom. We have no information of the condition of either the regular army or militia at this date, but it is hardly probable that any material change in their condition had taken place since the report of President Salazar in 1778-9. As therein shown the country was not in a condition for war. The whole number of regular troops in the kingdom consisted of two companies of dragoons numbering sixty men, and who were stationed at the capital. The militia force included all the able-bodied men in the kingdom, the majority of whom were mulattoes; but in the rare event of their being called out for service a certain proportion only was taken from each town, the remainder being indispensable to the cultivation of the soil. Both infantry and cavalry were poorly disciplined, and their arms, usually deposited in the principal towns, would not suffice for one half of the troops, besides being for the most part out of repair for want of an armorer. A few of the mulattoes had rude side arms of home manufacture, but it was rare to find one who had acquired any skill in the use of fire-arms. The regular force was subsequently increased to two hundred, a detachment of one hundred Spanish troops arriving in August 1777.[XXXVII‑69] At 728 this same time infantry and cavalry officers, artillerymen and engineers were asked for by President Salazar to reorganize and instruct the militia and take charge of the artillery and fortifications. The various fortresses and principal cities were well provided with artillery and small arms, but many of them in an apparently unserviceable condition.[XXXVII‑70] At the first note of alarm President Galvez applied himself to the organization of an army, and such was the energy and ability displayed in his conduct of the subsequent campaign, that he earned merited fame and promotion for himself, and, as we have seen, led his troops to victory.[XXXVII‑71]
The rule of President Galvez ended on March 10, 1783, when he was transferred to the viceroyalty of New Spain. His administration was an exceedingly prosperous one for Guatemala, and his departure was greatly regretted by all classes.[XXXVII‑72] His successor was José Estachería, who assumed office the 3d of April the same year. He was brigadier-general and ex-governor of Nicaragua. His term of office expired December 29, 1789. To him succeeded Bernardo Troncoso Martinez del Rincon, lieutenant-general, formerly king's lieutenant of Habana and ex-governor of Vera Cruz, who was in power until 1794, and José Domas y Valle, a knight of Santiago, gefe de escuadra, who held office from the latter date until the 28th of July 1801.[XXXVII‑73]
From May 13, 1753, until June 24, 1765, the archiepiscopal chair of Guatemala was filled by Doctor Francisco José de Figueredo y Victoria, who had been promoted from the see of Popayan.[XXXVII‑74] 729
The only event of importance during his rule was the partial secularization of missions. The order was received from Mexico by the audiencia sometime after the death of President Vazquez, but was not made public until 1754, when the secularization of the missions in the valley of Guatemala at once began.[XXXVII‑75]
On the arrival of President Arcos, a little over a month later, the Dominicans, who had appealed to the crown against this measure, prevailed on him to delay, under some pretext, the transfer of their missions. This, however, proved only a temporary relief; for though the provinces of Vera Paz and Quiché were left to these friars, Archbishop Figueredo reported the conduct of the president to the crown, whereupon the secularization was ordered continued, and Arcos was reproved. The Dominicans redoubled their exertions, but succeeded only in obtaining a cédula ordering that the transfer of the remaining missions should be made only on the death of the friars in charge. Later, even this concession was revoked by the archbishop of Guatemala.[XXXVII‑76]
At the time the missionary field in the province of Guatemala proper seems, with the exception of the Lacandon territory, to have been exhausted; for we find that the Franciscan college of Cristo Señor Nuestro Crucificado, founded April 27, 1756, had missions in Veragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Mosquitia, but there is no mention of any in Guatemala.[XXXVII‑77] In 1790 the parish priest of Palenque made a feeble attempt to reduce the Lacandones. Having obtained pecuniary aid from the intendente of Chiapas, he 730 founded a town, baptized several natives, and won their good-will by numerous presents; but the advantage thus gained does not appear to have been improved.[XXXVII‑78]
Some excitement was caused in Guatemala City in July 1772 by a disturbance in the convent of the Recollets. Owing to violent dissension among the inmates, the audiencia, at the request of the friar, caused the arrest and remittance to Spain of two of the ringleaders. The populace, ignorant of the cause of this interference, were with difficulty quieted. This action of the audiencia was approved by the crown, and the remainder of the turbulent friars were suspended.
Having become blind from old age, being now in his eightieth year, Archbishop Figueredo petitioned the crown to appoint a coadjutor. Accordingly, Doctor Miguel de Cilieza y Velasco, a native of Guatemala and chancellor of the cathedral, was selected; but the archbishop died before he was consecrated, and he was nominated for the see of Chiapas, whence he departed in October 1767. The archbishop's death occurred June 24, 1765. In accordance with his request his remains were deposited in the church of the Jesuit college, to whose members he had been warmly attached.[XXXVII‑79] The archiepiscopal chair remained vacant after Figueredo's death until 1768, when it was occupied by Doctor Don Pedro Cortés y Larraz.[XXXVII‑80] Preceding his arrival in 1767 the famous decree of expulsion against the Jesuits was carried into effect in Guatemala, but was unattended with any of the serious disturbances which marked its enforcement in New Spain.[XXXVII‑81] The utmost secrecy and despatch 731 were observed. At 6 o'clock on the morning of the 26th of June, troops having been stationed at certain points, the president and audiencia with an escort of dragoons proceeded to the Jesuit convent. It was the feast of the sacred heart, and service had already begun. Awaiting a favorable opportunity the president requested the celebrants to cease, and the sacrament having been covered and the doors closed, in tears he notified the friars of the fatal decree. Silently and with bowed heads they signified their submission. The convent was surrounded by a guard of militia, and all communication with friends forbidden. On July 1st they were conducted to Golfo Dulce and embarked on a Spanish frigate, and a month later the members of their order from Chiapas joined them. The decree was published on the 30th of July. The total number of exiles was eleven. The rector and two lay brothers remained, the former to deliver the church property, and the latter because they were unable to travel.[XXXVII‑82]
Archbishop Cortés took possession of his office in February 1768. The chief event during his rule was his difficulty with the audiencia, owing to his opposition to the removal of the city, and which has been related in connection with that event. These differences, however, were evidently of an earlier date. Cortés, who had been appointed by the king in opposition to his council, did not find matters to his liking in Guatemala, and accordingly in August 1769 he tendered his resignation. This was rejected by the king, who expressed himself as satisfied with his conduct, and this rejection was considered final. In opposing the removal of the city, however, he did not count on the influence of President Mayorga, who was protected by the chief minister of the royal council; 732 and however justifiable in the beginning this opposition may have been it was unwisely prolonged. Minister Galvez succeeded in having the resignation of Cortés reconsidered, notwithstanding the protests of that prelate. He caused his brother to be appointed Mayorga's successor, had Cortés transferred to the bishopric of Tortosa, and, as we have seen, a new archbishop nominated to Guatemala. The refusal of Cortés to surrender his chair, it is claimed, was because he had not received his bulls confirming his appointment to the bishopric of Tortosa. After leaving Guatemala, as previously narrated, he proceeded to his new bishopric, where he continued until his death, which occurred in 1786. His interest in the welfare of Guatemala did not end with his departure, for he subsequently donated sixty thousand dollars with which to found a college for the education of the young.[XXXVII‑83]
Doctor Cayetano Francos y Monroy, his successor, was installed and duly recognized after Cortés' departure;[XXXVII‑84] but not satisfied with the manner in which he had been appointed he procured a confirmatory 733 bull from Pope Pius VII. in 1779. This irregularity was also recognized by the council of the Indies, as is shown by the fact that they declared that the revenues of the archbishopric of Guatemala until December 1779 belonged to Cortés, whose appointment to Tortosa was not confirmed until this date.
Thus we have traced the history of Spanish conquest and colonization in Central America from the time when Rodrigo de Bastidas first touched Tierra Firme to the close of the eighteenth century. We have seen the sword and the cross side by side, without a shadow of right or recompense, enter in and take possession of the broad area from Darien to New Spain; then sitting down to wrangle and to rest. During the process of gradual extinction the natives broke out in occasional rebellions; but for the most part they were docile, and submitted with philosophic or Christian resignation to the inevitable, which was too often infamous on the part of civilization and Christianity.
It was a period of repose, the two and a half centuries of Central America's existence under Spain's audiencias and governors, a period of apathy and stagnation as far as intellectual and moral progress are concerned. Nor is there much to be said in the way of material improvement. Neither God nor mammon could truthfully claim much higher or nobler results from the country under European domination than under American. The province and policy of rulers, civil and ecclesiastical, were fixed, and 734 the duties of subjects was determined. Although the people did not know it, the grasp of the mother government upon the country, however nervous and jealous it might be, was in reality weak, for the parent herself was rapidly declining.
There was nothing to fight for, and nothing to work for. If we except an occasional attempted subjugation of unpacified peoples, and the descent of pirates, the greatest issues of the time were those affecting precedence and place. It was easier to evade obnoxious laws than to quarrel with them. The natives found it less burdensome to perform the little labor necessary to the support of themselves and their masters than to endure the penalties of opposition. Between the poor kings of Spain and the pirates of England, France, and Holland, the wealth of the people was far from secure; there was no great incentive to enterprise in any direction, and had there been it is not certain that men would have exerted themselves. Simple existence satisfied them; high development and limitless wealth could do no more.
The appearance on their shores of legalized robbery and murder, in the form of freebooters, was not generally regarded as retribution, though their infamies were scarcely greater than those which had been perpetrated by the Spaniards in this quarter a century or two before. The buccaneers and Scotch settlers were right enough in looking upon the Spaniards as intruders, having no more ownership in the country than they, except such as priority in wrongs committed gave them; which wrongs by no means made right the cruelties and injustice of the English and French inflicted upon the Spaniards.
In the third and concluding volume of the History of Central America will be more fully presented the social, industrial, and political condition of the country in the nineteenth century, particularly at the transitional epoch following the achieving of independence 735 from Spain, and immediately afterward. Twice during the sixteenth century did Spain narrowly escape the loss of her richest territories by rebellion. Twice during the eighteenth did British armaments threaten to overthrow her dominion in the New World. And now, at the close of the latter century, the Spaniards of Central America, goaded by heavy and unjust taxation, and by the vexatious restrictions imposed on the trade of the colonies, stimulated, moreover, by the success with which the republic of the west had thrown off the yoke of England, and by the brilliant career which the great republic of Europe had achieved under the dazzling leadership of the first Napoleon, were already ripe for revolution. Spain meanwhile is about to reap the reward of nearly three centuries of misrule. Through her indifference the commerce of the western hemisphere had long since fallen into the hands of foreigners; and her colonies no longer desired to maintain their connection with the mother country, from which they had nothing to gain, and with whose interests they had little in common.
For the history of the colonial period of the Central American provinces, especially that portion immediately following the conquest, when, a secure foothold having been gained by the Spaniards, gradual exploration and settlement completed their subjugation, the data supplied by the earlier Spanish chroniclers and official reports are abundant; but the evidence from these sources is, in some respects, so incomplete and contradictory, that it is only after an examination of the numerous valuable collections of original documents brought to light in modern times, that the student is able to fix with precision the true character and sequence of events. The standard general historians of the sixteenth century, such as Bernal Diaz, Gomara, Oviedo, and Las Casas, give us but little information concerning Central America after 1530; and in consequence the special accounts of individuals like Gage, Benzoni, and Andagoya, not to mention the writings of the buccaneers, with occasional special efforts of a time or place like those of Reynolds, and of Fuentes y Guzman, followed by Juarros, and all supplemented by documents, assume paramount importance, and become the chief sources of historic material for this epoch.
The founding and subsequent progress of the church in this territory are traced in a general way by its representative chroniclers, Motolinia, Mendieta, Torquemada, and Fernandez, until Remesal and Vazquez, chroniclers respectively 736 of the Dominican and Franciscan orders in Central America, profiting by the labors of the former, and adding some original research, bring the history of the church down to the end of the seventeenth century. Some attempt is also made by the last two writers to follow the political history, but only in a desultory way.
The first special history to be written was that of Fuentes y Guzman, containing much original matter, but not generally reliable. The manuscript was never published, but was used by Juarros. Later appeared the pamphlet of Cadena, devoted entirely to a description of the destruction of Guatemala City, and about the same time Escamilla compiled from official sources a list of governors and bishops and of the more important historical events, and gave a special account of the destruction of Guatemala City.
Without the valuable collections of Squier, Pacheco and Cárdenas, Cartas de Indias, Ternaux-Compans, Arévalo, Icazbalceta, and Coleccion de Documentos Inéditos, the result of modern research, the history of this territory from 1531 to 1800 would be meagre indeed. These collections, special notices of nearly all of which I have already given, contain almost numberless official letters and reports, which were either unknown or inaccessible to early writers. Prominent among them all is what has been called the Squier collection, consisting mostly of manuscripts, and which fell to my collection by purchase after the death of Mr Squier. It consists of extracts and copies of letters and reports of audiencias, governors, bishops, and various government officials, taken from the Spanish archives at Madrid and from the library of the Spanish Royal Academy of History, mostly under the direction of the indefatigable collector Mr Buckingham Smith. Many rare and valuable documents relating to Central America, including numerous letters and reports of Las Casas, are also to be found in the voluminous collection of Pacheco and Cárdenas, and, though fewer in number, in that of Ternaux-Compans.
In the absence of any early local chronicler, and by reason of the neglect of those who came later, many of the records have been lost. The only portions of those published are to be found in the collections of Arévalo, which are indispensable to the local history of Guatemala, though evidently not complete, and containing some omissions owing to the apparent illegibility of the originals. The second of these collections, Coleccion de Documentos Antiguos de Guatemala, published in Guatemala in 1857, contains, besides the grants of the coat of arms and privileges to the city of Guatemala, and memorials and reports of the city council from 1537 to 1782, a few letters of Alvarado and Bishop Marroquin, some without date, not found elsewhere.
The work of Remesal, though published in Madrid, was the first one written in Guatemala. In connection with the special history of the Dominican order and a general account of the church, considerable political history is given, though in a desultory manner. This author was the first to make use of the archives of Guatemala, but in the presentation of this original matter much carelessness is shown. Las Casas, the Dominican order, and the natives are his favorite topics, and events are colored accordingly. A century later, deeming his order neglected by Remesal, the Franciscan chronicler Vazquez issued his work. Borrowing much from Remesal and other writers for the earlier epoch, he continued the history of the church down to the end of 737 the seventeenth century, giving also, as that author had done, the political history in a disconnected form. With the same facilities as regards original sources Vazquez makes better use of them than Remesal, but while exposing the errors of his rival he falls into others equally great, displaying a narrow-minded prejudice against the natives, while fanatically defending their oppressors. Remesal and Vazquez are at variance on many points of church history, but on none more than the missionary labors of their respective orders. Each claims for his order the honor of first entering the missionary field in this quarter, but neither makes good his pretensions.
The next work to appear was that of Juarros, which, having absorbed that of Fuentes y Guzman, was the first published of what might be called a history of Guatemala. Notwithstanding his access to original documents, Fuentes y Guzman committed many errors which were unwittingly copied by Juarros. With the aid of subsequent research, however, these errors are readily detected, Juarros still remaining the leading historian of Central America, though owing to the greater importance of Guatemala as the seat of government, the greater portion of the work is taken up with the history of this province. In fact this is the only comprehensive history extant of Guatemala and its adjoining provinces, while the other portions of Central America make scarcely any pretext to the possession of a history. From no other source can the writer obtain connected accounts of their conquest and settlement, description of towns, early resources, and lists of officials and biographies of prominent men. Of the Spanish writers he is also one of the most impartial, even in matters pertaining to the church, though he was one of its ministers. Nevertheless, Juarros is in many respects incomplete. He has failed in a lamentable degree to present anything like the true political, social, and moral condition of the people, or the development of the country during this period; and for the conquest and early colonial epochs there is a manifest lack of study and research. Noting these defects, Pelaez in his Memorias attempted to supply them, and has succeeded in a measure. Arranged in a clear concise form, under their appropriate headings, and with corresponding references, the student will find collected all the evidence presented on the different subjects by nearly all of the earlier and modern authors of note; to which is added the testimony from a large number of original documents overlooked or neglected by his predecessors. But while the history of Guatemala for the latter colonial period is comparatively complete, that of the remaining provinces of Central America, as I have intimated, is but a meagre outline, dependent for the most part on occasional documents. Among the modern authorities composed chiefly of English, French, and German, but a brief historical review is given of this period, a mere compilation from well known works, which serve as an introduction to narratives of travel, or books describing the different provinces and their resources.
A peculiar feature of Central American bibliography is the buccaneer literature, here being the principal scene of the piratical operations of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The total absence of any Spanish work on this subject has left the field open to the English, French, and Dutch, whose accounts of the exploits of their countrymen on the Spanish main are not always impartial. 738
Preceding this class of literature and closely allied to it, owing to the spirit of adventure and the geographical knowledge which it diffused, are the numerous accounts of voyages made for the purposes of trade, exploration, or discovery in this part of the world. Some of these I will here notice; though in truth many of them relate as much to other sections of my work as to Central America, or even more.
Complete as is the Raccolta of Ramusio and like collections, in reproducing the leading voyages up to its time, a large number of minor narratives remained unnoticed, while others stood briefly recorded upon mere hearsay in the writing of others. This deficiency had been observed by Antonio Galvano in earlier collections, and his effort to repair it gave rise to the first comprehensive history of voyages. Born at Lisbon in 1503, Galvano left at the age of twenty-four for the Indies, where he was intrusted with the conquest and government of the Moluccas. Of this he remained in charge for six or seven years, distinguishing himself both as a just and benevolent ruler, and as a zealous proselytizer. His unselfish conduct served only to attract calumny and to reduce him to poverty, so much so that he had to seek refuge in the royal hospital at Lisbon, where he died in 1557. His undoubted talent had been fostered by extensive reading, particularly of narratives of voyages. While so employed he kept notes with a view to form an outline of the progress of navigation and discovery, which should serve as introductory to a collection. During the latter part of his life, while suffering under the ban of royal displeasure, he found ample time to perfect these researches, and at his death a friend, Francisco de Sousa Tavares, was intrusted with the papers. Among these appears to have been a history of the discovery and resources of the Moluccas, a manuscript in ten books, according to Faria, of which Pinelo says: "Por no haverle visto, duda, si permanece." Epitome, ii. 636. De Sousa caused the treatise under consideration to be published at Lisbon in 1563, under the title of Tratado que compōs o nobre e notauel capitão Antonio Galuão de todos os descobrimentos antigos e modernos que são feitos á era de mil e quinhentos e cincoenta, with a dedication to the duke of Aveiro, wherein he records Galvano's many services, and comments on their poor recognition. Mention has been made of a duodecimo edition of 1555, but this must be a mistake, to judge by Sousa's preface to the edition of 1563. Of this only three copies are known to exist, one owned by Mr John Carter Brown, of Providence, from whom the Hakluyt Society obtained a copy, printed as a running foot-note to their reissue of Hakluyt's version, under the editorship of Admiral Bethune. The latter is called The Discoveries of the World from their first originall vnto the yeere 1555, by Antonie Galvano, Londini, 1601, to be found also in the reprint of Hakluyt's Voyages, and in Churchill's Collection, while Purchas gives it in reduced form. The Portuguese copy was reprinted at Lisbon in 1731. Hakluyt explains in the dedication to Sir Robert Cecil that his publication thereof was intended as an introductory to his own work, and was made from an old manuscript translated by an English merchant. In order to modify the "manifold errours" therein, Hakluyt took pains to consult Spanish works for the corrections and additions which are to be noticed in this version. The treatise goes back to 739 the discovery voyages related by Chinese, Greek, and Latin writers, and brings the concise record for every region of the globe, in chronologic order, down to 1550. The East India voyages are partly from his own notes, while other contemporary expeditions are derived from the chroniclers. The pre-Columbian period occupies only a little over one fourth of the text, and shows the want of access to material revealed by subsequent investigations in different countries. The later period is pretty complete for Spanish and Portuguese voyages, considering the tardiness with which occurrences were published. Hakluyt, while regretting that English voyages are "scarce fower times mentioned," admits that at the time "there was little extant of our men's trauailes." Muñoz speaks slightingly of Galvano, saying "compendia infelizmente" what others have done more fully. Whatever its defects, the treatise was certainly a most valuable contribution to the subject, and is still highly important as one of the first essays toward a history of voyages.
Among those who followed Ramusio's example of collecting and publishing narratives of voyages and travels stands pre-eminent Richard Hakluyt, whose work was remarkable not only as the first but as the most valuable in English for the originality and rarity of its narratives, particularly those relating to America. When Hakluyt began his studies Eden's Historie of Travayle, containing translations from Martyr and Oviedo, was the only English book extant on maritime discovery. Nor was much known abroad of English voyages, partly because the traders preferred to keep their own counsel. Hakluyt's perusal of foreign collections, and his private researches, showed him, however, that the English had performed deeds worthy of being recorded, and he was fired with ambition to make them public.
Hakluyt belonged to a good Herefordshire family, settled at Yatton, which had for centuries held a leading position in the county. After passing through Westminster school as a queen's scholar, he was in 1570, at the age of 17, elected to Christ Church college, Oxford, and took the degree of B. A. four years later; that of M. A. being obtained after three years' further study. While yet a boy he had been directed by a cousin to the study of geography and navigation, which henceforth became his favorite pursuit. So well did he use his opportunity at Oxford, where he also mastered several languages for his studies, that he appears to have been appointed lecturer on cosmography. In the dedication to Walsingham of the first edition of his collection he says: "I in my publike lectures was the first that produced and shewed both the olde and imperfectly composed and the new lately reformed mappes, globes," etc. Between 1584 and 1589 he held the post of chaplain to the embassy at Paris, and while there pursued actively his researches, besides publishing narratives of voyages in French and English. In 1590 he obtained a rectory in Suffolk County, on the strength of which he married four years later, and in 1605 he succeeded Dr Webster as prebendary of Westminster abbey. Dying November 23, 1616, he was buried in St Peter's of this abbey, leaving to his son a fair estate which was soon squandered. Although interested in Raleigh's patent for making discoveries, and forming one of the chief adventurers in the company for the colonization of Virginia, he took no other share in maritime projects than to promote them by his writings. His devotion to researches was so great that he once rode two 740 hundred miles to meet the only survivor of Hare's disastrous voyage. He corresponded with Ortelius and Mercator, and received the friendly encouragement of Walsingham, Cecil, Admiral Howard, Drake, and others. His first publication was Divers Voyages touching the Discoverie of America and the Islands adiacent, London, 1582, dedicated to Philip Sydney. Of the original only five copies are supposed to exist, from one of which the Hakluyt Society issued a reprint in 1850, under the editorship of John Winter Jones, of the British Museum, who prefaces it with a valuable review of Hakluyt's life and writings. The several narratives refer to the north-east and north-west passages, the East Indies, and the east coast of North America. A curious map herein of conic projection shows the North American continent extending to about latitude 46°, where the California peninsula connects with a range called Sierra Neuada, running latitudinally. Above 46° all is open ocean, bordered on the east, however, by a strip of land connected with Florida by a narrow isthmus, and extending to Cape Labrador. The northern part of California bears the name Quiviri, the southern (Cape) California, and the central part S. Croce (Santa Cruz). On the mappemonde the Tierra del Fuego forms part of a great antarctic continent. While at Paris, Hakluyt caused to be published in French an account of Florida, from a manuscript found by him, and this was issued the following year, 1587, in English, as A notable historie containing foure voyages unto Florida, both versions dedicated to Raleigh, with an exhortation to prosecute the colonization of Virginia. The same year he published at Paris an improved edition of Martyr's De orbe novo which some years later was translated into English by M. Lock. In 1589 appeared the first instalment of the great work The principall navigations, voiages and discoveries of the English nation made by sea or over land, a folio, dedicated to Sir Francis Walsingham. It is divided into three parts, relating respectively to Asia and Africa, to the north and north-east of Europe and Asia, and to America, including Drake's voyage. Nine years later he published the first volume of a new edition of his collection, followed in 1599 and 1600 by two more volumes, in none of which reference is made to the first issue. They are fine specimens of black-letter type, with marginals and headpieces, but with the prefaced Latin text, headings, and names in roman type and italics. The first volume is dedicated to Lord Howard as a tribute to the patriotic services of the family, and in recognition of the favors received by Hakluyt and his brother; the others to Sir Robert Cecil, secretary of state. They are properly a rearranged enlargement of the first issue, volume i. containing voyages toward the north and north-east of England; volume ii. to the Mediterranean and Africa; and volume iii. to America, including several voyages by foreigners to parts not visited by the English. The narratives are generally in the language of the narrator, and in the first two volumes their order is chronologic; but in the American section they are grouped under different geographic headings. This opens with the dubious voyage of Madoc in 1170, and continues with expeditions to the extreme northern parts of the continent, chiefly with reference to the north-west passage. The region between Canada and Florida comes next, followed by explorations toward New Mexico and California, and in Mexico; then the Antilles and Central America, succeeded by a series of groups 741 for South America, the whole concluding with circumnavigations and voyages directed to the South Sea. In the dedication to the third volume Hakluyt says: "Now because long since I did foresee, that my profession of diuinitie, the care of my family, and other occasions might call and diuert me from these kinde of endeauors, I have for these 3 yeeres last past encouraged and furthered in these studies of Cosmographic and forren histories, my very honest, industrious, and learned friend Mr Iohn Pory." Profiting by this training, Pory in 1600 issued a translation of Leo's History of Africa. Others were similarly directed to geographical research, among them Parke who issued a translation of a history of China, and Erondelle who published a part of Lescarbot's Histoire de la Nouvelle France. Hakluyt himself continued to devote to his favorite subject the little leisure remaining, and left enough manuscript to have added a fourth volume to his collection; but coming into Purchas' hands they were abridged for his Pilgrimes. Some of them were evidently prepared for the guidance of the East India Company, which had not failed to consult the renowned cosmographer, without whose advice few maritime enterprises were then undertaken. In 1601 he issued a translation of Galvano's Discoveries of the World, and in 1609 his last book, a translation of Soto's Discoveries in Florida, with the main object of encouraging the Virginia colony. Virginia is greatly indebted to Hakluyt, and the maritime enterprise of England in general was much promoted by his personal application and writings. Robertson adds that to him "England is more indebted for its American possessions than to any man of that age." A reprint of all Hakluyt's works was issued in five volumes quarto in 1809-12, by R. Evans, only 325 copies being printed. The fifth volume, issued in a larger edition, is entitled A Selection of Curious, Rare, and Early Voyages, and Histories of Interesting Discoveries, Chiefly Published by Hakluyt, but not included in his Compilation; London, 1812, 807 pp., and is really a supplement to Hakluyt and Purchas, offering reprints of documents touching different parts of the globe, as Galvano's Discoveries, The Historie of the West Indies by Martyr, from Lock's translation of Hakluyt's version, and several others, chiefly relating to Asia. Hakluyt's works stand an enduring monument to well earned fame, and his spirit, after influencing contemporary enterprise, continued to animate the nation, and to assume embodiment in the Hakluyt Society, which has for its aim to continue the labors that have done so much for literature and science.
Among foreign writers influenced by Hakluyt's exhortation and example may be mentioned Theodore De Bry, the engraver of Frankfort. The opportunity afforded him in his profession to become acquainted with and to collect works relating to voyages and conquests, had not failed to awaken an interest for the subject. But a visit to Hakluyt, then engaged upon his collection, gave a decided impulse to his ideas, and being a man of enterprise he forthwith engaged editors, and in 1590 began publishing, simultaneously in Latin, German, and French, the famous Collection des Grands et Petits Voyages, referring respectively to the new and old worlds, the larger size of the volumes for America giving rise to the title. Under the supervision of his sons and other members of the family, the collection was continued after his death, in 1598, till completed in its fortieth year. The numerous reprints of volumes 742 and sets during this interval, with more or less changes, have given no little trouble to collectors in search of the complete issue. Formed without critique, it is remarkable rather as a convenient set and as a bibliographic curiosity, wherein the engravings constitute the main attraction, then for geographic value, since most of the narratives had already been published in better form, and have been reproduced in later works.
De Bry's set proved a fertile source in text and engravings for compilers, and among them Gaspar L. Ens, the author of several individual European travels, and one of the editors employed by De Bry, who issued the Indiæ Occidentalis Historia, Coloniæ, 1612. On the same plan as Ens', but on a larger scale, and partly based upon it, is the Newe Welt Vnd Americanische Historien, Franckfurt, 1631, reprinted 1655, folio. The author, Johann Ludwig Gottfriedt, whose proper name appears to be Jean Philippe Abelin, was also an editor of De Bry, and wrote several works, one of them being the "Archontologia Cosmica, que es Farrago de diversos Autores, sin distinguir lo cierto de lo dudoso." Pinelo, Epitome, tom. iii. pp. 1288. It is also called a translation of D'Avity's Les etats. Gottfriedt naturally sets up a claim for his Newe Welt to be compiled from leading writers, without referring to De Bry, who no doubt supplied the material for the text as well as the plates. De Bry, says Brunet, Manuel, tom. ii. p. 1674, "a abrégé des douze premières parties de la collection." The plates, which are perhaps the most interesting part of the volume, have been selected chiefly from the nude and the curious, such as Indians driving whales, playing with mermaids, or hunting semi-human beasts. The arrangement of the text shows no improvement upon Ens, but the third section differs in being more of a supplement to both the preceding parts.
Hakluyt's unpublished papers, failing to attain their destined object, accomplished a wider result by giving rise to the larger collection of Samuel Purchas; for it was their possession that gave impulse to a work so much needed, both to fill the gaps of the former and to narrate the numerous expeditions which had taken place since its date. The precursor of the work was Pvrchas his Pilgrimage, or Relations of the World and the Religions observed in all Ages and Places, London, 1613, dedicated to the archbishop of Canterbury. It was reprinted in 1614, and soon reached several editions, the fourth, 1626, being dedicated to King Charles, who had deigned to inquire for it, and whose royal father had read it seven times, as the author proudly announces. This object of kingly delight claims to be a compilation from over thirteen hundred authors, which are decidedly well represented in the numerous marginals, and gives a review in nine books of the social condition and the institutions of the nations in Asia, Africa, and America, particularly the religious feature, with some reference to political history. Beginning with the Mosaic creation it takes up the nations of south-east Asia, of the East Indies and China, and reaches Africa in the sixth book. The last two are devoted to the New World, whose physical and natural features receive two chapters, followed by the general description of the region above Florida in five chapters, while the eighth is given to the country west of this, and the next six to New Spain. The fifteen chapters of book nine cover South America and the Antilles, the last being an attack on Spanish cruelty and maleconversion. Three 743 parts similar to this volume were promised, the second to relate to Europe, and the others to continue the subject for the four divisions of the world; but the necessary aid was withheld, as Purchas hints in an address to the Pilgrimes, and wherein he attempts a pun upon his name by intimating that Europe cannot now be purchased. The project had evidently to yield to others, as Microcosmus, or the History of Man, 1619, and to the great collection which soon engrossed his whole attention. Purchas was like Hakluyt a preacher, but of the rival university of Cambridge, trained at St John College, as he states in the dedicatory to volume iii. He attained the degree of bachelor of divinity, conferred also by Oxford in 1615. In 1604 he assumed charge of a vicarage in his native county of Essex, but was soon called by his literary researches to London, where he fell into difficulties, and had recourse to lecturing and to friends. Finally Bishop King came to his aid with means to prosecute the publication of his work, and by conferring upon him the rectory of St Martins. Purchas expresses his gratitude for these favors in the opening address to volume i., wherein he speaks of "my decessed Patron Doctor King, ... to whose bountie vnder God, I willingly ascribe my life, deliuered from a sickly Habitation, and consequently (as also by opportunities of a London Benefice) whatsoeuer additions in my later Editions of my Pilgrimage; these present Pilgrimes also." In the dedication of the Pilgrimage to the archbishop, he signs himself his chaplain, which may be a figurative expression. He is generally supposed to have died in poverty, and even in prison; but the title-page portrait of 1625, at the age of forty-eight, presents him as a sleek, contented-looking preacher, with a full though not large beard; and the several editions of the Pilgrimage would indicate that he had prospered up to that time at least. According to Wood he died in his own house about 1628. In 1625 appeared Haklvytvs Posthumus or Pvrchas his Pilgrimes. Contayning a History of the World, in Sea voyages & lande-Trauells. Imprinted at London for Henry Fetherston. In four parts or volumes, folio, each dedicated to a different personage. The first title-page is filled with emblematic designs, and portraits of princes and great men, among them Purchas, at the foot, between two hemispheres, with his anagram of "Pars sva Celvm." The other title-pages are all headed Pvrchas his Pilgrimes, and this quaint name the author sustains to some extent by opening the dedication to Prince Charles with: "May a poore Pilgrime salute Your Highnesse in the words of a better Samvel." Directly afterward, however, he assumes another higher role in "hauing out of a Chaos of confused intelligences framed this Historicall World, by a New way of Eye-evidence;" and then he begins to lose himself in an attempt at magniloquent phraseology, with no great promise for his power to bring order out of chaos. Later he declares himself a mere laborer "howsoeuer here a Masterbuilder also," doing everything with his own hands, except where aided by his son. The manuscripts left by Hakluyt, although forming a very small proportion of the book, "encouraged me to vse my endeuours in and for the rest," he gratefully observes. The printing of the work began in 1621, although not with volume i. The first of the twenty books into which the set is divided, treats of ancient navigation, progress of discovery, and religious phases. The second begins with Portuguese and Columbian voyages, and continues with circumnavigations, 744 after which come the regular narratives of voyages, chiefly by Englishmen, interspersed with extracts from notable journals and histories, with a view to cover subjects and periods not otherwise disposed of. Volumes i. and ii. relate almost wholly to Asia, Africa, and the Levant, and also the next two books, while books iii. and iv., following, deal partly with north-west voyages, beginning with Zeno. Book v. gives extracts from Herrera, Oviedo, Acosta, and Cortés, which chiefly concerns Mexico, and a part of vi. touches the Isthmus, but the main portion of this and the next book are occupied with South America. Book viii. is divided between Mexico and the country northward to Virginia, which latter takes up the whole of ix. The last book is shared among New England, Newfoundland, and the English expeditions against Spain. Altogether the arrangement is as confusing as the text, and in both respects far inferior to Hakluyt's; nor is the work as complete as might have been expected. In the attempt to introduce foreign narratives the limits of space were overstepped, to the prejudice of other accounts, which were often injudiciously condensed. Pinkerton remarks, somewhat too severely, I think, that Purchas directed his utmost attention to "selecting the most useless parts of the unhappy authors." Col. Voy., vol. i. p. iv.
Purchas' labors found recognition abroad in the well known Relation de divers voyages, Paris, 1663-96, 5 parts, by Melchisedech Thévenot, formed mainly with a view to reproduce the best portions of Hakluyt and his successor, while adding some unpublished narratives. Thévenot appears to have been particularly well fitted for such undertakings. A savant, and somewhat of a diplomatist, he was for eight years in charge of the Royal Library at Paris, dying at his post in 1692, at the age of 71. The selection of his material gives evidence of good judgment; yet the arrangement and other points may be questioned.
Another reproduction, and a continuation of the two great English collections, was offered some years later by John Harris, Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca: or, a Compleat Collection of Voyages and Travels; London, 1705, 2 vols, folio, with copper-plates and maps. One of its chief aims being to repair the many omissions that had become apparent in the original works, the first volume is devoted to the same period as Purchas' collection, while introducing a number of additional voyages. Its five books refer respectively to circumnavigation, to Asia, to Africa, to the north and north-east parts of the globe, and to America, the latter embracing one third more narratives than Purchas. The mappemonde places the strait of Anian above the island of California, but on the American map this is not marked. The second volume, relating to voyages and travels after this time, chiefly by Englishmen, is less distinct and careful in its arrangement. Books i. and ii. cover Russia, Asia, and the Levant; book iii., Europe; and book iv., America. The latter includes only the buccaneer expeditions, Dampier's voyage, and explorations in the Mississippi and Canada regions. A varied appendix concludes the volume. According to Green, of the Astley collection, John Harris, who is styled an A. M., and Fellow of the Royal Society, had little or nothing to do with the work besides writing the introductory on the origin and emigration of races, and on the progress of navigation. Four 745 hundred authors are claimed to have been included in the text, in abridged or compiled form. Rich, Bib. Amer., vol. i. 9, remarks that "it appears to have been got up in competition with Churchill's Collection;" but it is much more general in its scope. Of undoubted value it was reissued in 1743-4, with numerous corrections and additions, and reprinted in 1764.
A book typical of its nationality is Leeven en Daaden Der Doorluchtigste Zee-Helden, Amsterdam, 1676, by Lambert van der Bos or Bosch, wherein are given the biographies of naval heroes from Zeno down, but of course with particular prominence to those of Holland, and foremost among them Admiral Ruyter, to whose son the dedication is addressed. While entering into the biography and political events connected with their lives the object is mainly to describe naval expeditions and encounters in various zones, and to this end tend also the plates. Columbus, Vespucci, Drake, Cavendish, and some of the searchers for the north-west passage are those touching my field who have been accorded a comparatively small space. Despite the laudable object of the book, to place before the people their chief glories, the author feels it necessary to bring forward the now well worn excuse that to the solicitation of persons interested in the subject was due the publishing of what his own inclination had led him to prepare. The German translation of Nürnberg, 1681, is an abnormally stout little volume, with an appendix by Erasmus.
Naaukeurige versameling der gedenkwaardigste Reysen naar Oost en West-Indien, Leyden, 1706-7, is a black-letter book of 30 volumes 12mo, issued by Pieter vander Aa, and embracing voyages to all parts of the globe from 1246 to 1693. Interspersed are compilations of minor expeditions, and of political affairs, apparently with a view to cover some of the many chronologic and geographic gaps in the regular series of narratives, and to form a complete historic review; but this effort is merely spasmodic and serves rather to expose the haste of the editor in not consulting more authorities, or in doing so carelessly. In addition to the incompleteness must be noted the lack of order in chapters as well as divisions, distinct and disconnected narratives being not unfrequently jumbled under inappropriate headings. The matter relating to America is, in accordance with the original though neglected plan, scattered throughout the set, in fair proportion for the earlier periods at least. This applies particularly to the northern Spanish colonies, for which the period from Columbus to Cortés is pretty fully told, chiefly from Herrera. Acosta and Marquette are given in abbreviated form. After 1526 this region receives little notice beyond the relation of a few voyages from Purchas, such as Ulloa, Chilton, Drake, and Cavendish, the latest date being 1595. The numerous copper-plates and maps are an attractive feature as may be judged from the fact that De Bry had been largely borrowed from. His text has also been used to some extent, Meusel, Bib. Hist., tom. ii. pt. i. 336, going so far as to say that all belongs to De Bry; but this is an exaggeration, for most of the text can readily be traced to Herrera, Hakluyt, De Barros, and others. A revised edition of this work was published in 1727 as De Aanmerkenswaardigste en Alomberoemde Zee- and Landreizen, folio, 8 volumes bound in 4. The same black-letter type and plates are preserved, but the arrangement differs, each set being in chronological order, and each narrative in a separately paged section. The first two volumes relate to 746 Portuguese voyages toward the East India region; the next two to Spanish voyages up to 1540, to both hemispheres though chiefly to America; the two following to similar English voyages, till 1696; and the last two volumes to those of other nations, and to narratives supplementary to the preceding. The Portuguese division is chiefly made up from De Barros and De Couto, and the following Spanish from Herrera. Volume iii., bearing on the title-page the portraits of Columbus, Vespucci, Magellan, and Ponce de Leon, opens with the voyages of the great admiral, and continues with expeditions and events in Tierra Firme, the Antilles, Nicaragua, and Florida, concluding with Grijalva's discovery of New Spain. The next volume is almost wholly devoted to Cortés, and events in connection with his conquest and rule, alternating with sections on contemporary expeditions under Magellan, Narvaez, Godoy, Loaisa, and Cabot. In the following set, obtained chiefly from Hakluyt, Frobisher's voyages are the first to touch America, followed by Drake's and other circumnavigations and the settlement of the English American colonies. In volumes vii. and viii. we find Verrazano, Pizarro, and Soto, Dutch and French expeditions to South and North America, including P. Marquette, and extracts from Benzoni and Acosta. On the title-page Vander Aa chooses to announce that the collection is based on the German works of I. L. Gottfried, but largely augmented with material from his originals and from later authorities. This affectation can be regarded only as an advertisement.
A Collection of Voyages and Travels, Some now First Printed from Original Manuscripts, others Now First Published in English, is generally known by the name of Churchill, the publisher, who, in connection with Awnsham, issued the first edition in 1704, in four volumes. In 1733 it was increased by two volumes, and the reprint of 1744-7 by two more of the so-called Harleian Collection, culled from the Oxford Library, and printed by Thomas Osborne. The whole eight were reissued in 1752, and also used by foreign publishers, the introductory discourse by Caleb Locke, on the progress of navigation, being translated into French to form, with additions, two duodecimo volumes known as Histoire de la Navigation, Paris, 1722. Although neither so universal in its scope as Hakluyt's or Harris', nor so well translated and arranged, yet it stands as one of the most valuable of collections from its many rare narratives, such as the life of Columbus by his son, in vol. ii.; Gemelli Carreri's much questioned yet interesting voyage, vol. iv.; an account of the Mosquito kingdom, vol. vi., and Castell's description of America, in the Harleian Collection. A number of other pieces refer to America, as Monson's tracts, and Ovalle's history of Chile, but they do not touch my field.
The most famous collection of voyages published in the eighteenth century is the Histoire Générale des Voyages, Paris, 1746, etc., 20 vols, 4to, edited by Abbé Antoine François Prévost d'Exiles. Provost was one of those bright bubbling geniuses whose life and writings have assisted in making the capital of La Belle France also the capital of the literary and fashionable world. In the role of a dashing young officer, he had at an early age sipped of all frivolities in that gay city, till a misdirected Cupidian barb caused him in 1719, at the age of twenty-two, to exchange the glittering uniform for the simple garb of a Benedictine. His success as a preacher again drew him into 747 the whirl of society, and, tiring of the vows that held him bound, he cast aside the robe and retired to Holland in 1729. Already famous as a writer, he entered with ardor upon the career for which he saw himself destined, producing a number of romances, histories, biographies, and periodical works. The protection of Prince de Conti, whose almoner he became, enabled him to return to France and to obtain the robe of a secular ecclesiastic. In November 1763, while in the height of his fame, he was seized with an apoplectic fit, and, regarded as dead, the scalpel of an unskilful hand cut off the life that was just returning. The most important of his many works is the Histoire des Voyages, which might indeed be pronounced of English origin. In 1745 Astley, the London publisher, began issuing with great flourish the weekly numbers of A New General Collection of Voyages and Travels, edited by I. Green. Planned on a large scale, it was intended to supersede all other collections as a standard work. Every country was to be represented, and every first and leading voyage to any region was to be narrated in extenso. To avoid useless and uninteresting repetition, later and minor expeditions were to be used merely for extracts and notes, as a complement to those preceding. It was also proposed to form a compiled description of the several countries. Hakluyt and his successors were to be overhauled, and their mutilations and omissions repaired, while later narratives would be supplemented with a proportion of foreign voyages. The government was besought to grant aid to so valuable a work, but failed to comply; and the cost proving too great, the collection stopped in 1747 with the fourth volume, after covering nearly half of the proposed field by its Asiatic and African narratives. The only voyages relating to America are those by Captain Roberts, and I. Atkins, in 1721, extending from Bermuda to Brazil.
No sooner had Green's first volume appeared than the French publisher, Didot, resolved to be the means of giving France the benefit of so great a project, and Abbé Prévost's skill as an English translator being well known it was arranged that he should be the editor. Prévost did not follow the English edition implicitly, but made several alterations in text as well as arrangement, some of which were severely condemned, and corrected in a supplementary volume. He also gave perhaps too much play to the style of writing so much admired in his romances. With his seventh volume the English set was exhausted, and Prévost now continued the collection independently, introducing, with the aid of French libraries and foreign ministers, more foreign narratives than had been done by the English editor. He also improved the order by allowing several travellers to the same region to succeed one another, so as to form a continuous account. The conclusion of the set, so far as he and Didot are concerned, came with the sixteenth volume, containing the index. Soon after a seventeenth volume was added, with further matter and corrections, chiefly from the Dutch edition. Among the medley of narratives in volume xi., forming the sequel to Old World voyages, is Gemelli Carreri's journey round the world, which touches also New Spain. The New World division, covering volumes xii. to xv., begins with Columbus' voyages, and contemporary and immediately succeeding events in and round the Isthmus region, followed by the conquest of Mexico, together with a compiled description of its social and political condition under native and 748 Spanish rule. After this comes Charlevoix' history of New France at disproportionate length, succeeded by narratives on the conquest and condition of the South American countries. The region from Florida northward is treated in a similar series, followed by north-west voyages, including those made by Spaniards on the Pacific side, particularly under Aguilar and Fonte. A description of the Antilles concludes the division, though several additional pieces are given in the supplementary volume on Vespucci, Pizarro, and Spanish South Sea voyages. This partial review shows that faults have been committed both in the arrangement and in the selection of material, due partly to haste, with a consequent confusion and repetition, and a carelessness of facts, which greatly impair the value of the work. The uniformity of style for the varying subjects and the dissertations on trifles are also to be objected to. After Didot's death the collection passed into the hands of Rozet, who caused three volumes to be added by Querlon and de Leyre. They are the best edited part of the set, according to La Harpe, and form a continuation of the voyages to the north begun in vol. xv., with a full description of the northern regions in the three parts of the world. The fine engravings, after Cochin, have aided greatly to make the first edition in quarto esteemed above others, and to make the fortune of the publishers. Two reprints, one of eighty volumes duodecimo, were issued while the publication was still progressing. The Dutch version of Hague, 1747-80, in 25 vols, 4to, begun from the English, but continued from Prévost, contains the portions omitted by Prévost in his early volumes, and several additional narratives, chiefly on the Dutch Asiatic possessions. A German translation in 21 vols 4to was issued at Leipzig in 1747-74 by Arkstee and Merkus. The editors, Kästner and Schwaben, begin with a round of abuse on Prévost's faulty production, and announce that they will follow the English original, while copying the superior French engravings. With the stoppage of Green's labors, they suddenly discover Prévost's superiority, but in adopting him as their guide for the remainder, they maintain their former division of chapters and sub-headings. The last three volumes cover Rozet's additions.
The plan of a general history of voyages outlined by Green had been projected already by the academician Du Perier de Montfraisier in his Histoire Universelle des Voyages faits par Mer & par Terre dans l'ancien & dans le nouveau Monde, Paris, 1707, wrongly ascribed to Abbé Bellegarde. Although dedicated to the duke of Burgundy, the king's father, the patronage failed to give it popularity, and the first duodecimo volume proved also the last. Beginning with an introductory on the development of navigation, he opens the narrative with Columbus and closes it with Cortés, giving in addition to the intermediate voyages, a general description of resources and nations of tropic America. The whole is brief and superficial, with particular attention to the marvellous, as indicated also by the engravings. The English hastened to give their approval by issuing a translation, but only to be superseded like Prévost's collection. If this work had anything to do with promoting Green's plan, it may be said not altogether to have failed in its aim.
The size and cost of Prévost's popular work induced the well known litterateur and academician La Harpe to issue an Abrégé de l'Histoire Générale des Voyages, Paris, 1780-1801, 32 vols, 8vo, the last eleven by Comeyras. La Harpe 749 was moved to this also by the numerous faults of the original, in prolixity, dryness, and confusion, as he takes pains to explain. His plan, while taking Prévost as a base, was to give a clear, attractive review of voyages in all that is of interest to the majority of readers, eliminating matter not to the point, as navigation notes, accounts covered by preceding narratives, and superfluous details on physical and other features. This plan is carried out by dividing the set into four parts, on Africa, Asia, America, and circumnavigations, arranged chronologically, and interspersed or prefaced with reviews of natural geography, and by giving prominence to adventures, social features, and whatsoever may prove attractive to the ordinary reader, even at the risk of tampering with credulity. It is to be regretted that La Harpe should have confined himself so much to a collection declared incomplete and inexact, instead of expending a little more time and trouble to provide a work of greater value. As it is he achieved his declared object, a series of sprightly narratives, full of striking incidents and graphic details, traits to which Irving among others have paid the tribute of a borrower. The part by Comeyras exhibits far less skill. To this edition has been added twelve volumes of a Histoire des Voyages en Europe poorly prepared. La Harpe's set passed through several editions, one of 1816 being in 24 vols, 8vo. The similar set of 1820 was revised by Eyriès, and subsequently enlarged to 30 volumes. Eyriès in 1822-24 issued a continuation under the title of Abrégé des Voyages Modernes depuis 1780, 14 volumes, 8vo.
About this time C. A. Walckenaer, the well known writer on Africa, arranged with publisher Lefèvre to prepare the Histoire Générale des Voyages, ou Nouvelle Collection de Relations des Voyages, Paris, 1826-31, which according to the prospectus was to excel Prévost's in completeness and reliability, and to comprise not over sixty volumes. But so badly did Walckenaer manage his material that twenty-one octavo volumes had been printed long before the first division of African voyages had been exhausted, and the publisher thereupon abandoned the work.
Among less noted collections is Recueil de divers Voyages faits en Afrique et en l'Amérique, Paris, 1674, 4to, which presents a few select pieces, such as the history of Barbadoes Islands; de la Borde's account of Carib customs and mission work; and a description of the Antilles, besides African narratives.
Recueil de Voiages au Nord, Amsterdam, 1715-27, 9 vols, 12mo, is a collection of entire and abridged narratives of voyages to northern countries, including searches for the north-east and north-west passages, and with the main object of displaying the resources of those regions, with the routes of approach, so as to promote trade. This laudable purpose is indicated by the dedication in which Bernard, the bookseller, places the work under the patronage of the emperor of Russia. The earlier volumes contain a number of valuable pieces on America, extending as far south as Louisiana and the gulf of California, among them the memoirs of De Lisle and Piccolo on Lower California. The later volumes are confined to Asia and Europe, embracing respectively Corea and the Scandinavian peninsula. The arrangement is not quite satisfactory; but this was improved somewhat in a later edition, increased to ten volumes. In one of the division prefaces the editor enters a protest against the predilection shown by travellers for describing the marvellous, 750 and against the prevalent bigotry and prejudice. Some able observations are also made on the character of the narrative to follow, which are quite refreshing in face of the inane remarks to be found in the introductions of this period.
Within the brief compass of three duodecimo volumes entitled A New Universal Collection of Voyages and Travels, London, 1755, an effort is made to present a synopsis of all celebrated voyages to different parts of the world; but the result is a rather unequal medley of individual narratives and compiled reviews, chiefly relating to Englishmen. America is more or less referred to in the series of circumnavigations covered by the first volume. In the second is given the history of trade with the East India region, followed by the discovery and settlement of American countries, New Spain being described in chapter vii. The last volume relates almost wholly to Europe. The mappemonde outlines California as an island.
Of wider scope is The World Displayed; or, A Curious Collection of Voyages and Travels, London, 1760-1, 20 vols, 16mo, which devotes the first seven volumes to America and to circumnavigation, leaving the remainder to the other three continents. The material has been selected apparently from one of the larger collections, with no attempt at critical investigation or completeness, but mainly for its interesting features. In the first volume are given the voyages of Columbus and contemporary events, and in the second, the expeditions of Cortés. In the appended map of North America "the supposed Str. of Annian" is still retained in about 42° lat. Volume iii. opens with the conquest of Panamá and passes into South America, while iv. and v. relate to English and French discoveries, including Drake's voyage. Dampier and Rogers share volume vi., leaving the whole of volume vii. to Anson's circumnavigation.
A Curious Collection of Travels, London, 1761, 8 vols, 16mo, maps and illustrations, treats of the different parts of the world, partly in the form of voyages, partly in historical reviews of countries, including discovery, explorations, and settlement. Of the three volumes devoted to America, iv. and v. relate to English, Dutch, and French colonies, and vi. to the Spanish and Portuguese.
Disgusted with bulky collections and their profuse 'rubbish' on winds, currents, and log-book records, the editor of A Compendium of Authentic and Entertaining Voyages, London, 1766, 7 vols. 12mo, resolves to present only the useful and attractive, and further to carry on the narratives, beginning with Columbus, in a chronologic order, so as to give his readers the annals of navigation. The authorities consulted are probably one of the larger collections, from which are culled the interesting voyages. Thus volume i., the only one referring to my field, presents simply those of Columbus, Cortés, Gama, and Cabral.
Another refuge from verbose and credulous collections is thrust before the public in A New Collection of Voyages, Discoveries, and Travels, London, 1767, 7 vols, 8vo, with maps and engravings, wherein the editor promises to show none of the bad judgment and neglect to be found in other compilations destined only for the vulgar. Whatever improvements may have been introduced they are more than counterbalanced by incompleteness, and want of 751 proportion. Of the three volumes on America for instance, vol. i. refers chiefly to Columbus and Cortés, with minor accounts of Pizarro and Ulloa, and the regions touched by them. Volume ii. contains extracts from Wafer, and descriptions of British and Portuguese colonies, while iii. covers the circumnavigations of Drake, Dampier, Rogers, and, chiefly, Anson; iv. v. and vii. concern Europe, the last treating of England's navy and constitution, and in vi. are collected odd travels in Asia, Egypt, and the Levant.
A New Universal Collection of Authentic and Entertaining Voyages and Travels, by Edward Cavendish Drake, London, 1771, folio, with cuts, consists of a number of abridged narratives, each forming a division by itself, with special chapters, but without a defined arrangement. The aim, while seeking to embrace all regions of the globe, is to please the ordinary reader by exciting and curious accounts, including stories of semi-human beasts, as shown by the illustrations, engraved by Grignon. America, which covers fully one third of the text, is on the mappemonde projected into two branches, the northward one connected with Greenland, and the other with a land made to extend over all the pole. Beginning with Columbus the editor takes up the circumnavigators to Anson, and then returns to the conquest of the Isthmus, Mexico, and Peru. After this come the Portuguese conquest, the English settlements, Wafer's adventures in Darien, and the north-west and north-east searches. The rest concerns the three old continents.
New Voyages and Travels; Consisting of Originals, Translations, and Abridgments, 9 vols, 8vo, explain their appearance very correctly, and the need of a periodical publication of recent voyages, to which they are confined. Each original, or set of compiled narratives, forms a separately paged part, but follows no order, the object being to give in each volume pieces relating to several parts of the world, and America is accordingly represented in every one. Kotzebue and Roquefeuil's voyages, in vi. and ix. respectively, are the only ones relating to my field.
The World; or the Present State of the Universe. Being a General and Complete Collection of Modern Voyages and Travels, by Cavendish Pelham, London, 1808-10, 2 vols, 4to, has in view not only to present the most recent narratives, in abridged form, but to give a modern account of every country, in a geographic, politic, and social aspect. Beginning with a lengthy relation of La Pérouse's voyage and the search for him, the editor continues with a tour in Kamchatka, and with Portlock and Dixon's voyage, followed by a medley of narratives on Africa, Asia, and particularly Europe. Toward the end is given an outline of physical and political geography, whereof America receives seven pages; and last comes a sketch of the leading voyages not already given.
An appropriate subdivision of voyages is presented in An Historical Account of all the Voyages round the World, performed by English Navigators. London, 1773-4, 4 vols, 8vo, maps and engravings. Volume i. contains Drake, Cavendish, and Dampier, with briefer references to Cowley and Roggewein, while Cook's voyages occupy not only the greater part of iii., but part of iv., and the whole of a fifth and sixth volume added in 1775 and 1781 by David Henry, the editor of the first two.
Berenger, Collection de tous les Voyages faits autour du Monde, Paris, 1788-9, 752 9 vols, embraces circumnavigations by all nations, but shows itself even more disproportionate in its arrangement than Henry's. Magellan's all-important voyage is so hastily disposed of as to create a belief that the work was never based upon a plan; nor have any prefatory remarks been given to assist the wondering reader. Drake and Cavendish are not shown much more favor, while the doubtful voyage of Carreri occupies the whole of ii., and Cook's three voyages fill the last three volumes.
An Historical Account of the Circumnavigation of the Globe, and of the Progress of Discovery in the Pacific Ocean, from Magellan to Cook, Edinburgh, 1837, 12mo, has for its chief aim the relation of Cook's voyages, to which half the volume is devoted. It is claimed that several original papers and points were obtained from the family of the great navigator for the perfection of the narrative. The book opens with a brief review of the progress of navigation till the discovery of the South Sea by Balboa, and then begins the narrative proper with Magellan's voyage, and with voyages that have assisted in opening the Pacific Ocean. The freely sprinkled foot-notes indicate that, although the work is small, considerable care has been bestowed upon it. A continuation was issued under the title of Voyages round the World from the Death of Captain Cook to the Present Time, Edinburgh, 1843, which gives even greater attention to scientific features and to generalizations, than to details of voyages; yet a sufficient number of curious and exciting incidents are introduced to attract the ordinary reader.
The preceding work on circumnavigations shows the value of a subdivision of the collections and histories of voyages, wherein the attempt to embrace too much naturally leads to superficiality, to a neglect of important points, and wherein the arrangement forbids a comprehensive view of particular sections. A subdivision affords better opportunity for the proper study of special subjects and regions in connection with history and sciences. Such works as Recueil de Voiages an Nord are convenient for this purpose, to be used by scholars for the preparation of more complete and critical works, as Forster, Geschichte der Entdeckungen und Schiffahrten im Norden, Francfurt, 1785, translated into English in 1786, and into French in 1789. The latter opens with a review in books i. and ii. of the beginning of discovery voyages among the ancients, and their progress during the middle ages, particularly under the Italians, among them the brothers Zeno. In book iii. follows at greater length the history of voyages to northern regions in modern times, each nation engaged receiving a chronologically arranged chapter. Most of the voyages are of course directed to the search for a north-east or north-west passage, but they also include those that have merely been directed northward, as Ulloa's and Alarcon's in 1539 and 1540, which did not pass beyond Lower California. The latter occur in the Spanish chapter, embracing the several American voyages from Gomez in 1524 to Bodega in 1775, and including Fuca's and Fuente's. The voyages close with the Russian entry into Alaska. Like most German works of research it has received careful study, and forms an authority for its field. John Reinhold Forster was one whose talents and investigations had met with the recognition of membership in several learned societies. He had made the geography of the north his particular study, and had accompanied Cook round the world, in 1772-75, as 753 a naturalist, and with a view to prepare a philosophic history of the voyage. He also wrote Observations Made during a Voyage round the World, London, 1778, 4to, dedicated to the Royal Society of London, and relating to geography, ethnology, and ethics. The journal kept by him during this voyage, together with the reports to the government and to societies, was elaborated by his son and voyage companion into the Reise um die Welt, a work to which Humboldt gratefully ascribes the first impulse to his love for nature. Besides several books on Egypt and Africa, Forster issued the Magazin von Reisebeschreibungen, Berlin, 1790-1802, 24 vols, which is not prepared with the care due to his fame.
A Chronological History of the Discoveries in the South Sea, by James Burney, London, 1803-17, 5 vols, 4to, owes its existence, like several of Forster's works, to companionship with Cook. The later Admiral Burney sailed as lieutenant with the great navigator during the last two voyages, and having made geographic discoveries a particular study, his attention was naturally directed to the Pacific. Stimulated by Forster's example, he determined to write a history of voyages to cover this field, a project which received the encouragement of Sir Joseph Banks, who opened his library and lent his influence, receiving in return the grateful dedication of the work. After some preliminary remarks on attempts between 1492 and 1517 to find a passage to the South Sea, the chronologic account of voyages therein is begun with Magellan's. Amongst the earliest cruises are those in search of a route to the Philippines, and of a passage to the Atlantic, north of Mexico, both bearing good fruit in the extension of geographic knowledge. With Drake is resumed the lengthy series of circumnavigations to which the second volume is chiefly devoted, interspersed with minor expeditions, and with cautious reviews of the doubtful narratives of Maldonado and Fuca. Volume iii. gives considerable attention to the Asiatic coast, and to the unfolding of the Australian group, and the following is swelled with a full history of the buccaneers, which concerns chiefly the Antilles; but after this Pacific voyages are resumed with Dampier, Shelvocke, Roggewein, Anson, and minor local expeditions until about 1766, when their increasing number called for a different treatment, and they were therefore left for another pen. The whole forms an able digest, not only of maritime expeditions, but of the progress and condition of settlements along the coast. The author is not perhaps so consistent with his plan of thoroughness and comprehensiveness as the very sensible preface leads us to expect, nor is the lengthy account of the Antilles quite relevant to the subject when so much matter to the point might have been included. These objections are more than balanced, however, by an evident research, and a study of the material, manifest also in the sound comments and conclusions. As supplementary works may be regarded A Chronological History of North-Eastern Voyages of Discovery; London, 1819; A Memoir on the Geography of the North-eastern Part of Asia, London, 1818; A Memoir of the Voyage of d'Entrecasteaux, London, 1820. The continuation of the work is supplied by Hawkesworth's collection, Bougainville's voyage, and later publications.
It will be seen that a portion of the Chronologic History had already been covered by Forster's volume, for the north, while the southern region had 754 found an exponent in De Brosses, Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes, translated into English with additions. This work was rather a hasty preparation, having for its object chiefly to demonstrate the advantages of the South Pacific for colonies; so that there was ample room for An Historical Collection of the several Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean, by Alexander Dalrymple, London, 1770-1, 2 vols, 4to, which treats of Spanish and Dutch voyages between South America and Papua. A French translation appeared at Paris in 1774 by Fréville, who the same year issued in his Hydrographique what may be regarded as a continuation.
Le Voyageur François, ou la Connoissance de l'Ancien et du Nouveau Monde, Mis au jour par M. l'Abbé Delaporte, Paris, 1767-72, 42 vols, 12mo, presents an historical and descriptive account of the world by a fictitious French traveller who addresses himself to a lady in the form of letters, dated at leading towns in different countries. While describing the actual condition of the country in a politic, economic, and social sense, he also gives lengthy reviews of the past history and of the ancient customs of the people, as if related by a native or culled from memory. The narrative is by this means rendered most interesting, and assumes a freshness and a sprightliness of style which condone greatly for its superficiality, incompleteness, and want of critical discernment in adopting statements. The epistolary form, while intended to court the public, doubtless adds to the flippancy, in which respect La Harpe, among others, expresses himself rather like a jealous rival. Beginning his tour in the Mediterranean, the author passes through Asia Minor to India and China, and in volume ix. turns up in the British American colonies. In the three volumes following he enters the Pacific States, devoting to Mexico the greater part of x., describing chiefly the conquest and the ancient customs of the Aztecs, and leaving almost untouched the later history and condition; but then the object is to interest the ordinary reader. Only the first 28 vols. are from the pen of the abbé; the rest show the inferior style of De Tontenai and Domairon. The success was such as to warrant a new edition in 1792-95. A German duodecimo edition was issued at Leipzig immediately upon the completion of the original, under the title of Reisen eines Franzosen. A Spanish translation was begun as El Viagero Universal ó Noticia del Mundo, Madrid, 1795-1801, 43 vols, including four supplementary. By D. P. E. P. The editor soon tired of the faults of the original, and with the 6th vol. began an independent work, in which much new information is given, so that the book greatly surpasses the French in the value of its material, while it falls behind in style and treatment. Volumes xii. xxvi. and xxvii. relate to Mexico, Central America, and California, and several adjoining volumes treat of other parts of America, including searches for the north-west passage. So conscientious is the editor that he devotes the supplementary volumes to complete and correct the first five wherein he had followed Delaporte.
Voyage Pittoresque autour du Monde, Paris, 1834-5, 2 vols, 4to, under the direction of Dumont d'Urville, is also a voyage round the world by an imaginary person, who starting from Toulon proceeds by way of Rio de Janeiro to South Africa, coasts along the East Indies to China, visits the Pacific groups and Australia, whence he returns to France with barely a reference to America. The object is to fasten the attention with a pleasing narrative, 755 while imparting as much information as possible on geography, political and social history, and curious facts, illustrated by a profusion of neat cuts.
A work covering much of the same ground, and somewhat similar in character, though written by the navigator himself, is Voyages autour du monde et Naufrages Célèbres, Paris, 1844, 8 vols in 4, by Gabriel Lafond de Lurcy, part of which had already appeared in 1840 as Quinze ans de Voyages, 2 vols. The narrative begins with a voyage performed during the Spanish American revolution from Manila to Mexico, to which latter country and the adjoining dependencies the whole volume is devoted, reviewing the political and social condition, the conquest, the Spanish rule, and the insurrectionary war. In ii. to v. the author relates several voyages along the South American coast to China, the East Indies, and the Pacific groups, which are made the vehicle for similar reviews, including Columbus' voyages and the conquest of Panamá and the region to the south. The last three volumes relate to notable voyages by others, and to adventures of shipwrecked crews in Africa and in the Pacific groups. The easy narrative inclines to the romantic style, and little attention is given to exactness or completeness. Still, the account of revolutionary events deserves attention from the fact that Lafond was an actual participant. He also wrote Études sur l'Amérique Espagnol, 1848, and some other treatises.
Curious and Entertaining Voyages, London, 1790, 4to, consists of a Portuguese and Spanish collection from Prince Henry's time to 1520, given in chronologic order, and without repetition in later narratives of matter already related; but there is little merit in the treatment, and negligence is shown even on the title-page, where particular attention is called to Columbus' conquest of Mexico! Of the four books forming the division, i. and iii. relate to Portuguese, and the others to Spanish voyages and expeditions, from Columbus to Cortés and Magellan.
A General Collection of the best and most interesting Voyages and Travels in all parts of the World, by John Pinkerton, London, 1808-14, 17 vols, 4to, is announced as "the most voluminous of the kind ever published," next to the Histoire of Prévost. After pointing out the numerous defects of this collection, and of its prototype by Green, with even more details than La Harpe, the accomplished Pinkerton, friend of Gibbon, proposes not only to avoid their dryness, inaccuracy, and repetition, but to embrace all the material of former collections, together with many additional narratives. Dividing his subject into five parts, corresponding to the five continents, he devotes volume i. to the north and north-east, besides two or three southern voyages; the two following to travels in Great Britain, and iv. to vi. to other parts of Europe; while vii. to x. relate to Asia; xi. to Australasia; xii. and xiii. to North America, beginning with Columbus; xiv. to South America; and the two following to Africa. Volume xvii. contains a retrospect of the progress of discovery, a catalogue of books on each region, and a detailed index. In these groups he collects, with little attempt at order, a mass of narratives which, however excellent in themselves, often cover but a portion of the field already better described in other works by several or more thorough narratives. Of the conspicuous and absorbing conquest of Mexico and adjoining regions not a word appears, and the only description of that country is from the later incomplete and comparatively unimportant travels of de Menonville. The 756 north-west coast, with California, is only slightly referred to under Drake's visits. In other instances, several voyages to the same region are given with valueless repetitions, as Frobisher's three searches for a north-west passage and the five voyages to Persia. A mass of uninteresting extracts from log-books are also presented, besides other verbose trivialities. Altogether the collection fails to realize its promises, and is decidedly inferior in selection, arrangement, treatment, and above all in completeness, to many less pretentious sets.
A much more thorough, though less known work, is A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, from the earliest ages, by Robert Kerr, Edinburgh, 1811-24, 18 vols, 8vo. It is the first work of the kind issued in Scotland, and claims to be the first systematically arranged history of voyages in English. Purchas is admitted to possess system, but is incomplete and merges the traveller's individuality too often, faults which Kerr promises to avoid. He divides the work into five parts; first, voyages and travels from King Alfred's time to the fifteenth century, nearly all directed to Asia, yet including in volume i. Zeno's voyages, and in ii. the discoveries of Galvano: second, voyages between 1492 and 1760, constituting volumes iii. to xi. These open with two accounts of Columbus' discovery and contemporary events, by his son and by Herrera. The same volume has the beginning of Cortés' conquest, which is continued in iv. together with Pizarro's. From the conquest of South America, concluded in v., the chronologic order takes the reader to the north-east coast of America, from Florida northward; and in vi. the voyages change to the East Indies, to return in x. and xi. to America, with the circumnavigators, who occupy both volumes. The third part relates to particular voyages in each of the five parts of the globe, arranged under each country and section, and begins in xii. with Byron, Wallis, Carteret, and Cook. The several voyages of the latter occupy the remainder of the work, xiii. to xvii., with the exception of a brief space to Bougainville, and to circumnavigations. This by no means completes the part, as promised, nor the fourth part on general voyages during the reign of George III. Whether this is owing to the early abandonment of the plan announced, or to Kerr's death, is not clear, but the work certainly leaves gaps by concluding, in volume xviii. with the fifth part, a historical deduction of the progress of navigation, discovery, and commerce, which was written several years after volume xvii. by W. Stevenson. This well prepared treatise is followed by a list of books on voyages and geographic descriptions. The method, so far as carried out, has been to give in chronologic order, at considerable length, and chiefly in the original form, the most valuable voyages and travels, particularly such as have extended geographic knowledge; and further, to review at the beginning or end of such narratives all minor accounts, so as to furnish a history of voyages. Objections may be raised in many instances, such as giving Columbus two versions where one might have sufficed if notes had been added from the other or from others. Cook's voyages, so well known by this time, are out of proportion to the rest, particularly when narratives were so greatly needed to cover the progress of discovery and settlement in different regions, as the Northwest Coast, Mexico, and other Spanish colonies.
A method similar to Kerr's is more consistently adhered to, on a smaller 757 scale, in The History of Maritime and Inland Discovery, London, 1830-1, 3 vols, 12mo, which forms volumes ii. xi. and xvi. of The Cabinet Cyclopædia, conducted by Rev. Dionysius Lardner. It certainly is a most thorough history for its size, and valuable as a guide to larger incomplete sets. Volume i. ends with Columbus' first voyage, while ii. carries along with Magellan and Cortés the circumnavigators and buccaneers, and closes with the discovery of Alaska by the Russians. Vol. iii. opens with Byron and Wallis, and closes in 1822.
In Nouvelle Bibliothèque des Voyages anciens et modernes, Paris, 12 vols, 8vo, with maps and engravings, P. Duménil, editor, presents a selection of the most noted and interesting voyages in full and abridged form, the latter rendered in attractive style. After an introductory essay on the progress of exploration by Duponchel, the series begins with circumnavigations; Anson, Byron, and Bougainville occupying the first volume, while Cook takes ii. to v. In vi. are given the narratives of La Pérouse and five other French voyagers between 1800 and 1840. The three following volumes embrace African travel, while Asia and Egypt combined find a place in x. and xi. Vol. xii. treats of Columbus, Cortés, and Pizarro, followed by minor and abridged narratives on north and north-east America and the Levant.
Historia de la Marina Real Española, Madrid, 1849 and 1854, 2 vols, 4to, profusely illustrated, forms a useful subdivision of voyages, by giving a history of all expeditions performed not only by the Spanish royal navy, but in the interest of the government. Of the two books in volume i. the first is almost wholly devoted to Columbus, while the second is occupied with Isthmian expeditions, the conquest of Mexico, and Magellan's circumnavigation. Volume ii. begins with Garay's expedition to Pánuco, and passes on to Molucca voyages from Spain and Mexico, to Pizarro's conquest, and Cortés' expeditions in the Pacific. The last three books, vii. to ix., cover the remainder of the sixteenth, and the whole of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries respectively. The measures connected with Drake's raid on the Spanish main form a striking feature in the seventh book, and Vizcaino's voyage opens the next. In the eighteenth century are given the several Mexican voyages to the north-west Pacific, from the time of Perez to that of the Sutil y Mexicana; and in the battle of Trafalgar is found the apt finale to a history intended to record the glories of the Spanish fleets. Although useful for the field it covers, the work shows little investigation or critique. The editors were José Terrer de Couto, who prepared the first 600 pages, and José March y Labores, who finished the work. The dedication to the king, which is almost republican in its straightforward tenor, bears the names of Vila and Manini, proprietors.
Man upon the Sea; or, a History of Maritime Adventure, Exploration, and Discovery from the Earliest Ages, by Frank B. Goodrich, Philadelphia, 1858, 8vo, while presenting a most complete and useful history, lays claim to no particular research, but depends for popularity on the prominence given to curious facts, striking incidents, and alluring narratives, pleasingly illustrated with cuts. Beginning with a review of early notions on geography, it considers the beginning of navigation, including the development of shipbuilding, and enters upon the regular history of voyages in the Phœnician 758 era, carrying it to the present time in as chronologic an order as the narrative will allow. Section iii. covers the period from Columbus to Magellan, and the next two sections are devoted to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with the northern voyages and the circumnavigations, while vi. is chiefly occupied with the Arctic voyages and the laying of the Atlantic cable. An abridgment of the book appeared as The Sea and her Famous Sailors, London, 1859, 12mo.
Nuevo Viajero Universal, Enciclopedia de Viajes Modernos, Madrid, 1859, 5 vols, 4to, edited by N. Fernandez Cuesta, and forming a part of the Biblioteca Ilustrada of Gaspar and Roig, is a collection of the latest voyages, profusely illustrated, and so selected and arranged as to give a description of all parts of the world, with more or less completeness. The volumes are equally distributed among the five continents in the order of Africa, Asia, America, Europe, and Oceania. North America is covered by six narratives referring respectively to the western United States, Canada, California, Mexico, and Central America, while five others describe South America. The account of California is extracted from Bryant; that of Guatemala and adjoining regions from Morelet; and of Mexico from Basil Hall and Zamacois. Each narrative has its own division and chapters.
Perhaps no individual navigators have done so much for the extension of coast geography in America in early times as the buccaneers, who, ever flitting about in quest of Spanish gold, and ever in need of a refuge from stern pursuers, left no available harbor or point on the main unnoticed. Nor were they chary of imparting the information, but published it freely in their narratives for the benefit alike of friend and foe. Among the special works compiled from these as well as the more secret Spanish documents was that of Sharp, which was specially devoted to the Pacific coast. A valuable supplement to this is An Appendix to Sharp's South Sea Waggoner, translated out of the original Spanish, a MS. folio of 145 pages, giving sailing directions from Chile to California, with a minute description of the coast, reefs, and harbors, explained by the seventy-two rude charts of the appendix. These are particularly interesting, from the fact that they are relics of a collection of two to three hundred original charts, collected by the traveller Nic Witsen, and valued by him at over twenty thousand gulden, partly perhaps because they indicated the localities where Spanish vessels had sunk with their treasures. He had sold them to the king of Spain, but they perished in a shipwreck while on the way to Madrid. So runs the story told in the autographic preface in Dutch, signed by Witsen at Amsterdam, 1692.
The first important work of this class, issued in the United States, was the American Coast Pilot of Blunt, which has grown in size and importance with every succeeding edition since 1796, when it appeared at Newburyport as a small 8vo of 122 pages, prepared by Captain Furlong. Since 1815 the Blunts, father and son, have had control of it, improving and adding until the twenty-first edition came out as a closely printed royal 8vo of 926 pages. This volume, after an introduction on winds, currents, and other general matter, begins its description of coast line and harbors at Newfoundland, and carries it to the north-east coast of South America, giving also a full account of the Antilles. The part relating to the United States occupies about half the 759 volume. An instance of the interest manifested by the Spanish government in navigation is furnished by the Derrotero de las islas Antillas de las Costas de Tierra firme y del seno Mexicano, Madrid, 1810, sm. 4to, prepared by the Direccion de Hidrografía of Madrid as a hand-book to accompany their charts. The Antilles are first described, then the mainland northward to Florida, pages 340-455 being devoted to the section between Portobello and San Bernando. Several improved editions were published in Spain as well as America; that of Mexico, 1825, being noticeable, as revised by Guadalupe Victoria, the first president of Mexico. As a valuable complement to the preceding coast guides may be regarded A Directory for the Navigation of the Pacific Ocean, London, 1851, 1 vol. in 2, 8vo, by Alexander G. Findlay. It is equally thorough and well arranged, with many statistical facts in connection with harbors. The first part relates to the west coast of America, the second to Asia and the Australian groups.
Voyages, Relations et Mémoires originaux pour servir à l'Histoire de la Découverte de l'Amérique, by Henri Ternaux-Compans, Paris, 1837-41, 20 vols, 8vo, in 2 series of 10 vols each, is one of the valuable collections of original documents or reprints which have of late years been discovered by zealous students and published at their own cost, or with the aid of the rapidly increasing number of historical societies. Of the first series, only the last two volumes are original publications, the rest being reprints of rare German, Portuguese, and Spanish works, chiefly of the sixteenth century. Several of them refer to the Pacific States, as Relation véridique de la Conquête de Pérou, etc., by Xerez in vol. iv., which also relates to the discovery of Panamá; Relation de Cabeça de Vaca, vol. vii., which runs through northern Mexico; Cruautés Horribles des Conquérants du Mexique, by Ixtlilxochitl, vol. viii.; the valuable Relation du Voyage de Cibola, vol. ix., giving an account of the first entry into New Mexico; Recueil de Pièces Relatives à la Conquête du Mexique, vol. x. The second series is even more valuable and interesting, as all the volumes publish selections from the manuscripts collected by Muñoz for his Historia del Nuevo Mundo, and partly issued by Kingsborough in his large work. Those relating to the Pacific States are, Zurita, Rapport, vol. xi.; Ixtlilxochitl, Histoire des Chichimèques, vol. xii., xiii.; Oviedo, Histoire de Nicaragua, vol. xiv.; Recueil de Pièces sur le Mexique, vol. xvi.; Id., sur la Floride, vol. xx., which contains letters on New Spain. Only a limited number of copies were printed. In connection with it was formed the Bibliothèque Américaine, Paris, 1837, a valuable addition, particularly in reference to Spanish and German works. Ternaux-Compans' Archives des Voyages and Recueil de Documents, both published in Paris in 1840, 8vo, have also important material on America.
From the preceding review it will be seen that even the largest collections of voyages failed to keep pace with the extension of maritime progress, and recorded at the most the leading undertakings of a few nations, complemented by references to a certain number of minor ones. This gap was partly covered by booksellers' catalogues; but even their lists were for a long time incomplete, and surpassed in many instances by those appended to their works by authors. Berchtold, for instance, in his Essay to Travellers, London, 1789, gives a full list of European travels arranged under countries. A more extensive list for voyage narratives was that of Reuss, issued during the 760 eighteenth century, and Stuck's, published at Halle, 1784-7. But these were mere catalogues with few or no notes to indicate contents or character of books; and this regardless of the admirable example and aid given by Guill. Fr. de Bure, to whom is due the credit of issuing the first descriptive bibliography, the Bibliographique Instructive, Paris, 1763-8, 7 vols, 8vo, the germ of which lies in his imperfect Musæum Typographicam, Paris, 1755. The work is perhaps needlessly profuse in its notes, but nevertheless of some value, even now, beside the many modern works of this class to which it may be said to have given rise. It devotes considerable space to voyages, and among other collections it treats pretty fully of De Bry's. The interest manifested in this set, however, and the confusion which its numerous partial editions had created, warranted the special Mémoire sur la Collection des Grand et Petits Voyages, et sur la Collection de Thévenot, Paris, 1802, prepared by A. G. Camus. This gives not only a satisfactory amount of De Bry for the collector, but a review of its composition for the benefit of students. It does not excel De Bure's in details of contents, but surpasses it in scientific treatment and in critique, presenting quite a model analysis. Camus had at first prepared a briefer memoir which l'Institut National induced him to elaborate and publish at its expense, with a similar notice of Thévenot's collection. Camus was the author of a voyage narrative, and a noted work in connection with his profession of the law.
While Camus was yet occupied with his memoir, a more extensive work of the same class had been undertaken by G. Boucher de la Richarderie, who after ten years of research among the various literary deposits in Paris, aided by translators and others, issued the Bibliothèque Universelle des Voyages, Paris, 1808, 6 vols, 8vo. Despite the labor bestowed the work is far from perfect, either in its titles or notes, and the number of omissions becomes more and more apparent when later catalogues are brought into comparison. The arrangement, however, displays considerable judgment, beginning with a review of voyage narratives and travelling guides in general, and proceeding with accounts of voyages during the classic and middle ages. After this come collections and general histories of voyages and circumnavigations, followed by the main subject, an account of individual voyages, arranged chronologically under the part of the world, the region, or the country to which they are directed. Works on geography, natural history, antiquities, and conquests are excluded, but not purely descriptive accounts of a country. In most cases only the title of the work is given, in French and in the original, with a sprinkling of notices on various editions, their rarity and character, but at times a more or less lengthy review of the contents is presented in order to furnish from the best works a concise account of the different countries. The book is accordingly a combination of bibliography and historio-geographic description of the world. The value of descriptive extracts in such a work is questionable, and a more satisfactory treatment, in consonance with its mission, would have been to present a larger proportion of bibliographic notes, thus increasing its value.
The field covered by De Natura found a modern and more profound exponent in Antonio de Ulloa, one of the most enlightened Spaniards of the last century. His Noticias Americanas, Madrid, 1772, presents a philosophic 761 treatise on climate, natural products, and customs of the natives. At first glance the obscure style and conceit gleaming throughout the preface might lead one to suspect the pedant; but the merit of the work soon becomes apparent, and appears worthy of the attention it has received in several editions and translations. In the French Mémoires Philosophiques it numbered in 1787 the third edition. It must not be confounded with the curious Noticias Secretas de America, by Juan and Ulloa, which forms a report on the political administration of the Spanish colonies in South America, though applicable also to the northern provinces, and aiding not a little to explain the causes which led to the war of independence. As a secret report it was kept from the public, and did not see the light till David Barry came across the MS. and published it in London, 1826, in 4to form. To Ulloa's revision are greatly due the merits of the Relacion Histórica del Viage, by Juan and Ulloa, Madrid, 1748-9, so widely translated. He also prepared some valuable reports on the revival of trade and manufactures in Spain.
Villagutierre Soto-Mayor, Historia de la Conquista de la Provincia de el Itza, Redvccion, y Progressos de la de el Lacandon. Madrid, 1701, folio, 1 vol. 660 pp. To this author we are indebted for a very complete history of the operations conducted against the Itzas and Lacandones during the seventeenth century. The work contains an excellent résumé of the partial and transitory occupation by the Spaniards of the country inhabited by those tribes, and of the efforts of ecclesiastics to effect a peaceful entry into it during the first three quarters of the century. Then follow full details of the campaigns organized by President Barrios and of the final conquest of the Itzas by Ursua. The authorities from whom Villagutierre obtained the material for this portion of his work were such as to render it thoroughly authentic, being Captain Nicolás de Valenzuela, who took part in the expedition of Barrios, and President Ursua. According to Pelaez, Mem. Guat., ii. 267, Valenzuela, with official documents at his service, wrote a minute account of the campaign in which he took part. His narrative, contained in 402 pages of manuscript divided into 26 chapters, was never published, but Ursua supplied Villagutierre with material to continue the history. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., Madrid, 1688, also furnished Villagutierre with some material, else both authors had access to certain original documents, since passages almost word for word alike occur in their respective works. Villagutierre dedicated his book to the council of the Indies. The volume contains a frontispiece on which are depicted the arms of Spain suspended between the pillars of Hercules, the whole framed in a border composed of nude female busts and clusters of fruit, with a cherub on the upper border and an idol's head on the lower. It was the chronicler's intention to publish a second part to his history "si el Material de lo que se obrare lo diere de sì," p. 660, but this has never appeared. The bibliographer Brunet states that the volume contains "2 part, en 1 vol." Cáldas, Sebastian Alvarez Alfonso Rosica, Copia de Carta Escrita a Sv Magestad, Impressa en Goatemala, Por Ioseph de Pineda Ybarra, Año de 1667, is a copy of the proposal made by President Cáldas to the king, by which he undertook to accomplish the subjugation of the Lacandon country at his own expense, and open a road between Guatemala and Campeche, if assisted by the governor of the latter province. He calls his Majesty's attention 762 to the great commercial advantage which both provinces would gain by such a consummation, and among other stipulations requests that the king will be pleased to give to the territory in the event of its conquest the name of "Provincia de Caldas, para que aya memoria de quien la reduxo, pacificó, convirtió, y pobló"! p. 5. Though the president was in no way benefited by this address to the crown, being shortly deposed from office, his having caused it to be printed in Guatemala excited interest in such an undertaking and stimulated future enterprise. The printed copies of this letter are rare, since nearly every one of them was lost in the earthquake which destroyed the city in 1773. Pinelo, Antonio de Leon, Relacion qve en el Conseio de Indias hizo, Sobre la Pacificacion, y poblacion del Manché i Lacandon, que pretende hazer Don Diego de Vera Ordoñez de Villaquiran, Cavallero de la Orden de Calatrava, &c., año 1638, folio 11, is a report of Antonio de Leon Pinelo, the celebrated historical secretary of the council of the Indies, on the district occupied by the Lacandones, Manchés, and other unconquered native nations. The book is extremely rare, and probably not more than two or three copies are in existence, since only a limited number were printed for the individual use of the members of the council. The one in my possession was the property of the late E. G. Squier. It contains a brief description of the Manché and Lacandon country, which is followed by a concise sketch of the various attempts to pacify and people those districts, from the time of the conquest down to the date of the report. The greater part of the treatise consists of a careful consideration of the proposition made by Diego de Vera Ordoñez de Villaquiran for the pacification of the Lacandon territory. Attached to the document is a copy of the royal patent extended to Villaquiran approving his proposition and appointing him governor and captain-general of the "Provincia de el Prospero (alias el Lacandon)," drawn up in 1638, and issued by the king on the 29th of March 1639. Mention has already been made of Pinelo's labors in vol. i. p. 287, Hist. Cent. Am. Informe del Rev. P. Prior del Convento de Coban al Ilimo y Rimo Sr D. Fray Andrés de Navas y Quevedo, Arzobispo de Guatemala, sobre las Misiones de Verapaz y Ahitzaes, escrita en Coban á 8 de Febrero de 1685, MS., 27, is an interesting report, formerly belonging to the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, and containing an account of the Dominican missions in the Chol country from 1673 to the date of the document. It constitutes a spirited refutation of the charge of abandonment thereof brought against the order by Sebastian de Olivera y Angulo, the alcalde mayor of Vera Paz. The letter is ably and courteously written, and, as the production of a Spanish friar, not very verbose.
Herewith I give further references to some authorities consulted for the preceding chapters: Vazquez, Chron. de Gvat., 1-771; Escamilla, Not. Cur., 1-78; Oviedo, i. 115, 157-8, 599-602; iii. 123, 131-2, 189-208, 211-20, 222-3, 255, 488-94, 540; iv. 8-10, 19-32, 239-42; Concilios Prov., MS., i. 160, passim; Id., 1555 y 1565, pp. vi.-vii., 283-89, 293-8; Herrera, dec. i. lib. vii. cap. xii.; lib. x. cap. xi.; dec. iii. lib. v. cap. xiv.; lib. ix. cap. vii. x.; lib. x. cap. ix. xi.; dec. iv. lib. i. cap. vi. vii. xi.; lib. ii. cap. i. iii. vi.; lib. iii. cap. ii.; lib. iv. cap. vii.; lib. vi. cap. iii.; lib. vii. cap. v.; lib. x. cap. v. xv.; dec. v. lib. i. cap. ix.; lib. iii. cap. v.; lib. vi. cap. i.; lib. ix. cap. viii. ix.; 763 dec. vi. lib. i. cap. viii. ix.; lib. iii. cap. xix.; lib. vii. cap. iv. vi.; dec. vii. lib. ii. cap. x. xi. xii.; lib. vi. cap. v. vi.; dec. viii. lib. vi. cap. i. ii. iii. v. vii.; dec. viii. lib. x. cap. xx.; Torquemada, i. 322-31, 333-4; iii. 338-40, 384, 468-70, 535-6; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 177-83, 205, 219-21, 235-7, 245-6; Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., 45-308, passim; Cartas de Indias, 23-5, 414, 451-55, 662, 673-8, 708-10, 735, 745-6, 757-8, 776, 797, 834, 841, 857; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 1-771; America, Descrip., MS., 2-4, 130-5, 155, 166, 182-9; Gomara, Hist. Mex., 233; Id., Hist. Ind., 64, 243-4, 268-70; Chiapas, Doc. Orig., MS., 6-8, 55 et seq.; Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., 50-1, 89-93, 109-15, 179-89, 303-29, 343, 478; Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, i. 183, 254-5, 429-48; ii. 16, passim; iii. 3-6, 18-30, 48-80, 172, 179-80, 295-6; Centro América, Extractos Sueltos, MS., 1-149; Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., i. 511, passim; ii. 209 et seq.; iii. 351-62, 386-8, 507-8; iv. 131-5; v. 522-9; vi. 6-17, 304, 342-3; vii. 6, passim; viii. 19-46, 89, 224; ix. 81-115; x. 32 et seq.; xi. 91-153; xiii. 136, passim; xiv. 47 et seq.; xv. 9, passim; xvi. 324-7; xvii. 489-95; xix. 329-40; xxii. 515-24; xxiii. 171-89; Dávila, Continuacion de la Cronica, MS., 127-30, 290; Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. pp. lvi.-cxv.; ii. pp. xxxvi.-xl. 509-14, 595-600; Robles, Prov. de Chiapa, 5-71; Barcia, i. 166-79; ii. 29-33, 173; iii. 172-5; Calle, Mem. y Not., 72, passim; Chimalpain, Hist. Conq., ii. 181; Beaumont, Crón. Mich., i. 540-1; ii. 12 et seq.; iv. 104-6, 252, 489-93; v. 475; Id., MS., 322-4, 435, 638-42, 1083; Cáldas, Carta sobre Lacandon, 1-13; Alcedo, Dic., iii. 325-6; Ixtlilxochitl, Horribles Crueldades, 71; Florida, Col. Doc., 138; Papeles Franciscanos, MS., i. 53-221, 308-13; ii. 321-6; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oaj., i. 83-7, 387-8; ii. 233-8, 385, 410-11; Id., Palestra, 174; Reales Cédulas, MS., 12, 192; ii. 159, 194-7; Codex, Tell. Rem.; Benzoni, Mondo Nuovo, 99, 106-7, 159-60; Ordenes de la Corona, MS., i. 96, 158-60; ii. 58; iii. 45-73; iv. 130-1, 150-7; Vetancvrt, Chron. San Evang., 24, 77; Id., Teat. Mex., 24-6, 37, 53; Id., Menolog., 24-8, 44-5, 135-6, 259; Garcilaso de la Vega, Comment. Reales, ii. 57-81, 369-75, 466-7; Medina, Chron. S. Diego, 11-12, 239-41; Puga, Cedulario, 24-7, 75-93, 115, 161-3, 188-201; Las Casas, Carta Amonest. 1545, p. iv.; Id., Carta al Gattinara, 1520, 1-5; Id., Carta a los PP. de Guat., 1554, 1-10; Id., Hist. Apolog., MS., 28-9, 222; Id., Hist. Ind., i. 406, p. vii.; Id., Regionvm, 35-40; Providencias Reales, MS., 10-15, 49-77, 158-60, 178-208, 221-54, 270-309; Espinosa, Chron. Apost., 308-407, 490-9, 534-90; Estrada Rávago, Descripcion, MS., 2-11; Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 15-172; Id., Col. Doc. Antig., 1-198; Arricivita, Crón. Seráfica, 1-157, 227-35, 588-9, 603-5; Col. Doc. Inéd., 1. 122-4, 140-1; lvii. 318, 344, 384-412, 478; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 382-94, 545-8, 619-21, 667-74; Gavarrete, Copias de Doc., MS., 1-55; Guat., Col. de Cédulas, MS., 1-130; Id., Sto Domingo, en 1724, MS., 1-74; Haya, Informe al Rey, MS., 1-23; Prov. Sant. Evang., MS., 1-7, 160-6, 206-10; Doc. Hist. Mex., série i. tom. i. 103, passim; tom. ii. 3-520; tom. iii. 238-495; tom. iv. 116-237; tom. v. 109, 142; série ii. tom. iv. 21-2, 212-88, 349-72, 463; tom. vi. 41-8; tom. vii. 75-6; Recop. de Indias, i. 11, passim; ii. 17, passim; iii. 311, passim; Juarros, Guat., 1, passim; Id. (ed. London, 1823), 1-520; Cogollvdo, Hist. Yuc., 93, 234-42, 326, 637, 745-51; Reales Ordenes, ii. 305-31; iii. 94-245, 308-12; viii. 188-9, 422-39; Fernandez, Hist. Ecl., 29-32, 115-185; Pelaez, Mem. Guat., i. 1-310, passim; ii. 1-311, passim; iii. 1-291; Gracias, Estadistica, 22-31; Squier's MSS., i.-xxxii.; Criado de Castilla, Descub., MS., 1-64; Maltratamiento de Yndios, MS., 1-4; Cortés, Residencia, i. 51-60, 96-7, 155-6, 232-4, 424; Purchas, His Pilgrimes, iv. 877, 1146-7, 1569-1603; v. 886-8; Cerezeda, Carta, MS., 1-62; Derrotero para Naveg., MS., 17-133, passim; Cabrera Bueno, Naveg. Especvl., 313; Lobo, Relacion, MS., 1-217, passim; Gallego y Cadena, Relacion, MS., 1-18; Lazcano, Vida del Oviedo, 17; Papeles de Jesuitas, MS., 3; Apiano, Cosmog., 18-19, 75; Garcia, Sublev. Zendales, MS., 1-154, passim; Avila y Lugo, Descrip., MS., 1-8; Ramusio, iii. 300-4; Cedulario, MS., i. 34-46, 246-8; iii.0 81-91; Garcia de Hermosilla, Memorial, MS., 1-65; Simon, Conq. Tierra Firme, 401-32; Fvndacion y Prog. de Prov. Santiago, MS., 2-5; Duarte, Relacion, MS., 1-5; Carriedo, Estudios Hist., 1-117, passim; Villagvtierre, 764 Hist. Conq. Itza, 4-17, 76-314, 341-401, 504-11, 542-659; Figueroa, Vindicias, MS., 70-104; Ramon, El Informe, MS., 20-89; Zurita, Relacion, MS., 65; Aniñon, Discurso, MS., 1-3; Niebla, Memorial, MS., 1-20; Alvarado, Cartas, MS., 1-42; Morelli, Fasti Novi Orbis, 107-15, 140, 181-3, 206, 348, 361-5, 480-9; Pinelo, Relacion, 2-11; Velasco, Carta, MS., 1 et seq.; Miranda, Memoria, MS., 1-20; Piedrahita, Hist. Gen., 529-30; Morel, Sta Cruz Visita, MS., 1-104; Izaguirre, Relacion, MS., 1 et seq.; Costa Rica, Cabildo de Relacion, MS., 1-18; Haklvyt, Voy., iii. 567-9, 590-7; Ariza, Darien, MS., 2-38; Panamá, Col. Doc., passim; Guat., Const. del. Colegio, MS., 1 et seq.; Verapaz y Ahitzaes, Misiones, MS., 1-27; Andagoya, Carta al Rey, MS., 9-10; Acosta, Comp. Hist. N. Granada, 324; San Salv., Tratado de la Fundacion, MS., 1-27; Darien, Defence of Scots Settlement, 1 et seq.; Id., Enquiry, 1 et seq.; Id., Humble Address; Id., Letter Relating; Id., Original Papers, 1 et seq.; Id., Vindication, 1 et seq.; Touron, Hist. Gen. Am., v. 193-214, 249-97; vi. 74-124, 307-48; vii. 69-163, 233-48, 269-78; Santos, Chron. Hisp., ii. 479-85; García, Hist. Beth., i. 25-7; ii. 3-12, 28-203; iii. 1-173; iv. 1-39; Id., Reseña Geog., 7; Coreal, Voy., i. 94-5, 101-12; Id. (ed. Amsterdam), 73-112, 125-47; Id. (ed. Paris), 65-100, 251-2; Pineda, Descrip. Geog., 11-14, 45, 85-8, 129-33; Cadena, Breve Descrip., 5-56; Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, i. 60-3; Ordenanças para remedio de Navíos, 1-24; Lynch, Rel. Puntual, MS., 1-19; Gottfried, Newe Welt, 82-3, 282-6; Oexmelin, Hist. de Flib., i. 162-5, 197-228; ii. 3-11, 31-193, 207-46; iii. 30-202, 301-47; Ramirez, Proceso, pp. xi.-xxiii., 6-82, 102-3, 124-30, 277-90; Feuillée, Journal, 65-86, 146-60, 311-23; Larrainzar, Soconusco, 1-3, 17-25; Squier's Notes, 121 et seq.; Id., States, 44, passim; Id., Travels, 82 et seq.; Laet, Novi Orbis, 325, 333-46; Exquemelin, Am. Zee-Roovers, 59 et seq.; Id., Buccaneers of Am., 29 et seq.; Id. (ed. Boston, 1857), 76 et seq.; Id., Hist. de Boecaniers (ed. Amst. 1700), 12 set seq.; Heylyn, Cosmog., 1080-9; Dampier, Voy., i. 3 et seq.; Ulloa, Noticias, 345; Cleveland, Nic. Transit, MS., 52-66; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., 268, 287-90; Prescott's Mex., i. 377-86; Id. (ed. Madrid), iv. 228; Id., Hist. Peru, ii. 561-72; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, 268-81; Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, iii. 87, passim; v. 326-32; Id., 2da ép., i. 222-50, 293, 456, 565-73; iii. 77-80; iv. 699-712; Id., 3da ép. ii. 304-26; Archenholtz' Hist. Pirates, 93, passim; South Sea Co., View of, 1 et seq.; Sharp, Voy. and Adv., 2, passim; Lussan, Journal de Voy., 30-110, 129-43, 152-274, 384-436; Fancourt's Hist. Yuc., 147, passim; Calvo, Traités, ii. 205-9, 359-81; iii. 249-55; xi. 190-203; Ayon, Consid. Limites, 9-19; Luyts, Introduc. Geog., 727-9; Aa, Naaukeurige Versameling, x. 19-25; Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 467-73; Bustamante, Medidas, MS., ii. 11-12; Zamacois, Hist. Méj., i. 715-18; ii. 375; iii. 144; iv. 485-6, 632-84; v. 187, 422-8, 617-34; x. 1123-5; Montemayor, Svmarios, 11, 163-6, 189, 203-4; Pap. Var., xliv. pt. i.-x.; cxlix. pt. x. 403-14; Id., clxvii. pt. i. 1 et seq.; Id., ccxv. pt. xvii. passim; Reichardt, Nic., 31-2, 71-80, 110-13, 136-8, 140-4, 205-7; Davity, Descrip. Gen., 91-4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Bib. Mex. Guat., 36; Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 574-633, 781-98; Morelet, Voy., ii. 291, 303; Helps' Cortés, ii. 162-3; Id., Life of Las Casas, 182, passim; Id., Span. Conq., iii. 275, passim; iv. 9-14; Quintana, Vida, 129 et seq.; Rivera, Gob. de Mex., i. 31, 248, 254, 258-9; Burney's Discov. South Sea, iv. 59, passim; Nouvelles An. de Voy., xxi. 244, 261-2; xxvi. 405-6; xxxv. 127-8; lxxx. 129-69; xcii. 58; xciii. 25-6; xcix. 192; c. 51-4; cli. 1-15; clviii. 200; Guat., Apunt. Agric., 42, passim; West Indies, Descrip. of Span. Settl., 1-106; Lerdo de Tejada, Apunt. Hist., 261-2, 299; Antunez, Mem. Hist., pp. lviii.-lxiii. lxxxiii.-xciii.; Buccaneers of Am., ii. 1 et seq.; La Harpe, Abrégé, x. 116-20, 257-314; xi. 237, passim; Russell's Hist. Am., i. 388-93, 416-19, 517-43; Jesuits, Col. Gen., i. 1 et seq.; ii. 1 et seq.; Clement, Tablas Chron., 170-97, 205; Kerr's Col. Voy., v. 175-80; x. 214, passim; Id., Travels, 229; Costa Rica, Boundaries, 10-50; Palacio, S. Salv., 1-70; Iglesias y Conventos de Mex., 277-81; Cortes, Diario, v. 220; xix. 390-1; West Indies, Geog. and Hist., 60, passim; Molina, Bosquejo Cost. R., 67 et seq.; Id., Coup d'Oeil, 6 et seq.; Seemann's Isth. of Panamá, 7-53; Id., in Panamá Star and Herald, March-May, 1868; Gage's New Survey, 180-265, 308-9; Id., Voy. (ed. Paris, 1676), ii. pt. 765 iii. 1-66, 179-297; Id. (ed. Amst. 1720), i. 303-76; Douglas' Hist. and Pol., i. 44-6, 88-9; Drake's Voy., 56-65, 303-15; Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i. tom. x. 151-91, 269-85, 415-28; série ii. tom. v. 142-3, 179-81, 202-3, 275-83; Fricius, Indianischer Relig., 180-4; Carbajal, Hist. Mex., ii. 654-6; Drake, Cavendish and Dampier, Lives, 179, 182-5, 188-99, 233-40, 263-70; Julian, Trasformazione dell, 1-286; Cooke's Geog., ii. 166-8; Fernando, vii.; Decretos, 86-90; Arosemena, Examen, 20-2; Archivo Mex., i. 113; Linschoten, Voy., 229; Original Letters to an Honest Sailor, 6-19; Album Mex., i. 417-18; March y Labores, Marina Esp., ii. 583-7, 648, 662-7; Kewen's Nic. and Walker, MS., 61-4; Macpherson's Annals, i. 744-7; ii. 379, 451, 664-9; iii. 354, 548, 589; iv. 4, 159, 179, 460; Diorama, 146-75; Alaman, Disert., i. 29-37, 172; iii. 338; Ogilby's Am., 96 passim; Mazariegos, Chiapa, 5 et seq.; Ribera Payo, El Maestro, 1-42; Lopez, Mercurio Ind., MS., 42-5; Wafer's Voy., 4-188; Viagero Univ., xii. 72, passim; xxiii. 63-78; xxvii. 159 et seq.; Navarro, Extract. Guat., 1-32; Lettres Edificantes, iv. 359; Sammlung aller Reisebesch., ix. 69-106, 617; xii. 373-7; xiii. 513, passim; xv. 252-62; Nueva España, Breve Res., MS., 349, passim; Batres, Rel. de las Fiestas, 1-9; Larrainzar, Biog., 1-15; Id., Discurso, 12-17; Spanish Empire in Am., 134, passim; Nicaragua, Defensa de Derechos del Pais, 15-21; Ocios, Espan. Emigrad., 222-3; Ancona, Hist. Yuc., 202, passim; America Cent., Reclam. de Intervencion, 7-10; Berenger, Col. Voy., ii. 411; iii. 284, 291; Variedades Jurisp., v. 39-43; Astaburuaga, Cent. Am., 54, 108-9; Haefkens, Cent. Am., 23, 27; Uring's Hist. Voy., 164-6, 354-7; Gastizabal, Por el Maestro, 2; Voyages, A New Col., i. 422-36, 488-504; ii. 43 et seq.; iii. 42, passim; Crowe's Gospel in Cent. Am., 18 et seq.; Eastern Coast of Cent. Am., 4-8; Cockburn's Journey, 20-264; Poinsett's Notes on Mex., 15-21; Salmon's Modern Hist., iii. 63-5, 219-22; Beccatini, Vida Carlos, iii. 211-12; Bidwell's Panamá, 38, passim; American Rev., July 1851, 3 et seq.; Churchill's Col. Voy., vi. 298-312; viii. 734, 761-769; Page, Nouveau Voy., ii. 403-10; Creassy's Plan MS., 1-47; Nicaragua, Nueva Discusion, 4-5; Macgregor's Progress of Am., i. 311, 728, 741-2, 749; Stout's Nic., 101, passim; Amérique Cent., Comp. Belge, pt. ii. 35-6, 92-3; Nicaragua, De Orden del Director, 1-16; United Service Jour., pt. ii. 208, 315-18, 433-40, pt. iii. 4-9, 289-95; Pim's Gate to Pacific, 26 et seq.; Niles' Register, xliv. 358; Bussière, L'Empire Mex., 371-5; Conde, Golfe de Hond., 5-6; Carranza, Descrip., 66-70, 118; Griswold's Panamá, 8 et seq.; Pinkerton's Col. Voy., xiv. 361-87; Larrañaga, Prospecto Eneida, 1-28; Harleian Col. Voy., ii. 761-5; Dunn's Guat., 64, passim; Delaporte, Reise, x. 343, 397-416; Quarterly Rev., xxxv. 326-9; Morden's Geog., 582-4; Polynesian, vii. 5, 181; World Displayed, vi. 9-17, 44-9; Democratic Rev., xxx. 546; Bastide, Mem. sur Nouveau Passage, 21-4, 30-2; Betagh's Voy., 132-3; Harper's Mag., xvii. 28-9; xviii. 18-23, 31; xix. 20-37, 434-7, 449-50; Seaward's Nar., ii. 271-99; Dunlop's Cent. Am., 68-70, 77, 93; Thompson's Guat., 236-7; San Miguel, Mex., ii. 24; North Am. Rev., xxiv. 278-80; Young's Mosq. Shore, 12-15; Florencia, Zodiaco Mariano, 234-55; Gordon's Anc. Mex., ii. 247; British Quart. Rev., xcix. 238-9; Mex. and Guat., ii. 155; Burke's Europ. Settlement, i. 291-2; Mission Scientifique de Mex., 509; Pim and Seeman's Dottings, 85 et seq.; London Geog. Soc., Jour., i. 85; xi. 81; xxiii. 180-1; xxxviii. 108-9; Codman's Round Trip, 14-15; St Francis of Assisi, 563; Annals Brit. Legis., ii. 397; Marshall's Christian Missions, ii. 224-6; Shepard's Papers on Span. Am., 35-7; Rogers' Voy., app. 13-54; Thesaurus Geog., ii. 267-71; Holmes' Annals of Am., i. 72; Pinkerton's Modern Geog., iii. 216; Bury's Exodus, ii. 58-99, 171-2; Mosquito Terr., Correspondence Respecting, 7 et seq.; Indicador, iii. 156-73; Campbell's Span. Amer., 64, passim; Espinosa, Peregrino Sept., 1-456; Id., Nuevas Empresas, 1-46; Martin's Hist. W. Indies, i. 137-9; Warburton's Darien, 169-396; Diezmos de Indios, 1, passim; Voyages, New Univ. Col., i. 188-9; ii. 373-8; Boddam-Whetham, Across Cent. Am., 109-12; Thompson's Recol., 119; Mayer's Mex. Aztec, i. 253; Weatherhead's Account of Exped., 36; Overland Monthly, iv. 497; Strains' Inter. Comm., 15-18; Prior's All the Voy., 57-70; Greenhow's Mem., 35-8; Thiers' Mississippi Bubble, 229-57; Fanshaw's World in Min., 766 ii. 23; Imray's Sailing Direct., 12; Holinski, La Cal., 66-8; Crosby's Statement, MS., 116-18; Findlay's Direct., i. 213, 242, 258; Arana, Relacion, 380-98; Guerra, Hist. Revol., ii. 616-17; Mexico, Notes on in 1822, 239-44; Frost's Pict. Hist. Mex., 129; Shelvocke's Voy., 292-3; Noticia Individual de los Derechos, 1-143; Ponton's Earthquakes, 36, 46; Nicaragua y Hond. Doc., 1-56; Paredes' Coast of Mosq., 1-62; Linage, Spanish Rule of Trade, 207-8, 227; Conder's Mex. and Guat., ii. 153, passim; Hassel, Mex. und Guat., 406; Wilson's Mex., 257; Lardner's Hist. Marit., ii. 302-4; Panamá, The Isthmus, 8-9; Anderson's Commerce, iii. 165; iv. 47, 449; Roberts' Nar. Voy., 37-42; Harris' Col. Voy., i. 748, 754; Wells' Honduras, 415, 457-9, 530-1; Goodrich's Man on Sea, 34, 337-8; Correo Merc. Esp., iv. 270; Tomes, Panamá, 162-3, 208-12; Oviedo y Baños, Por el Licenciado, 1-9; Guat., Instruc. Arreglo, 1-24; Otis' Isthmus of Panamá, 127; Payne's Univ. Geog., iv. 461-3; Silicio, Mem. Foment. Col. Ind., 74-8; Suarez, Informe, 33; Voyages, Hist. Voy. round the World, i. 302-9, 325-9, 443-4; Cullen's Darien, 147-93; Winterbotham's Hist. of U. S., iv. 120-8; Puydt et Binckum, Colonisation, 72; Flint's Geog., ii. 145; Alzate, Gacetas, iii. 326, 442; Castellon, Doc. Nic. y Hond., 51-6; Mosquitolandes, 23, passim; Moro, Informe, 1-127; Cavo, Tres Siglos, i. 104; ii. 67-8, 147; iii. 35-43; Bvla, Confirmationis, 1-16; Nicaragua, Nueva Discusion, 6-7, 20-5; Dic. Univ. Hist., i., passim; Arancel, Derechos, 2-6; Lacunza, Discursos Hist., 461; Mosquito-Küste und Ter., 14-18; Fonseca y Urrutia, Real Hacienda, i. 519-20; Guat., Aranceles, 1-100; Belly, Nic., i. 28-30, 192, 226, 349-50; ii. 38, 261; Raynal, Hist. Phil., iv. 74-5, 200, 205, 221-50; Leon's Travels, 15-19, 35-40; Pinelo, Relacion, 1-11; Mosquito, Correspondence, 27, passim; Relacion Historica de Iance, 1-8; Muro, Utilidades, 1-73; Fabrica y Estampa de Naypes, 1-16; Llorente, Œuvres, 1-409; Fernando, vii.; Doc., 314-27; Margil de Jesus, Noticie della Vita, 1-216; Id., Nuevas Empresas, 1-46; Cancelada, Tel. Mex., 109; Moreno, Reglas Cientas, 1-136; Nicaragua, Mem., 8-28; Cent. Amer. Pamphlets, passim; Mosquito Doc., passim; Museo Mex., i. 193-5, 229, 261; Iturriaga, El Dolor Rey, 1-27; Ilust. Mex., iv. 414-16; Iglesia de Guat., El Dean, 1-4; Linage, Norte de la Contratacion, 1-264; Navarrete, Col. Viages Descub., iii. 452-3; Guatemala, Autos de Parte, MS., 1-41.
[I‑1] Herrera, dec. iii. lib. viii. cap. xiii.-xiv., says 80 men. Francisco de Jerez, Pizarro's secretary, Conq. del Peru, in Barcia, iii. 179, places the number at 112 Spaniards, besides Indians; Zárate, Hist. del Peru, in Id., at 114 men. For minor statements and discrepancies compare Gomara, Hist. Ind., 141; Garcilaso de la Vega, Com. Real, pt. ii. lib. i. cap. vii.; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nvovo, 118; Oviedo, iii. 382-90; Quintana, Vidas, Pizarro, 50.
[I‑2] This letter picturing the horrors of the situation, and begging from the governor relief, was signed by the writer and his comrades; after which was a doggerel, current for years thereafter in the Indies, which ran as follows:
Pues señor gobernador,
Mirelo bien por entero
Que allá va el recogedor,
Y acá queda el carnicero.
And may be rendered thus:
To this we hope your honor,
Will lend a kindly ear;
You have the herder with you,
We have the butcher here.
In Balboa, Histoire du Pérou, Ternaux-Compans gives a French rendering by Beaudoin:
Monsieur le gouverneur, on s'en va vous chercher,
Pour emmener des gens de la ville où vous estes.
Envoyez-nous-en donc, car voícy le boucher
Qui les esgorgera comme de pauvres bestes.
[I‑3] Garcilaso de la Vega, Com. Real, pt. ii. lib. i. cap. xi., tells the most extravagant stories concerning Tumbez. 'Avia gran numero de Plateros, que hacian Cantaros de Oro, y Plata, con otras muchas maneras de Joias, asi para el servicio, y ornamento del Templo, que ellos tenian por Sacrosanto, como para servicio del mismo Inga, y para chapar las planchas deste Metal, por las paredes de los Templos, y Palacios.' See also, Xerez, Conq. del Peru, Barcia, iii. 169-81; Zárate, Hist. del Peru, Barcia, iii. 2, 3; Gomara, Hist. Ind., 143; Pizarro y Orellana, Varones Ilvstres, 138; Benzoni, Hist. Mundo Nvovo, 120; Herrera, dec. iii. lib. viii. cap. xii.; Oviedo, iii.
[I‑4] Some affirm that, while in Spain, Cortés and Pizarro became great friends; that much fatherly advice was given by the former to the latter. Cortés, they say, although the younger, could teach his brother-conqueror many things, and warned Pizarro against admitting another to a share in the supreme authority, which advice, indeed, was hardly necessary.
[I‑5] Historians of the Peruvian conquest point with emphasis to political disruption as the agency which gave the country to the Spaniards. Of course we cannot tell what would have been the accidents or incidents of this invasion under other conditions. As it happened, I fail to perceive how the civil war of necessity was the cause of success, or that without Peruvian disruption the Spaniards could not have accomplished their purpose. Atahualpa at the head of a powerful army in the full flush of victory could have crushed this handful of Spaniards as easily as might have done a Peruvian host tenfold greater. Pizarro could have performed his imperial cozenage as easily when peace reigned as at another time. Compare Naharro, Relacion, in Col. Doc. Inéd., xxvi. 232-7; Real Cédula, in Id., 256; Castañeda, Informacion, in Id., 256-9; Jaren, Informacion en Panamá, in Id., 259-60; Candía, Informacion, in Id., 261-5; Pedro Pizarro, in Id., 201-10; Almagro, Informacion, in Id., 265-74; Sámano, Relacion, in Id., v. 193-201; Col. Doc. Inéd., in Id., l. 206-20; Ovalle, Hist. Chile, in Pinkerton's Voy., xiv. 154-6, and in Churchill's Col. Voy., xiv. 154-6; Leon's Travels, Hakluyt Soc.; Garcilaso de la Vega, Com. Reales, ii. 13-20; Pizarro y Orellana, Varones Ilvstres, 127-9; Xerez, Conq. del Peru, 179-81; Gomara, Hist. Ind., 141-7; Oviedo, iv. 147 et seq.; Zárate, Hist. Peru, 17-23. The last-mentioned document is by one of the conquerors. According to some reports the inca was undetermined what course to pursue. Immediately after the capture of Huascar some of his counsellors were for sending an army and destroying the invaders at once. Others wished to take them alive and by making slaves of them ingraft their superiority into their own incipient civilization. Others more timid represented the strangers as exceedingly fierce and powerful, to conquer whom would be difficult and dangerous. 'Vnos querian, que fuesse vn capitan a ello con exercito, otros dezian, que aunque los estrangeros no eran muchos, eran valientes, y que la ferocidad de sus rostros, y personas, la terribilidad de sus armas, la ligereza, y brabura de aquellos sus cauallos pedian mayor fuerça.' Herrera, dec. v. lib. ii. cap. ix. According to Balboa the arrival of the Spaniards caused some anxiety among the Peruvians at Cuzco. 'Cette nouvelle inquiéta tout le monde. Atahualpa essaya de tranquilliser ses sujets en leur disant que ces étrangers étaient probablement des envoyés de Viracocha, et depuis cette époque ce nom est resté aux Espagnols.' Hist. du Pérou, Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii. tom. iv. 309. Benzoni affirms that Atahualpa who was at Caxamalca, sent messengers to Pizarro threatening to make him repent if he did not leave his vassals unmolested and return to his own country. 'In questo tempo Attabaliba Re del Peru si trouaua in Cassiamalca, e inteso com' era entrato nel suo paese gente con la barba, con certi animali terribili e scorreuano i luoghi, ammazzando, e depredando il tutto, mandò vn' ambasciatore à Francesco Pizzarro, minacciandolo, che se non lasciaua i suoi vassalli, e se ne fosse ito al suo paese, che lo farebbe mal contento.' Hist. Mondo Nvovo, 121.
[I‑6] Herrera says 24; others 20. In the narratives of these early adventurers rarely two are exactly alike concerning any occurrence. Among them all, however, we can usually arrive near the truth.
[I‑7] There were in reality, according to the 'Spanish Captain,' 80,000 warriors in the encampment of the inca, but the cavaliers reported to their comrades only 40,000 in order not to dishearten them! 'Li Capitani ritornorno al signor gourenator, e gli disseno quel che era seguito del cacique, e che li parea che la gente ch'egli haueua portriano esser da quaranta mila huomini da guerra. Et questo dissono per dar animo alla gente, perche erano piu di ottanta mila, e dissono ancora quello che li haueua detto il cacique.' Relatione d'vn Capitano Spagnvolo, in Ramusio, iii. 373.
[I‑8] The story is told in as many ways as there are historians. Some say that the inca entered Caxamalca as a conqueror, others as falling into the trap of the Spaniards. All are partially correct. Undoubtedly he would capture the Spaniards if he could, while they would prevent it by securing him if they were able. According to Zárate, seeing but a few men in the plaza when he entered he asked, 'Have these men surrendered?' and his people answered, 'They have!' 'Y como viò tan pocos Españoles, i esos à pie (porque los de à Caballo, estaban escondidos) pensò, que no osarian parecer delante de èl, ni le esperarian; i levantandose sobre las andas, dixo à su Gente. Estos rendidos estàn. Y todos respondieron que si.' Zárate, Hist. del Peru, Barcia, iii. 21.
[I‑9] Some say a cross and a breviary, others a cross and a bible. 'Llego entonces a el Fray Vincente de Valuerde, dominico, que lleuaua una Cruz en la mano, y su breuiario, o la biblia, como algunos dizen.' Gomara, Hist. Ind., 149.
[I‑10] 'Lui exposa longuement les mystères de notre sainte religion, en citant son discours plusieurs passages des évangiles, comme si Atahualpa avait su ce que c'était que les évangiles, ou eût été obligé de le savoir.' Balboa, Hist. du Pérou, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii. tom. iv. 315.
[I‑11] 'Respondio Atabaliba muy enojado, que no queria tributar siẽdo libre.' Gomara, Hist. Ind., 149. 'Ma che non gli pareua come Re libero di dar tributo à chi non haueua mai ve duto.' Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, 123. 'Soi libre, no debo tributo à nadie, ni pienso pagarlo, que no reconozco por superior à ningun Rei.' Garcilaso de la Vega, Com. Reales, pt. ii. lib. i. cap. xxv.
[I‑12] 'Y que Christo murio, y el sol, y la luna nunca morian.' Gomara, Hist. Ind., 150.
[I‑13] 'Et che il Pontefice doueua essere vn qualche gran pazzo, poi che daua cosi liberamente quello d'altri.' Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, 123. 'Que no obedeceria al Papa porque daua lo ageno, y por no dexar aquien nunca vio el reyno, que fue de su padre.' Gomara, Hist. Ind., 149-50.
[I‑14] 'Poi gli dimandò, come sapeua, che'l Dio de Cristiani di niente haueua fatto il mondo, e che fosse morto in Croce. Il frate rispose, che quel libro lo diceua, e lo porse ad Attabaliba, ilquale lo prese, e guardatoui sopra, ridendo disse; à me non dice niente questo libro; e gettatolo per terra, il frate lo ripigliò.' Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, 123. 'Le moine en fut si irrité qu'il réclama à grands cris vengeance pour l'offense faite à Dieu et à sa sainte loi.' Balboa, Hist. du Pérou, 315.
[I‑15] Pizarro y Orellana mildly affirms that the inca threw the book from him in such scorn, that the monk was obliged to call upon the Christians to fight for their law. 'Y poniendole la biblia en las manos, la arrojò el Inga con tã gran vituperio, que obligò al Religioso à dar vozes à los Cristianos, diziendoles, que bolviessen por su ley, que la ultrajava aquel barbaro gentil, de quien no avia ya que esperar.' Varones Ilvstres, 155.
[I‑16] 'Et subito ad alta voce cominciò à gridare; vendetta, vendetta Cristiani, che gli Euangelij sono disprezzati, e gettati per terra. Vccidete questi cani, che dispreggiano la legge di Dio.' Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, 123. Gomara says: 'Los Euãgelios en tierra, Vẽgãça Christianos, a ellos, a ellos que no quiere nuestra amistad, ni nuestra ley.' Hist. Ind., 150. While Garcilaso de la Vega renders it thus: 'Ea, ea, destruidlos, que menos precian nuestra lei, y no quieren nuestra amistad.' Com. Reales, ii. lib. i. cap. xxv.
[I‑17] 'De Monick selfs hielt oock niet op den gantschen tydt dat sy doende waren met dit Dolck te vermoorden, vamrasen en tieren, vermanende de spaenjaerden dat sy niet houwen maer steken souden, om de Lemmets te bewaren, dat sy niet braecken, mits sy de Degens in nacomende moorderyen souden van noode hebben.' West-Indische Spieghel, 362.
[I‑18] 'Cargauã todos sobre Atabaliba, que todauia estaua en su litera, por prenderle, desseando cada vno el prez y gloria de su prision.' Gomara, 150. 'Ses gardes prirent la fuite de tous les côtés, et les Espagnols, ayant entraîné l'Inga dans leur camp, lvi mirent les fers aux pieds.' Balboa, Hist. du Pérou, 316.
[I‑19] The 'Spanish Captain' places the number at over seven thousand besides many who had their limbs cut off and were in other ways mutilated. 'Rima sero in quel giorno morti da sei ouer sette mila Indiani, oltra molti che haueano tagliate le braccia, e molte altre ferite.' Relatione d'vn Capitano Spagnvolo; Ramusio, iii. 374. 'Decimos, que pasaron de cinco mil Indios los que murieron aquel dia. Los tres mil y quinientos fueron à hierro, y los demas fueron viejos invtiles, mugeres, muchachos, y niños, porque de ambos sexos, y de todas edades avia venido innumerable gente à oir, y solenniçar la embajada de los que tenian por dioses.' Garcilaso de la Vega; Com. Reales, pt. ii. lib. i. cap. 25. This brutal massacre is dignified by Pizarro y Orellana, as one of the most important battles of history, remarkable for the loss of so little Christian blood! 'Se vencio una de las mas importantes batallas, y con menos gente de quantas en las historias divinas, y humanas se han visto; no sacandose mas sangre de los Cristianos, que la de una pequeña herida que le dieron en la mano à nuestro valeroso capitan salia.' Varones Ilvstres, 156.
[I‑20] 'Cosi bauuta la sanguinolente e terribil vittoria di quella misera gente infelice; stettero tutti la notte in balli e feste, lussuriando.' Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nvovo, 124. 'Als de Spaenjaerden desen bloedighen neerlaghe aengerecht hadden van dit ongheluckighe Volck, hebben sy den naestvolgenden nacht met dansen en springhen, en bancketeren overghebrocht.' West-Indische Spieghel, 362.
[I‑21] No greater monument of blind adulation is found in Spanish-American history than the Varones Ilvstres del Nvevo Mvndo, Madrid, 1639, of Pizarro y Orellana, a descendant of one of the great Pizarros. Not only the brutal Francisco Pizarro is made a saint, but the accounts of the eight heroes of the conquest, which occupy the greater part of a folio volume, are little else than a covering of defects by so-called glorious deeds, which serve besides the purposes of fame as a special plea for the confirmation of grants conferred upon the conqueror. This plea is embodied in the author's later Discurso Legal, and is in some degree made weightier by his position as member of the royal council.
[I‑22] 'Y se fue enterando de ellos del discurso de su venida, y de la Fè Catolica, que oìa muy buen: como hombre que tenia muy bien entendimiento.' Pizarro y Orellana, Varones Ilvstres, 156.
[I‑23] 'Hallaron en el baño, y Real, de Atabaliba cinco mil mugeres, que aunque tristes, y desamparadas, holgaron con los Christianos, muchas y buenas tiendas, infinita ropa de vestir.' Garcilaso de la Vega, Com. Reales, pt. ii. lib. i. cap. xxvii.
[I‑24] 'Valiò en fin la bajilla sola de Atabaliba, cien mil ducados.' Garcilaso de la Vega, Com. Real, pt. ii. lib. i. cap. xxvii. 'Los Soldados no se descuidaron en visitar los quarteles del exercito del Inga, donde hallaron grandissimas riqueza de oro, y plata.' Pizarro y Orellana, Varones Ilvstres, 156.
[I‑25] 'Tratò Ataulpa de su rescate, y ofrecio tan gran cantidad de oro, que parecia impossible cumplirlo.' Pizarro y Orellana, Varones Ilvstres, 156. 'Prometiò, porque le soltasen, cubrir de vasijas de plata y oro, el suelo de vna gran sala donde estava preso.' Garcilaso de la Vega, Com. Reales, pt. ii. lib. i. cap. xxviii.
[I‑26] 'J'attends avec impatience l'arrivée de votre frère, pour savoir quels sont ses droits, rendre justice à chacun et tâcher de vous mettre d'accord.' Balboa, Hist. du Pérou, 317.
[I‑27] Benzoni was told that Pizarro intended from the first to take the life of Atahualpa, as by this means he expected to be able better to subdue and govern the country. 'Però io ho inteso, da poi che Pizzarro l'hebbe fatto prigione, l'intento suo fu sempre di leuarselo dinanzi à gli occhi, per meglio potere soggiogare, e dominare il paese.' Hist. Mondo Nuovo, lib. iii. fol. 125.
[I‑28] 'Il était, dit-on, épris d'une des femmes d'Atahualpa, que la crainte qu'inspirait l'Inga empêchait de se rendre à ses désirs.' Balboa, Hist. du Pérou, 322. 'Sobre estas causas se examinaron à algunos Indios, à tiempo q̃ el Interprete Filipillo, zeloso de que una muger de Ataulpa le huviesse desdeñado, interpretò los dichos de los testigos, escriviendolos demanera, que el Padre Fray Vicente de Valverde dixo, que el firmaria la sentencia de muerte.' Pizarro y Orellana, Varones Ilvstres, 166.
[I‑29] 'En la suma deste rescate, andan diversos, Agustin Çarate, y Francisco Lopez de Gomara, historiadores de aquellos tiempos, creo, que son erratas del molde: pondrè aqui algunas dellas, para que se vean mejor.' Garcilaso de la Vega, Com. Reales, pt. ii. lib. i. cap. xxxviii. I have taken the lowest estimate of this treasure as being in all probability as near the truth as any. Many different amounts are given, some of them as high as four millions. 'Hallaron cinquẽta y dos mil marcos de buena plata, y vn millon, y trezientos, y veynte y seys mil y quiniẽtos pesos de oro, suma, y riq̃za, nunca vista en vno.' Gomara, Hist. Ind., 154-5.
[I‑30] The 'Spanish Captain' says that every foot-soldier received 4,800 ducats, equal to 7,208 castellanos, while horsemen received double. Those who were left at San Miguel received 200 pesos each. 'Il signor gouernatore fece le parti, e toccò a ciascuno fante a pie, quattro mila e ottocento pesi d'oro, che sono ducati. 7208, e a gli huomini a cauallo il doppio, senza altri vantaggi che gli furon fatti.... A quelli Christiani che erano restati in quel luogo doue haueua fondato il ridotto de San Michele, dette due mila pesi d'oro, acciocche lo partissero, che ne toccò dugento pesi a ciascuno.' Relatione d'vn Capitano Spagnvolo, Ramusio, iii. 377. 'Chaque cavalier reçut neuf cents pesos d'or et trois cent soixante marcs d'argent. Chaque fantassin eut la moitié de cette somme.' Hist. du Pérou, 327-8.
[I‑31] Pizarro well knew that the inca's death was certain if the matter were left to the soldiers, while by so doing he might be able to throw off some of the odium which otherwise would be fastened upon him. As he had anticipated, the majority was in favor of killing the prisoner. Others would have him sent to Spain, while a few were in favor of granting him his liberty. 'Dit also volbracht zÿnde, door Pizarro, en Almagro vergaderen de Krÿchsraedt, en beraetslaghen met malcanderen, wat men met Attabaliba soude uytrechten: Eenighe sloeghen voor, datmen hem soude om den hals brenghen, eenige vonden goet datmen hem los laten soude: Veele waren van meeninghe, dat het goet was datmen hem nae den Keyser soude senden. Ten laetsten, de stemmen vergadert synde, prevaleerde die, datmen hem soude ombrenghen.' West-Indische Spieghel, 365.
[I‑32] The philosophy as well as the religion of the early writers is ever found equal to the emergency. 'Y aunque parecio sin causa, y como tal lo pagaron los que intervinieron en ella, no sin culpa; pues tan sin ella avia sido fratricida del Guaxcar, como queda dicho.' Pizarro y Orellana, Varones Ilvstres, 166-7.
[I‑33] 'Començaron vnos à desentablar las paredes del templo, que de oro, y plata eran: otros à desenterrar las joias, y Vasos de oro, que con los Muertos estavan: otros à tomar idolos que de lo mesmo eran.' Garcilaso de la Vega, Com. Reales, pt. ii. lib. ii. cap. vii.
[I‑34] 'Acerca de los quinientos hombres, que estos autores dicen, que llevò consigo D. Pedro de Alvarado, se me ofrece decir, que à muchos de los que fueron con el, les oì, que fueron ochocientos Españoles.' Garcilaso de la Vega, Com. Reales, pt. ii. lib. ii. cap. ii.
[I‑35] His relative, Pizarro y Orellana, says he was at this time nearly 80 years of age, and that he killed five persons and wounded others before he was stricken down. 'Como eran tãtos los que les ayudavan, aunque avia muerto a cinco, y otros muchos heridos, y como la edad llegava acerca de ochenta años, no pudo defenderse tanto, que no le diessen una estocada en la garganta, con que se desalẽtò, y desangrò, y vino à arrodillar.' Varones Ilvstres, 185-6.
[I‑36] It is scarcely necessary to say that the best history of the Peruvian conquest, indeed the only one that can lay claims to fairness and completeness, is Mr Prescott's. The chief original authorities have already been given. Pizarro forms a leading figure in Quintana, Vidas de Españoles Célebres, published at Madrid in 1807, 1830, 1833, in three volumes, reprinted at Paris in 1845. Celebrated as a poet and dramatist since 1801, Quintana intended to produce a lengthy series of biographies of the national heroes who had already entered into his song; but the demands of other studies and of his public duties as censor, director de estudios, and as senator, interfered with his work, and nine lives are all that have been recorded. While declaring his intention to be impartial and instructive he is often led by his innate predilection for hero and word painting, to mingle poetic fancy with biographic facts. The list may be greatly swollen by such works as Acosta, Hist. Ind.; Velasco, Hist. Quito; Ercilla, La Araucana; Levinius Apollonius, Peruuiæ Regionis; Burney's Dis. South Sea, i. 120; Galvano's Discov., 34-9; Robertson's Hist. Am., ii. 151; La Harpe, Voy., x. 259-458, xi. 5 et seq.; Voys., Nouv. Bib. des Voys., xii. 131-67; Kerr's Col. Voy., iv. 328-464; Harris, Col. Voy., i. 788-97, iv. 464-512, v. 1-217; Molina, Hist. Chile, Madrid, 1788, i.-ii.; March y Labores, Hist. Marina, ii. 123-5; Russell's Hist. Am., i. 264-301; Francisco Pizarro, in Quintana, Vidas, 71-171; Andagoya, Carta al Rey, Oct. 22, 1536; Voy. Cur. and Rare, 34; Campbell's Span. Am., 44-9; S. Am. and Mex., i. 45-9; Descrip. de Am., 38-40; Helps' Span. Conq., iii. 419-58; Snowden's Am., 141-7; Sammlung aller Reisebesch., xv. 36-46; Voys., A New Col., i. 365-7; Guzman's Life, 84-134; Hakluyt's Voy., iii. 798-9; Piedrahita, Hist. Gen., 438-40; Harper's Mag., xix. 434; Domingo de Eraso, in Doc. Hist. Esp., l. 220-31; Barrionuevo, Inform., in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., x. 144-52; Torquemada, i. 611; and the many royal cédulas and letters of the Pizarros and others.
[II‑1] Herrera, dec. iv. lib. iv. cap. ix. Although the charges against Pedrarias were pressed by Oviedo in person, there is no doubt that they were brought at the instigation of Rios.
[II‑2] He died at Córdoba. Oviedo, iii. 123-4.
[II‑3] Of his subsequent career it is known that he served under Pizarro in Peru and afterward retired to his estates in Cuzco. Cartas de Indias, 761-2.
[II‑4] On account of its resemblance to the harbor of Cartagena in Spain. Herrera, dec. v. lib. ii. cap. iii.
[II‑5] Herrera, dec. v. lib. ii. cap. iii. This is the Spanish translation for the phrase applied to it by the natives. The word 'bohío' belongs to the dialect of the country.
[II‑6] In Herrera, dec. v. lib. ii. cap. iv., it is stated that the city was then very populous, had a considerable commerce, and contained two castles heavily mounted with artillery, a cathedral, a custom-house, a government-house, and other public buildings.
[II‑7] This incident occurred in the year 1545. Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., 206-10.
[II‑8] According to Herrera, dec. v. lib. ii. cap. iv., the new town was named San Sebastian de Buena Vista.
[II‑9] In Herrera, dec. v. lib. ii. cap. iv., we have the somewhat remarkable statement that the nuts were of such size that two of them were often a sufficient burden for a man. He probably adheres to fact, however, when he states that on such food the Spaniards subsisted many days, at the first discovery of the country, alluding perhaps to Pizarro's fifty days' sojourn in that neighborhood when waiting for the return of Ojeda.
[II‑10] And paved the way for large bands of adventurers who afterward carried on a lucrative traffic with the natives. Acosta, Compend. Hist. Nueva Granada, 133.
'Es tierra del Guaca que se derrama
Por rico mineral a cada lado.'
Castellanos, Varones Illustres Ind., 394.
[II‑12] In Acosta, Compend. Hist. Nueva Granada, 142, it is stated that during this expedition César reached the town of the cacique Dabaiba, but no mention is made of his finding any gold there.
[II‑13] So named on account of the swarms of troublesome insects in its neighborhood. Id., 252.
[II‑14] Spelled also Nore. Id., 254.
[II‑15] In 1535, Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., viii. 25, confirmed by Clemente, Tablas Chronológicas, 204.
[II‑16] Carta al Emperador, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 64-82.
[II‑17] In Herrera, dec. iv. lib. x. cap. v., it is stated that Berlanga succeeded Peraza on the death of the latter in 1531, or earlier, but this is probably a mistake. There is much conflict of authorities as to the succession of bishops about this date. In Alcedo, iv. 33, Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., and Fernandez, Hist. Ecles., it is stated that Vicente de Valverde was elected in 1533, and after holding office for a few months was promoted to the see of Cuzco, Berlanga taking his place at Panamá in 1534 as stated by Fernandez, who is probably the most accurate authority in church matters, and according to Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., x. 237, officiating in August of the following year, as 'juez comisario por su Majestad,' at an investigation into the conduct of Francisco Pizarro and other officers.
[II‑18] So says Gonzalez Dávila, Berlanga died August 8, 1551. Teatro Ecles., ii. 57-8.
[III‑1] 'Chripstóbal Colom, declaró á este almirante, su nieto, por duque de Veragua y marqués de la isla de Sanctiago, alias Jamáyca, é almirante perpétuo destas Indias, é le hizo merçed de lo uno y de lo otro por título de mayorazgo, é con ello le conçedió otras merçedes.' Oviedo, ii. 498-9. See also Charlevoix, Hist. San Domingo, i. 447.
[III‑2] In Herrera, dec. iv. lib. ii. cap. vi., it is stated that the vireina asked permission of the Consejo de Indias to arm vessels for the purpose of subjugating the natives, but that her request was refused because the fisco had not as yet decided the question of privilege.
[III‑3] 'Felipe Gutierrez obtuvo concesion en 1535, para conquistar la provincia de Veragua.' Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 204. In Notas Biográficas, in Cartas de Indias, 771, it is stated that after being in the service of Charles V. he was granted the right to make the conquest of a tract of territory extending from Castilla del Oro to Cape Gracias á Dios.
[III‑4] Consisting of four navíos and one galleon.
[III‑5] Felipe Gutierrez set out in 1535, though some authorities make it 1553. The former date is probably correct, for in a letter addressed to the emperor in 1534 Andagoya states that he has been advised of his Majesty's orders to the governor of Veragua to recruit men in Panamá, and begs him to reconsider his command. Andagoya, Carta al Rey, Oct. 22, 1534.
[III‑6] This stream was the river Concepcion, about two leagues west of the river Veragua and four leagues west of the Belen.
[III‑7] 'Á aquella poblacion mandó llamar el gobernador Felipe Gutierrez la cibdad de la Concepcion, y tambien la pudiera llamar de la aflicion, porque él y todos tenian trabaxo extremado.' Oviedo, ii. 483-4.
[III‑8] An expedition must be fitted out. The governor being sick delegated the command to his lieutenant Alonso de Pisa, who was to be accompanied by the priest Juan de Sosa. This latter knew that Pisa was not a favorite with the men, and the clérigo was ambitious to represent the church militant as general of the expedition; but Governor Gutierrez reproved him severely, stating that it was unseemly for a priest to carry arms. Many profane words were interchanged, the Spanish language being remarkably rich in such vocabulary. Sosa gained his point, and received the appointment, Diego de Pisa, brother of Alonso, acting as his lieutenant. Oviedo, ii. 484-9.
[III‑9] 'Huuo algunos que mataron vn Christano enfermo, y se le comieron.' Herrera, dec. v. lib. ix. cap. xi.
[III‑10] In Herrera, dec. v. lib. ix. cap. xi., there is a severe and somewhat unjust stricture on the conduct of Gutierrez. He says that when the sufferings of the party became intolerable, their leader, being too cowardly to risk a final and desperate effort, deserted his men, thus forfeiting his former good name, and embarked secretly with a few friends for Nombre de Dios; but it does not appear what he would have gained by attempting any further enterprise with the remnant of his starving band.
[IV‑1] Hist. Cent. Am., i. 683 et seq., this series.
[IV‑2] At the former of the above-named sessions, a fresh enrolment of citizens took place, and it is worthy of note that Alvarado first became one himself on that date, as 'el Sr Capitan General' heads the list which contains more than forty names. Remesal erroneously gives August 23, 1526, as the date of the enrolment. Hist. Chyapa, 8.
[IV‑3] Remesal makes a sly allusion to his vanity. 'Le parecio al Capitan Pedro de Aluarado boluer a la ciudad de Mexico, a ver, y que le viessen,' and adds that at this time, though not so quick and active as formerly, he had a fine appearance and a handsome countenance. Hist. Chyapa, 7.
[IV‑4] Hist. Cent. Am., i. 581-2, this series.
[IV‑5] In the charges subsequently brought against Alvarado it was alleged that he had deposed the officers of the cabildo on account of their opposition. To this he replied that he had merely appointed a new cabildo at the beginning of the year, according to the usual custom. Ramirez, Proceso contra Alvarado, 12, 60, 83.
[IV‑6] Ramirez, Proceso contra Alvarado, 12.
[IV‑7] Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 16, 17. Remesal is of opinion that Alvarado himself petitioned for a body-guard to go with him to Mexico; but a more probable explanation of the matter is that the political disturbances in Mexico had extended to Guatemala, and that seditious movements were on foot. Consult Ramirez, Proceso contra Alvarado, 83; and Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 7.
[IV‑8] Alvarado calls this city the 'city of Santiago,' and also the 'city of Guatemala,' Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guatemala, 102, by which expressions it must be understood to have been Patinamit. Brasseur de Bourbourg, on the authority of the Cakchiquel manuscript, states that Alvarado mustered his forces at Xapan, and that at the moment of commencing his march one half of his men mutinied and fled to Patinamit; whereupon Alvarado pursued them, and the two parties nearly came to blows at the latter place. He found means, however, to pacify them, but in the night the mutineers set fire to the city and escaped, the date being May 9, 1526. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 686.
[IV‑9] No two authorities agree as to the time of his departure. Vazquez states that he left in the month of January 1526, Chronica de Gvat., 69, and Juarros in February, Guat. (ed. London, 1823), 433; while Brasseur de Bourbourg gives the 10th of May as the date. Remesal altogether ignores Alvarado's expedition to Honduras, and states that he remained in Santiago until he received news of the arrival of Cortés at Vera Cruz, whereupon he again brought forward the question of his own departure for Mexico. Hist. Chyapa, 8.
[IV‑10] Hist. Verdad., 220. The position of this town may have been in the neighborhood of the present Tegucigalpa. There is an affluent of the Choluteca River which bears the name of Malalaja, and the similarity of names leads to the conjecture that Alvarado reached the neighborhood of Tegucigalpa as the Malalaja flows into the main stream just above that town. Brasseur de Bourbourg calls the town Malacatan.
[IV‑11] Hist. Cent. Am., i. 571, this series.
[IV‑12] Both Sandoval and Cortés had written to Marin, but neither letter reached its destination. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 219.
[IV‑13] 'Y acuerdome que tiramos piedras a la tierra que dexauamos atras, y con el ayuda de Dios iremos a Mexico.' Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 219.
[IV‑14] 'E era de tal gordor, q̃ del se hizo vna canoa, que en estas partes otra mayor no la auia visto.' Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 220. The ceiba is the wild cotton-tree and grows to an enormous size.
[IV‑15] Bernal Diaz' memory has here failed him. He states that after crossing the Lempa they entered the Chaparristic—called by him Chapanastiques—province, and that here the Indians killed a Spaniard named Nicuesa, and wounded three others of his party who were foraging for provisions. The Spaniards had passed through the Chaparristic province when they had reached the Lempa, and therefore it was either in Cuzcatlan that Nicuesa was killed, or the river which Alvarado's men crossed must have been the Goascoran.
[IV‑16] Fuentes y Guzman, Recordacion Florida, MS., 22; Juarros, Guat., ii. 96-7, Id. i. 23, 253. The official gazette of Salvador erroneously gives Aug. 6, 1525, as the date of submission, and states that the conquest is yearly commemorated. Salvador, Gac. Offic., 4 Dic. 1877, p. 1123. It will be remembered that Alvarado in his first campaign in Salvador did not succeed in reducing the province of Cuzcatlan to allegiance. He, however, formed the determination of returning to complete its subjugation. There is evidence that this was accomplished previously to May 1525. Consult Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 12, 13, and Ramirez, Proceso contra Alvarado, 105-6.
[IV‑17] About ten miles from the river Paz in Guatemala territory.
[IV‑18] Fuentes y Guzman, Recordacion Florida, MS., 22. 'Los Españoles, que estaban en Olintepeque de Quetzaltenango no havîan tenîdo modo de dar aviso á los de Honduras.' Vazquez, Chronica de Gvat., 71.
[IV‑19] Fuentes states that it was either Pedro de Alvarado or the ordinary alcaldes to whom the disturbance was to be attributed. Recordacion Florida, MS., 20. Escamilla is of opinion that the lieutenant, Jorge de Alvarado, was the one to blame, Sucesion Chronologica., 12, while the former author remarks that Jorge was in Mexico at the time, and was confounded with Gonzalo. He also states that the latter was ordinary alcalde, but this was not the case, for as may be seen in Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 16, 17, the alcaldes were Diego Becerra and Baltasar de Mendoza.
[IV‑20] Vazquez says 400 girls and as many boys. Chronica de Gvat., 69. Fuentes y Guzman, 200 boys. Recordacion Florida, MS., 21. The gold-washings were those of Chahbal and Punakil, the former word meaning, according to Vazquez, 'the washing-place,' and the latter, 'plateado ô dorado.'
[IV‑21] One castellano of tequio according to Fuentes. 'Vn cañutillo de oro lavado del tamaño del dedo menîque,' according to Vazquez, Id.
[IV‑22] In the native dialect 'Caxtok.'
[IV‑23] Juarros, Guat., ii. 289. The whole land from Cuzcatlan to Olintepec—a distance of over 90 leagues—revolted. Fuentes y Guzman, Recordacion Florida, MS., 21. Brasseur de Bourbourg states that the confederated Indians comprised the Pokomams, Pocomchis, Quichés, Cakchiquels, Pipiles, and Xincas, but entertains some doubt as to the Quichés taking part in the league, as such action is at variance with the Cakchiquel manuscript and with Vazquez. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 690. At a council summoned by the chiefs of the revolting tribes there were present among others the caciques of Tecpan Atitlan (the modern Solola), of Ruyaalxot, Sinacam, and the Appoxahil, of Xilotepec, Zacatepec, Chimaltenango, and Zumpango. Fuentes supposes that Sinacam was at this time at Patinamit, whereas he had escaped to the mountains of Comalapa, occupying there the stronghold of Ruyaalxot. This author evidently knew nothing of the Cakchiquel insurrection in 1524, for he states that after concealing for two years his intention to revolt the cacique now took advantage of Alvarado's absence.
[IV‑24] Juarros disagrees with the account given by Vazquez because it leads to the conclusion that Santiago was abandoned, and argues that this could not have been the case, because sessions of the cabildo were held on the 23d and 26th of August. Guat., i. 351-2, note and ii. 306. Juarros was not aware that the so-called city had no permanent site till 1527. The books of the cabildo were but the record of the acts of a municipality that was continually changing its position. Besides, Alvarado had before the dates above mentioned rejoined Gonzalo at Olintepec, and the above sessions were held at that town. The account given by Fuentes and followed by Juarros differs materially from that of Vazquez which has been followed in the text. Fuentes states that at this unexpected crisis all attempts at civil government were abandoned, and energetic measures adopted for a vigorous defence; that Gonzalo with 60 Spanish horse and foot and 400 Mexican and Tlascalan allies took up a position at Olintepec, while Baltasar de Mendoza with the rest of the army remained for the protection of the city of Santiago, Gonzalo de Ovalle, with his companions, being stationed in the valley of Panchoy and Hernando de Chaves in that of Alotenango; that the troops were quartered in the open plains during the months of June, July, and August, and suffered much from the heavy rains; and that the detachment under Chaves sustained four attacks from the forces of Sinacam, while Ovalle engaged twice with Sequechul who had fortified his camp with earthworks and ditches. Recordacion Florida, MS., 22; Juarros, Guat., ii. 291. I cannot accept this version of Fuentes. Bernal Diaz makes no mention of Alvarado's being joined by any Spaniards in the series of engagements that took place during his march through to Olintepec. On the contrary he says 'fuimos por nuestras jornadas largas, sin parar hasta donde Pedro de Alvarado auia dexado su exercito, porque estaua todo de guerra, y estaua en él por Capitan vn hermano que se dezia Gonzalo de Alvarado; llamauase aquella poblacion donde los hallamos, Olintepeque.' Hist. Verdad., 220. From this it is evident that Vazquez' account is correct and that the Spaniards had been completely driven out of the Cakchiquel district.
[IV‑25] Meanwhile the other column had suffered severely. There is a list of those killed in Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 54. It is refreshing to know that their spiritual welfare was cared for, the cabildo on the 16th of Sept. 1528 securing to them their lots and lands and ordering the same to be sold for the good of their souls. Bernal Diaz was among the wounded: 'allí me hirieron de vn flechazo, mas no fue nada la herida.' Hist. Verdad., 220.
[IV‑26] Fuentes y Guzman, Recordacion Florida, MS., 23-4; Juarros, Guat., ii. 294-5.
[IV‑27] The name of the chief is spelled by Fuentes Cazualan and Casualan. Juarros states that the word means 'The faithful will come,' and adds, 'nombre que parece profetico, pues en tiempo de este Cacique vinieron los fieles Christianos á predicar el Santo Evangelio.' Guat., ii. 292. Cazhualan had been one of the first to give in his allegiance, an act which offended the greater part of his subjects, who revolted against him, whereupon he resorted to arms. A fierce conflict ensued, which ended in the defeat of the insurgents, who fled to the woods. The rebels refusing to return to their allegiance, Cazhualan visited Alvarado, who promised him assistance. Thenceforward he remained a faithful ally of the Spaniards. Fuentes y Guzman, Recordacion Florida, MS., 19, 20. According to Fuentes and Juarros Alvarado shortly afterward sent a force to his aid, and Petapa was soon reduced to obedience and made submissive to its cacique. Fuentes states that the Guzmans of Petapa are descended from Cazhualan. Recordacion Florida, MS., 24-5; Juarros, Guat., ii. 296.
[IV‑28] This great battle is simply but graphically made mention of by Bernal Diaz in the few words, 'Y les hizimos yr con la mala ventura.' Fuentes, followed by Juarros, locates the scene of this battle elsewhere. He states that on reaching the valley where Guatemala stands Alvarado attacked and carried the intrenched camp of Sequechul, and that on the same night the army arrived in Guatemala. Recordacion Florida, 24. Vazquez correctly writes: 'En la vltima de las quales (batallas) entraron la Ciudad de Patinamit, los Españoles, que ... fué hazaña muy memorable esta victoria.' Chronica de Gvat., 73. This view corresponds with the account of Bernal Diaz.
[IV‑29] This capital had already been repaired, and the buildings elicit an expression of admiration from Bernal Diaz, who says: 'Y estauan los aposentos y las casas con tan buenos edificios, y ricos, en fin como de Caciques que mandauan todas las Provincias comarcanas.' Hist. Verdad., 220.
[IV‑30] Brasseur de Bourbourg suggests that the erection of these dwellings gave rise to the present city of Tecpan-Guatémala, which is to-day inhabited by the descendants of the citizens of Patinamit. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 693.
[IV‑31] Pelaez considers that this time was occupied in removing the inhabitants and destroying the city. Mem. Guat., i. 49. But Bernal Diaz makes no mention of so striking an event.
[IV‑32] Two of the brothers of Pedro de Alvarado now pass from the scene as prominent actors in Guatemala. Gonzalo came over to Mexico with Cortés, and took part in the conquest. On his return to the capital of that country it appears from the books of the cabildo that he was regidor in 1527 and 1528, and in the latter year received a grant of land for a fruit-orchard, on which occasion the cabildo graciously mentions that he had remitted the payment of 100 pesos previously loaned to the city. Bernal Diaz makes mention of him as having written an account of the conquest of Guatemala. At a later date he settled in Honduras and became alcalde of one of the towns founded there by his brother. He also resettled the city of Gracias á Dios. The second brother alluded to—Don Gomez—also came to Mexico with Cortés. What time he left Guatemala is not evident; his name, however, appears on the books of the cabildo on January 8, 1525. He was in Mexico in 1527. When Alvarado went on his expedition to Peru, this brother accompanied him, joined the Almagro faction, was made prisoner at the battle of Salinas, but was released by Pizarro. Later he was so disgusted at the assassination of that leader that he joined the standard of the viceroy Vaca de Castro and was present at the battle of Chupas. He died of sickness a few days afterward in 1542. Libro de Cabildo, MS., 215-16, 224; Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 12; Bernal Diaz, Hist., 176, 240; Dicc. Univ. Hist. Geog. Ap., i. 167.
[IV‑33] 'Cortés nos lleuò a sus Palacios, adonde nos tenia aparejada vna muy solene comida.' Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 220.
[IV‑34] The Recordacion Florida de la Historia de Guatemala by Don Francisco Antonio de Fuentes y Guzman is a manuscript work in three volumes, two of which exist in the archives of the municipality of Guatemala city. They comprise seventeen books, the first of which relates to the history of the indigenous races, the substance of which is taken almost entirely from Torquemada. The six following books treat consecutively of the conquest down to the time of the Spaniards entering Guatemala; of its independence with respect to Mexico; of the destruction of old Santiago and Alvarado's life and career; of the founding of the second city of Santiago; of miraculous images existing in Guatemala; and of the privileges and ordinances of its capital city. The next nine contain descriptions of as many principal valleys of the province, among which may be mentioned those of Las Vacas, Mixco, Zacatepec, and Xilotepec. In these descriptions the author deals with all matters of interest connected with the valleys, including Indian games. The seventeenth book is devoted to the historiography of the spiritual administration of these valleys in the writer's time. According to Beristain the first volume was sent to Spain to be printed, but nothing more is known of it. Fuentes y Guzman was born in Antigua Guatemala, his family being descended from Bernal Diaz. Juarros states that he wrote in 1695. Guat. (ed. London, 1823), 309. He had at his command a large number of rare documents, but did not make such use of them as an unbiassed chronicler would have done. His admiration of the conquerors was too great to admit of his making mention of the cruelties which such documents must have exposed. The same feeling urged him to indulge in invective against Las Casas. Such were his prejudices in this respect, that as regards the conquest, he could not be considered a reliable historian were there no other evidence of his inaccuracies; but when I find that in many instances his narrative is at variance with that given in Alvarado's own letters, the necessity of receiving his statements with additional caution is apparent. Brasseur de Bourbourg is, perhaps, extreme in saying: 'Le mensonge qui règne continuellement dans les récits de Fuentes,' Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 690; but this latter author was as ready to accept Indian versions of events, as the other was disposed to ignore them. The style of Fuentes, though not wanting in elegance and descriptive power, often becomes flowery and sometimes inflated.
[V‑1] In a memorial of Mexicans and Tlascaltecs petitioning the king of Spain for redress of grievances, they said, 'Venimos a conquistar esta prova. bajo el yugo pesado del Ado. Alvarado, i Dn. Po. Puertocarrero;' and again: 'i malos tratos. de los Esps. qe. ahorcaron i mataron ms. de noss.' Memorial, 15 Marzo 1547; Squier's MSS., xxii. 41.
[V‑2] Fuentes says they reached Santiago on this day. He also states that Diego de Alvarado was captain of the garrison; but I think that some other officer was then in command, as a Diego de Alvarado was regidor of Santiago this same year. See Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 16-18.
[V‑3] 'Que hoy no se encuentra el menor vestigio de èl.' Juarros, Guat., ii. 297.
[V‑4] Fuentes y Guzman, Recordacion Florida, MS., 4-12; Juarros, Guat., ii. 297-300. Many families are descended from Spaniards who distinguished themselves in this campaign. Bartolomé Becerra, one of the captains, left numerous descendants besides those bearing his family name. His daughter who later took a prominent part in the conquest of Copan, is represented in the female line by the family of the Villacreces Cueba y Guzman. From Sancho de Baraona, who filled the offices of procurator, syndic, and ordinary alcalde, are descended the Baraona de Loaisa. The cavalry officer Hernando de Chaves was ever placed in command when dangerous enterprises were to be undertaken. His daughter Doña Catarina de Chaves y Vargas married Rodrigo de Fuentes y Guzman, and a second one was wedded to Pedro de Aguilar. Juarros, Guat., i. 349-51.
[V‑5] Vazquez commits a twofold error in stating that Alvarado not only conducted the campaign about to be narrated, but on his arrival at Olintepec united his forces with those stationed there, and marched against Patinamit, which he took after a series of engagements, and then went in pursuit of the caciques who had escaped. Chronica de Gvat., 72-3. This is utterly at variance with the account given by Bernal Diaz, who took part in the campaign. Nor did Alvarado after his arrival at Olintepec undertake any further operations before his departure for Mexico, according to this latter authority, who says: 'y estuvimos descansando ciertos dias' (that is at Olintepec), 'y luego fuimos a Soconusco.' Hist. Verdad., 220.
[V‑6] Called by Vazquez the Nimanche, a word meaning 'great tree,' and derived from the enormous cedars which grew in the ravines. The range is situated about eight leagues from Comalapa and ten to the east of Tecpan Guatemala, near the site of Ruyaalxot. Chronica de Gvat., 70-71.
[V‑7] 'Passa el rio grande, q̃ se dize Nimaya, por sus muchas aguas.' Id.
[V‑8] For an account of a priest's descent into this ravine see Vazquez. Id.
[V‑9] Brasseur de Bourbourg states that this fortification had been previously built, 'dans la prévision d'une guerre avec les Quichés,' and adds that according to public rumor subterranean passages connected it with Patinamit. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 693-4. Vazquez, on the contrary, says that the Quichés aided in its erection in order to provide a safe retreat in case of being defeated by the Spaniards. Its ruins were still to be seen in the time of Juarros. Guat., i. 253.
[V‑10] According to Fuentes it consisted of 215 Spanish arquebusiers and cross-bowmen, 108 horsemen, 120 Tlascaltecs, and 230 Mexicans, with four pieces of artillery, under Diego de Usagre. Recordacion Florida, ii. 586. Brasseur de Bourbourg says the army was composed of 200 Spanish veterans and numerous Mexican, Tlascaltec, Zutugil, and Quiché auxiliaries. Vazquez followed by Escamilla asserts that the number of Spaniards scarcely amounted to 200 men. Chronica de Gvat., 72.
[V‑11] At a place called Chixot according to the Cakchiquel manuscript. Brasseur de Bourbourg has a note to the effect that this must be the same as the Ruyaalxot of Vazquez, as the etymology of this latter name corresponds with that of the Mexican word Comalapa, which he believes to have been afterward founded on the spot. Vazquez says the Spaniards took up their quarters so close to the mountain that they were hardly safe from the rocks rolled down upon them. Chronica de Gvat., 73.
[V‑12] Juarros states that the emissaries were put to death. Guat., i. 253.
[V‑13] 'Ellos como monos se descolgaban hasta donde querian, subian, como por vna escalera bien ordenada por aquellos riscos ... y dando bastantes cuydados al exercito Español.' Vazquez, Chronica de Gvat., 73.
[V‑14] Brasseur de Bourbourg is of this opinion.
[V‑15] Brasseur de Bourbourg states that Sinacam escaped by one of the subterranean passages before mentioned, and after living a wretched life for several years, wandering about the mountains, surrendered to Alvarado in 1530. Hist. Nat. Civ., 695-702. Vazquez has copied an act of the cabildo dated May 19, 1540, in which Alvarado is requested either to take Sinacam and Sequechul with him on his proposed voyage to the Spice Islands on account of their rebellious proclivities, or to execute them. Alvarado replied that he would do what was most convenient. As a matter of fact Sinacam died in Jalisco before the sailing of the fleet. Vazquez is of opinion that as they were not put to death in the heat of the moment, Alvarado would not be likely to execute them at the instigation of the cabildo. Chronica de Gvat., 30-2. The author of the Isagoge states that they lingered in prison for 14 years, that they were put on board the fleet, and probably perished during the voyage, as nothing more is known of them. Pelaez, Mem. Guat., i. 77. Brasseur de Bourbourg's account of the fate of these princes is that Sinacam died in 1533, while Sequechul was put on board the fleet and perished miserably off the coast of Jalisco. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 790, 800-1. Fuentes gives so different an account to that of Vazquez relative to the capture of the stronghold, that, as Juarros remarks, every one would suppose it to be the narration of an entirely distinct event. Guat., ii. 302-5. The capture of Sinacam was yearly celebrated by 'the festival of the volcano,' at which a mimic representation of the event was performed. In the great plaza of Guatemala an artificial mound was thrown up and covered with branches of trees and rocks in imitation of a mountain, and on the top a miniature castle was built. Here the governor of Jocotenango stationed himself with the principal men of his village. He represented Sinacam, and in so high esteem was this privilege held, that in 1680 the ruler of Itzapa offered 500 pesos for the right of personating the character, but was refused. When the governor had placed himself at his post, two companies of Tlascaltecs commenced the mimic siege, and after a long display of prowess on both sides, the assailants stormed the height and captured Sinacam, who was secured with a chain and delivered prisoner to the president. Id., 301-3, note.
[V‑16] Remesal infers that he was in Guatemala on the 26th of August 1526, Hist. Chyapa, 8; though we know that he was at that date a regidor of the city of Mexico. Consult Libro de Cabildo, MS., 152; and Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., ii. 547.
[V‑17] The session was held in the valley of Almolonga, and it is significant that this is the first meeting mentioned in the books of the cabildo as being held there. Of the instability of this so-called city there is sufficient proof. Sancho de Barahona, in arguing against the payment of tithes, says: 'Lo otro digo, que para se pagar los dichos diezmos ... habia de haber pueblo fundado, donde los españoles tuviesen poblacion sentada.' Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 27. The valley of Tianguecillo or Tianguez was the same as the present Chimaltenango. Juarros, Guat., ii. 304.
[V‑18] Remesal states that in July 1530 the cabildo ordered one bull to be bought for 25 pesos de oro, a price which indicates the scarcity of cattle at that date. In 1543 six were purchased. Hist. Chyapa, 27. This author is of opinion that Santiago was chosen as the patron saint only because of the devotion of the Spaniards to that apostle. Id., 4. Fuentes gives as the reason that the Spanish army entered the Cakchiquel capital on his anniversary day, and states that he personally took their city under his protection, by appearing on horseback with sword in hand at the head of the army, while marching along the valley of Panchoy. Juarros, Guat., ii. 273. For further opinions and information on this subject consult Vazquez, Chronica de Gvat., 74-5; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 20-1; Juarros, Guat., ii. 275-7; Escamilla, Noticias Curiosas de Guat., 12; and Pelaez, Mem. Guat., ii. 223-7.
[V‑19] The former received the name of the 'hospital de misericordia,' and the chapel and shrine were to be dedicated to Nuestra Señora de los Remedios.
[V‑20] In April 1528 Santiago was made the capital of the province, Puga, Cedulario, 27; and in 1532 was granted armorial bearings, which are thus described by Juarros: 'A shield charged with three mountains on a field Gules, the centre one vomiting fire, and surmounted by the Apostle St James on horseback, armed, and brandishing a sword; an Orle with eight shells; Or, on a field, Azure; crest a crown.' Guat. (ed. London, 1823), 105. For other descriptions see Vazquez, Chronica de Gvat., 37; and Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 5-6. A lithograph of the shield faces page five of this last authority, and a wood-cut of it, somewhat different, is to be seen in Gonzalez Dávila, Teat. Ecles., i. between pp. 138 and 139.
[V‑21] It has already been observed that the names of the same persons often appear in more than one list of enrolled citizens. This was done in order to obtain new grants without prejudice to previous ones. Citizens were enrolled in 1527, 'sin perjuicio de las otras vecindades antes recibidas en esta dicha cibdad.' Actas Ayunt. Guat., 39. And again in 1528, 'sin perjuicio de las vecindades que se han hecho en esta cibdad, despues de la que se fundó en esta provincia en tiempo de Pedro de Alvarado.' Id. 42. Remesal says: 'Muchos estan escritos dos vezes, porque no tuuieron por suficiente para adquirir dererecho a esta segunda vezindad, estar alistados en la primera.' Hist. Chyapa, 33.
[V‑22] The caballería was the amount of land granted to a cavalryman, and the peonía that bestowed on a foot-soldier, who was termed 'peon.' The former received 600 by 1,400 pasos, or about 174 acres, and the latter half that quantity. Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 48. Remesal states that the caballería was 600 by 300 feet, and otherwise gives an account that is not in accordance with the book of the cabildo. Hist. Chyapa, 39. Even the more accurate Juarros is in error in stating that the grant to a cavalryman was 1,000 by 600 pasos. Guat., ii. 341.
[V‑23] As these grants were considered as rewards for services rendered to the king for a period of five years, the deeds were confirmed at a later date upon the holder proving that he had served for that length of time.
[VI‑1] Garcilaso de la Vega asserts that Charles in his royal gardens at Aranjuez chanced to see Alvarado pass by, and struck with his appearance asked who he was. On being told that it was Alvarado he said, 'No tiene este hombre talle de aver hecho lo que de él me han dicho,' and ordered the charges against him to be dismissed. Hist. Peru, ii. 58.
[VI‑2] Alvarado petitioned the king for the government of Guatemala and other provinces, which he represented to have been conquered and pacified at his own cost. The adelantado Montejo declared before the king on the 13th of April 1529, that in no portion of his statement did Alvarado speak the truth, which assertion he said would be corroborated in the report of the president and oidores. Montejo, Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 89. A similar statement was made at a session of the cabildo of Mexico held Jan. 29, 1529, and Vazquez de Tapia and the chief procurator were empowered to take steps in the matter to counteract Alvarado's false statements. Libro de Cabildo, MS., 248.
[VI‑3] 'Y que por el poco camino que auia hasta la mar del Norte, seria facil el comercio.' Herrera, dec. iv. lib. ii. cap. iii.
[VI‑4] Remesal says that he had before been ironically dubbed comendador by the soldiers, because he had been in the habit of wearing at feast days the cloak of an uncle who held that title. Hist. Chyapa, 16. See also Hist. Mex., i. 74, this series.
[VI‑5] Cortés was much displeased with this agreement, as he considered the search for the Spice Islands and the navigation of the South Sea to be his exclusive right. Ramirez, Proceso contra Alvarado, p. xvi.
[VI‑6] 'Cortés le embiaba siempre Españoles, Caballos, Hierro, y Ropa, y cosas de Rescate, y le favorecia mucho, porque le avia prometido de Casarse con vna su Prima-Hermana, y asi le hiço su Teniente, en aquella Provincia.' Torquemada, i. 322.
[VI‑7] Doña Francisca lived but a short time after the marriage. Remesal says that her death occurred a few days after marriage; Zamacois, Hist. Méj., iv. 485, and Ramirez that she died on her arrival at Vera Cruz. Herrera only mentions that Alvarado became her suitor. He afterward married her sister Beatriz, and the first named author, pages 42, 49, imagines that this second marriage took place shortly after the first, whereas it was at least ten years later. Consult Arévalo, Doc. Antig., 179, and Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ii. 245, 252. Brasseur de Bourbourg makes the same mistake. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 701.
[VI‑8] Remesal correctly points out a mistake in the books of the cabildo, the year 1527 being carelessly copied for 1528. Hist. Chyapa, 39; Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 83.
[VI‑9] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 42.
[VI‑10] Only two of these remain to our knowledge. For the discovery and preservation of the Proceso de Residencia contra Pedro de Alvarado, we are indebted to the licentiate Ignacio Rayon, 'oficial mayor' in the Mexican archives. The confusion of the immense pile of documents in that office had become so great that in 1846 the government decided to reduce them to some order, and entrusted the work of so doing to the director Miguel María Arrioja, whose co-laborer was Rayon. In a bundle of old papers, marked 'useless,' was the Proceso contra Alvarado, the historical value of which was at once recognized. The first intention of the finder was merely to copy and add it to his collection of manuscripts. His friends, however, advised him otherwise; and through their assistance—Ignacio Trigueros generously offering to pay expenses, and José Fernando Ramirez having obtained permission from the government—he published it in Mexico in 1847. The Proceso is the official investigation into Alvarado's conduct in Mexico and Guatemala, and consists of the several charges, mainly bearing on his cruel treatment of the natives, his extortions, and embezzlement of royal dues, and the testimony of the witnesses on both sides. Though there is much conflicting evidence, it is of great value in establishing numerous historical points narrated by the early chroniclers. This volume contains, besides the Proceso, a biographical sketch of Alvarado's career by Ramirez; fragments of the Proceso contra Nuño de Guzman, preceded by an account of his life by the same author; and notes explanatory of four copies of Aztec paintings, one of which represents the death of Alvarado. The account given by Ramirez of Alvarado's expedition to Peru is the same as that of Herrera and incorrect, as are also the reasons he assigns for the Honduras campaign. It is well known that Ramirez was minister of state during the empire under Maximilian.
[VI‑11] There is a copy of this document in the Actas Ayunt. Guat., 80-4. Alvarado, his officers and lieutenants were to be subject to the audiencia and chancillería real of the city of Mexico, appeal in civil and criminal causes to lie from Alvarado and his officers to the president and oidores of Mexico, with some exceptions in civil cases. He had power to appoint and remove officers of administration at will, and to try and decide all causes, civil and criminal, to make general laws, and particular ones for each pueblo; to establish penalties, and enforce them; to order persons whom he might wish to send away from his province to appear before their Majesties, and in case of their refusal, to visit them with penalties which their Majesties in anticipation confirmed. His annual salary was to be 562,500 maravedís.
[VI‑12] And somewhat contemptuously added: 'é que no quiere usar dellos, si de derecho lo puede é debe hacer.' Id., 84.
[VI‑13] Francisco de Orduña was Cortés' secretary in 1523, and was sent by him to negotiate with Garay. Herrera, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. vi. In 1524 he was elected secretary of the cabildo of Mexico, and shortly afterward returned to Spain. We next find him procurador of Mexico in 1526. Ocaña, Carta, in Icazbalceta, i. 530, 532, and the governor Alonso de Estrada made him regidor in 1528. From this time his friendly relations with Cortés seem to have been interrupted, as his evidence taken in February 1529, in the residencia instituted against that conqueror, is far from favorable. In the same testimony he also displays antipathy to Alvarado.
[VI‑14] In the minutes of the cabildo dated 15th September, it is stated 'al presente estàn los mas de los españoles de guerra sobre el pueblo del Tuerto, é sobre el pueblo de Xumaytepeque à donde han muerto ciertos españoles, y estamos al presente de camino para la provincia de Uxpantlan, é Tesulutlan, é Tequepanpo y Umatlan, que estàn todas é otras muchas de guerra.' Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 128. The Libro de Actas de Ayuntamiento de la Ciudad de Santiago de Guatemala comprises the minutes of the cabildo of Santiago during the first six years of its existence, copied literally, by Rafael de Arévalo, secretary of the municipality, from the original records in the archives of the city. The work was published in Guatemala in 1856. There can be no doubt that the records of many of the sessions are wanting in this work, owing to their loss or illegibility. It is to be regretted that the transcriber did not indicate in his publication where he considered the originals were defective, or remark upon the obliteration of different portions, the only instance of his doing so being on page 7. Remesal states that until the year 1530 the cabildo had no bound book of records, but simply loose sheets, many of which must have been lost, Hist. Chyapa, 33; and Juarros refers to minutes which do not appear in Arévalo's edition. I cannot, therefore, agree with Brasseur de Bourbourg, who asserts that it 'comprend tous les actes du conseil communal ... durant les six premières années.' Bib. Mex. Guat., 15. Though many of the ordinances are of minor interest, the work is of value, inasmuch as a portion of them reflect to a great extent the condition and social state of the colonists, while from others an idea is derived of the continual state of warfare in which the Spaniards lived. A considerable number afford information relative to the holding of and succession to property, to restriction regarding the sale of it, and the amount of land to be possessed by a single owner. These and other regulations for the internal government of the community afford much information with regard to its system. The book is additionally valuable as conclusive in assigning correct dates in many important instances. It also throws much light on many historical events, and is particularly serviceable in supplying a vivid conception of the arbitrary proceedings and violent character of Francisco de Orduña.
[VI‑15] The natives of Xumay, Xalpatlahua, Cinacantan, and Petapa. Brasseur de Bourbourg states that the two former were identical with the Chortis. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 698.
[VI‑16] Dardon had accompanied Alvarado from Mexico, and was appointed by him a regidor of the city of Santiago, founded in 1524. This office or that of alcalde he held for many years. He served with distinction as a subaltern in many campaigns. Juarros, Guat., i. 348-9.
[VI‑17] The present town of Cuajiniquilapa is situated a few miles from the right bank of this river.
[VI‑18] Brasseur de Bourbourg assumes that it was surmounted by a fortress.
[VI‑19] Tonaltetl by name.
[VI‑20] Juarros, Guat., ii. 88-90. This author makes the rather doubtful assertion that the place was called Los Esclavos from the fact that these were the first rebels whom the Spaniards branded. Brasseur de Bourbourg more reasonably assigns the origin of the name to the great number branded.
[VI‑21] Brasseur de Bourbourg says: 'The town of this name situated between the lofty mountains of Bilabitz and Meawan preserved more than other places the ancient rites of Hunahpu and Exbalanqué, and the temple of these gods annually received a certain number of human victims.' Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 699.
[VI‑22] Brasseur de Bourbourg gives the number of Indian allies as three thousand. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 700.
[VI‑23] Called by Juarros, Gaspar Arias Dávila. Guat., i. 363. This officer may be identical with a certain Gaspar Arias de Avila or Dávila, whom Alvarado while in Honduras sent to confer with Pedrarias at Panamá. The name of Gaspar Arias appears in the minutes of the cabildo of Oct. 4, 1525, and not again till March 18, 1528, when he was nominated for the office of alcalde. The omission of his name for so long a period may be explained by his absence in Panamá.
[VI‑24] According to Bernal Diaz, Gaspar Arias was a firm supporter of Alvarado and his party. Hence, probably, his dismissal from office.
[VI‑25] The reception which Arias met with at Santiago is a good illustration of Orduña's character. On appearing before the cabildo and petitioning that the wand of office be restored to him, Orduña passionately called him a disturber of the peace, laid violent hands on him, and, while ordering him to be carried off to prison, struck him in the face. 'Delante de todo el cabildo, y en gran menosprecio y desacatamiento de su magestad y de su cabildo.' In January 1530 Arias again petitioned for redress, but though the voting was somewhat in his favor, he does not seem to have obtained it, as his name appears no more as alcalde. Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 139-42.
[VI‑26] 'Plusieurs Espagnols et surtout beaucoup d'alliés, ayant été pris vivants, se virent emmenés dans la place et sacrifiés solennellement à la divinité barbare.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 700. The name of the idol was Exbalanqué.
[VI‑27] According to Herrera the number of Spaniards consisted of 31 horse and 30 foot. dec. iv. lib. vii. cap. v.
[VI‑28] In Herrera, dec. i. lib. vii. cap. xiv., is a copy of the requerimiento ordered by the king to be delivered to the natives when summoned to allegiance as noticed elsewhere. A similar form existed in the archives of Guatemala in Remesal's time. This formal summons was frequently omitted, or evaded. A priest, who at the beginning of the conquest of Guatemala had taken part in the war while a layman, thus describes the form and mode of proceeding. At night one of the soldiers with sound of drum, said: 'You Indians of this town! we inform you that there is one God, and one pope, and one king of Castile, to whom this pope has given you as slaves; wherefore we require you to come and tender your obedience to him and to us in his name, under the penalty that we wage war against you with fire and sword!' The priest then briefly describes the sequel: 'At the morning watch they fell upon them, capturing all whom they could, under pretence that they were rebels, y los demas los quemauan, ô passauan à cuchillo, robauãles la hazienda, y ponian fuego al lugar.' Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 413-14.
[VI‑29] Juarros states that Orduña shortly afterward returned to Santiago on account of sickness; but I find that Castellanos arrived there before him. Consult Actas Ayunt. Guat., 138, 142-3, from which it appears that the treasurer was in Santiago on the 19th of January 1530, and Orduña on the 12th of February.
[VI‑30] Juarros, Guat. (ed. London, 1823), 300-7. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 703-4.
[VI‑31] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 48. Cavo makes this remark upon Remesal's account: 'It seems to me more probable that the disagreement was between an oidor and that conqueror, since it is certain that three years previously the emperor ordered the factor to leave Mexico,' Tres Siglos, i. 104-5. A letter of Bishop Zumárraga to the king dated August 27, 1529, disproves Cavo's inference that the factor was not in Mexico at the time. The bishop also gives a different version of the challenge. He states that the president Guzman, Salazar, Alvarado, and others while out riding discussed the news lately received that Cortés had been highly favored by the king and was on his way back to Mexico. Guzman remarked that he believed he would soon return, whereupon the factor passionately exclaimed, 'El rey que á tal traidor como á Cortés embia es hereje y no cristiano.' For a few days nothing was done to call the factor to account for such treasonable language, but on the 18th of the month Alvarado appeared before the audiencia and requested permission to send him a formal challenge. That body, however, defended Salazar, and on the following day their president Guzman made reply to this effect: 'Pedro de Alvarado miente como muy ruin caballero, si lo es, que el Factor no dijo tal, porque es servidor de Vuestra Majestad y no habia de decir tal palabra,' and Alvarado was ironed and thrown into prison. The bishop adds, 'y no sé qué harán dél,' and that he has three witnesses worthy of all trust and of the order of Santiago, who heard the factor use the language. Zumárraga, Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, xiii. 176-7. Zamacois gives almost the same account as the above. Hist. Méj. iv. 485-6.
[VI‑32] This release must only be considered as conditional, and not as a rejection of the charges brought against Alvarado. We learn, however, from Remesal that in 1531 the second audiencia acquitted him. Hist. Chyapa, 42.
[VI‑33] Bishop Zumárraga states that the president and oidores robbed Alvarado of all the valuables which he had brought from Spain, 'que fué tanto aparato y cosas ricas como un conde principal desos reinos pudiera traer;' all his silverware, tapestry, horses, and mules, 'de todo no le han dejado un pan qué comer.' He also furnishes a list of articles given as presents by Alvarado to the president and the oidores. He, moreover, makes the assertion that 'Desta manera han perseguido á quantos han sido de contraria opinion del Factor ... y lo que peor es, que en apellando ó sabiendo que querian apellar, los aprisionavan.' Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 136-40. Herrera leaves it to be concluded that Alvarado left Mexico at his pleasure: 'Hallaron al Adelantado don Pedro de Alvarado, que entendidos estos rumores en Mexico, auia ydo para defender su gouernacion, y lleuaua ochenta soldados de a pie, y de a cauallo.' dec. iv. lib. vii. cap. v.
[VI‑34] The cabildo frequently issued regulations with the object of correcting these abuses. The inconvenience caused by artisans closing their workshops was so serious that, on June 4, 1529, the cabildo passed an act ordering them to exercise their callings under penalty of having the service of their Indians suspended. In 1534 a similar decree was passed, and again in April 1536. Actas Ayunt. Guat., 88, passim; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 171.
[VI‑35] 'Fueron los atrassos grandes, los disgustos continuos, y las dissensiones, de muchas consequẽcias: que á no aplicar efficazes, y oportunos remedios el Adelantado ... pudiera ser, que se huviera despoblado la tierra.' Vazquez, Chronica de Gvat., 156.
[VI‑36] Vazquez states that in 1531 horses had so multiplied that the cabildo assigned the plains between Escuintla and Mazaqua as lands for brood-mares and foals. Remesal relates that the increase of the herds was much retarded by the ravages of wild beasts, which destroyed the young animals, and not unfrequently cows and mares. In February 1532 great destruction was caused by an enormous lion, whose haunt was the densely wooded slopes of the Volcan de Agua. The loss of cattle was so great that the city offered a bounty of 25 pesos de oro or 100 bushels of corn to any one who killed the monster. In March a large party headed by Alvarado went forth to hunt for it, but their efforts were unsuccessful. He was finally killed by the herder of the mares. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 173; Album Mex., 417. Notwithstanding the depredations of wild animals, live-stock increased so rapidly that in 1540 beef sold for three cents a pound and mutton for four and five cents. Pelaez, Mem. Guat., i. 188. There are two competitors for the distinction of having first introduced horned cattle into Guatemala. According to Vazquez, the auditor Francisco de Zorrilla imported stock at his own expense, and had a feeding-ground for his herds assigned to him in 1530. Juarros ascribes to Hector de Barreda the honor of being the first importer, and to him was assigned in the distribution of lands a feeding-ground in the present Valle de las Vacas, which received its name from the fact that he there established a stock-farm. Chronica de Gvat., 162; Juarros, Guat., ii. 354.
[VI‑37] In 1529 the population of Santiago numbered only 150 according to the records of the cabildo, Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 22; but in the neighborhood were many settlers who had not been enrolled as citizens.
[VI‑38] None were allowed to hold more than two caballerías.
[VI‑39] Juarros entertains no doubt of this: in the first place because its location exactly corresponds with that where Moscoso built his town; and secondly, because there is no evidence that any Spanish town existed on the other side of the Lempa previous to 1530, while the villa de San Miguel is proved by the books of the cabildo of the city of Guatemala, to have been in existence in June 1531. Guat., ii. 105. In May 1535 it is mentioned by Alvarado in a letter to Charles V. Cartas, Squier's MSS., xix. 7.
[VI‑40] Called by Juarros San Jorge de Olanchito.
[VII‑1] 'Vos damos licencia ... para que por nos ... podais descubrir, conquistar é poblar, cualesquier Islas qué hay en la mar del Sur de la Nueva España, questán en su parage; é todas las que halláredes hácia el Poniente della, no siendo en el parage de las tierras en que hoy hay proveydas gobernadores; é así mismo ... podais descubrir cualquier parte de tierra firme, que halláredes, por la dicha costa del Sur, hácia el Poniente, que no se haya hasta agora descubierto, ni entre en los límites é parage Norte-Sur, de la tierra questá dada en gobernacion á otras personas.' Capitulacion, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiv. 538-9.
[VII‑2] Herrera, dec. iv. lib. x. cap. xv., and Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 112, state that in these preparations Alvarado was provided by the emperor with a considerable amount of funds; but the adelantado in his official letters to the court, in Cartas, Squier's MSS., xix. 1-4, 13-27, while dwelling on the labor and expense these preparations involved, makes no allusion to outside aid. It is not probable, however, that a man of Alvarado's character would have fitted out this expedition purely from loyal motives or having in view only the remote contingency of the compensation to be derived from his twelfth of the profits.
[VII‑3] Herrera, dec. iv. lib. x. cap. xv., and Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 113, state that the audiencia ordered the fitting-out of his expedition to be stopped.
[VII‑4] Herrera, dec. iv. lib. x. cap. xv.; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 113.
[VII‑5] Alvarado, Cartas, in Squier's MSS., xix. 13-27; Herrera, dec. v. lib. vi. cap. i. Herrera mentions but one ship.
[VII‑6] There is no information, or none of value, as to the first settlement of Realejo by the Spaniards. Herrera, dec. v. lib. vi. cap. i., states that Alvarado was compelled, through lack of ships, to leave 200 men there. This may have been the origin of the colony. Purchas, 1625, spells the word Realjo; Ogilby, 1671, Realejo; Dampier, 1699, Rialeja; Jefferys, 1776, Realejo, as bay and city. Cartog. Pac. Coast, MS., ii. 204, a.
[VII‑7] Equal in purchasing power to more than a million and a half of dollars at the present time.
[VII‑8] Alvarado, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xix. 1-4, writing to the emperor from Puerto de la Posesion, January 18, 1534, says: 'Mi derrota será conforme á la merced de V. M. y desde los 13 hasta los 20 grados de la otra parte de la linea descubriré todos los secretos de esta Mar y las Yslas, y Tierra firme, y donde mas convenga conquistaré, y poblaré.' In view of this it is singular that Zárate, in Barcia, iii., and those who copy him, are the only authorities who concede that Alvarado had any right to sail in a southerly direction. Herrera, dec. v. lib. vi. cap. i., Prescott, Conq. Peru, ii. 11, and others affirm that his capitulation required him to sail toward the west, and it is evident that they did not see the letter mentioned in Squier's MSS.
[VII‑9] The number of vessels is variously stated. Herrera mentions 11; Remesal, 10; Juarros, 8, Oviedo, 11, and Prescott, 12. The number and tonnage given above are taken from the letter in Squier's MSS., mentioned in note 18. This was written from Puerto de la Posesion on the eve of departure. One galleon was of 300 tons, another of 160, a third of 150, and a fourth, built by order of Pedrarias Dávila in the gulf of Chira, was of 100 tons.
[VII‑10] Alvarado is charged with the seizure in Nicaragua of two vessels in which a force of 200 men was about to be sent to the aid of Pizarro. This, however, was most likely in the form of an appropriation with the consent of the owners of the vessels. The adelantado in Carta, in Squier's MSS., xix. 13-27, denies this charge and forwards vouchers to prove, as he says, that they were bought at the request of the owners and paid for to their entire satisfaction. He adds however the saving clause, that, 'even had they been seized, such an act was justified by the importance of the undertaking.' This letter also appears to have escaped Herrera's notice.
[VII‑11] In the estimate of the total Spanish force authors mainly agree, but the number of cavalry is variously stated, and even the official letters of Alvarado are contradictory on this point. Herrera, dec. v. lib. vi. cap. i., gives 500 as the total, of whom 227 were cavalry. Oviedo, iv. 240, mentions 600, with 240 cavalry. According to a legal investigation made in Guatemala in 1536 his whole force was 500 and his cavalry 230, Informacion echa en Santiago Set. 15, 1536; and this is the estimate here adopted. Alvarado, Carta, Squier's MSS., xix. 1-4, writing to the emperor a few days before his departure from Puerto de la Posesion, states that he had 450 men including 260 horse, and, a few weeks later, writing from Puerto Viejo to the governor of Panamá, says that he set sail from Nicaragua with 500 men of whom 220 were cavalry.
[VII‑12] In Squier's MSS., xix. 7-14, is a full account of Alvarado's report to the emperor, dated May 12, 1535, after his return from Peru.
[VII‑13] Chap. i., this volume.
[VII‑14] Informacion contra Alvarado, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., x. 152-236. Cuzco lies slightly to the south of the thirteenth parallel, and was therefore in the territory assigned to the adelantado; but it is not probable that he was aware of this fact.
[VII‑15] Alvarado, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xix. 21.
[VII‑16] 'Y asi él se volvió á la cibdad de Mexico sin hacer cosa ninguna.' Alvarado, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xix. 17. This investigation was attended with some circumstances difficult of explanation. Maldonado's official proceedings were anomalous, and were strictly neither those of a visitador nor a juez de residencia. The king's decree mentioned in the text enjoined secrecy as to the motives of his visit; yet he caused the object of his arrival to be publicly cried. The difference between a visita and residencia is as follows: The visita could be made at any time by special commission of the crown, but without suspending, in the exercise of his official duties, the person whose conduct was to be investigated. The inquiry was strictly secret, and the visitador had no power to pass sentence. His duty was to remit the original depositions to the India Council, by which tribunal judgment was passed. The residencia, on the other hand, was taken at the expiration of a person's term of office; the examination was public, and afforded every opportunity for defence. Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., ii. pp. xxviii.-xxx. The secrecy of witnesses and non-interference with the authority of the person whose conduct was investigated were not always maintained, however, in the visita. In that to which Viceroy Mendoza was subjected, in 1547, his authority was at first disregarded and the names of witnesses disclosed. Solórzano, Política Indiana, lib. v. cap. x. It may be remarked that the chroniclers seem to have been quite unaware of this first visit of Maldonado in 1535, and only record his arrival in Guatemala as juez de residencia in 1536. It is, however, fully substantiated by Alvarado's letter above quoted. For a full explanation of the term 'residencia,' see Hist. Cent. Am., i. 250-1, this series.
[VIII‑1] See Hist. Cent. Am., i. 638, this series.
[VIII‑2] Marroquin was a good Latin scholar and was the first to apply the system of studying that language to the Indian dialects. He translated the Catholic catechism into Quiché. Vazquez, Chronica de Gvat., 150.
[VIII‑3] Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 142. Torquemada mentions that Francisco Jimenez, one of the 12 Franciscans who first arrived in New Spain, was appointed the first bishop of Guatemala, but declined the position 'por quedar en el estado humilde ... de Fraile Menor,' iii. 445. Vazquez, quoting a royal cédula dated May 24, 1531, proves that a bishop had been already appointed at that date. Chron. Gvat., 36-7. According to Remesal, the emperor appointed Domingo de Betanzos the first bishop, and as he could not be induced to accept the honor, the mitre was given to Marroquin at the request of Alvarado. Hist. Chyapa, 58-9. In Nueva España, Breve Res., MS., ii. 351-76, is a copy of the bull confirming the bishop's appointment, printed in Spanish and Latin.
[VIII‑4] Vazquez relates that Fray Toribio Motolinia, mentioned by Torquemada as the sixth of the first 12 Franciscan missionaries, resided in Guatemala during portions of 1528 and 1529; but this is extremely doubtful. According to the former chronicler he preached and baptized at Quetzaltenango and Patinamit in both years. Chron. Gvat., 20-1; but there is conclusive evidence that he was in Mexico some time during 1528 engaged in violent opposition to the audiencia. Santa María, Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii. tom. v. 92 et seq., and was also there on the 15th of April 1529 occupied in the same contention. Procès-verbal, in Id., 104 et seq. It is not very probable that, during the interval, he should have made a journey to Guatemala and as Vazquez claims even to Nicaragua. Consult also Ramirez, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. pp. xlv.-cliii. According to Torquemada, Toribio was sent to Guatemala in 1533 to found monasteries. iii. 489.
[VIII‑5] In 1527, according to Gonzalez Dávila, who states that a hospital was founded at the same time. Teatro, Ecles., i. 140. Remesal, who is more to be relied on in this matter, gives 1529 as the date of Betanzos' arrival in Santiago, and says that he came at the request of Alvarado on his return from Spain. Hist. Chyapa, 15, 42-5.
[VIII‑6] 'Celebrose su consagracion con ostentissimo aparato, assi por ser la primera q̃ en Yndias se hazîa, como por la magnificencia del S. Principe, que le consagrô.' Vazquez, Chron. Gvat., 39.
[VIII‑7] Remesal gives a copy of this constitution, which was signed, 'Episcopvs Gvactemalensis.'
[VIII‑8] Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 182-5; Marroquin al Emperador, in Cartas de Indias, 413-14. The bishop's signature, in his letters addressed to the emperor from 1537 to 1547, is different in almost every letter. On May 10, 1537, he signs himself 'Episcopus Sancti Jacobi Huatemalensis;' on August 15, 1539, 'Episcopus Cuahvtemalensis;' on August 10 and November 25, 1541, 'Episcopus Cuacvtemolensis;' and on June 4, 1545, and September 20, 1547, 'Episcopus Cuachutemallensis.' Cartas de Indias, 425, 428, 431, 433, 443, 450.
[VIII‑9] The tithes, when paid in kind, were of little value unless delivered at convenient places. The king, therefore, issued a cédula ordering that they be taken by the natives to the mines, or some other suitable place, within a radius of 20 leagues around each town. Mendoza, Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ii. 209; Florida, Col. Doc., 138.
[VIII‑10] Speaking of the provision, he says: 'Recibiré merced la reciban con todo amor y voluntad.' Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 184.
[VIII‑11] Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 14.
[VIII‑12] The bishop's humility and pardonable boastfulness are sometimes a little striking. Speaking of the provision for the delivery of the tithes, he says: 'Sino se pierde por mis deméritos, que creo no pierde, pues trabajo mas que los demàs perlados, que en estas índias al presente residen.' Id., 184.
[VIII‑13] During the earlier period of the Spanish conquests in America this order took no active part. A few individuals, however, found their way to the new world, among whom was Bartolomé de Olmedo, who accompanied Cortés to Mexico. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa., 148.
[VIII‑14] On March 17, 1538, according to Gonzalez, Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 144. Remesal states that the convent was not formally organized until a year or two later, and quotes an entry in the books of the cabildo dated the 12th of August 1538, from which it appears that certain citizens wished to assist in the building and furnishing of a convent and church for the use of the order. Hist. Chyapa, 148. There is some doubt as to the exact date.
[VIII‑15] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 147-9; Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 144-8; Escamilla, Noticias Curiosas, MS., 12; Iglesias y Conventos de Mex., 283.
[VIII‑16] Juarros, Guat., i. 380.
[IX‑1] See Hist. Cent. Am., i. 606, this series.
[IX‑2] Salcedo brought with him to Trujillo 209 slaves; of these 102 were branded in the face. Testimonio, Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiv. 70-7.
[IX‑3] It is stated that Salcedo's death was caused by a sore on one of his legs, and by the rough treatment received while imprisoned at Leon; but his friends suspected that he had been poisoned. Herrera, dec. iv. lib. vii. cap. iii.
[IX‑4] The only document which Herrera could produce in support of his claim was a memorandum without date, signature, or witness. The appointment of Cereceda, on the other hand, was signed by Salcedo and attested by 12 witnesses. Cerezeda, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xx. 3-5. See also Oviedo, iii. 192.
[IX‑5] Diego Mendez had already been waylaid during the night and severely wounded at the entrance of his house. He would have been killed had not some of his friends come to his assistance. Cerezeda, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xx. 4, 5; Oviedo, iii. 193.
[IX‑6] It was claimed that a portion of the repartimientos belonging to the late governor had been unlawfully appropriated, and was therefore liable to confiscation. Soon afterward the boy died, and his entire inheritance was divided among certain of the officials. Oviedo, iii. 193.
[IX‑7] Cereceda afterward excused himself by saying that he had given his consent in order to preserve peace in the province. 'Consentí que se les diese lo que no les diera si fuera solo haciendo lo que era razon; hicelo solo por sosegallos i que no alterasen ó amotonasen la tierra,' in order to gain time until the king should definitely determine upon a new governor. Cerezeda, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xx. 5, 6.
[IX‑8] Herrera, dec. iv. lib. vii. cap. iii.
[IX‑9] The morality of the colonists appears to have been somewhat more lax hereabout than usual. In commenting on the conduct of Herrera and other officials Cereceda says: 'Tenian ocupadas quatro casas de casados deste pueblo i que con infamia publica i pesar los maridos los comportavan, sin yo ser parte á lo remediar con palabras i amenazas, porque lo demas por el mayor daño se escusava.' Carta, in Squier's MSS., xx. 7.
[IX‑10] The certificate was originally taken from Mendez by the cabildo, and deposited with the Notary Carrasco, who, being an enemy to Herrera, was easily induced to return it to its owner. Cerezeda, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xx. 15-18. See also Oviedo, iii. 108.
[IX‑11] 'É ovo regidor que dixo, ó temiendo al Diego Mendez, ó porque le paresçia ser conviniente á la república, que si no se pudiesse concertar en que fuesse su teniente Diego Mendez, que lo fuesse el Cereceda dél, porque esso era lo que convenia al serviçio de Dios é de Sus Magestades, é al bien é sosiego de aquella universidad é de la tierra. É porque algunos se riyeron desto, replicó assi: "Reysos é parésçeos mal lo que he dicho? Pues asentadlo assi, escribano, que yo lo digo assi."' Oviedo, iii. 203.
[IX‑12] Cerezeda, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xx. 39. Oviedo, iii. 207, says that only seven were wounded. Herrera, dec. v. lib. i. cap. x., mentions but four.
[IX‑13] 'Que eran aquel Pedro Vidal, alguacil, que dió la puñalada al Vasco de Herrera é le echó la soga al cuello, con la que fué despues ahorcado el malfechor; y el otro Alonso Vazquez, alcalde é capitan de la guarda del tirano.' Oviedo, iii. 208.
[IX‑14] Dávila, Relacion, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiv. 114-17. See also Oviedo, iii. 213.
[IX‑15] 'Murieron mas de la mitad dellos, assi de los que servian á los chripstianos en sus haçiendas, como de las naborias de casa.' Oviedo, iii. 213.
[IX‑16] Cerezeda, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 50; Oviedo, iii. 212. See also Hist. Mex., ii., this series.
[IX‑17] Herrera endeavored to persuade Ávila to accompany him, and proceed in quest of new discoveries. The latter, however, declined, and on the return of Cereceda was sent on with his men, by sea, to Yucatan. Oviedo, iii. 212-30.
[IX‑18] Oviedo, iii. 213, gives 180 as the number.
[IX‑19] The Quimistan (Quinbistan?), Zolûta, Zelimonga, and Zulâ Indians returned, but not those of Naco. Herrera, dec. v. lib. ix. cap. viii.
[IX‑20] Distant 23 leagues from Puerto de Caballos, 3 from Quinbistan, 7 from Naco, and 15 from San Gil de Buenavista. Herrera, dec. v. lib. ix. cap. viii.
[IX‑21] Cereceda was to be 'captain of all the other captains.' Herrera, dec. v. lib. ix. cap. ix., estimates the strength of the combined forces at 80 soldiers, but this is manifestly an error.
[IX‑22] Herrera speaks of her as a native of Seville, and as having been captured by Cizimba, 'que auia diez años—tenia por muger,' at the time of the massacre at Puerto de Caballos. dec. v. lib. ix. cap. ix.
[IX‑23] 'Los que quedaron en la ciudad de Truxillo ... sinificauan al Rey sus necessidades, suplicauante ... que no la olvidasse, pues no era menos provechosa que las otras de las Indias, por las muchas minas que en ella auia: y quanto al sitio de la Ciudad dezian, que era muy sano, enxuto, y ayroso, y de muy buenas aguas.... Dezian que no auia vezino que no tuuiesse en su casa vn huerto con todas las frutas de Castilla, que se auian podido auer, las quales se dauan muy bien, como naranjos, cidras, limones agrios y dulces, granados y higueras, de las quales a siete meses que se plãtan, se cogia fruta: de melones y vbas, y otras tenian abundancia.' Herrera, dec. v. lib. ix. cap. ix.
[IX‑24] Herrera says that affairs in the province were in a sad plight, for Cereceda, 'cuya crueldad excedia a toda humana prudencia,' had lost all control over his men. dec. vi. lib. i. cap. viii. Montejo, who afterward became governor of Honduras, also speaks in very disparaging terms of Cereceda. 'All the time he was in Zula and Naco he never moved two leagues from his abode. Of the 27 or 28 towns in existence when he reached the country he did not leave a single one. He destroyed everything, even the cattle and mares. The people he brought away in irons, leaving some towns without a single inhabitant. He and his advisers, a priest named Juan Ávila and a certain Juan Ruano, had laid waste the best portion of Honduras.' Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ii. 240-1.
[IX‑25] 'Quisiesse socorrer á los pobladores chripstianos, que estaban en Honduras, en paçificar la tierra, é dar órden cómo no se acabassen de perder los españoles que allí estaban.' Oviedo, iii. 214.
[IX‑26] Oviedo, iii. 214, says that this occurred in 1533. Célis himself states that Cereceda sent him to Guatemala toward the end of 1535, or early in 1536. Camino de Guat., in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiv. 540-9; whereas Herrera states that Célis went of his own accord. 'Estas cosas llegaron a termino que el Tesorero como buen ministro sossegô la gente, con prometer de yr a Guatemala á pedir socorro a don Pedro de Aluarado.' dec. vi. lib. i. cap. viii.
[IX‑27] Cava, Honduras, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiv. 280 et seq., Célis subsequently put in a claim for 800 castellanos, for the subsistence of his party, and for horses employed during the exploration of a road to Guatemala. On the 24th of October 1539 a judicial investigation was held before the alcalde mayor, at Puerto de Caballos, to ascertain whether the treasurer had, as he claimed, discovered a road thence to Guatemala. Several witnesses were examined, and all testified that Alonso Ortiz had discovered and travelled over the road before Célis; that the latter when he passed on to Guatemala was under no expense whatever, for his supplies were furnished by others. Célis, Camino, in Id., xiv. 540-50. In Guatemala he stopped at the house of the king's treasurer, and was therefore under no expense. Montejo, in Id., ii. 241.
[IX‑28] There were present, Andrés de Cereceda, the alcalde Alonso Ortiz, and the regidores Bernardo de Cabranes, Juan Lopez de Gamboa, and Miguel García de Liñan. Mendoza, Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiv. 301-4.
[IX‑29] Mendoza, Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiv. 301-4. The foregoing is the account given in Cereceda's official report to the viceroy of Mexico. Herrera, however, gives quite a different version of the matter. He states that the settlers, seeing that, after an absence of four months, the treasurer Célis did not return or send any message, agreed to abandon the place. Loading their Indian servants with what little effects they had left, they proceeded on their way, after tying Cereceda and two of his friends to trees, because he forbade them to take away their slaves on the ground that it was contrary to royal orders to carry them from one province to another, although he himself had done so and had allowed his friends the same privilege. But after marching a few leagues they fell in with men coming from Guatemala, whereupon they returned to the settlement and made friends with the governor, dec. vi. lib. i. cap. viii. In a letter to Alvarado dated May 9, 1536, Cereceda says nothing about being tied to a tree, although he complains of gross ill-treatment at the hands of the colonists.
[IX‑30] It was intended to establish here a large settlement. The city was founded on the 26th of June 1536. The various officials were appointed, sworn, and inducted into office. Sites for dwellings were assigned to the alcaldes, regidores, and vecinos. The name of the town was not to be changed except by the emperor's orders; and it was decreed that none should reside elsewhere until the emperor's pleasure was known. Honduras, Fundacion, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvi. 530-8.
[IX‑31] This settlement was distant from Comayagua 38 leagues and from Guatemala 106 leagues. Juarros, Guat., i. 41; Herrera, dec. vi. lib. i. cap. viii.
[IX‑32] Alvarado, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xix. 24-5, 29. In this letter he proposes to the king to conduct a large expedition from Spain through the Straits of Magellan into the South Sea, in which he believed there were many islands and even some continents.
[X‑1] 'A quien se auia dado el oficio de contador, y depuestole del de alcalde mayor, por las diferẽcias que traía con Pedrarias.' Herrera, dec. iv. lib. ix. cap. xv. Oviedo, iv. 112, still speaks of him as 'alcalde mayor é contador' when he takes charge of the government.
[X‑2] 'Que era de derecho, que quando dos personas que tenian poderes del Rey, moria el vno, el que quedaua sucedia al otro.' Herrera, dec. iv. lib. ix. cap. xv.
[X‑3] Herrera and Oviedo both state that after the death of Pedrarias 'quedó en el cargo de la gobernaçion el licenciado Françisco de Castañeda,' whereas Andagoya, Nar., 39, says that 'the Bishop Diego Alvarez Osorio succeeded Pedrarias as governor, but died a short time after he had assumed office, leaving Castañeda as his successor.' This is undoubtedly an error. The editors of Datos Biog., in Cartas de Indias, 710, give as the date of Osorio's death the year 1534, which is also erroneous. His decease occurred in 1536. See Las Casas, Informacion, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 127.
[X‑4] In a few days Castañeda had appropriated eight of them. Herrera, dec. iv. lib. ix. cap. xv.
[X‑5] 'No podia dexar de auer fraude, pues los auia dado a menosprecio, por contemplaciones, y por cõseguir sus fines.' Herrera, dec. iv. lib. ix. cap. xv.
[X‑6] 'El qual se dió todo el recabdo quél pudo á enriquesçerse; é púdolo bien hacer, pues no le quedó quien le fuesse á la mano.' Oviedo, iv. 112.
[X‑7] Among those who left the province were Sebastian de Benalcázar and Juan Fernandez, who joined Pizarro on the Isthmus in March 1531. In their company went Francisco Bobadilla, Juan de las Varillas, and Gerónimo Pontevedra, friars of the order of Mercy, who figured in the conquest of Guatemala and Nicaragua. Navarro, Relacion, in Col. Doc. Inéd., xxvi. 238.
[X‑8] During the brief rule of Salcedo in Nicaragua, one Maestro Rojas, a patron of the church, imprisoned the ex-treasurer Castillo on a charge of heresy, but the former held no jurisdiction in the case, and Rojas remained in confinement until the arrival of Pedrarias, accompanied by Fray Francisco de Bobadilla, who was vested with the requisite authority by the bishop of Panamá. His power was transferred to the bachiller Pedro Bravo, and from him to Pedrarias, who tried the case, acquitted Castillo, and restored him to office. Squier's MSS., iv.
[X‑9] Hist. Chyapa, 105. It appears that he was not a friar, being spoken of as 'muy magnífico é muy reverendo señor D. Diego Alvarez Osorio.' Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 116; see also Alcedo, iii. 322, who adds that he was a native of America, though of what place is unknown; and Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 235; Juarros, Hist. Guat., i. 49.
[X‑10] New tithes were to be levied on cocoa, honey, wax, and flax, to provide for the salary of the bishop, which was 500,000 maravedís, and the limits of the new diocese were to be determined 'y estavan bien servidas las iglesias.' Squier's MSS., xxii. 109.
[X‑11] For previous mention of Las Casas see Hist. Cent. Am., i. 277-9, 284, 309.
[X‑12] 'En tanto, desde que Rodrigo de Contreras fué á aquella tierra estuvo exerçitando su offiçio, como buen gobernador, é tuvo en paz é buena justiçia aquellas tierras é provinçias, que por Su Majestad le fueron encomendadas, é procurando la conversion é buen tractamiento de los indios para que viniessen á conosçer á Dios.' Oviedo, iv. 113.
[X‑13] A provision was ratified by the emperor on the 20th of April 1537, and contained also permission to make the conquest of the islands in lakes Nicaragua and Managua. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xxii. 515-34.
[X‑14] Before the flight of Castañeda Las Casas visited Española whither he was summoned to negotiate a treaty with the powerful chief Enrique. He returned once more to Realejo, and soon afterward attempted a second voyage to Peru, but was driven back to port by stress of weather.
[X‑15] See the lengthy deposition taken in Leon by request of the governor before Bishop Osorio, and concluded after the prelate's death, before the lieutenant-governor and alcalde mayor licenciado Gregorio de Zeballos and the notary Martin Mimbreño. Many witnesses here testify to the persistent opposition of Las Casas, who was requested to accompany the expedition, but refused, though he offered to go in command of 50 soldiers, to explore and make a peaceful conquest of the territory in question. Las Casas, Informacion, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 116-46.
[X‑16] 'El Gouernador recibia informaciones, para prouar que el padre escandalizaua la gente, y alteraua la Prouincia.' Herrera, dec. vi. lib. i. cap. viii.
[X‑17] Notwithstanding the controversy with Las Casas, the people of Leon, and even Contreras himself, were unwilling to see their convent deserted. In the depositions already mentioned witnesses testify on the 23d of August 1536 that 'dos meses, poco mas ó menos tiempo, que fue antes que los dichos frailes dominicos se fuesen del monasterio de Sant Francisco desta cibdad.' Las Casas and his companions were asked to remain by the regidores 'e otras muchas personas desta cibdad,' who made their request on behalf of the governor. They refused, however, and departed the same day. Las Casas, Informacion, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 116-46. It is evident that this event occurred about the month of June 1536. Remesal, who is not generally over-exact in dates, says that Las Casas arrived in Guatemala 'casi al fin del año de treynta y cinco.' Hist. Chyapa, 111. Why Helps, in his Life of Las Casas, 185, without venturing to give a correct date himself, should boldly assert 'Herrera makes him go to Spain, and though he gives a wrong date (1536) for this, yet the main statement may be true,' I am at a loss to explain.
[X‑18] 'En medio dessa laguna ó metal saltan ó revientan dos borbollones ó manaderos muy grandes de aquel metal continuamente, sin ningun punto cessar, é siempre está el metal ó licor allí colorado é descubierto, sin escorias.' On one occasion the lava rose to the top, creating such intense heat that within a league or more of the volcano all vegetation was destroyed. Oviedo, iv. 81-2.
[X‑19] Oviedo was of the opinion that she must have been the devil; but whether the consort of his Satanic Majesty or the devil himself in female form he does not say. 'É segund en sus pinturas usan pintar al diablo, ques tan feo é tan lleno de colas é cuernos é bocas é otras visages, como nuestros pintores lo suelen pintar á los piés del arcángel Sanct Miguel ó del apóstol Sanct Bartolomé.' Oviedo, iv. 75.
[X‑20] 'É que antes ó despues un dia ó dos que aquesto se hiçiesse, echaban allí en sacrifiçio un hombre ó dos ó más é algunas mugeres é muchachos é muchachas; é aquellos que assi sacrificaban, yban de grado á tal suplicio.' Oviedo, iv. 74.
[X‑21] 'Callad, padre: que por ventura Dios no quiere que lo descubran capitanes ni personas ricas, sino pobres é humillados.' Oviedo, iv. 77.
[X‑22] 'É porque faltaba un cabrestante é no lo mandaban haçer por no ser descubiertos, el frayle lo hiço por su mano en el lugar ques dicho que estaban todos los otros aparejos.' Oviedo, iv. 78.
[X‑23] Two unsuccessful attempts were made before this date, and some of the friar's associates, terrified by their first glimpse of the burning lake, abandoned the enterprise. Oviedo, iv. 78.
[X‑24] In 1529, during his residence in Nicaragua, Oviedo was the guest of Machuca, and speaks favorably of his conduct. In company with his host and the cacique Lenderi the chronicler explored a volcano, near the Masaya, in the crater of which was a warm-water lake, at about the same level as the lava which excited the cupidity of Fray Blas. The descent was difficult, but Indian women managed to pass up and down in obtaining water. With regard to the depth of the lake Oviedo remarks: 'Este lago, á mi paresçer (é assi lo juzgan otros) está en el pesso é hondura que está el fuego que dixe en el poço del monte de Massaya ... no le hallan suelo por su mucha hondura.' Machuca, assisted by his friends, furnished the funds needed for exploring the Desaguadero.
[X‑25] The principal rapids in the stream still bear the name of Machuca. Squier's Nicaragua (ed. 1856), i. 82.
[X‑26] Mention is made of this expedition by Estrada Rávago, whose narrative of the affairs of the province, written in 1572, appears in Squier's MSS., xiii. 4.
[X‑27] According to Oviedo, Garavito must have made friends with Contreras, for speaking of the former he says that one day, while engaged in a game of 'cañas' in the city of Leon, he suddenly fell dead from his horse. He was one of those who took part in the enterprise which cost Vasco Nuñez de Balboa his life, and betrayed him to Pedrarias, for which act of treachery his own life was spared. Oviedo, iv. 58-9. According to Rávago, Garavito's men, after the death of their commander, sailed for Peru on their own responsibility.
[X‑28] He held office for eleven years as treasurer, and during all that time it is said that he put nothing into the treasury. Squier's MSS., xxii. 144, 149. It may be remarked, on the other hand, that the affairs of the province were in such a condition that little or no revenue could be collected. There is no evidence that Rios was related to his namesake, the former governor of Castilla del Oro.
[X‑29] It is somewhat remarkable that the dean of a church could imprison a royal treasurer, but such is the fact. 'Le vino a prender ... pidió favor a la Ciudad de Granada donde el estava (Rios), lo prendió i metió en el monasterio de la Merced por ser casa de piedra.' ... Squier's MSS., xxii. 144.
[X‑30] On May 20, 1545, he wrote from his prison to the emperor: 'Dos años que estoi preso, i mis bienes sin cuenta en manos de mis adversarios. Ha 6 meses que me pusieron en esta carcel arzobispal,' and asked to be tried at once, and punished or acquitted as the case might be. Squier's MSS., xxii. 148.
[X‑31] It is probable that Rios continued to govern until the return of Contreras. Soon after the events just described he lost his life, probably during some expedition into the interior, as nothing is said of him until July 15, 1545, when bishop Valdivieso in one of his letters to the king, says: 'I asi han muerto Po. de los Rios, Luis de Guevara, i otros de menos cuenta.' In a subsequent report this prelate again refers to 'al difto. Teso. Po. de los Rios,' stating that the tithes collected, and still due by him at his death, had not been recovered. Squier's MSS., xxii. 109-10.
[X‑32] One Pedro García, in a communication to the emperor, dated Leon, January 10, 1545, complains that 'la ra de Contreras, Rios i su teniente Luis de Guevara hecha por el Lic. Herrera, ha sido sepultada i sin fruto.' Squier's MSS., xxii. 145; and when certain malecontents afterward demanded that Herrera be sent back to Leon to finish his investigation, the answer came from the audiencia 'que no habia lugar quel dicho Licenciado volviese á esta tierra.' Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 571.
[X‑33] Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 235. Valdivieso was a native of Villahermosa, and the son of Antonio de Valdivieso and Catalina Álvarez Calvento. He became a Dominican in the convent of San Pablo, Búrgos, of which he was an inmate when the emperor called him to the bishopric of Nicaragua. Datos Biog., in Cartas de Indias, 857, and Col. Doc. Inéd., i. 117; Herrera, dec. vii. lib. vi. cap. vi., states that he was made bishop 'por muerte del obispo Mendauia,' referring to dean Mendavia, but Rios would not have dared to send him a prisoner to Spain had he been a bishop. To whom Valdivieso refers when, while speaking of himself as being the second bishop concentrated in Nicaragua, he remarks: 'Fue el lo. antecesor que murió a 40 dias que llegó a la tierra,' Squier's MSS., xxii. 125, it is impossible to determine. The first bishop, Osorio, was appointed in 1531, and died in 1536. That another prelate was chosen before Valdivieso is nowhere recorded. It is probable, however, that he alludes to Fray Juan de Arteaga, bishop elect for Chiapas, who, when Las Casas first refused that appointment, left Spain on February 15, 1541, and died at Puebla the same year, soon after his arrival. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 202.
[X‑34] 'Inquisicion no se ha de mentar en esta tierra, i en entrando en ella me embiaron a decir que si entendia en cosa de Inquisicion o lo pensava, me darian de puñaladas.' Squier's MSS., xxii. 146. On another occasion, when President Maldonado and the oidor Ramirez were at Granada preparing an expedition to Peru, the bishop refused to officiate in church because a person was present whom he had excommunicated. Hereupon Ramirez used insulting language, causing him to retire from the church. Valdivieso's conduct caused such ill-feeling that a mob afterward assembled in the street and threatened to hang him.
[X‑35] The following quotation is from a report of the audiencia at Gracias á Dios, dated December 30, 1545. 'Los Dominicos de Nicaragua tenian un pueblo que se les mando quitar por las Ordenanzas. Representaronnos que sin el no podrian estar, i porque no se ausentasen se lo dejamos. Tendrá el pueblo 20 Indios.' Squier's MSS., xxii. 131.
[X‑36] 'Y el Fiscal auia puesto acusacion contra Rodrigo de Contreras, porque siendo gouernador de aquella provincia, salio diuersas vezes de su Gouernacion con gente de pie y de cauallo, y fue a la parte de Costa rica, y al desaguadero, y otras tierras comarcanas, adonde hizo grandes excessos, assi contra Castellanos, como contra Indios.' Herrera, dec. vii. lib. vi. cap. vi.
[X‑37] Dated at Gracias á Dios, December 24, 1545. Squier's MSS., xxii. 126.
[X‑38] Herrera was actuated merely by selfish motives. He desired for himself the office of ruler, and it was fortunate for the province that he did not obtain it; for when in 1548 his residencia was taken by the licentiate Cerrato he was proved to have been the most rapacious of all his colleagues.
[X‑39] Report, dated Granada, April 23, 1547. Squier's MSS., xxii. 46.
[X‑40] The laws were published in Nicaragua in 1545.
[X‑41] This report was dated Leon, February 10, 1548. The principal accusations contained therein are mere repetitions of those already mentioned. See Squier's MSS., xxii. 98-100.
[X‑42] He probably remained in Spain till 1554, as nothing further is recorded of him until that year, when we hear of him as serving in Peru. He finally appears in the act of swearing allegiance to Philip II. in Lima on the 25th of July 1557. Datos Biog., in Cartas de Indias, 742.
[X‑43] This convent was subsequently occupied by Dominicans, as the Flemish friars abandoned it in 1531, travelling in company with Fray Marcos de Niza to Costa Rica, Peru, Tierra Firme, Española, and Mexico. Vazquez, Chron. Gvat., 21-2. Juan de Gandabo, a Franciscan friar, and one of the first that came to Nicaragua, was still in Granada in 1536, where he labored in company with Fray Francisco de Aragon. The place and date of his death are unknown. Notas, Datos Biog., in Cartas de Indias, 762.
[X‑44] Gonzalez Dávila, in Teatro Ecles., i. 233.
[X‑45] In the province of Oxomorio Bobadilla baptized 85; in Diria, 5,018; in Mombacho, 3,241; in Masaya, 937; in Malapalte, 154; in Marinalte, 409; in Lenderi, 2,917; in Managua, 1,116; in Matiari, 421; in Mavitiatomo, 75; in Nagrando, Ariat, Mabitra, and Mahometombo, 585; in Maribio, 6,346; in Zecoteaga, 2,169. 'É assi paresceme á mí que para esta creencia desta gente nuevamente allegada á la iglesia, que es más menester de baptiçarlos é dexarlos, pues que sin creer, como lo dice la mesma verdad evangélica, no se pueden salvar, sino condenar.' Oviedo, iv. 59-60.
[X‑46] During their journey they discovered a river which they named Nuestra Señora. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 511-13.
[X‑47] The time of their arrival is given as 1550. Bienvenida, Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i. tom. x. 308.
[X‑48] Named Tabizgalpa by Arias Gonzalo Dávila, who accompanied the expedition.
[X‑49] In this chapter there have been consulted various documents in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., i. 556, 563; iii. 84-8, 511-13; vii. 116-46; Cartas de Indias, 710, 762, 775; Datos Biog., in Cartas de Indias, 36, 742, 857; Col. Doc. Inéd., xxvi. 238; xlix. 21-3; l. 116; Squier's MSS., xiii. 3, 4; xxii. 34-149; Oviedo, iii. 176-9; iv. 76-92, 112-15; Herrera, dec. iv. lib. i. cap. ix.; lib. ix. cap. xv.; lib. x. cap. v.; dec. v. lib. vii. cap. ii.; dec. vi. lib. i. cap. viii.; dec. vii. lib. vi. cap. v.; dec. viii. lib. i. cap. ix.; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 105-7, 193-9, 203-6; Andagoya, Nar., 39; Vega, Hist. Descub. Am., ii. 244-6; Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 234-5; Cogollvdo, Hist. Yucathan, 345; Vazquez, Chron. Gvat., 252; Juarros, Guat., i. 49; Morelli, Fasti Novi Orbis, 112; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nvovo, 105; Pelaez, Mem. Guat., i. 135; Pineda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., iii. 347; Kerr's Col. Voy., v. 175; Levy's Nic., 67-73; Squier's States Cent. Am., i. 82.
[XI‑1] It is claimed by some chroniclers that, in the time of Columbus, this portion of the mainland was already known by the name of Costa Rica on account of the fine specimens of gold discovered, principally in the Talamanca district, where it abounded in streams and was obtained with little labor. Molina, Bosquejo Costa R., 79; this author follows Navarrete. See also Bejarano, Informe, MS. Morel de Sta. Cruz, Visita Apost., MS., 14, on the other hand attributes the name to the rich pearl-fisheries which were found on the coast and to the quality of the fruits, woods, and other products of the territory.
[XI‑2] Hist. Cent. Am., i. 484-5, this series.
[XI‑3] I am inclined to believe that the original founders of Cartago were settlers from the colony established by Francisco Hernandez de Córdoba at Brusélas, on the gulf of Nicoya in 1524, and abandoned three years later by order of Salcedo (see Hist. Cent. Am., i. 512, this series); more particularly as its first site was known to have been close to the harbor of Caldera, and therefore not far from the landing-place of Córdoba. It was next removed to a spot near the Rio Taras, and thence to its present location. It is even claimed by some that Cartago was the first city established in what was formerly called the kingdom of Guatemala. Juarros makes this statement, basing his assertion on a report made in 1744 by José de Mier y Ceballos to the engineer Luis Diez Navarro. Referring to the same document he continues: 'It appears by an edict preserved among the records, that the first governor and captain general of Costa Rica was Diego de Astieda Chirinos.' Hist. Guat. (ed. London, 1823), 75, 341-2. These statements are repeated in Mosquito, Doc., 27, where the governor is called Ostiega. See also Salv., Diar. Ofic., 30 Mar. 1876, 168. Molina, the modern historian of Costa Rica, follows Juarros and goes even further when he says: 'Mais il est probable que sa fondation eut lieu pendant le quatrième voyage de Colomb, en 1502 ... en 1522, Cartago, l'ancienne capitale espagnole de la province, était une ville d'assez d'importance pour demander qu'on voulût bien y fixer la résidence d'un gouverneur avec son secrétaire. Diego de Astieda Chirinos paraît avoir été son premier gouverneur.' ... Coup d'Oeil de Costa R. (ed. Paris, 1849), 4. That the above authors are in error is proved by the fact that Diego de Artiega Cherino (as his name should properly be written) was not appointed governor and captain general of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Nicoya till 51 years later, namely, in 1575. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 559-65. Molina, in a subsequent work, also inclines to the belief that Cartago was founded by those who abandoned the earlier settlements, and corrects his former statement in regard to Columbus, merely saying: 'El immortal Colon mismo en su cuarto viaje en el año de 1502, tocó en varios puntos de su costa en el Atlántico.' Bosquejo Costa R., 10. It is singular that Molina, in his treatise on the boundary question between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, should not have referred to the document mentioned by Juarros, and that he should have failed to use it in his Mem. Costa R. and Nic. In Herrera, dec. vii. lib. iv. cap. xvii., the date of the founding of Cartago is even removed to the time of Gutierrez, which may be correct, inasmuch as he first gave to the province the name of Nueva Cartago.
[XI‑4] The first boundaries appointed for the province are those mentioned in the charter granted to Gutierrez, dated Madrid, November 29, 1540, wherein they are described as 'extending from sea to sea, and from the frontier of Veragua, running to the westward to the great river (Rio Grande), provided that the coast adjoining said river on the side of Honduras should remain under the government of Honduras, with power to Gutierrez to conquer and settle any island in said river which should not be previously located by Spaniards; and the right to the navigation, fisheries, and other advantages of said river; and provided that he (Gutierrez) should not approach to within 15 leagues of the Lake of Nicaragua, because this territory of 15 leagues being reserved, as well as said lake, were to remain in the possession of the government of Nicaragua; but the navigation and fisheries both in that part of the river granted to Gutierrez and in the 15 leagues reserved, and in the lake, should be possessed in common, conjointly with the inhabitants of Nicaragua.' Molina, Costa R. and Nic., 7. The author claims to possess a certified copy of unpublished documents stored in the archives of Spain, in which he states the conditions of the charter granted to Gutierrez. See also Oviedo, iii. 179, and Levy's Nic., 67-73.
[XI‑5] It is stated by some chroniclers that Contreras promised to furnish men and provisions on condition that he be allowed a share of the spoils.
[XI‑6] 'A queste parole, rispose Diego Gottieres, che l'Imperatore gli haueua dato quella Gouernatione perche la populasse, e non perche la rubasse, e se à gli altri la fortuna era stata contraria, che haueua speranza in Dio che à lui gli saria propitia, e che in modo alcuno no voleua lasciare la impresa, né manco voleua compagnia alcuna.' Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nvovo, 83.
[XI‑7] Spelled also Suere. Benzoni, Mondo Nvovo, 85.
[XI‑8] 'E despues que allí estuvo un año ó más, porque faltaron los bastimentos, se le amotinó la gente é se le tornaron á Nicaragua; é este gobernador se quedó con seys hombres solos.... Pero aunque este gobernador estaba solo é con tan pocos chripstianos ... no dexaban los indios naturales de les dar de comer é oro, sin haçer mal ni daño á ninguno de los nuestros.' Oviedo, iii. 180.
[XI‑9] 'E cosi fece vintisette soldati, e trouandomi io in questa Città volsi esser vno di que gli, ancora ch'io fussi ripreso da vno Spagnuolo antiano, ilquale era andato nella prouincia di Cartagena, e santa Marta, e altri luoghi, per ispatio di quindici anni, dicendomi, che in modo alcuno, mi lasciassi vincere di andare à tale impresa, e che non volesse dar credito alcuno alle parole del Capitano. Benzoni, Mondo Nvovo, 84-5.
[XI‑10] Oviedo names the two caciques Cama and Coco: 'E cada dia traian oro al gobernador, el qual, como hombre de ninguna espiriençia, prendió á uno de aquellos caçiques, que estaban de paz, que se deçia el Cama (el qual era muy rico), porque no le daba tanto oro como este gobernador le pedia.' iii. 180.
[XI‑11] 'Ia Gottierez dreigde Camachiren te verbranden; hoewel nu bereeds verscheiden stukken gouds, met allerlei beesten, tijgers, visschen, vogelen konstig geboetseert, die de prijs van twee tonnen gouds ophaelden, door de selve begiftigt was. Sulk een schenkaedje scheen te gering. Hy bragt den gevangene by een kist: en swoer, hy soude hem langsaem braeden, ten zy binnen vier dagen ses mael meer goud verschafte als de kist laeden konde.' Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, 87.
[XI‑12] 'Et cosi partissimo, e à pena che fussimo saliti dalle case, io indiuinai quello c'haueua da essere di noi altri, dicendo à vno Spagnuolo, noi andiamo alla beccheria; e rispondendomi lui queste parole disse. Tu sei vno di quegli, che gli vogliamo far guadagnare vn Prencipato al suo dispetto.' Benzoni, Mondo Nvovo, 89.
[XI‑13] This degradation so affected Cocori that he shed tears and promised, if he were liberated, to bring the governor a quantity of gold. 'Et essendo poi tutti noi altri in punto per marciare, e vedendo il Cacique come il Gouernatore per dispregio lo voleua menare con lui carico, e con altri suoi Indiani, con parte delle sue bagaglie; si attristò in tal maniera, che si messe à piangere, come vn putto; e gli disse, che se voleua dargli libertà, che in termine di quattro giorni, gli darebbe vna buona somma d'oro.' Benzoni, Mondo Nvovo, 89. But his promise availed him nothing.
[XI‑14] Benzoni relates that being unable to eat his portion of dog-meat which was full of worms, he went to the governor and demanded food. Diego told him to go and eat of the roots of trees, whereupon a Spaniard who was standing near exclaimed, 'Sir governor, since you will not share the good and the bad with us, go and make war by yourself.' A piece of cheese weighing three pounds was then divided among the men, who were thus pacified for that night. The chronicler was on sentry during the early morning-watch, and hearing the governor give orders to his cook to boil a piece of pork for his breakfast paced to and fro near the fire till every one was asleep, when, sharpening a piece of wood to a point, he speared the pork and secured the prize in his knapsack, 'feeling better pleased,' he tells us, 'than if he had secured a treasure.' Hist. New World, in Hakluyt, Divers Voy., 132.
[XI‑15] The Rio Grande.
[XI‑16] 'Et hauendo combattuto dall' vna parte, e dall' altra per ispatio di mezo quarto d'hora, e hauendo noi altri ammazzato, e ferito molti Indiani, e alla fine fattogli voltare le spalle.' Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, 91. Montanus states that the entire battle lasted half an hour. 'Na een half uur vechten, deinsden d'aenvallers; doch, met versche benden gestijft, hervatten den torn: braeken tuschen de Spaensche slag-orde in: sloegen met palm-houte swaerden en knodsen harsenen en beenen te pletteren.' Die Nieuwe Weereld, 88.
[XI‑17] Oviedo says the governor was sick with gout at the time. 'Y el gobernador en essa saçon mandaba mal su persona, porque andaba tullido de gota é quatro negros le traian echado en una hamaca, lo qual le debiera bastar para ser mas paçiente con los indios.' His statements differ materially from those of Benzoni. He relates that the Spaniards were surprised in their camp and that Gutierrez and 72 of his men were slain, seven only making their escape, but it is not probable that he had so large a force under his command. iii. 181. Rávago, in Squier's MSS., xiii. 3, says that only 44 or 45 days elapsed between the landing of Gutierrez and his death, but his report concerning the early history of the province is somewhat vague and unreliable.
[XI‑18] There is little doubt that Benzoni's narrative of the expedition of Gutierrez is somewhat colored in consequence of a rupture between himself and the governor. 'The first day that we entered the port,' he says, 'the governor graciously placed me at his table, and took pleasure in conversing with me. The greater part of his conversation was about gold and silver, and the wars, and the cruelties inflicted on wretched Italy, and especially on Milan. But when he perceived that such subjects were disagreeable to me, he took a dislike to me and never would bear the sight of me after.' It is, however, the only complete record of that event, and I can but give his version of it. Oviedo's information as to the early history of Costa Rica is taken from Juan de Espinosa, who accompanied Alonso de Pisa to Cartago in one of his return voyages. iii. 184. He was well acquainted with Gutierrez, and thus tries to palliate his faults: 'Desalmados ó pláticos que por acá han andado, que á los noviçios ó nuevamente venidos á gobernar los enseñen á robar;' and in consequence thereof 'por enriquesçer, presto vuelven la hoja, é trocado el intento con que partieron de España, si bueno era, ó afirmado en el cauteloso que en su pecho estaba callado, en poco tiempo manifiestan las obras el contrario de las palabras.' iii. 178.
Other authorities quoted in this chapter are Herrera, dec. vii. lib. iv. cap. xvii.; Benzoni, Mondo Nvovo, lib. ii. 83-92; Bejarano, Informe; Haya, Informe; Squier's MSS., xiii. 1-3; Juarros, Guat. (ed. London, 1823), 73-6, 341-5; Molina, Coup d'Oeil de Costa R., 4; Molina, Bosquejo Costa R., 10, 83-92; Molina, Costa R. and Nic., 6-8, 36-8; Mosquito Doc. 27, in 77-229; Morel de Sta Cruz, Visita Apost., MS., 14; Reichardt, Cent. Am., 111, 112; Salv., Diar. Ofic. 30 Mar. 1876, 618.
The time of Diego Gutierrez' fight with the Indians and death, as given by Oviedo, is contradicted in an official manuscript extant that places it in December 1544. It is the investigation made in Leon, Nicaragua, on the 25th of June, 1545, and the writer assures us he has an authenticated copy of it. Peralta's autograph note in Peralta, Rio San Juan, 9.
[XII‑1] Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 13. The law was soon modified by decrees of Feb. 12, 1538, and of June 29 and November 8, 1539, by which prelates and governors were directed to induce all eligible unmarried men holding encomiendas to marry within three years. This, however, was to be accomplished by persuasive means, or by distinguishing in favor of the married men in the distribution of Indians, and not by coercive measures, Recop. de Indias, ii. 271-2.
[XII‑2] 'Y otros que aunque haya mugeres en la tierra, y ellos estén en edad que todavia se sufra casarse, no las querrán por las enfermedades contagiosas que de la tierra se han pegado.' Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 14.
[XII‑3] Commentarios Reales, ii. 58.
[XII‑4] Vazquez, Chronica de Gvat., 158-9; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 235; Herrera, dec. vii. lib. ii. cap. x.
[XII‑5] 'Y que asimismo descubriese, por la costa de esta Nueva España que llaman de la mar del Sur á la parte del norte, con dos navios.' Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 507. See also Oviedo, iv. 23.
[XII‑6] Vazquez, Chronica de Gvat., 158-9.
[XII‑7] No greater proof could exist of the high favor in which Alvarado stood at court than the arrangement of this second marriage. The lady being the sister of his former wife, a special dispensation of the pope was required to legalize the marriage; and through the influence of Cobos and the power of the emperor a bull was granted. Such an authorization was rarely obtained. Oviedo, iii. 214-15; Alvarado, Carta, in Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 179; Gavarrete, Copias de Doc., MS., 43-4; Gomara, Hist. Ind., 269; Torquemada, i. 323. Remesal, who is in error as to the date of this marriage, has this remark respecting the dispensation. 'Licencia que se dà raras vezes.... Y entonces parecio mayor liberalidad del Sumo Pontifice, por auer sido el primer matrimonio consumado.' Hist. Chyapa, 17. See also Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, 155.
[XII‑8] Alvarado, Carta, in Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 179; Herrera, dec. vi. lib. ii. cap. x. Oviedo says Alvarado brought 400 men; that he touched at Española and took in supplies, staying there 17 days and leaving on March 12th. iii. 214-15. In Datos Biog. the number of men is given as 250, including hijosdalgo and men-at-arms. The cargo included 300 arquebuses, 400 pikes, 200 ballestas, much artillery, and rich merchandise, valued at over 30,000 ducats. Cartas de Indias, 709. The date of his arrival is obtained from his own letter to the cabildo of Santiago above quoted. Remesal states that there existed in the archives of San Salvador a letter of exactly the same tenor, but dated April 3d, and as he quotes the commencement, which is the same as that of the letter preserved by Arévalo, it was either a duplicate, or Remesal commits one of his careless errors. Gavarrete, in Copias de Doc., MS., 43-4, gives the date as the 1st of April.
[XII‑9] Here, as will be hereafter related, Montejo surrendered to Alvarado his claim to the provinces of Honduras and Higueras.
[XII‑10] While at Santo Domingo on his return voyage Alvarado told Oviedo that he had on the coast of the South Sea seven or eight ships built for his proposed voyage to China and to the Spice and Molucca Islands. Oviedo, iii. 215.
[XII‑11] His expenses were enormous. Bernal Diaz says, 'fueron tantos los gastos que hizo que no le bastó la riqueza que traxo del Piru, ni el oro que le sacavan de las minas ... ni los tributos de sus pueblos, ni lo que le presentaron sus deudos y amigos, y lo que tomó fiado de mercaderes.' Hist. Verdad., 235. His will, in which he made Bishop Marroquin his executor, shows that he had numerous creditors, who had furnished ships, provisions, supplies, and money. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 185-6. Vazquez says the cost was over 200,000 pesos de oro.
[XII‑12] Niza, Descub., in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 325 et seq.
[XII‑13] The claimants to this presumed right besides Alvarado were Viceroy Mendoza, Cortés, Nuño de Guzman, Hernando de Soto, and the city of Compostela in Nueva Galicia. Id., xv. 300 et seq. For further particulars, see Hist. Mex., vol. ii., this series.
[XII‑14] Mendoza states that he fitted out as best he could 12 ships. Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 507; Herrera, 12 deep-sea vessels, including one of 13 and one of 20 benches of oars. Beaumont, 12 ships. Crón. Mich., ii. 252; Tello, Hist. N. Gal., 382, a fleet of ships; Bernal Diaz, 13 good sized ships, including a galley and a patache. Hist. Verdad., 235; Vazquez, 13 ships. Chronica de Gvat., 159; Remesal, 10 or 12 large ships, a galley, and fustas with oars. Hist. Chyapa, 161; so also, Gomara, Hist. Ind., 268-9, and Torquemada, i. 323; Oviedo states that there were 13 ships, including large and small; 3 galleons over 200 tons each, a fine galley and two fustas; the other ships being of 100 tons burden and over, iv. 19, 20, 23; Juarros, 12 deep-sea vessels and 2 smaller ones. Gvat., i. 255, and Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nvovo, 154, 10 vessels and 4 brigantines. Bernal Diaz asserts that the fleet was fitted out in Acajutla, and Tello at Realejo. Lastly Oviedo represents Alvarado as sailing from Iztapa, when 8 ships were built, to Acajutla. There is even more discrepancy with regard to the number of his men. Viceroy Mendoza states that the force consisted of 400 men and 60 horses. Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 507; Oviedo of 1,000 men, some of whom he brought from Spain, and others had seen service in the Indies; Herrera that there were more than 800 soldiers and 50 horses; Bernal Diaz, 650 soldiers besides officers, and many horses; Tello, 300 Spaniards; Beaumont, 800, and 150 horses, and Benzoni, 700 soldiers.
[XII‑15] Herrera states that Alvarado despatched his expedition to the coast of Jalisco, there to wait for him, and went overland to Mexico, and Oviedo, iv. 26, also entertains this view; but Mendoza and Gomara, Hist. Ind., 268-9, distinctly states that he sailed with his fleet, and the former's testimony is conclusive. Oviedo gives the additional information that Alvarado sent a messenger to the emperor with an account of his expedition and drawings of his fleet. Oviedo had an interview with the messenger and saw the drawings. Vazquez wrongly asserts that on his voyage the adelantado discovered Acajutla. Chronica de Gvat., 159. He had already done so as early as 1524. See Hist. Cent. Am., i. 670, this series. Bernal Diaz wrongly gives 1538 as the date of his sailing. Hist. Verdad., 236. The time of his departure was about the middle of 1540, for on the 19th of May of that year the cabildo requested him when on the point of departing with his fleets to take with him the imprisoned princes Sinacam and Sequechul. Vazquez, Chron. Gvat., 30.
[XII‑16] In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 351-62, is a copy of the agreement between Alvarado and the viceroy. Oviedo gives the copy of a letter addressed by Mendoza to himself, in which the viceroy states that the king, in his contract with Alvarado, was pleased to give him a share in the discoveries without his knowledge or solicitation, iii. 540. Mendoza states that this share was one half. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 507. Article 20 of Alvarado's capitulation with the crown authorized him to give Mendoza one third interest in his armament. Vazquez, Chronica de Gvat., 159.
[XII‑17] 'Acordamos despachar dos armadas; una para descubrir la costa desta Nueva España, é otra que fuesse al Poniente en demanda de los Lequios y Catayo.' Mendoza, Carta, in Oviedo, iii. 540.
[XII‑18] Hist. Mex., ii. 498 et seq., this series.
[XII‑19] When asked where he suffered, 'echando sangre por la boca decia: "Aquí y el alma;"' and when the priest arrived to confess him he exclaimed: 'Señor, sea bien llegado para remedio de una alma tan pecadora.' Tello, Hist. N. Gal., 393.
[XII‑20] His injunctions with regard to the disposal of his remains were but tardily carried out. Datos Biograficos, in Cartas de Indias, 709-10, 745; Tello, Hist. N. Gal., 395; Beaumont, Crón. Mich., iv. 276-7. Bernal Diaz erroneously states that he was buried at Purificacion. Hist. Verdad., 236. According to a clause in the will of Bishop Marroquin, made in 1563, Alvarado's remains were still at Tiripitío, 'donde està enterrado, que es en Tyrepati.' The former left 200 ducats to the convent where Alvarado was buried. He also left 1,000 pesos de oro de minas to found a chaplaincy in the church at Guatemala, that masses might be there said for his soul. Some years after the death of the bishop the daughter of the adelantado had her father's remains transferred from Tiripitío to Guatemala, where they were interred with great solemnity in the cathedral. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 190. Gonzalez Dávila says, 'En el año 1542 el Obispo comẽçó à executar el testamento del Gouernador D. Pedro de Aluarado,' and erroneously adds ... 'y el Obispo trasladó su cuerpo de Mexico à Santiago.' Teatro Ecles., li. 148.
[XII‑21] Tello, Hist. N. Gal., 394-5; Beaumont, Crón. Mich., iv. 274-6; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 161-2; this last author, page 187, states that Marroquin in carrying out the intentions of Alvarado's will, ordered the payment to be made for a set of clerical vestments which the friar Betanzos ordered him to furnish as a penance in 1528. Bernal Diaz remarks, 'Some say a will was made, but none has appeared.' Hist. Verdad., 236.
[XII‑22] The viceroy states that Alvarado's debts amounted to 50,000 pesos de minas, to which must be added 15,000 more expended by himself on his account. Carta, in Cartas de Indias, 253-4, and fac-simile R. Bishop Marroquin, August 1541, says that he left at his death debts to the amount of 50,000 pesos. Id., 429, fac-simile V.
[XII‑23] Mendoza, Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 507-8.
[XII‑24] In the valley near Santiago Alvarado had a large plantation with many married slaves, collected in the following manner: Soon after the conquest he summoned the principal lords and demanded from each so many families, with their head, who without more ado were branded and placed on his plantation. These the bishop declared should thenceforth be free, and possess and dwell on the lands they had previously tilled, with the sole obligation of supporting two chaplaincies, founded by this same instrument, for the purpose of saying daily mass for the repose of the souls of Alvarado and his wife. An altar in the cathedral dedicated to St Peter was also ordered to be founded, before which the aforesaid masses were to be said. The slaves in the gold-mines are next declared set free, and are to reside on his plantation; not, however, until the debts of Alvarado shall have been paid, during which time their needs of soul and body were to receive careful attention. The will concludes with an enumeration of Alvarado's property, in which ships, artillery, lands, negroes, houses, live-stock, etc., figure. It was apparently never executed, for the audiencia of Mexico ordered that the encomiendas of Alvarado which were the best and most numerous of the provinces of Guatemala should not be given to any one, but that one or two competent persons be appointed to take charge of and manage them, and that the proceeds be devoted to the public works of the city and cathedral and the opening of roads, building of bridges, and the assisting of poor people to rebuild their homes. On the 10th of October 1542 a royal decree was issued declaring that all the Indians and towns belonging to Alvarado were the property of the crown. This decree was not published, however, until Jan. 8, 1544. A protest was entered against it by the city as being detrimental to the public interest, but it seems to have had no effect, as the royal factor was instructed to collect the tribute of the said towns, and take charge of the Indians. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 181-90. Bishop Marroquin, in a letter to the emperor, dated March 15, 1545, recommends that his debts be paid, as many needy persons will thereby be benefited. Squier's MSS., xxii. 138. And again in June of the same year, he states that Alvarado having left no legal heirs, the estate reverted to the crown, and repeats his previous recommendation that the debts be paid, adding that the creditors were suffering, many of them being in prison for debt. Cartas de Indias, 441-2. Consult also Testimonio, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 268-70.
[XII‑25] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 172.
[XII‑26] 'Fue mejor soldado, que Gouernador.' Gomara, Hist. Ind., 269.
[XII‑27] In a letter to the council of the Indies he says: 'Pues todo lo que yo estubiere sin ocuparme en algo en que sirba á Su Mag. lo tengo por muy mal gastado.' Carta, in Squier's MSS., xix. 31.
[XII‑28] He wrote to the emperor requesting that no change be made in his commission, as he had learned that Cortés was soliciting permission to undertake the conquest he meditated. Herrera, dec. vii. lib. ii. cap. x.; Beaumont, Crón. Mich., iv. 252-3.
[XII‑29] I give herewith a copy of Alvarado's epitaph:
'El que Augusto le tuvo merecido
En este angosto monumento yace
Y Fenis de sus glorias hoy renace
Burlando su memoria del olvido
Mexico intime en eco repetido
Alabanzas qe. el tiempo las enlace
Qe. si tanto valor se satisface
Lo qe. a Romulo Roma le ha debido
Conquista fundacion y poblasiones
Y haber la idolatria disipado
Deshaciendo las nieblas de opiniones
Obrando bien con ser adelantado
Si hay sujeto capas de estos blazones
Todo cabe en D. Pedro de Alvarado.
Requiescat in pace.'
It is copied literally from Gavarrete, Copias de Doc., MS., 53. Gonzalez Dávila, in 1649, makes this extraordinary statement: 'Murio en Mexico, y yaze en el Convento de Santo Domingo.' He also says that Ivan Diaz de la Calle, 'Oficial Mayor de la Secretaria de Nueua-España,' dedicated to Alvarado the following epitaph, which was to serve until one was written such as the memory of his feats and actions deserved:
'Yaze En Este Angosto Monumento, el que merecia mas Augusto, que fue para
la Nobilissima Ciudad de Guatimala, lo que para Roma
Romulo; El famoso por la virtud de su valor, y vitorias,
Don Pedro de Alvarado, del Abito de Santiago, Adelantado, Gouernador,
Capitan General, Conquistador, Fundador, y Poblador desta Ilustrissima
Ciudad de Guatimala. Que la dio Templos, Leyes, Costumbres, y Ritos.
Despues de auer deshecho en muchas batallas el engaño de la Idolotria,
poniendo para siempre cessacion en sus Altares, y Aras. Passó a la inmortalidad
de que ya goza en el Año 1541.' Teatro Ecles., i. 140.
[XII‑30] Juarros, Guat., i. 347.
[XII‑31] Doña Leonor married Pedro Puertocarrero and afterward Francisco de la Cueva, brother of Alvarado's wife. Pedro was legitimized by the emperor. This was, according to Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 237, the natural son, mentioned also by Saavedra, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 247-50, who went to the court of Spain to claim moneys due to his father, and whom Saavedra recommended urgently to Las Casas the councillor of state. Diego was slain in 1554 by Indians at the defeat at Chuquinga. Marroquin informs the emperor that Alvarado left six sons and daughters 'desnudos syn abrigo alguno.' Cartas de Indias, 429, 432-3, 709-10; Gomara, Hist. Ind., 269. Another son named Gomez, by an Indian girl in Guatemala, is mentioned in the will afterward framed by Bishop Marroquin. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 185. For an account of the presentation of Xicotencatl's daughter to Alvarado, see Hist. Mex., i. 227-30, this series.
[XIII‑1] Originally written Giapa, as appears from several original cédulas and other documents bearing dates as late as 1579. Guat., Col. de Cédulas Reales, passim. The meaning of the word is differently explained, Chiapan signifying 'locality of the chia' (oil-seed), also 'sweet water.' Native Races, ii. 126. According to Mazariegos it is derived from 'Tepetchia,' 'Battle hill,' the name of the stronghold where the Chiapanecs fortified themselves against the Mexicans. Mem. Chiapa, 12.
[XIII‑2] See Native Races, v. 231, this series.
[XIII‑3] Id., i. 681-2; v. 603-4.
[XIII‑4] For the aboriginal history of these people I would refer the reader to my Native Races of the Pacific States, vol. v., passim.
[XIII‑5] Mazariegos, Mem. Chiapa, 5, 6; Cortés, Diario, xix. 390; Juarros, Guat., i. 10; Id. (ed. London, 1823), 210; Larrainzar, Soconusco, 16; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 264.
[XIII‑6] Mazariegos states that harsh treatment drove the Indians to revolt, citing as instances that youths of 20 years and under were sold as slaves at the rate of no more than three pesos fuertes; that fugitives were hunted down with bloodhounds, and that any one found warming himself at a fire after eight o'clock at night was hanged. Mem. Chiapa, 6, 7. In these statements he is guilty of anachronism. The law regarding the extinguishing of fires was passed on the 15th of August 1528, and that arranging the price of slaves in October of the same year, the former being almost immediately annulled with regard to the punishment of hanging; but both were enacted after the subjugation of the Indians. Consult Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 276, 278-9.
[XIII‑7] Called also Chiapan. This river takes its rise in the Chuchumatan mountains. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 574. It and its affluents form the head-waters of the Tabasco or Grijalva. The Spaniards were moving up the left bank, the town of Chiapas being on the opposite side somewhat higher.
[XIII‑8] This force is less than that given by Gomara and others. Bernal Diaz states that there were five other horsemen, who, however, could not be counted as fighting men. The artilleryman he describes as 'muy cobarde,' and informs us that the natives of Cachula, 'Ibã tẽblando de miedo, y por halagos los llevamos q̃ nos ayudassen á abrir Camino, y llevar el fardaje.' He also asserts that the levy was held in lent, 1524, adding 'Esto de los años no me acuerdo bien.' His memory was correct, however, as is proved by Godoy's despatch to Cortés, which will be frequently quoted later.
[XIII‑9] The Indians of Chiapas and its district were the terror of surrounding towns, and were incessantly at war with those of Cinacantlan and of the towns about Lake Quilenayas, robbing, killing, reducing to slavery, and sacrificing captives. They even waylaid merchant trains on the roads between Tehuantepec and other provinces. Bernal Diaz states that without exception they were the greatest warriors of all New Spain, superior even to the Tlascaltecs and Mexicans.
[XIII‑10] The number of natives killed as related by Bernal Diaz is so disproportionately small that some error must have crept into his text. He says, 'Hallamos quinze dellos muertos, y otros muchos heridos q̃ no se pudierõ ir.' Hist. Verdad., 178.
[XIII‑11] Bernal Diaz remarks that Chiapas could in truth be called a city, for its streets were well laid out, and its houses strongly built, containing more than 4,000 heads of families.
[XIII‑12] Id., Godoy, Rel., in Barcia, i. 167; Gomara, Hist. Mex., 233. Brasseur de Bourbourg suggests that these aprons were made of india-rubber. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 574; but Bernal Diaz, 178, says, 'Cõ buenas armas de algodõ,' and Gomara, 'vnos paneses rodados de algodon hilado.'
[XIII‑13] Bernal Diaz' contempt of this man is expressed by an epithet particularly offensive to a Spaniard, 'nuestro negro Artillero que llevavavamos'(sic) '(q̃ bien negro se podra llamar).' Hist. Verdad., 179.
[XIII‑14] 'Y traian en vn brasero sahumerio, y vnos idolos de piedra.' Id.
[XIII‑15] 'Y diximos al Fraile q̃ nos encomendase á Dios.' Id.
[XIII‑16] 'Nos hirierõ cesique á todos los mas, y a algunos á dos, y á tres heridas.' Id., 180.
[XIII‑17] Three prisons of latticed timbers were discovered in the city. These were filled with captives who had been seized on the roads. Among them some were from Tehuantepec, others were Zapotecs and Soconuscans. Many Indians also were found sacrificed, and in the temples were hideous idols, 'y hallamos muchas cosas malas de sodomias que vsavan.' Id., 180.
[XIII‑18] Called by Bernal Diaz Gueyhuiztlan, also Guequiztlan, Gueguistitlan, and Guegustitlan, which are probably misprints. Hist. Verdad., 180-1. Godoy spells it Huegueyztean. Rel., in Barcia, i. 168. The first author writes for Cinacantlan, Cinacatan; Godoy, Cenacantean; and Herrera, Canacantean. dec. iii. lib. v. cap. ix.
[XIII‑19] Godoy in his despatch to Cortés states that Medina was released on bail, but that on their return to Espíritu Santo he had imprisoned him, and that justice would be dealt him. Bernal Diaz, however, states that Marin ordered him to be sent under guard to Cortés: 'y luego manda que por la posta le lleuassen a Mexico, para que Cortés le castigasse.' Hist. Verdad., 180. Herrera, followed by Brasseur de Bourbourg, asserts that Godoy sent him to Cortés. dec. iii. lib. v. cap. ix. Oviedo makes no mention of the circumstance. Bernal Diaz informs us that the offender was a soldier of high standing, and refrains from giving his name for the sake of his honor, but with amusing inconsistency states that he will mention it later, which he does on page 198. Medina's fate was tragic, but merited; he was killed by Indians at Xicalanco, for particulars of which event see Hist. Cent. Am., i. 543-4, this series. Remesal and Beaumont give a version of his death somewhat different from that of Bernal Diaz, who is the more reliable authority. They state that Medina had been sent after Cortés to inform him of the disturbances which had arisen in Mexico during his absence on the Honduras expedition, and that he was captured by the Indians of Xicalanco, who, sticking splinters of pitch-pine into his body and setting fire to them, made him walk round a hole in the ground till he expired. Hist. Chyapa, 164; Crón. Mich., MS., 322.
[XIII‑20] It was here that Ciudad Real, or Chiapas de los Españoles, was founded later. Id., 181; Godoy, Rel., in Barcia, i. 167.
[XIII‑21] Cinacantlan lay between Chiapas and Chamula about three leagues from the latter. Hist. Verdad., 180.
[XIII‑22] Called Chamolla by Herrera, and also by Gomara. Conq. Mex., 233; Chamolán by Ixtlilxochitl. Horribles Crueldades, 71.
[XIII‑23] Godoy states that the horsemen were divided into three troops, which were stationed so as to form a cordon round the hill; Bernal Diaz that the cavalry attempted the steep, but were found to be useless, and that Marin therefore ordered them to retire, as he feared an attack from the towns of Quiahuitlan (Huehueiztlan?).
[XIII‑24] 'Yno les podiamos hazer daño ninguno con los grandes mamparos que tenian, y ellos à nosotros si, que siempre herian muchos de los nuestros.' Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 181. Godoy on the contrary says that the Chamulans sustained heavy loss from the cannon and cross-bows. Rel., in Barcia, i. 167-8.
[XIII‑25] Godoy makes no mention of the building of these sheds.
[XIII‑26] 'Y agua y sangre toda rebuelta, y mui caliente,' was also showered down upon the Spaniards according to Bernal Diaz. Godoy says 'nos echaban mucha agua caliente, embuelta en ceniça, i cal.'
[XIII‑27] Bernal Diaz gives a glowing account of the shower of golden ornaments: 'Y nos echaron desde las almenas siete diademas de oro fino, y muchas cuentas vaziadizas, é otras joyas como caracoles y anades todo de oro.' Hist. Verdad., 181. Godoy on the contrary says: 'echaron vn poco de Oro desde dentro, diciendo, que dos Petacas tenian de aquello.' Rel., in Barcia, i. 168. Herrera and Gomara follow Godoy.
[XIII‑28] Three o'clock in the afternoon. Bernal Diaz is frequently at variance with Godoy in minor points, and from his account this would be either the third day of the siege, or the assault with the sheds was commenced on the first day; neither of these statements agreeing with Godoy. I consider the latter more reliable in many matters of detail, as he wrote almost immediately after the occurrences.
[XIII‑29] Bernal Diaz was slightly wounded by a spear-thrust in the contest which occurred before the rain-storm, and was only saved by the thickness of his cotton corslet. He claims to have discovered the ruse of the Chamulans in planting their spears in position, but on this point his narrative is doubtful. Godoy says, 'I hallamonos burlados ... i subiendo el Albarrada, no havia Hombre dentro.' Rel., in Barcia, i. 168.
[XIII‑30] 'Hallamos harto de comer, que bien lo haviamos menester, à causa que los dos Dias no haviamos comido, ni teniamos que ni aun los Caballos.' Id. Ixtlilxochitl, contrary to Bernal Diaz, Godoy, Gomara, and Herrera, states that they obtained much booty but few provisions. Horribles Crueldades, 71.
[XIII‑31] Godoy states that 200 Indians had been killed on the first day of the siege; while on the second so many fell that they were not counted. The town was assigned by Luis Marin to Bernal Diaz, as a reward for having first entered it, and Cortés ratified the grant for a period of eight years. When Ciudad Real was founded the population of Chamula was transferred thither. Hist. Verdad., 181.
[XIII‑32] Godoy states that this opinion was unanimous. In this portion of the narrative he and Bernal Diaz are thoroughly at variance, the latter evidently having wished to remain. Considerable dissension occurred. Alonso de Grado, whom Bernal Diaz describes as a turbulent rather than a fighting man, produced a cédula signed by Cortés assigning to him half the town of Chiapas as an encomienda. On the strength of it he demanded of Marin half the gold collected at that city, which was refused him on the ground that it was needed to pay for the horses that had been killed. An angry dispute followed, in which Godoy became involved, and it was terminated by the lieutenant putting both him and Grado in irons and keeping them prisoners six or seven days. Then Grado was sent under guard to Mexico, where he was severely reprimanded by Cortés, and Godoy released by the intercession of friends. Hist. Verdad., 182. Now Godoy mentions nothing of this affair, but states that Grado went to Chiapas, and other Spaniards to towns 'que alli el Teniente les havia depositado,' and were well received. Rel., in Barcia, i. 169.
[XIII‑33] Both Herrera and Remesal state that this first expedition of Mazariegos was undertaken in 1524, and in this statement only, and in the number of the forces, do they agree. Herrera's account of the campaign of 1524 is copied almost word for word by Remesal in his narration of the one in 1526; and the former author as lightly mentions Mazariegos' second expedition as Remesal does his first. The latter may, however, in this instance, be relied upon, as he quotes from the archives of Mexico. The entrance of Pedro Puertocarrero into Chiapas from Guatemala is mentioned by both authors, as an incident of the campaign which each describes, but it is impossible to believe that Alvarado could have spared that officer with a body of troops during the eventful year 1524, when fully occupied with the conquest of Guatemala. I have, therefore, adopted Remesal's chronology. It is strange that he does not seem to have had any knowledge of Marin's expedition, as related by Herrera. This somewhat perplexes Juarros, who remarks that Bernal Diaz' narration is 'circumstantially so different from the relation of Remesal as to induce a belief that the latter had been misled by false information.' Guat. (ed. London, 1823), 210-11.
[XIII‑34] Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 221-2. Guzman was a near relative of the Duke of Medina Sidonia. Id.
[XIII‑35] Mazariegos was cousin to Alonso de Estrada, then governor of Mexico. Remesal gives the names of more than 80 officers and soldiers who accompanied the expedition. Noticeable among them is that of Juan Enriquez de Guzman, who appears to have returned to Mexico after the outbreak. In the same list appear the names of two priests, Pedro de Castellanos and Pedro Gonzalez. Hist. Chyapa, 265. From Bernal Diaz we learn that Mazariegos was instructed to take Guzman's residencia. Hist. Verdad., 222. It was the performance of this duty, perhaps, which, at a later date, made Guzman so bitter an enemy of Mazariegos.
[XIII‑36] 'Pelearon, hasta que pudieron leuantar los braços.' Herrera, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. xiv.
[XIII‑37] 'Se despeñaron mas de quinze mil dellos en dos vezes que fueron conquistados.' Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 330.
[XIII‑38] It stands, though in a ruined state, to this day. Mazariegos, Mem. Chiapa, 13. The traveller Thomas Gage, who wrote in 1677, remarks that the country of Chiapas 'surpasseth all the rest of America in that one and famous and most populous town of Chiapa of the Indians,' which later he says 'is held to be one of the biggest Indian towns in all America, containing at least 4,000 families.' New Survey, 219, 233.
[XIII‑39] The object of Puertocarrero's presence is considered by Remesal to have been the extension of territory under the government of Alvarado. Hist. Chyapa, 265-6. Another author states that at the commencement of the revolt the Spaniards had hurriedly fled to Comitlan, where they sent word to Alvarado in Guatemala. Mazariegos, Mem. Chiapa, 10. The reader is aware that Alvarado was in Spain at this period.
[XIII‑40] Hist. Chyapa, 279. The colonists of Espíritu Santo also laid claim to the territories of Chiapas and Cachula, as is seen in a royal cédula of 1538, in Puga, Cedulario, 115. Juarros says that Puertocarrero being informed of the disturbances in Chiapas considered it his duty to repair thither and endeavor to restore tranquillity. Guat. (ed. London, 1823), 214.
[XIII‑41] These appointments had been extended by Alonso de Estrada in November 1527. On the 6th of March the municipality drew up a tariff of fines, ordered a pillory and scaffold to be erected, and transacted other business. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 268-9.
[XIII‑42] Guez Gueizacatlan as spelled by Juarros, Hist. Guat., 61.
[XIII‑43] A coat of arms was granted to the town in 1535. It was as follows: A shield with two mountain ranges with a river flowing between them; above on the right a castle, Or with a lion rampant against it; on the left a palm Vert in fruit, and another lion rampant, all on a field, Gules. A decree of the state congress of July 27, 1829, again changed the name of the place to Ciudad de San Cristóbal. Pineda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., iii. 371-2. Consult also Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 188-9, where will be found a wood-cut design of the arms; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 271, 272-3; Mazariegos, Mem. Chiapa, 18-19; Juarros, Guat., i. 12; Pineda, Descrip. Geog., 48. For meaning of viciosa see Hist. Mex., i. 145.
[XIII‑44] The office of alguacil mayor was at last sold for 4,687 pesos; those of the eight regidors for 400 pesos each; that of the public administrator for 4,200 tostones—the toston being half a peso—that of escribano publico for 627 pesos, and later for 1,110 pesos. Purida, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, iii. 370.
[XIII‑45] For the incidents that occurred before the capture of the town of Chiapas the account of Bernal Diaz has been accepted as the base of this narrative, but the version of Diego de Godoy, an 'escribano del rey,' who accompanied the expedition, is also worthy of credit. The latter furnished Cortés with two reports of the proceedings, though his first one, which was written from Cinacantlan, has not yet appeared in print, and is perhaps no longer extant. The second despatch was written from Espíritu Santo, and was first published at Toledo by Caspa de Ávila on the 20th of October 1525, together with the fourth letter of Cortés to the king of Spain, and again in Valencia by George Costilla on the 12th of July 1526. In 1749 Andrés Gonzalez de Barcia reproduced it in Madrid, in his collection of the works of the chroniclers. Godoy's account and that of Bernal Diaz, though agreeing in the main features of the campaign, are strangely contradictory in many particulars. In weighing the credibility of their statements it should be borne in mind that the former wrote his despatch immediately after the conclusion of the campaign, while the latter wrote from memory many years afterward. It is beyond dispute that Marin commanded this expedition, as appears from his own despatch and the statements of Bernal Diaz; yet in Gomara, Hist. Mex., 233; Herrera, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. viii., and Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 573, it is stated that Godoy was in charge, Marin being second in command.
[XIV‑1] Benzoni spells the word Achla and states that the town was situated at a distance of about two bow-shots from the shore. Mondo Nuovo, 77. For a description of its site see Hist. Cent. Am., i. 418, this series. Girolamo Benzoni, in 1541, joined the Spaniards in their forays for gold and slaves, and traversed the Central American provinces. Regarded doubtless as an interloper he does not appear to have met with the success he expected, and in 1556 returned to Italy determined to vent his spite by an exposé of Spanish greed and cruelty. In 1565 he published the work entitled La Historia del Mondo Nuovo, dedicated to Pius IV., and containing 18 wood-cuts, with his own portrait on the frontispiece. The second edition, somewhat amplified, appeared in 1572, followed by quite a number of reprints and translations, particularly in German and Latin. The well known version by Chauveton, doctor and protestant preacher at Geneva, the Novæ Novi Orbis Historiæ, Geneva, 1578, was frequently reissued. The dedication praises Benzoni for exactitude and impartiality, and notes by other writers are added to confirm and explain the text. De Bry gave further value to this version by means of maps and fancy plates. Purchas, among others, treated it with less respect in offering merely 'Briefe extracts translated out of Ierom Benzo.' Amends were made for this slight in 1857, when the only full English version was issued by Admiral Smyth, under the auspices of the Hakluyt Society. The rendering is somewhat faulty, however, and the corrections of Benzoni's uncultured style and misspelled names not always an improvement.
Benzoni had evidently the intention of writing a more imposing general history of the New World, though it dwindled into a short narrative. There is an apparent effort at moderation, particularly with regard to himself, yet the disposition to exaggerate, or to lie, as Thevet intimates, crops out even in his sarcasms, and yielding to credulity he allows a great part of the narrative, on events or phenomena, to become merely the record of jangling and weird rumors current among gossips. This he partly admits by saying: 'In molte cose ho trouato che vna parte non conforma con l'altra, à causa che ogn'uno fauorisce il suo capitano, et più dico, che in questi paesi si trattano poche verità.' lib. iii. fol. 128. 'Lo mas de su narracion sacó de los autores precedentes con bastante fidelidad, pero comunmente sin juicio ni examen. En los principios está lleno de errores.' Muñoz, Hist. Nuevo Mundo, tom. i. xxi.-ii. Robertson refers to him as a discontented detractor. He does not feel well affected toward Las Casas, despite their common aim, but calls him a vain man, incapable of carrying out his reform promises. Whatever may be said against the work, much of the material is valuable, as it embraces facts glossed over by the chroniclers, and gives the personal observations of a man not imbued with Castilian partiality. Indeed, Pinelo calls him an 'Autor poco afecto à los Españoles,' Epitome, tom. ii. 589, and they very naturally have returned the compliment by neglecting him.
A contemporary of Benzoni as traveller and author is the Frenchman André Thevet, who claims to have travelled for 17 years round the world, to acquire a proper knowledge of men and things, and who is credited with having mastered 28 languages. The result of his observations was issued at Paris in 1558 as, Les singularitez de la France Antarctique, autrement nommée Amerique, containing philosophic dissertations on natural and moral history in the Levant, Africa, and America, and remarkable chiefly for credulity and want of critique. It attained several editions which are now sought for their rarity, among them, Historia dell'India America, di Andrea Tevet. Venice, 1561. He also wrote the Cosmographie universelle, Paris, 1575, 2 vols. folio, which is even more valueless, and admired only for its wood-cuts; the Cosmographie du Levant. Lyon, 1556; and the Cosmographie moscovite, published only in Paris 1858; and he left several other pieces in manuscript. De Thou refers to him rather severely as follows: 'Fuit patriâ engolimensis, professione primó Franciscanus, dein, cum vix litteras scìret, abjecto cucullo ex monacho celeberrimus planus religiosis et aliis peregrinationibus primam ætatem contrivit, ex quibus famâ contractâ, animum ad libros seribendos ineptâ ambitione applicavit, quos alieno calamo plerumque exacatos et ex itinerariis vulgaribus atque hujusmodi de plebe Scripturis consarcinatos miseris librariis pro suis venditabat: nam alioqui litterarum, antiquitatis atque omnis temporum rationis supra omnem fidem fuit imperitus, ut fere incerta pro certis, falsa pro veris et absurda semper sciberet.' Hist., lib. xi.
[XIV‑2] This epithet they applied to all Christians.
[XIV‑3] For the condition of the native settlements in Honduras, see Montejo, Cartas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ii. 223-4, 228, 240-1; and Squier's MSS., xxii. 24-6.
[XIV‑4] By cédula, dated July 20, 1532, they were exempted from other than a nominal tribute of two reals, Juarros, Guat., i. 74; ii. 343; but this order was unheeded. In 1547 the survivors drew up a memorial to the emperor representing their past services and sufferings, and petitioning for their rights. The document was written by a friar and referred to the licentiate Cerrato, who was instructed to see that justice was done to them. Memorial, 1547, MS., in Centro América, Extractos Sueltos, 41-2. An attempt was made at a later date to impose tribute upon their descendants; but the Mexican government confirmed them in their rights in 1564: 'Fueron amparados en posesion de su libertad, y se libró en Tenuctitlan á 6 de noviembre de 1564 real provision, que conservan los naturales de Almolonga en fólios de pergamino encuadernados en forma de libro, empastado con tablas finas, y forrado en terciopelo carmesi,' etc. Pelaez, Mem. Guat., i. 167.
[XIV‑5] In the time of Alvarado the tribute of cacao was 1,400 xiquipiles, and this was paid until 1542. Requête d'Atitlan, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i. tom. x. 420-2. A xiquipil was 8,000, and the number of chocolate-beans contributed was therefore 11,200,000.
[XIV‑6] Regio, Ind. Devastat., 38-40. How populous the country was may be imagined from the fact that Alvarado represented it as exceeding Mexico in the number of its inhabitants. 'Et ipsemet tyrannus scripsit majorem esse in hac provincia populi frequentiam, quám in Regno Mexico, quod & verum est.' Id. Las Casas also states that, when the Spaniards first entered the country, the towns and villages were so many and large and so densely populated that those who marched in advance not infrequently returned to the captain demanding a reward for having discovered another city equal in size to Mexico. Hist. Apolog., MS., 28.
[XIV‑7] It will be remembered, however, that Alvarado procured relays of Indians from Guatemala to pack his material and supplies from Trujillo to Iztapa. Enough were left, remarks Remesal, upon whom to wreak his vengeance, and the Cakchiquel and Quiché princes, who appeared before him to do him homage, became the first victims. They were reproached with the reforms brought about in their favor, during his absence, as of crimes worthy of capital punishment; for daring to complain to the governor they were accused of rebellion. Nameless adventurers, who had been unable to extort enough gold from them, or take from them their vassals to work in their fields and houses, pretended that the ill-will of these chiefs had caused their ruin, and loudly demanded that the adelantado should grant new repartimientos according to their services. Alvarado, who was wounded to the quick by the appointment of Maldonado, listened to all these complaints, and now displayed his usual brutality. Prince Cook, Ahtzib of the Cakchiquel crown, he ran through with a sword. Tepepul, king of Gumarcaah, or Utatlan, and the Ahpozotzil Cahi Imox, together with a large number of lords, were cast into a prison on some frivolous pretext. When on the point of sailing from Iztapa, Alvarado being requested by the municipal council to determine their fate, settled the matter by hanging the latter and putting the former together with a number of the leading caciques on board his fleet. All of them perished miserably on the coast of Jalisco. Among his other victims was a lord called Chuwi-Tziquinu and 17 other Cakchiquel princes, whom he took with him from Santiago under pretence of conducting them to Mexico. When a short distance from the city he caused them all to be strangled. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, lib. iv. cap. iv. v. xx.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 797-801; Pelaez, Mem. Guat., i. 77.
[XIV‑8] Real Cédula de 17 de Novre 1526, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, v. 326-31. In the preamble to this decree the emperor states that it is notorious that excessive toil in mines and at other labor and the want of food and proper clothing had caused the death of such numbers that some parts of the country had become depopulated, while whole districts were abandoned by the natives, who had fled to the mountains and forests to escape ill-treatment. This cédula, designed to apply to the king's dominions in the west from Panamá to Florida, ordered diligent inquiry to be made relative to the killing, robbery, and illegal branding of Indians, and that the perpetrators should be delivered over to the council of the Indies. Other provisos were that slaves should be restored to their native country, and if this were not possible they were to be placed in reasonable liberty, nor were they to be too heavily worked or made to labor in the mines or elsewhere against their will. In future expeditions of discovery and colonization the leader was to take with him two ecclesiastics at least, who were to use greatest diligence in obtaining kindly treatment for the Indians. Natives who were peaceably inclined were not to be made slaves; at the same time the promotion of morality and good customs was not left out of sight, and in cases where it might be deemed beneficial by the priest they might be assigned to Christian Europeans as free servitors; and lastly no discoverer was to take with him out of their native land on any of his expeditions more than one or two Indians to act as interpreters. Ximenez, lib. iii. cap. lii., states that natives were branded as slaves through having been merely assigned to an encomendero, and that young boys and tender girls were taken from the towns by hundreds to wash for gold in the gulches, where they perished from hunger and hardship. Pelaez, Mem. Guat., i. 67. A notable case of branding Indians who had peaceably submitted, was that of the natives of Cuzcatlan by Alvarado in 1524, described by witnesses in Cortés, Residencia, 96, 155.
[XIV‑9] This order repeated the mandates of the previous cédula, and in addition abolished the system of encomiendas, as well as the branding of Indians as slaves. His majesty refused to grant them as vassals to any one. No Spaniard was to be allowed to use them as pack-animals. The caciques were not to be deprived entirely of governing power, but allowed certain jurisdiction, under the advice and instruction of the governors of provinces. Natives were to be encouraged in gold-mining; but, on payment of the royal dues, the gold they extracted was to belong to themselves; nor were they to be deprived of the lands they had acquired by inheritance, if they wished to cultivate them.
[XIV‑10] In 1533 it was enacted that an Indian's load should not exceed two arrobas in weight. In 1536 it was ordered that natives who had been accustomed to move from place to place were not to be prevented from doing so. Other laws passed the same year were to the effect that no Spaniard of any rank could be carried about by Indians in hammock or palanquin. Negroes ill-treating Indians were to receive 100 lashes, or if blood were shed, a punishment adequate to the severity of the wound. Native villages and settlements were not to be inhabited by Spaniards, negroes, or mulattoes. A Spaniard when travelling could only remain one night, and Spanish traders three days, in an Indian village. In 1538 laws were made ordering that caciques were not to sell or barter their subjects. This year also a modification of previous enactments limited the use of natives as pack-animals to those under 18 years of age. The Indians were, by all possible means other than coercion, to be induced to live in communities. In 1541 viceroys, audiencias, and governors were ordered to ascertain whether encomenderos sold their slaves, and if any such were discovered they were to be exemplarily punished and the bondsmen thus sold restored to liberty. Recop. de Indias, ii. 192, 194, 201-2, 212, 277-8, 288-9. These laws were general and applied to all Spanish America. Vazquez states that, in the year 1714, there existed in the city archives of Guatemala royal cédulas, issued in 1531, 1533, and 1534, authorizing the branding of slaves taken in war or obtained by rescate. Chronica de Gvat., 37-8.
[XIV‑11] In December 1530 the cabildo of Santiago was compelled to pass a law ordering the burial of the dead. 'Los Indios que mueren en sus casas, no los entierran, è los dexan comer de perros, y aues, è podrir dentro de la dicha ciudad, de que suelen venir è recrecer muchas dolencias á los vezinos y habitãtes.' Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 30. Christianized Indians, whether servant or slave, were to be buried in consecrated ground at the depth of the waist-belt of a man of good stature. Others were to be buried an estado deep, out of reach of dogs, under penalty of 20 pesos de oro. Id.
[XIV‑12] In 1529 laws were passed prohibiting such acts under a penalty of 25 pesos de oro, the proprietor of the servant to forfeit his ownership. If the person offending were an hidalgo the fine was 100 pesos de oro; if not he was to receive 100 lashes. Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 90-1, 114-15. The market called by the Indians tianguez was held daily at sunset. To provide against the outrages then committed a master of the market was appointed in 1532. In the following year another decree was found necessary, which was republished February 9, 1534. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 32.
[XIV‑13] Paul III. it will be remembered is noted as the pontiff who excommunicated Henry VIII. of England, and in the contest of Charles V. with the Protestant League despatched a large force to the emperor's aid.
[XIV‑14] It will be remembered that the inquisition, at that time in full blast, was founded by the Dominican order. In Prescott's Peru, ii. 253, it is stated that the arguments used by Las Casas before the junta were first published by a secretary of that institution.
[XIV‑15] The full text of them is given in Leyes y Ordenanzas, Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., ii. 204-27. There are extracts from them in Herrera, Remesal, Torquemada, and other chroniclers. For further mention of the new code and its workings see Hist. Mex., ii. 516, et seq. this series. Prescott says: 'The provisions of this celebrated code are to be found, with more or less—generally less—accuracy, in the various contemporary writers. Herrera gives them in extenso.' Peru, ii. 255. The historian is himself somewhat inaccurate on this and other points.
[XIV‑16] Before the new laws were passed Indians captured in war or guilty of certain crimes could be legally enslaved.
[XIV‑17] For a description of the repartimiento and encomienda system, see Hist. Cent. Am., i. 262-4, and Hist. Mex., ii. 145-52, this series.
[XIV‑18] For a description of the organization and jurisdiction of audiencias see Hist. Cent. Am., i. 270-3, this series, and of the supreme council of the Indies, 280-2 of the same vol.
[XIV‑19] The version given in Prescott's Peru, ii. 260-1, is that the viceroy found a ship, laden with silver from the Peruvian mines, ready to sail for Spain, and that he laid an embargo on the vessel as containing the proceeds of slave labor. There is, however, no absolute prohibition in the new code against the employment of Indians in working the mines, although, as mentioned in Herrera, dec. vi. lib. v. cap. iv., a cédula issued in 1538, forbade that natives be so engaged, and authorized the substitution of negro slave labor for such purposes.
[XIV‑20] The emperor was memorialized by the clergy and by the civil authorities, each party sending its petition without the other's knowledge, each slandering its adversary and using such falsehoods as would be most likely to injure the opposite cause. Abreo, in Cent. Am.; Extr. Sueltos, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 48.
[XV‑1] Gasca, Carta al Consejo, in Col. Doc. Inéd., l. 107; see also Herrera, dec. vi. lib. v. cap. iii.
[XV‑2] In Garella, Isthme de Panama, 4, it is stated that Andagoya made his survey in obedience to a cédula issued 20th February 1534. Some authorities state that Philip first suggested the idea of uniting the two oceans by means of a canal; but when the survey was ordered he was not over seven years of age. In Hist. Cent. Am., i. 360-1, this series, there is a description of the difficulties overcome in constructing the first road across the Isthmus about 1520, and an account of the obstacles encountered by surveying expeditions even in the middle of the nineteenth century.
[XV‑3] Almagro, Informacion, Col. Doc. Inéd., xxvi. 265, and Herrera, dec. iv. lib. x. cap. vii.
[XV‑4] Benzoni goes somewhat out of his way to make Panamá appear in a contemptible light. He says that it contained about 4,000 inhabitants and had about 120 houses built of reeds or wood and roofed with shingles, but he does not explain how such a population contrived to crowd themselves into that number of dwellings.
[XV‑5] In his description of a journey from Acla to Panamá by way of Nombre de Dios, Benzoni mentions that his party was accompanied by 20 negro slaves, whose business it was to cut away the undergrowth and branches of trees that barred their path. The same writer also alludes to the danger incurred by travellers during the rainy season through the frequent crossing of the Chagres en route across the Isthmus. He relates a story of a Spaniard, who while fording the last branch of the river, mounted on a mule, and with gold and jewels in his possession to the value of 4,000 ducats, was carried down stream, lost everything, and was saved only by tying himself to the branch of a tree, arriving at Nombre de Dios with only his waistcoat.
[XV‑6] In commenting on the statements then current as to the commerce of Panamá, Benzoni remarks: 'Senza dubio dieci Mercatanti Venetiani basteriano à comprare tutte le mercantie che vi entrano vna volta l'anno, con la istessa città.' Mondo Nvovo, lib. ii. 79.
[XV‑7] Pizarro sent 20,000 gold castellanos to Panamá and thus enlisted in his service a number of recruits which he could not otherwise have obtained. Naharro, Descubr. y Conq., MS.
[XV‑8] Among other marauding expeditions planned by Almagro was a raid on Panamá and Nombre de Dios for the purpose of plundering both places, and making the former a base for future operations against Nicaragua and Guatemala. He intended moreover to destroy all ships on the Pacific side that could not be utilized. Vaca de Castro (Licenciado Cristóbal), Carta al Emperador Don Cárlos, dándole cuenta de la sublevacion y castigo de Don Diego de Almagro el mozo y de otros importantes asuntos (Cuzco, Nov. 24, 1542). Cartas de Indias, 478, 483-4.
[XV‑9] On the very spot where his father met a like fate. Herrera, dec. vi. lib. vi. cap. i.
[XV‑10] 'Españoles hai que crian perros carniceros y los avezan á matar Indios, lo qual procuran á las veces por pasatiempo, i ver si lo hacen bien los perros.' Morales, Relacion, MS.
[XV‑11] In Herrera, dec. vii. lib. vii. cap. xxii., it is stated that Gonzalo was elected captain, procurator general, and chief-justice.
[XV‑12] It was truly a triumphal entry. Pizarro himself was clad in a full suit of mail, with a richly embroidered surcoat, and before him was borne the royal standard of Castille. Zárate, Hist. Peru, lib. v. cap. xii.
[XV‑13] He gathered great strength by the adhesion of Diego Centeno, a brave officer, who was exasperated by the cruelty and oppression of Pizarro's lieutenant-governor in Charcas, and therefore declared for the viceroy. Robertson's Hist. Am., ii. 240.
[XV‑14] Vasco Nuñez was decapitated by a negro on the battle-field, and his head borne on a pike. Some of the soldiers were brutal enough to pluck the grey hairs from the beard and wear them in their helmets as trophies of the victory. Herrera, dec. viii. lib. i. cap. iii. See, also, Fernandez, Hist. Peru, pt. i. lib. i. cap. liv.
[XV‑15] He ordered galleys to be built at Arequipa, which with the vessels already in his possession would make him master of the sea from Chile to Nicaragua. Zárate, Hist. Peru, lib. v. cap. xv.
[XV‑16] Named by some authors Machicao, and in Benzoni, Mondo Nuovo, Machicano. When Gonzalo Pizarro made his entry into Lima, Bachicao caused the artillery, ammunition, and equipments to be carried on the backs of Indians, thus showing his contempt for the new code of laws. Benzoni, Mondo Nuovo, 210 (Hak. Soc. ed.) See, also, Gomara, Hist. Ind., 214, and Datos Biograficos, in Cartas de Indias, 718-20. Gomara says of him: 'Lo escojeran entre mil para qualquiera afrenta, pero couarde como liebre, y asi solia el dezir: ladrar, pese á tal, y no morder. Era hombre baxo mal acostumbrado, rufian, presumptuoso, renegador, q̃ se auia encomenado al Diablo, ... buen ladron ... asi de amigos como de enemigos.'
[XV‑17] On board the fleet were Maldonado and Doctor Trejada on their way to Spain to render to the emperor Gonzalo Pizarro's account of the matter and await his Majesty's further instructions. Pizarro, Carta al Rey, in Col. Doc. Inéd., l. 195 passim.
[XV‑18] Gomara, Hist. Ind., ii. 14. Benzoni states that the captain was hanged at the harbor of Vecchio in Taboga. 'Fece alcuni soldati in porto Vecchio, e vicino Taboga pigliò una naue, e perche il patrone non abassò le velle cosi presto, lo mandò à impicecare, e cosi giunto à Panama, e non volendo Giouanni di Gusman che intrasse nella città, ilquale faceua gente per lo Vicerè.' Hist. Mondo Nvovo, 143.
[XV‑19] Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nvovo, 211. See also Oviedo, iv. 400. In Zárate, Hist. Peru, lib. v. cap. xvi., it is stated that the order for an execution was given in the words 'Manda hacer el capitan Hernando Bachicao.'
[XV‑20] Of Bachicao's subsequent history we learn that he was captured while attempting to desert to the royalist party, and executed by Francisco Carbajal, one of Gonzalo's officers. Datos Biograficos, in Cartas de Indias, 718-20.
[XV‑21] In addition to other precautions, Pedro de Casaos, the corregidor, or mayor, of Panamá, crossed the Isthmus to Nombre de Dios, and exhorted all loyal citizens to rally for the defence of Panamá. Gathering all the arquebuses and other arms which he could find, he returned to the city and called upon the captains of the viceroy to place themselves under his banner. This they obstinately refused to do, thereby sowing discord which was to tell greatly in favor of the insurgents. Zárate, Hist. Peru, lib. v. cap. xxx.
[XV‑22] Twenty thousand ducats according to Benzoni, Mondo Nvovo, 144.
[XV‑23] Eight ships and three brigantines. Benzoni, Mondo Nuovo.
[XV‑24] Juan de Illanes, as soon as he saw the ships, cried out with a loud voice to the citizens, 'Come out of your houses, ye traitors, come and defend the king's domain from these tyrants!' When Pedro de Casaos sent word to Hinojosa to inquire the cause of his coming he answered that 'he came to pay the debts of Machicano.' Benzoni, Mondo Nvovo, 144-5.
[XV‑25] Herrera, dec. vii. lib. x. cap. ix. Garcilaso de la Vega, in Hist. Peru, ii. 244, styles Hinojosa governor, and Zárate, Hist. Peru, lib. v. cap. xxx., says: 'Y el governador de aquella Provincia llamado Pedro de Casaos, Natural de Sevilla, fue con gran diligencia à la Ciudad de Nombre de Dios, i mandò apercebir toda la Gente que en ella estaba, i juntando todas las Armas, i Arcabuces que pudo haver, los llevò consigo à Panamà.' The corregidor of a town was often styled 'governador' by courtesy. Hence perhaps the mistake.
[XV‑26] Herrera, dec. vii. lib. x. cap. ix.
[XV‑27] It is said that a battle now appearing inevitable, the officer in charge of Vela Nuñez was ordered to hang him and the other prisoners to the yard-arm. Zárate, Hist. Peru, lib. v. cap. xxxi. This statement is very improbable.
[XV‑28] He informed the people of Panamá that if they had received a wretch like Machicao, they certainly ought to admit him. Herrera, dec. vii. lib. x. cap. ix.
[XV‑29] They had no faith in Hinojosa's promises. 'Aunque Gonzalo Pizarro governase juridicamente, como ellos decian; y que no tenian color ninguno para entremeterse en distrito ageno; y que las mismas promesas avia hecho Bachicao.' Garcilaso de la Vega, Hist. Peru, ii. 244.
[XV‑30] Herrera, dec. vii. lib. x. cap. x., and Benzoni, Mondo Nvovo, 145. In Gomara, Hist. Ind., 218, it is stated that 40 men were allowed to land. Other authorities give 50 as the number of the guard and 30 days as the period.
[XV‑31] 'Con este concierto Hinojosa mandô recoger la gente a las naos, y los de Panamá le hablaron y trataron con mucha cortesia, y le aposentaron en la ciudad y diziendole, que se trataua de prenderle, ô matarle; aunque no lo creyô, todauia se hizo fuerte en la casa adõde posaua, y poco despues, como buen Capitan, por quitar ocasiones de tumultos se fue a sus naos, y presto se entendió q̃ aquel rumor no fue palabras.' Herrera, dec. vii. lib. x. cap. 10.
[XV‑32] It was during this year that the wealth of Potosí began to be known.
[XV‑33] In Herrera, dec. viii. lib. i. cap. ix., it is stated that Hinojosa's officers committed many robberies, taking care to hide them from their commander, who strictly forbade anything of the kind and gave orders that all such offenders should be handed over to the civil authorities. Gasca, in Carta al Consejo, 1. 108-9, says that Hinojosa forced the people of Panamá and Nombre de Dios to feed and quarter his men.
[XV‑34] A native of Álava, and a fellow-townsman of the viceroy. Zárate, Hist. Peru, lib. v. cap. xxxiii. See also Garcilaso de la Vega, Hist. Peru, ii. 244.
[XV‑35] 'Et non molto dopo Melchior Verdugo calato per lo Scolatio di Nicaragua con duecento soldati con animo di offendere la gente di Pizzarro.' Benzoni, Mondo Nvovo, 146. In Zárate, Hist. Peru, lib. v. cap. xxxiii., the number is stated at 100.
[XV‑36] The darkness of the night favored them, but Verdugo's men might have effected their capture if they had not been too intent in plundering the house. Garcilaso de la Vega, Hist. Peru, ii. 245.
[XV‑37] Herrera says that Hinojosa expecting to be attacked placed the city of Panamá in a thorough state of defence and told his officers that Verdugo held but the authority granted him by the audiencia de los Confines and knew not even whether the viceroy were alive. dec. viii. lib. ii. cap. iv.
[XV‑38] One hundred and fifty arquebusiers. Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nvovo, 145-46, 140; Gomara, Hist. Ind., 219.
[XV‑39] 'Verdugo fu il primo à saltare in vn Brigantino, et solo vn soldato resto ferito, e questo fu el fine delle brauate di Verdugo.' Benzoni, Mondo Nvovo, 146.
[XV‑40] 'La dificultad de tanto aparato, ... Armas, y Cavallos, Municíon y Bastimento, y la Navegacion tan larga, yaver de pasar dos Mares les forçava á no tomar este Consejo.' Garcilaso de la Vega, Hist. Peru, ii. 268.
[XV‑41] Gasca was born in 1494 in the Caballería de Navarregadilla, a small town near the Barca de Ávila. He received a liberal education, being placed by his uncle at the famous seminary of Alcalá de Henares, and subsequently transferred to the university of Salamanca. He was ordained a priest in 1531, and in 1541 was appointed counsellor of the inquisition. He acquired great renown by his gallant defence of the city of Valencia, at a time when its inhabitants were panic-stricken at the approach of a foreign foe. 'Vinieron á tierra de Avila la familia de Gasca mudándose ... las dos letras consonantes C y G el nombre de Casca en Gasca.' Hist. de Don Pedro Gasca, MS. Even when a student he showed the power of his will and decision of character in quelling political disturbances. Datos Biograficos, in Cartas de Indias, 763-7.
[XV‑42] 'El Titulo que llevó, fue de Presidente de la Audiencia Real del Perú.' Zárate, Hist. Peru, in Barcia, lib. vi. cap. vi.
[XV‑43] 'Llevó las Cédulas, y Recaudos necesarios, en caso, que convinese hacer Gente de Guerra, aunque estos fueron secretos, porque no publicaba, ni trataba, sino de los perdones, i de los otros medios pacificos.' Zárate, Hist. Peru, in Barcia, lib. vi. cap. vi. Garcilaso de la Vega, Hist. Peru, ii. 269, says: 'Le diesen absoluto Poder en todo, y por todo, tan cumplido y bastante, como su Magestad lo tenia en las Indias.' See, also, Prescott's Peru, ii. 344.
[XV‑44] 'Alvarado habló á Hernan Mexia, i le dió noticia de la venida del Presidente, diciendole quien era, i á lo que venia, i despues de largas platicas se despidieron, sin haverse declarado el vno al otro sus animos, porque ambos estaban sospechosos.' Zárate, Hist. Peru, in Barcia, lib. vi. cap. vi.
[XV‑45] Fernandez, Hist. Peru, pt. i. lib. ii. cap. xxi. Gasca did not hear of the death of the viceroy until after his landing at Nombre de Dios, but smothered his resentment, and even declared that if Pizarro would not receive him he would return to the emperor. Garcilaso de la Vega, Hist. Peru, ii. 170. See, also, Gomara, Hist. Ind., 228. Gasca's letter to Verdugo, then awaiting the emperor's orders at Cartagena, is also characteristic of the subtle churchman: 'Embió a decir á Melchor Verdugo, que venia con ciertos Compañeros á servirle, no viniese, sino que estuviese á la mira.' Garcilaso de la Vega, Hist. Peru, ii. 269. See, also, Herrera, dec. viii. lib. ii. cap. v.
[XV‑46] 'Mexia le repondio, que la vandera que alli estaba, la tenia por el Rey, y no por Pizarro, y q̃ haria en su seruicio quanto le mãdasse.' Herrera, dec. viii. lib. ii. cap. v. 'I que si queria, que llanamente se alçase Vandera por su Magestad, lo haria, i podian ir à Panamà, i tomar la Armada, lo qual seria facil de hacer.' Zárate, Hist. Peru, lib. iii. 133. See also, Garcilaso de la Vega, Hist. Peru, ii. 270.
[XV‑47] Fernandez, Hist. Peru, pt. i. lib. ii. cap. xxviii. See also Herrera, dec. viii. lib. ii. cap. vi., and Gomara, Hist. Ind., 228.
[XV‑48] When Paniagua, Gasca's emissary, first called on Gonzalo he was discourteously treated, the governor not even asking him to be seated.
[XV‑49] The captains so sworn signed their names before the notary Juan de Barutiu. Panamá, Pleito Homenage, in Col. Doc. Inéd., xlix.
[XV‑50] In Carta á Miguel Díez Armendariz, in Cartas de Indias, Gasca states that since the 1st of December 1546 1,000 soldiers, including several men of rank, had been assembled for the king's service; that he had at his disposal a fleet of from 23 to 25 ships, two of which were built at Panamá; and that there had not yet been time for the arrival of reënforcements from Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Española, or Nicaragua, at which latter province there were 250 horsemen ready to embark.
[XV‑51] On seeing the masterly disposition of the royalist forces, Carbajal, Gonzalo's lieutenant, remarked, 'Valdivia rige el campo o el diablo.'
[XV‑52] Among those present at Gonzalo's funeral was Hinojosa, who, after serving further the royal cause, was assassinated in 1552.
[XV‑53] The most partial biographer of the Pizarros is Fernando Pizarro y Orellana, author of Varones Ilvstres del Nvevo Mvndo, Madrid, 1639, folio. The book contains the lives of Columbus, Ojeda, Cortés, the four Pizarros, Almagro, and García de Paredes, but the greater part is devoted to the author's namesakes and kinsmen, by the side of whom the other heroes appear in comparatively faint outline. Every incident that can in any way redound to their credit is made to shine with a lustre unsurpassed even by the pearls and gold for which they so recklessly staked their lives. The brilliancy indeed is so strong as to merge into complete obscurity the bloody deeds and shameful traits which characterize the name. This is intentional on the part of the writer, who not only suppresses facts most notorious, but in glossing over the later revolt of Gonzalo, even attempts to justify it. His object is to advocate for the heirs of Hernando Pizarro, the restoration of his estates and titles of marquis as more fully set forth in the Discurso Legal, i Politico, published the same year, immediately after the Varones. The work is, in brief, the pleading of a learned lawyer, as the author proves himself, supplemented with quaint and abstruse notes and profuse marginals chiefly from classic writers.
[XVI‑1] Pedrarias never had the shadow of a right to the province of Peru; but it was probably an easy matter for Hernando so to persuade his audience.
[XVI‑2] 'Y porque algunos querian yr á armarse, y otras de mala gana le seguian, los reprehendia, y amenazaua, diciendo, que los haria castigar como a delinquentes, diziendoles; que no auian menester otras armas, i mandó a Iuan Barmejo, que matasse al que no le siguiese.' Herrera, dec. viii. lib. vi. cap. v.; see, also, Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 491.
[XVI‑3] 'Hecho esto embiò a Granada á dar auiso á Pedro de Contreras su hermano, embiandole la daga con que auia muerto al Obispo, sin punta, que so le auia despuntado al tiempo que le matô.' Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 492; see also Herrera, dec. viii. lib. vi. cap. v., and Gasca, Carta in Col. Doc. Inéd., 1.; but Zárate, Hist. Peru, lib. vii. cap. xii., does not attribute the killing of the bishop to Hernando himself, saying, 'i vn Dia entraron ciertos Soldados de su Compañía, adonde estaba el Obispo jugando al Axedrez, i le mataron.' This, however, is not likely, as Hernando was thirsting for personal revenge against the prelate, and the apostate friar, probably excommunicated, may also have had his secret motives for participating in the murder.
[XVI‑4] Gasca, Carta al Rey, in Col. Doc. Inéd., l. 117-23. See, also, Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 493; Garcilaso de la Vega, Hist. Peru, ii. 371, and Herrera, dec. viii. lib. vi. cap. v.
[XVI‑5] On board these vessels were placed all the vagrants and those who had come from Spain without license, together with certain married men who had left their wives in Spain. 'Para boluerlas a Castilla por casados, holgazanes, y gente que antes auia de causar desasosiego que prouecho.' Herrera, dec. viii. lib. vi. cap. i. The governor was determined to leave on the Isthmus none who were not settlers or traders, or known to live on their means or by their labor. Gasca, Cartas, in Col. Doc. Inéd., l. 111.
[XVI‑6] So confident were they of success that instead of removing the treasure to their ships they deposited it with the merchants and others, who bound themselves before a notary to deliver it when called for either to Bermejo or the Contreras brothers. 'Proveieron estos disparates, imaginandose, que sin tener contraste alguno, eran yá Señores de toda el Nuevo Mundo.' Garcilaso de la Vega, Hist. Peru, ii. 373.
[XVI‑7] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 493. Vega, Hist. Peru, ii. 372, says they found so much Spanish merchandise 'que yá les dava hastio, por no poderlas llevar todas.'
[XVI‑8] This is the number given in Herrera, dec. viii. lib. vi. cap. v., while in Gasca, Carta, in Col. Doc. Inéd., l., only 18 or 20 are mentioned. Gasca must be in error, for Contreras afterward left 25 men at Capira when he returned to assist Bermejo.
[XVI‑9] When Salguero received the message from Bermejo some confusion ensued, and most of the silver bars which he had captured were lost, being thrown into the river or stolen by negroes, who hid them in the rocks and swamps. Not only had Salguero captured the king's silver but also a large quantity of treasure belonging to private individuals. He ordered it to be packed on mules taken from the settlers at Cruces; but when he came near the city and saw the troops sallying forth he abandoned his baggage-train and hurried forward to join Bermejo. Gasca, Carta, in Col. Doc. Inéd., l. 149; and Herrera, dec. viii. lib. vi. cap. vi. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 497, states that when the silver was lost only a portion of Salguero's men marched with him towards Panamá, the remainder making for the sea-shore, where they were taken on board the ships of Pedro de Contreras. It is estimated that the entire amount of treasure captured by the rebels would be worth at the present day some $12,000,000.
[XVI‑10] Gasca, Carta, in Col. Doc. Inéd., l. 149-50. See, also, Herrera, dec. viii. lib. vii. cap. vii. Remesal gives 82 as the number slain on the field. Gasca says in his despatch that only three of the citizens of Panamá were killed, though many were wounded but none fatally; a rather improbable statement, considering that the rebels knew they need expect no quarter.
[XVI‑11] Soon after the suppression of the Contreras revolt, Gasca, having recovered most of the stolen treasure, embarked for Spain, where he was appointed to the bishopric of Sigüenza and afterward to that of Palencia. He died on the 10th of November 1565, leaving a history of Peru, which was published at Seville two years after his death. His Carta al Consejo, in Doc. Inéd., l. 106-63, is probably the most reliable source of information concerning the events related in this chapter. Herrera agrees with him in all the principal incidents, differing only in the order in which they are related, and in some minor points of detail. Remesal is very explicit in his narrative, and agrees for the most part with Gasca and Herrera. Gomara and Zárate give only a condensed statement of the matter, and in the main indorse the preceding authorities. The account given in Juarros is taken from Remesal, and that of Benzoni is borrowed from various sources, while Gonzalez Dávila relates only the assassination of Bishop Valdivieso.
[XVII‑1] In a letter to the king, dated Ciudad Real, August 10, 1541, Bishop Marroquin speaks very favorably of Chavez, and states that he was well adapted to rule. Carta al Emperador, in Cartas de Indias, 430.
[XVII‑2] 'Como su necesidad no era poca, tomô la mejor parte para si, y lo demas dio a sus amigos.' Herrera, dec. vi. lib. i. cap. ix. See, also, Juarros, Guat., i. 42, and Gomara, Hist. Ind., 64. Herrera also implies that he appropriated what remained of the live-stock and supplies brought by Alvarado from Guatemala for the relief of the colonists. dec. vi. lib. iii. cap. xix.
[XVII‑3] In Squier's Honduras, 88, it is stated that this stronghold was situated in the present department of Gracias, which borders on Guatemala and San Salvador. Lempira's ancient territory is still known by the name of Corquin, the word being applied to a district and town of Gracias. The valley of Sensenti, encircled by the mountains of Selaque, Pecaya, and Merendon, formed a part of the cacique's dominion. See p. 81 this vol. for map.
[XVII‑4] Herrera, dec. vi. lib. iii. cap. xix. The historian is of opinion that the Spaniards would have been compelled to abandon the siege had they not resorted to this or some similar artifice, and in that case it is not improbable that Lempira would have found himself powerful enough to drive them from the province or perhaps to exterminate them.
[XVII‑5] On the 10th of December 1537 the viceroy of New Spain reports to the king that he has received advices from the adelantado Montejo and the licentiate Maldonado, stating that the province was at peace and making fair progress.
[XVII‑6] Hist. Cent. Amer., i. 570, this series.
[XVII‑7] Montejo, writing from Gracias á Dios on June 1, 1539, reports to the emperor concerning the settlement at Comayagua and the appointment of alcaldes and regidores. The town had at that time 35 vecinos, most of them owning but few Indians. Juarros, Guat., i. 41-2, gives 1540 as the year of its foundation, as do Conder and Squier, while Remesal says the town was founded in 1542. It is certain, however, that it was built before Alvarado's return to Honduras, in 1539. Herrera, dec. vi. lib. vii. cap. iv.; Conder's Mexico and Guatemala, ii. 296: Squier's Notes, Cent. Amer., 129.
[XVII‑8] In December 1557.
[XVII‑9] These were Trujillo, Gracias á Dios, Comayagua, San Pedro del Puerto de Caballos, San Jorge de Olancho, Buena Esperanza, and San Juan del Puerto de Caballos. Pedraza, in a dispatch to the audiencia dated December 30, 1545, quoted in Squier's MSS., xxii. 133, states that one of Montejo's captains sent to examine the territory lying between Trujillo and the Olancho valley extended his explorations to the mouth of the Desaguadero and founded in that neighborhood the town of Nueva Salamanca, but the prelate's ideas of the geographical limits of the province were evidently somewhat vague. Possibly he may have had in mind a settlement of that name previously founded in Yucatan.
[XVII‑10] Pedraza, in describing the difficulties of travel and the condition of the roads, states that from Trujillo to Puerto de Caballos the distance by sea was 40 leagues, the journey being a very dangerous one. Thence to San Pedro it was 14 leagues, over a difficult road—especially bad in the rainy season—now in the mud (hasta la barriga), now climbing steep rocks; thence to Gracias á Dios 25 leagues, three or four native settlements intervening; from Gracias á Dios to Comayagua 25 leagues more, with three settlements between; thence to San Jorge in the Olancho valley between 20 and 30 leagues, no settlements between; thence to Nueva Salamanca 30 leagues, without any settlements intervening. Of the plague of mosquitoes on this portion of the route he remarks: 'Que nos comian vivos de noche i de dia, i nos sacaban los ojos que no havia tiempo que pudiese dormir.' From Nueva Salamanca to Trujillo, he says: 'Hai cerca de 40 leguas infernales, que ni á pie ni á caballo se pueden andar, sino la mas parte rodando con el lodo á los medios muslos i descalzos, i muchas veces subiendo hasta el cielo, i otras veces bajando hasta los abismos.' Id., 17.
[XVII‑11] Oviedo was then writing of what occurred in 1538; but it is probable that the 100,000 pesos de oro of which he speaks included the amount obtained in several preceding years. In 1539 Montejo reports that there are in Comayagua very rich mines, both of gold and silver, but as he would not allow the natives to be employed in them against their will they were worked only on a small scale. Montejo, Carta, Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ii. 221-22, 233, 251. This consideration for the welfare of the Indians no doubt hastened his downfall.
[XVII‑12] See Hist. Cent. Amer., ii., and Hist. Mex., ii. passim, this series.
[XVII‑13] By a royal cédula dated May 25, 1538, the viceroy of Mexico was instructed to allow Francisco de Montejo and Alvarado of Guatemala to exchange portions of their respective provinces, Puerto de Caballos and Ciudad Real de Chiapas being particularly mentioned. Puga, Cedulario, 116. It would appear that Montejo did not give his consent to this proposition.
[XVII‑14] Montejo, Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ii. 231-2, 245; Alvarado, in Id., 255. In a letter to the king, Montejo says he had heard that his Majesty had been informed that Alvarado would, on his return to Honduras, find the amount of the king's fifth to be 100,000 castellaños, but that the statement was unfounded, the sum being only 12,000 castellaños. The cause assigned for the deficiency was the stoppage of certain mining works which had been operated by gangs of Indians from Salvador and Guatemala on account of the great mortality among them. The order for the stoppage of the work emanated from Maldonado, acting governor of Guatemala, and presumably occurred before the assumption of the government by Montejo.
[XVII‑15] Montejo was on bad terms with Pedraza, but gained his intercession by approaching him when he was in an amiable mood. He accuses him of boasting that his authority was greater than that of the governor and that a letter from him to the emperor would at once procure his dismissal. He also states that on one occasion he was compelled to turn back from an expedition on which he had started, news having reached him that Pedraza was disturbing the country by his harsh treatment of the Indians, and that he had some difficulty in restoring quiet. Montejo, in Id., 248-51, 258-9. It is not improbable that this may have been the case, for in a letter quoted in Squier's MSS., xxii. 26, 27, Pedraza states that in 1547 he petitioned for leave to found a settlement in the Indian village of Jutical, in Comayagua, and to grant repartimientos to those who should furnish him the means, claiming that he was specially inspired by the holy spirit to carry out the pacification of the natives by prayer and persuasion. The ecclesiastic was a young man; vain, ambitious, covetous, and one who would not hesitate to prostitute his profession if it would serve his own interests.
[XVII‑16] The amount was 17,000 pesos according to Oviedo, iv. 23.
[XVII‑17] In a letter to the emperor, dated Trujillo, May 1, 1547, Pedraza states that he would gladly have gone in person to aid Gasca in Peru, were it not that his journey to Portugal five years before and the time he had lost in Spain awaiting the papal bull, consumed the greater part of his fortune. Pedraza, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 18. It is not probable, however, that he was in any great danger of poverty, for he made large sums of money by his traffic in slaves.
[XVII‑18] During this absence of Pedraza, Bishop Marroquin of Guatemala had charge of the diocese and made various pastoral visits through the province, on which occasions he was afterward accused by the former of having spent more than 12,000 pesos of the episcopal revenues. Marroquin in refuting this charge refers to Alonso Maldonado, president of the audiencia, and affirms that though he spent over 1,000 castellanos during his journeys going and coming, he never received one peso de oro in return. Marroquin, Carta al Principe Don Felipe, in Cartas de Indias, 449.
[XVII‑19] This cathedral was dedicated to the 'Conception of Our Lady' and had five dignitaries with salaries ranging from 150 down to 40 pesos a year. Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 304 et seq.
[XVII‑20] See Hist. Cent. Amer., ii., and Hist. Mex., ii., passim, this series.
[XVII‑21] Before his appointment he was an oidor of the audiencia of Mexico, and acting governor of Guatemala.
[XVII‑22] In Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 206, and Cartas de Indias, 776, the audiencia is said to have held its opening session May 16, 1544, whereas in a letter to the emperor dated December 30, 1545, and signed by President Maldonado and all the oidores, it is distinctly stated: 'En 15 Marzo desembarcaron los Licc. Herrera i Rogel. En 13 Mayo nos juntamos en Auda i luego se pregonaron las Nuevas Ordenanzas.' Audiencia, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 130.
[XVII‑23] Pedraza had been summoned from San Pedro del Puerto de Caballos, whence he had only come after repeated solicitations. Had he persisted it would have been necessary for Las Casas and Valdivieso to proceed to that town in company with Marroquin, for it was required that three prelates should assist at the ceremony of consecration. Pedraza was on bad terms with the two former, who state that they have heard things related of him. 'Que pareçen no buenas, y muchos escandalos.' Las Casas and Valdivieso, Relacion in Cartas de Indias, 19-23.
[XVII‑24] Id.
[XVII‑25] The above are the leading points contained in the memorial, which was a somewhat lengthy document, containing seven different clauses according to Las Casas, Carta Amonest., and Relacion in Squier's MSS., xxii. 140-42; and nine according to Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 374-76, and Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i., lxxvii.-viii. Remesal states that each bishop presented a memorial, that of Las Casas giving less offence than the others.
[XVII‑26] Las Casas and Valdivieso, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 118-20.
[XVII‑27] Marroquin states that the memorial was 'mucho desacato i mayor desatino: i él, como mas atrevido i favorido (por haverle dado credito á sus proposiciones i fundamentos sacados de su pecho lleno de hipocresias, sobervia, invidia, i avaricia), lo presentó, requirió, i amonestó.' Marroquin, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 139-40. He speaks rather favorably of Maldonado, but complains of his being remiss, wanting in vigilance, and somewhat careless as to the welfare of the colonists. He declares that there is dissension between the members of the audiencia, and says: 'Á mi no me satisfazen mucho sus letras ni su vida, aunque los he conversado poco.' Marroquin, Carta, in Carta de Indias, 440-1.
[XVII‑28] Maldonado exclaimed, while Las Casas was protesting against being expelled from the hall of the audiencia: 'Estos cocinerillos en sacandalos del conuento no ay quien se pueda aueriguar con ellos.' Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 376.
[XVII‑29] When the audiencia refused to recognize the bishops as protectors of the Indians, Marroquin addressed a letter to the emperor, wherein, after commenting on the disturbances caused by the new code, he concludes: 'Mas, no son tan largas los poderes de los Obispos destas partes como el ruido i sonido. La Audiencia lo manda todo i dá á entender que no hai para que el Obispo sea Protetor i Visitador: asi han proveido Visitadores a deudos suyos, quando V. M. solo quiere fiarlo a los Obispos.' Marroquin, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 135-6.
[XVII‑30] By order of the audiencia Rogel visited Chiapas for the ostensible purpose of assisting Las Casas in liberating the natives and settling the amount of their tribute.
[XVII‑31] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 480. Cerrato did not hesitate, however, to censure the bishops severely when he thought it necessary. He complained of their maintaining alguaciles like those of the emperor and of the unjust arrest of persons 'sin haver caso de Inquisicion.' In speaking of the excommunication by the bishop of Nicaragua of certain royal officers because they were unable to pay him his salary, he says that he and Pedraza 'were enough to turn the heads of a thousand judges.' Cerrato, Cartas, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 83, 7.
[XVII‑32] Cerrato, Carta de Setiembre 28, 1548, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 80-1.
[XVII‑33] Even if he had been found blameless he could not have been reinstated, as Cerrato was appointed by the crown to supersede him. He lost his life at sea about two years later. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 179.
[XVII‑34] He was fined for having appropriated a mine and for having seized certain negroes belonging to one of the priests. Cerrato, Cartas, in Squier's MSS. Marroquin remarks in Carta al Principe Don Felipe, in Carta de Indias, 448: 'Very few who have come to the Indies have so well feathered their nests in so short a time as Herrera and Rogel.' 'Quieren para si un dios y un principe, y para los demas confusion y perdiçion.' Pedraza endorses Marroquin's statement with reference to Herrera, and accuses him of trafficking in silks, velvets, and cloth like a common mercer. Carta, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 123. The statement of Las Casas and Valdivieso in Id., xxii., is doubtless more deserving of credit.
[XVII‑35] Bernal Diaz speaks unfavorably of Cerrato. He says that at first he promised well, but subsequently acted in every way contrary to his instructions, as if these had been 'mirá que todo lo bueno que bacare y obiere en estas provinçias todo lo deys á vuestras parientes.' He accuses him of giving the best repartimientos to his two brothers, a granddaughter, a son-in-law, and his followers and friends, and remarks that the people feared the coming of another boat-load of Cerratos. Carta al Emperador, in Cartas de Indias, 38-42.
[XVIII‑1] Viceroy Mendoza addressed letters to the bishop of Guatemala, Francisco de la Cueva, and the cabildo respectively. In that sent to the municipality he says: 'You will learn that God was pleased to take to his glory the adelantado Alvarado.' Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 179-80. Tello states that Governor Oñate also send word of Alvarado's death to Guatemala. Hist. N. Gal., 390-7. According to Remesal the first reports were generally discredited, and it was not until the viceroy's letters arrived that any manifestation of sorrow was shown. Hist. Chyapa, 165 et seq. A cabildo was held on the 29th of August.
[XVIII‑2] Ibid.; Carta al Emperador, in Cartas de Indias, 432-3; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 236.
[XVIII‑3] An unknown author writing later during the same year states that Doña Beatriz 'dixo muchas veces que ya no tenia Dios mas mal que le hacer.' Relacion, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 385. Gomara, Hist. Ind., 269-70, and Torquemada, i. 324 et seq., make similar statements. Gomara's assertion is disputed by Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 226-7. See, also, for accounts of Doña Beatriz' grief, Carta del Obispo in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 388; Benzoni, Mondo Nvovo, 156; Bernal Diaz (ed. Paris, 1837), iv. 466-7; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 166.
[XVIII‑4] In his letter to the cabildo, above alluded to, and dated July 15, 1541. Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 179-80. Remesal gives July the 5th as the date, one day after Alvarado's death, which it was impossible for the viceroy to know anything about at that time. The friar, however, attempts to account for the discrepancy which his error produced. Hist. Chyapa, 165-6.
[XVIII‑5] Bishop Marroquin was of opinion that Cueva was not a fit person to have been left by Alvarado in charge of the government. In a letter to the king dated August 10, 1541, he describes him as being too young and inexperienced, void of zeal in favor of the natives, careless in matters of justice, as not being partial to the company of good people, and offering a bad example to others. Carta al Emperador, in Cartas de Indias, 430. I entertain little doubt that it was through the bishop's influence that the appointment of Doña Beatriz was made. It certainly was countenanced by him. His control over the lady-governor would give him great power in the protection of the natives.
[XVIII‑6] The extraordinary appointment of Doña Beatriz to the government of Guatemala is thus condemned by Gomara, who infers that she caused herself to be elected: 'Y se hizo jurar por Gouernadora: desuario, y presuncion de muger, y cosa nueua entre los Españoles de Indias.' Hist. Ind., 270. Escamilla, Noticias Curiosas de Guat., i., states that she resigned the same day, referring doubtless to the appointment of Cueva. Remesal, who gives a detailed account of these proceedings, also attributes the appointment to her own desire for it, ungenerously remarking: 'Y con todos estos extremos excedia su ambicion á las lagrimas, y el desseo de mãdar á la falda del mongil y pliegues de la toca.' The only dissenting voice to her appointment was that of the alcalde, Gonzalo Ortiz, who probably objected to it on the grounds of her apparent want of saneness. Although half a page was left blank for the entry of his opinion it was never filled up. This blank half page still existed in 1615. The signature of the hapless lady on this occasion was written thus: La sin ventura Doña Beatriz. In the original a line is drawn through the words Doña Beatriz which was probably done by herself at the time of signing with the object of letting it be known that in future she wished to be called La Sin Ventura. Hist. Chyapa, 166-8. This same author states on page 367 that Cueva's appointment by the viceroy was not recognized by the city because it was not accompanied by his commission as governor. I cannot agree with the above authorities who attribute to Doña Beatriz such ambitious feelings while in the state of despair to which she abandoned herself, but regard her appointment as a purely diplomatic proceeding.
[XVIII‑7] The base of the following account of the destruction of Santiago City is taken from Bishop Marroquin's narrative in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 386-8, and from another and fuller narration without signature in Id., 378-86. Oviedo, iv. 27-32, gives an almost verbatim copy of it, and states: 'Estas nuevas truxo á la isla ... Cuba, Johan de Alvarado, sobrino del mesmo adelantado don Pedro, que aportó al puerto de la Habana, desde donde el capitan Johan de Lobera, su amigo é uno de los mílites que un tiempo anduvieron con el mesmo adelantado, me escribió todo lo ques dicho por su carta fecha á quatro de enero de mill é quinientos é quarenta y dos años.' It must, however, be remarked that the letter in Pacheco and Cárdenas bears unquestionable evidence of having been written in Guatemala. Juan de Alvarado, who had been recommended by Marroquin to the emperor for the governorship—Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 271—was on his way to Spain. I conjecture that he was the bearer of this anonymous account of the calamity and allowed Lobera to transcribe it, who merely changed the first person into the third and forwarded it to Oviedo in Santo Domingo.
[XVIII‑8] The town unfortunately occupied a site in a natural hollow running down the mountain side.
[XVIII‑9] Bernal Diaz (ed. Paris, 1837), iv. 463-4; Herrera, dec. vii. lib. ii. cap. xiii.; Gomara, Hist. Ind., 270, the records of the cabildo according to Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 559, and Vazquez, Chron. de Gvat., 164-5, give September the 11th as the date. But Marroquin and the anonymous writer both state that the disaster occurred on Saturday night, the first authority mentioning that the preceding Thursday was the 8th.
[XVIII‑10] 'Porque las piedras, como diez bueyes juntos, las llevaba como corcha sobre el agua.' Rel., in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 383. The immense stones brought down by this deluge were still to be seen in the city when Bernal Diaz wrote. (ed. Paris, 1837), iv. 463.
[XVIII‑11] 'Y muchos, quebrados brazos y piernas, de que algunos despues han muerto.' Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 383.
[XVIII‑12] The bishop says that eight 'doncellas' perished with her, 'entrellas doña Anica, hija natural del Adelantado, de 5 años.' Id., 387. Consult also Gomara, Hist. Ind., Vazquez, Chron. de Gvat., 91, and Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 175-80. This last author gives a vivid account of this catastrophe, but appears to have drawn considerably upon his imagination. He affirms that repeated violent shocks of earthquake occurred; that the Volcan de Agua was reduced a league in height—'Parecio el mõte descabeçado cõ vna legua menos de subida'—and indulges in general exaggeration. With regard to the earthquakes it may be stated that Remesal, page 559, as also Vazquez, Chron. de Gvat., 164-6, quotes from the books of the cabildo with date of September 9, 1542, as follows: 'Que porque à vn año que por nuestros pecados, vino el terremoto, e tempestad a esta Ciudad;' and again on page 365, from the minutes of the same with date of September 16, 1541, 'Que por quanto Dios nuestro Señor fue seruido ... de embiar tempestad é torro molto a esta Ciudad.' But as neither Bishop Marroquin nor the Anonymous Writer makes mention of any earthquake, I can but conclude that none took place, notwithstanding an entry in the books of the cabildo a year after the event to the contrary.
[XVIII‑13] One Spaniard and 60 Indians who were outside all perished. Such is the account given by the bishop. That of the anonymous writer differs from it. He states that Cueva escaped from the house and saved himself by getting upon a wall which had remained standing.
[XVIII‑14] The anonymous writer, pp. 381-2, gives the names of eight, and says that more than 40 Spaniards of both sexes lost their lives. The bishop, page 388, mentions the names of twelve settlers whose houses were completely overthrown or washed away, adding: 'Si bien algunos destos se salvaron;' and further on informs us that 'Murieron, sin los españoles dichos, mas de 600 indios.' Vazquez states that about 100 Spaniards and over 200 Mexican and Tlascalan allies escaped unharmed. Chron. de Gvat., 98.
[XVIII‑15] 'É gran suma de ganado, que tomó en el monte y otra que tomó en la cibdad, que se vinieron á ella huyendo.' Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 388. The mud in the streets reached almost up to the highest windows. Id., 383-4.
[XVIII‑16] No mention is made of the church having received damage. A portion of the bishop's residence was destroyed, causing the death of 'un bachiller Contreras.' Id., 388. According to Remesal the remains of Doña Beatriz were subsequently transferred to the cathedral of the new city. From the day on which she perished the bishop ordered three masses to be said weekly for the repose of her soul. Hist. Chyapa, 181. Benzoni describes this lady as 'a woman truly proud, vain, and haughty;' while Alvarado, in a letter to the cabildo, dated Puerto de Caballos, April 4, 1539, assures that body that 'Doña Beatriz está muy buena.' Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 179.
[XVIII‑17] Their remains were removed in 1580 to the Franciscan convent at Almolonga. The inscription, in 1615-17, said that there were buried Juan de Artiaga and twelve lady companions, all of whom perished with Doña Beatriz in 1541. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 181. This inscription is confirmed by Vazquez. Chron. de Gvat., 96.
[XVIII‑18] The bishop, however, thought otherwise. In an address to the people for the purpose of encouraging them, he said: 'Que á los buenos habia llevado Dios á su gloria y á los que los habia dexado, nos habia avisado para que fuésemos tales.' Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 385. Remesal uncompromisingly attributes the catastrophe to blasphemous language of Doña Beatriz, and adds that so exasperated were the inhabitants that they wished to cast her body to the dogs, as that of another Jezebel. Hist. Chyapa, 179-80. Vazquez treats this charge as an absurdity and intimates that it is an invention of Remesal, who he says was the first to publish such a story. Chron. de Gvat., 91. But this last author also errs, since the belief undoubtedly prevailed, as is proved by the anonymous writer on the above quoted page of Pacheco and Cárdenas. Mendieta, while inclined to excuse the language attributed to Doña Beatriz, implies that it was a punishment from God who was displeased with Alvarado's irregular second marriage. Hist. Ecles., 390.
[XVIII‑19] Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad. (ed. Paris, 1837), iv. 467.
[XVIII‑20] None dared to occupy the few houses left, and a large barrack was constructed on the outskirts of the town as a common dwelling-place. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 386.
[XVIII‑21] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 366.
[XVIII‑22] Torquemada attended one of these processions. He writes: 'iban cada Año, en el mismo Dia, que le corresponde al de el anegamiento (y Yo me hallé én ella vn Año ...) pidiendo á Dios seguridad en la segunda Poblacion, y perdon de averle ofendido.' i. 327.
[XVIII‑23] Soon after the death of Bishop Marroquin the custom was discontinued, although he left a fund to support its observance. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., (ed. Paris, 1837), iv. 468-9. It was established at a meeting of the cabildo on September 9, 1542. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 559. After the old church was pulled down the procession marched to the Franciscan convent in the old city. Vazquez, Chron. de Gvat., 164-6.
[XVIII‑24] Id., 366; Escamilla, Noticias Curiosas de Guat., MS., 1.
[XVIII‑25] These were the oidor Maldonado, Juan de Alvarado, a nephew of the deceased adelantado, and Juan Chavez, a resident of Santiago. Marroquin, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 271. Juan de Alvarado was a nephew of the adelantado, and according to Bernal Diaz went to Spain with Pedro, a natural son of the conqueror, neither being ever heard of afterward. Hist. Verdad., 237.
[XVIII‑26] He recommends as honorable gentlemen, Sancho de Baraona, a conquistador, Hernan Mendez, and Doctor Blas Cota. Id., 376-7. Consult also Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 58-9, 365.
[XVIII‑27] 'Hizo mucho daño en las tiendas y mercaderias.' Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 388. The cabildo in a letter to the king, dated September 10, 1543, says, 'perdimos casi todos lo que teníamos.' Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 20.
[XVIII‑28] It will be remembered that Alvarado appointed Marroquin his executor. The bishop justifies this proceeding by the necessity of the occasion. Had the distribution not been made he assures the king that two thirds of the Spaniards would have left, but he adds that, nevertheless, the greater portion of Alvarado's Indians had been reserved to his children. Id., xiii. 268-9.
[XVIII‑29] At a special meeting held on the 27th of September, 43 citizens were present, making with the authorities 55 persons in all. Of these 43 voted for removal, five against it, and seven were without choice. Juarros, Guat., ii. 263.
[XVIII‑30] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 366. Bishop Marroquin was at first in favor of removing to some high plains two leagues off, but for the reasons above stated and also in order to lessen the labor of the Indians he changed his opinion. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 370-1.
[XVIII‑31] At an open meeting held on the 2d of October, at which 78 persons were sworn in to vote without fear or self-interest, 49 voted for removal to Chimaltenango and 29 to the valley of Alotenango, and the former place was formally declared the future site of the city. At this juncture Juan Bautista Antonelli, a royal engineer, arrived with instructions to superintend the laying out of towns. He made an examination of various localities and gave in a full report upon the valleys of Las Vacas, Chimaltenango, Alotenango, Melpas de Luis de Alvarado, and the valley of Tuerto or Panchoy, and strongly recommended the selection of the latter. Juarros, Guat., ii. 263-6. Helps suspects that Antonelli's report had reference to some other occasion and discredits it. Sp. Conq., iii. 390. For general map of Guatemala see p. 110 this vol.
[XVIII‑32] Juarros, ubi sup. Bernal Diaz considered that either the valley of Petapa or Chimaltenango would have been a more favorable situation on account of the frequent overflowing of the river and the earthquakes experienced at Panchoy. Hist. Verdad., iv. (ed. Paris, 1837), 467.
[XVIII‑33] The cabildo considered it their duty more than once to pass laws to prevent the Indians from being overloaded. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 367-8. Every month the Cakchiquels of the dependency of the Ahpozotzil were compelled to furnish 1,000 laborers of both sexes to aid the prisoners of war in the building of the city. Cakchiquel, MS., Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 790. The audiencia and viceroy of Mexico ordered the Indians of Alvarado's estate to be employed in the erection of the new city. The bishop appealed against this order on the ground of the distribution which he had made already, the annulling of which would cause great dissatisfaction. Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 276.
[XVIII‑34] On November 18, 1541, the cabildo issued a decree ordering lots to be enclosed with adobe walls before St John's day, June 1542, under penalty of forfeiture. The time given being found to be too short, it was extended on May 21, 1542, to easter in the following year. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 365-7.
[XVIII‑35] Helps, who is given to looseness in his statements, without quoting any authority in this instance boldly states that 'the 4th of December 1543 was the day on which the Spaniards took possession of their new quarters.' Sp. Conq., iii. 390.
[XVIII‑36] Remesal asserts that the entry in the books of the cabildo on that date is the first to indicate a session held in the new city; 'es el primero que se escriue en esta forma. En la ciudad de Santiago de Guatemala, en el asiento nueuo della,' etc. Hist. Chyapa, 368.
[XVIII‑37] Called henceforth Ciudad Vieja.
[XVIII‑38] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 368. This author was presented with a painting of the city, executed by Captain Miguel de Ortega at the request of the authorities. He describes it as representing a scene truly beautiful.
[XVIII‑39] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 200, 367.
[XVIII‑40] It was the general wish that Governor Maldonado should be chosen, but this was rendered impossible by his appointment as president of the new audiencia. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 393.
[XVIII‑41] The members were the bishop, Cristóbal de la Cueva, Gabriel de Cabrera, Sancho Barahona, and Hernan Mendez de Sotomayor.
[XVIII‑42] In this document the petitioners especially brought forward as an injustice a regulation previously passed that only married settlers could hold repartimientos. Id. The cabildo had as early as February 1538 made a representation to the crown on this matter, in which they explained the difficulty and expense attending the procuring of wives from Spain. Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 13-14. It is evident also that in 1543 the cabildo again addressed his Majesty on the subject of their claims, as the viceroy Mendoza acknowledges receipt of 'el pliego que venia con ellas para S. M.,' and adds: 'yo escribo à S. M. ... haciéndole relacion, como conviene al servicio de S. M. alargar las mercedes y no acortallas.' Id., 180.
[XVIII‑43] Remesal states that Mendez under various pretexts delayed his journey, and that on the 8th of June the cabildo revoked his appointment. No other procurador appears to have been appointed up to September 10, 1546, when receipt of the revocation of the new laws as regarded the repartimientos rendered such an appointment no longer necessary. On this later date the cabildo resolved to send a commission to the audiencia to solicit its enforcement. Hist. Chyapa, 394-5. But I find that on May 7, 1545, the authorities of Guatemala wrote to the king requesting that their procurador, who had been sent to protest against the new code, might be given a hearing. Squier's MSS., xxii. 138. And Bishop Marroquin, writing on September 20, 1547, mentions that many letters had been sent with Hernan Mendez to the council of Indies relative to his action with the audiencia in 1545. Carta al Principe, in Cartas de Indias, 446. He also states that Mendez was prejudiced against the public will and partial to Herrera and the bishops of Nicaragua and Chiapas, and that there was also another procurador named Olivero in Spain at that time. Squier's MSS., xxii. 44-5.
[XVIII‑44] They also recommended that Don Juan, the cacique of Atitlan, and others who had aided in the pacification of the country should be allowed to retain their Indians. It was, moreover, suggested that alcaldes mayores should be appointed in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Chiapas. Id., 132-3.
[XVIII‑45] The cabildo on March 30, 1548, thank the emperor for this concession which had been notified by their procurador Al.o de Oliveros. Id., 91-2. This privilege did not, however, last long. In 1564 the procurator at court sought to procure the passage of a law establishing encomiendas in perpetuity, but, owing to the prejudice of the existing council against the colonists, he dared not even broach the subject. In 1565 there were in Guatemala 72 encomiendas which produced 80,000 ducados annually. A royal cédula dated November 28, 1568, ordered encomiendas to be granted solely upon merit, the descendants of discoverers and conquerors being especially considered. But in 1572 the cabildo complained of the incessant arrival of persons provided with royal cédulas granting them encomiendas as they became vacant, to the detriment of deserving residents who had been long in the country. The attempt to obtain encomiendas in perpetuity was abandoned in 1585, and a petition made for their extension to a third life. This was also defeated in 1595. Pelaez, Mem. Guat., ii. 2, 3. Bernal Diaz in the latter years of his life represents himself, in common with four others, the sole survivors of Cortés' soldiers, as aged, infirm, very poor, with a large family, and small income. Hist. Verdad., 250.
[XVIII‑46] Padre Cancer writing to the bishop of Chiapas October 20, 1545, mentions that the cacique of Tezulutlan and other Indians were going to present to him a petition against the enormous tributes which had been imposed upon their people. Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 233-5.
[XVIII‑47] Squier's MSS., xxii. 137. In September 1547 Marroquin had heard that the oidor Rogel 'esta nombrado para hacer la retasacion,' and adds, 'Ojalá no sea aora como lo pasado.' Id., 45.
[XVIII‑48] The crown acted upon this suggestion and issued two decrees relating thereto. Marroquin on February 4, 1548, reports that the consolidation of native towns was already in progress and that it was a highly necessary measure. Id., 89, 92.
[XVIII‑49] President Cerrato describes Gracias á Dios as occupied by only 18 vecinos, with neither physician, surgeon, nor druggist, while a great scarcity of both meat and fish prevailed. He adds that the majority were in favor of removal to the city of Santiago. Carta, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 87-8. Marroquin urgently advocated this city as the future seat of the audiencia. Id., 45, 89, 94.
[XVIII‑50] The removal doubtless took place in 1549. The letters of Cerrato and Marroquin above quoted bear dates of October 5, 1548, and September 20, 1547, February 8, 1548, and August 1, 1548, respectively. Remesal gives the date of the cédula as May 1, 1549. Hist. Chyapa, 503. Vazquez, Chron. de Gvat., 222, June 16, 1548.
[XVIII‑51] The king by royal cédula, dated July 7, 1550, approved the purchase of the episcopal palace for the use of the audiencia. Hist. Chyapa, 503.
[XVIII‑52] The document, found in Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 21-4, is defective and without date, but was probably written soon after the establishment of the audiencia de los Confines in Santiago.
[XVIII‑53] 'Formó gran enemistad, y estuvo muchos dias que no quiso ir à misa à la Iglesia mayor.' Id., 22. The disagreement between Marroquin and Cerrato was already brewing in 1548, for on November the 3d of that year the latter informs the crown that he and the licentiate Ramirez were in San Salvador engaged in liberating slaves and reforming tributes, 'que eran incomportables las que havian hecho el Opo i el Lic. Maldonado;' and, he adds, 'i luego ... nos partiremos a Guatemala i se hara lo mismo.' Al Empr, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 97.
[XVIII‑54] President Cerrato reported to the emperor September 28, 1548, that the first audiencia had observed neither new nor old laws, that the Indians were treated as previously, and no steps taken to liberate them. Carta, in Squier's MSS., 80.
[XVIII‑55] He stated to the king that the tributes levied were intolerable and could not be satisfied even if the Indians were twice as numerous, remarking, 'ni los Encomenderos guardan lei ni tasacion i los'—the Indians—'destruyen sin piedad.' Id., 80, 82.
[XVIII‑56] The punishment of certain Spaniards of Comayagua by Cerrato for loading Indians had called forth a general storm of abuse and denunciation by the settlers. Id., 82. At this time Bishop Marroquin was the only one who had letters patent, and consequently jurisdiction, as protector of Indians; the other bishops had to apply to the audiencia to obtain such authority. Id., 83-4. Marroquin in February 1548 requested the king to allow him to have an alguacil for the service in connection with his protectorship. Id., 90.
[XIX‑1] As early as May 28, 1528, fines were appropriated to the building of the church. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 277; Juarros, Hist. Guat., 63. It was dedicated to Nuestra Señora de la Anunciacion, but afterward, when the name of the city was changed, San Cristóbal was chosen as the patron saint, and this name was retained after it was erected into a cathedral. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 274; Nueva España, Breve Res., MS., ii. 390; Calle, Mem. y Not., 122.
[XIX‑2] Both these priests were army chaplains, the latter receiving his appointment from Pedro de Alvarado in the name of his Majesty. The religious fervor of the Spaniards at Ciudad Real was to say the least lukewarm. In 1528 Pedro Gonzalez was ordered to say mass daily on pain of forfeiting his salary. Another ordinance was that citizens were to attend church in proper time; 'El Español que desde el Euangelio adelante estuuiere fuera de la Yglesia, tiene pena de tres pessos;' while a third was to the effect that no citizen was to be absent from the city during christmas, easter, and whitsuntide, under a heavy penalty, which was inflicted on those absent at christmas in 1535. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 275-6; Mazariegos, Mem. Chiapa, 44; Pineda, Descrip. Geog., 128.
[XIX‑3] Fray Pedro de Barrientos was appointed superior, and according to Pineda, 129, by Bishop Marroquin. The cabildo granted the friars their choice of an allotment, and they selected one near the Cerro de la Cruz on the road to Chapultepec. An additional piece of land, 130 paces square, was also given them for their church and convent. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 436-7; Juarros, Hist. Guat., 63-4; Pineda, Descrip. Geog., 129.
[XIX‑4] In 1546 Fray Marcos was succeeded by Friar Hernando de Arbolancha. The former established a cattle farm near Copanabastla, where he also built a country-house and a sugar-mill.
[XIX‑5] According to Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 202; Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 189, April 14th; Calle, Mem. y Not., 122, May 19th; Larrainzar, Hist. Soconusco, 20, April 14th; Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., viii. 26, May 15th. All these dates are wrong, as may be seen from a copy of the bull in Nueva España, Breve Res., MS., ii. 392.
[XIX‑6] Nueva España, Breve Res., MS., ii. 389-92.
[XIX‑7] In Nueva España, Breve Res., MS., it is remarked that a copy of this document is nowhere to be found, but that Remesal makes mention of it as being identical with that of the Guatemalan bishopric, except in the exordium. In the cathedral of Chiapas no account of it exists. See Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 202. The personnel of the cathedral was to consist of a dean, archdean, precentor, chancellor, and treasurer, besides two canons and other ecclesiastics. Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 189.
[XIX‑8] Remesal states that the immediate cause of his death was taking poison during the night in mistake for water. Mazariegos inclines to the opinion that the fatal draft was taken while Arteaga was delirious with fever. Mem. Chiapa, 45. According to Calle, Mem. y Not., 122, Avendaño was a native of Estepa. Some of the members of his chapter went to Santiago, and others remained at Ciudad Real in a destitute condition, but were provided for by Marroquin. They asked that their allowance be given them from the revenues of that church, but this was refused by Marroquin until the emperor's decision should be known. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 278-9.
[XIX‑9] In his memorial to the audiencia Oct. 22, 1545, Squier's MSS., xxii. 176, Las Casas claims Yucatan and Tezulutlan. June 4, 1545, Bishop Marroquin acknowledges receipt of the prince's letter assigning Soconusco to Las Casas. Id., 121.
[XIX‑10] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 223, says the 9th; Las Casas, in Quintana, Vidas, 184, the 10th; Helps, Span. Conq., iv. 302, the 4th.
[XIX‑11] Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 211-14.
[XIX‑12] Las Casas, Relacion de entrada, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 157.
[XIX‑13] 'Donde más excesos y desórden ha habido en hacer injusta é inicua y malvadamente los indios esclavos, ha sido en Guatemala y Chiapa.' Las Casas, Representacion, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 168-9.
[XIX‑14] Diego Ramirez, juez visitador to Chiapas in 1548, writes Las Casas under date of April 20, 1549, that so excessive had been the tribute imposed by the settlers, that many of the natives had nothing left, not even a mantle, and their condition was that of slavery or even worse. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 204. Cerrato, writing to the emperor, Sept. 28, 1548, says that in Guatemala and Chiapas the encomenderos observed neither the law nor the prescribed tribute, but destroyed the natives without pity. Squier's MSS., xxii. 82.
[XIX‑15] Las Casas' opponents contended that this included all slaves however acquired. Las Casas, Rel., in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 158; Carta, Audiencia, July 20, 1545, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 111-12. Las Casas, that it only concerned those unlawfully enslaved. Carta, Oct. 25, 1545, in Id., 122-3. But practically it embraced all slaves, for their legal enslavement was difficult of proof. Carta, Audiencia, Dec. 30, 1545, in Id., 130-1.
[XIX‑16] Las Casas, Rel., loc. cit.
[XIX‑17] Las Casas y Valdivieso, Carta, Oct. 25, 1545, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 122-3.
[XIX‑18] Las Casas, Rel., loc. cit.
[XIX‑19] In a letter dated July 20, 1545, the audiencia informed the emperor of Las Casas' doings at Ciudad Real, and charged him with usurping the jurisdiction of the crown. Carta, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 111-12.
[XIX‑20] Las Casas, Carta, Oct. 25, 1545, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 121; Id., Nov. 9, 1545, in Cartas de Indias, 36.
[XIX‑21] Las Casas' hostile reception and his subsequent reconciliation with the settlers described by Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 379-87, I am inclined to discredit, owing to the well known tendencies of this writer, and the fact that the letter of Father Casillas, Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 181-2, written when Las Casas was on his return from Gracias á Dios, does not indicate such hostility.
[XIX‑22] For a copy of the letter see Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 290, 338; also Las Casas, Oeuvres, ii. 120-180; this latter version is defective.
[XIX‑23] Robles, Chiapa, 27-8.
[XIX‑24] Hist. Mex., ii. 570 et seq., this series.
[XIX‑25] Ramirez, Cartas, April 26, 1548, April 20, 1549, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 201-4; Fr. Torre, Carta, Aug. 3, 1548, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 94-6.
[XIX‑26] Carta, Sept. 28, 1548, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 81-2.
[XIX‑27] Fray Antonio de Remesal began the history of the Dominican province of San Vicente de Chiapas y Guatemala about the middle of April 1615, and finished it in Oajaca, Sept. 29, 1617. The secular history of Guatemala and the other provinces under the jurisdiction of the audiencia de los Confines is moreover incidentally given, but not in a detailed manner. The author's diligence and perseverance in having completed in so short a time a folio volume of 784 pages, and one displaying great research, are remarkable, and the more praiseworthy for the reason that it was accomplished under violent opposition and many difficulties. It is to be regretted that, having bestowed so much labor on investigation, he did not supply a bibliographical list of his authorities. These he informs us consisted of archives, books, manuscripts, memorials, narratives, wills, and statements, which he asserts were documents worthy of credit and authentic, but omits enumeration of them 'in order to avoid a very long list.' He was indebted to Conde de la Gomera, president of the audiencia of Guatemala, for access to the archives and official papers of different cities. To him he dedicates his book. The advantages enjoyed by Remesal in this respect render the work an exceedingly valuable contribution to Central American history. Its value, however, is lessened by the great number of typographical and other errors which it contains. These are very important, especially where dates are concerned. While a large number of them are quite obvious, very many incidents of great importance must be verified as to time of occurrence, by reference to other authors. In the portion of his work which relates to the conquest of Guatemala, many inaccuracies are observed. In fact, Remesal was hurried, and often biassed. His style is clear and pleasing; free from the redundant and inflated form so common a century later. He submitted his manuscript to Torquemada, by whom it was highly approved and its publication advised. This occurred in the city of Mexico. But meantime a storm was brewing elsewhere. The work was by no means to the liking of certain parties in Guatemala. By means of letters addressed to different parts of Mexico, but more particularly by a special messenger who preached a crusade against the new history, these enemies raised up a tempest of indignation against Remesal and his book, especially in Oajaca. Through the influence, however, of sensible and powerful friends in Mexico and Guatemala all opposition was overcome. See pages 747-51 of his work. The author was born in the town of Allariz in Galicia, and on the 9th of October 1613, nearly five months after he left Spain, arrived at Guatemala, where he was most kindly received by the Dominican order. During the time he remained in their convent, he failed not to observe the excellent system of government under which the society worked, and occupied his time in perusing the acts of the chapters held in the convent. He was so impressed with the excellence of these laws and regulations that he proceeded to make a kind of summary of them. While thus employed, a work on the origin of the province, written by Friar Tomás de la Torre, fell into his hands. This suggested to him to undertake a history that would embrace both secular and ecclesiastical matters. With unconquerable diligence and ardor he prosecuted to the end the work thus projected. On one occasion, when suffering from a fibrous abscess in the face, he carefully perused in a single day the whole of the first book of the archives of Guatemala city, after having submitted to a severe surgical operation on his right cheek. Twice he journeyed over all New Spain, collecting information and, in particular, studying the books of the cabildos of different cities and towns. The evidence he thus obtained was in many instances at variance, he states, with printed books and histories of his own religion. The authors of these—whose names he does not mention—he would not condemn, however, but excuse on the ground that later research will necessarily produce different accounts of events. See his preface. Remesal was a fearless writer. Perhaps he had some leaning to the descendants of the conquerors, yet he does not hesitate to denounce the acts of the first colonists, to deal with Alvarado in a manner severely condemning him, and to endorse Las Casas with regard to the cruel oppression of the Indians. But his statements are to be accepted with caution, especially where Las Casas or the Dominican order is concerned. No effort is spared to hold them up to the gaze of an admiring posterity, and to expose the errors and perverseness of their enemies. To this end all sorts of probable and improbable situations and adventures are described, wherein the religious eventually triumph. Many important facts are glossed over, or omitted, the true versions of which it is evident must have come within his observation. Numerous speeches, sermons, conversations, even the thoughts and feelings of the leading actors, are described with a minuteness of detail that is astonishing considering the lapse of time—over 75 years. The account of the prosecution of the religious by Baltasar Guerra may be looked upon as a fiction, while the author's inventive faculty has had much to do with that of the opposition to Las Casas in Ciudad Real. His version of Las Casas' doings in Gracias á Dios seems also greatly exaggerated.
[XX‑1] The old church had cost more than 10,000 pesos, and the bishop had not only expended his own means upon it, but had also borrowed 5,000 or 6,000 more. He requests the king February 20, 1542, that the prompt and full payment of tithes be enforced, and that he aid him with 3,000 or 4,000 pesos for the construction of the new church already being built. Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 272-3.
[XX‑2] Vazquez, Chron. de Gvat., 153.
[XX‑3] Although Marroquin expressed acquiescence in the wishes of the cabildo he did not approve of the pulling down of the church, and ordered it to be re-roofed at his own expense. Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 190-1. Vazquez states that the old cathedral was taken down and the materials used in the construction of the new one. Chron. de Gvat., 165.
[XX‑4] In March 1545 Marroquin petitioned the king that the subsidy of the novenos for the erection of the church be continued. The grant was extended for four more years. In accordance with a second request made in September 1547 the grant of two novenos was extended for six years. Again in March 1548 the bishop asked for aid in addition to the novenos already granted. Squier's MSS., xxii. 45, 91, 138. Vazquez states that the building of the church lasted only three years. Chron. de Gvat., 153.
[XX‑5] He also complains of the government officials who maintained that he had no right to tithes during his absence in Mexico with Alvarado in 1540-1. Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 274-5.
[XX‑6] Id., 273-4. In May 1547 Bishop Pedraza asked the king for an increase of salary from 500,000 maravedís to 2,000 ducados, the stipend given to the bishop of Guatemala and others. Squier's MSS., xxii. 29. The royal officials were ordered in 1540 to investigate the question of salaries and amount of tithes received yearly in each bishopric. If they fell short of 500,000 maravedís, the deficit was to be supplied out of the royal treasury. Recop. de Ind., i. 63-4.
[XX‑7] Cacao formed the chief and most valuable tithe in the diocese. Id., 94. The payment of tithes on pita—the fibre of the agave manufactured into articles of clothing etc.—and balsam and the carrying of tithes to the churches was under consideration by the audiencia, December 20, 1545. Id., 132.
[XX‑8] Squier's MSS., xxii. 92, 4. In December 1551 the viceroy of Mexico addressed the cabildo on this question and expressed his astonishment at the outcry against the payment of tithes, 'que de derecho divino y humano son obligados a pagallos.' Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 181-2.
[XX‑9] Squier's MSS., xxii. 44-5, 120-1, 123, 139; Cartas de Indias, 19-23, 442.
[XX‑10] In 1546 according to Gonzalez Dávila, Hist. Ecles., i. 149. Vazquez states that the convent of La Concepcion was not founded until 1577. Chron. de Gvat., 153.
[XX‑11] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 441. Vazquez, as previously quoted, however, states that the name of the first lady superior was Juana de San Francisco, implying that she was a Franciscan and not a Dominican. This author's whole account is a contradiction of Remesal's version.
[XX‑12] The emperor contributed 2,000 ducados toward its founding. Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 152.
[XX‑13] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 585. Gonzalez Dávila says that Marroquin 'Dio principio al Hospital de S. Alexo, donde se curã Indios y Españoles, que oy es Hospital Real, en año 1647'—a misprint for 1547—Teatro Ecles., i. 150. This hospital was founded for the benefit of Indians who were no longer capable of service, and whom the Spaniards were wont to turn out into the streets to die like dogs. Guat., Santo Domingo en 1724, 55.
[XX‑14] Vazquez, Chron. de Gvat., 152. Consult also Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 584-6, where a somewhat different account is given. In claiming merit for his order this author represents the Indians as unwilling to enter the hospital of Santiago, preferring that of San Alejo. Both hospitals received liberal support from the crown.
[XX‑15] The second opening of the Dominican convent took place about July 1536. Though Remesal, on pages 111, 115, states that Las Casas arrived at Santiago in 1535, there is positive evidence that 1536 is the right year. In the deposition, taken in Leon on the 23d of August 1536, relative to the proceeding of Las Casas in Nicaragua, the witness Martinez de Isagre in his evidence mentions that the padre left Leon about two months previous to that date. Informaciones, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 141, 143. Gonzalez Dávila makes the same error as Remesal. Teatro Ecles., i. 143. Juarros is correct. Guat., 264. Torquemada, iii. 338, states that friars Pedro de Angulo, Juan de Torres, and Matias de Paz, were sent from Mexico in 1538 to found the province of the order in Guatemala.
[XX‑16] A misunderstanding occurred between the cabildo and the friars relative to the grounds of the latter in the old city. These the Dominicans had sold, but the cabildo, which had declared the site of the old an egido, deemed the new grant an equal exchange for the former lots, declared that the friars had no right to make such a sale, and ordered the inclosures which had been built to be pulled down. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 369-70.
[XX‑17] Remesal gives the names and grades of these members. Id., 457, 525.
[XX‑18] Torquemada, iii. 489. On the 18th of January 1533 I find that Motolinia was in Tehuantepec with Fray Martin de Valencia and others of the order, who signed at that place a letter to the emperor. Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii. tom. v. 228.
[XX‑19] The names of these friars were Alonso de Casaseca, called also de las Eras, Diego Ordoñez, Gonzalo Mendez, Francisco de Bustillo, Diego de Alva, and a lay brother Francisco Valderas. Torquemada, iii. 338; Vazquez, Chron. de Gvat., 42-3, 154, 518-19; Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 145.
[XX‑20] The expense of each friar from Seville to Vera Cruz was 70 ducados. Id.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 384.
[XX‑21] Diego Ordoñez was chosen to succeed him. Vazquez, Chron. de Gvat., 51-5.
[XX‑22] Vazquez states that they occupied a small convent badly out of repair built by Franciscans formerly in the country. 'Cõventico, que por entõces àpenas tenîa vn lienzo de horcônes.' Id., 59.
[XX‑23] Vazquez gives a copy of the order for the allotment signed by the joint governors Marroquin and Cueva. It is without date, but Vazquez infers that it was given during October 1541, when lots were being distributed. Id., 167.
[XX‑24] They were engaged in the difficult task of collecting the Indians into towns. Fray Ordoñez remained in charge of the monastery; Gonzalo was sent among the Zutugils; Bustillo and Alva to the Quichés and Cakchiquels respectively. Id., 60-7, 77-82, 106-11, 129.
[XX‑25] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 384-5; Torquemada, iii. 338-9.
[XX‑26] Both the date and number of friars are matters of dispute. Torquemada states that Motolinia was sent in 1542 to Guatemala by Jacobo de Testera, comisario general of the order, with twelve of the 150 friars whom he had brought to Mexico that year. Torquemada, iii. 337, 339. He follows Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 385. Figueroa, in Pap. Franciscanos, MS., i. No. 1, 37 et seq., supports Torquemada as to date but maintains that the number of friars was 24. Vazquez, on the authority of Fund. de la Prov. de S. Franco de Guat., MS., 1583, Lizana, Hist. Yuc., a letter of Motolinia dated October 21, 1545, and the minutes of the cabildo, concludes that Motolinia arrived at Guatemala in 1544, with 20 or 24 friars. Chron. de Gvat., 42-3, 102, 105-6, 440.
[XX‑27] The convent next founded after that at Santiago was the one at Atitlan by Fray Gonzalo in 1541; then followed others at Tecpanatitlan and Comalapa. Id., 84-5, 340. There is some doubt as to the date of the founding of the Franciscan custodia in Guatemala. Torquemada states that it was established in 1551, following Mendieta. Vazquez is contradictory, giving the years 1544 and 1549 as the dates. Chron. de Gvat., 102, 123, and furthermore quotes on pp. 144-6, Fund. Prov. S. Francisco, MS., 1583, as follows: 'Digo, que lo q̃ ay en el caso es: que esta Provincia fuè veinte años Custodia de la Provincia del Santo Evangelio de Mexico.' As this refers to the erection of the order into a province in 1529, it would appear that there was a Franciscan custodia in Guatemala in 1539. Figueroa, in Pap. Franciscanos, MS. i. No. 1, 37, gives 1542 as the date.
[XX‑28] The number of friars sent to Yucatan as variously given by the authorities already quoted, was four or six. But Marroquin, writing to the emperor December 1, 1545, states that Fray Villapando was in Yucatan with eight of the order, whom he had taken from Guatemala. Squier's MSS., xxii. 140. For mention of Villapando's labors in Yucatan see Hist. Mex., ii. 452 et seq., this series.
[XX‑29] Torquemada, iii. 339. The cabildo of Santiago in December 1545 petitioned that Motolinia should be sent back. The comisario general in Mexico replied, in February 1545, that more friars would be sent but that Motolinia's services were more needed in Mexico. Vazquez, Chron. de Gvat., 105-6.
[XX‑30] Ibid.; Audiencia al Emperador, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 132.
[XX‑31] Torquemada, iii. 339, 374-5; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 385.
[XX‑32] Many through inability to master the difficulties of the languages had left. Squier's MSS., xxii. 39-40.
[XX‑33] Zapata, Carta, 'Destruyen i no edifican.' Id., 40.
[XX‑34] Las Casas, in Quintana, Vidas, 207-8.
[XX‑35] According to Motolinia, Hist. Ecles., 259, 268, Fray Betanzos wrote a letter to Las Casas attributing much evil and scandal to his mode of proceeding.
[XX‑36] Meaning land of war; the name Vera Paz signifying true peace was given it by the Dominicans because they had accomplished by peaceful measures what force of arms had failed to do. Miranda, in Squier's MSS., xv. 2; Juarros, Guat., ii. 320-1. This last author, quoting Las Casas, states that this name was conferred by Charles V. i. 153. Consult also Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 118-24. The native name is written by different authors Tuzulutlan and Tezulutan.
[XX‑37] Now called Dulce.
[XX‑38] Squier's MSS., xiv. 1-2. Miranda in 1575 reported to the oidor Palacio of the Guatemala audiencia that the river Zacapulas separated Vera Paz from the province of Guatemala, and that the distance thence to the gulf of Dulce was about 48 leagues, its greatest width being 27 leagues. The inhabited portion was only one third or one fourth of its surface, for the friars had collected the Indians into towns, and established a system of commerce. Squier's MSS., xv. 3. At the time of these reports the northern part, a wild and heavily wooded country, was—and still is—inhabited by wild tribes, being then a refuge for fugitive Indians from Yucatan.
[XX‑39] Quintana conjectures that lack of mines and other valuable resources prevented their being enslaved. Vidas, 2a parte, 173.
[XX‑40] Entitled De Unico Vocationis Modo, and abounding in copious legal and theological arguments in favor of his system of peaceable conquest. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 118-21; Las Casas, in Quintana, Vidas, 2a parte, 172-3.
[XX‑41] Las Casas, in Quintana, Vidas, 238-9. These terms were guaranteed by Maldonado in May 1537 according to Remesal. Hist. Chyapa, 122-3. They were approved by the audiencia of Mexico in February 1539, and by the emperor in November 1540. Real Cédula, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 146-56.
[XX‑42] Pelaez, Mem. de Guat., i. 153.
[XX‑43] Remesal gives an interesting and romantic account of the method first adopted by Las Casas, but one which, I apprehend, is more an invention than a true statement of facts. He represents Las Casas and his colleagues as composing verses in the Quiché tongue, narrating the principal mysteries of the Catholic faith. These were set to music and taught to four Indian merchants, who were in the habit of journeying into Tuzulutlan. The lord of Zacapulas was a formidable and powerful chief called by Remesal Don Juan. To him the four merchants were instructed to go and sing their canticles, having been provided with various articles from Spain such as would excite curiosity. Their reception was favorable, and the interest awakened by their songs, the novel presents which they brought, and their description of the peace-loving men induced a wish in the haughty chieftain to be visited by the friars themselves. Accordingly a second expedition was planned and Fray Luis Cancer was selected to accompany the Indian traders. His mission was successful. The cacique was persuaded to embrace Christianity, destroy his idols, and be baptized. On the return of Fray Luis, Las Casas determined still further to extend the work in person, and in December 1537 visited Don Juan accompanied by Fray Angulo. They then extended their journey into the more remote districts of Tuzulutlan and Coban, being provided with an escort by the cacique, who vainly endeavored to dissuade them from their hazardous undertaking. The treatment they met with was, however, generally favorable, and though they experienced some opposition among the subjects of both Don Juan and the lord of Coban, they completed their journey and returned early in 1538. Hist. Chyapa, 122-4, 135-40. Consult also Fernandez, Hist. Ecles., passim; Las Casas, in Quintana, Vidas, 174-6; and Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 793-6. Now this account savors at least of inaccuracy. The efforts of Las Casas and his companions, previous to his departure to Spain in 1539-40, were confined to the frontiers which were to a certain extent under subjugation. In February 1542 Bishop Marroquin, writing to the emperor, after mentioning the arrival of some Dominicans who brought with them 'dos señores de la raya de tierra de guerra, que les salieron al camino,' and describing the excitement caused by the reading of a royal provision 'eshivida á contemplacion de fray Bartolomé de las Casas y por su relacion,' uses these words: 'Esto confiado, que este pedazo de tierra que está á la mar del Norte, cuya cabecera es Teculutlan, ha de venir en conocimiento de nuestra santa fée, sin riesgo ni sangre ni muertes, y cuando no, antes ganará que perderá.' Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 278-9. This clearly proves that but little progress had been made in the spiritual conquest of Vera Paz up to the date of Marroquin's letter. The mention of the two lords of the Tierra de Guerra and Fray Domingo de Vico's custom of composing verses on the life of Christ and scriptural subjects, to be sung by converted Indians at feasts, as mentioned by Remesal on pages 611-12, may have suggested to that writer his story of the merchants and Don Juan and the lord of Coban. Moreover, in December 1545 the audiencia informed the emperor that two Dominicans had, previous to May preceding, left Guatemala for the provinces of Tuzulutlan and Lacandon, and that their lives being reported in danger Fray Angulo had gone to their aid. The oidores also expressed their disapproval of the proposition to exempt Don Juan, the cacique of Atitlan, and others from the encomienda system as a reward for the assistance rendered by them in the pacification of those districts. Squier's MSS., xxii. 131.
[XX‑44] In addressing the emperor from Madrid, December 15, 1540, Las Casas reports the commencement of the work, and that the lords of the provinces had already treated with the Dominicans secretly. He expresses the conviction that the country would be brought to acknowledge the sovereignty of Spain 'por via de paz, amor y buenas obras.' Col. Doc. Inéd., viii. 555-6.
[XX‑45] The date of his departure from New Spain and of his arrival at the peninsula are alike uncertain. Remesal states that he attended a provincial chapter of his order held in Mexico on the 24th of August 1538 at which the question of his mission to Spain was discussed and permission given to him, Ladrada, and Cancer to go thither. At the same meeting the title of vicar of the Dominican convent in Guatemala was conferred upon Fray Angulo. Hist. Chyapa, 147, 150. Las Casas, in Quintana, Vidas, 178, concludes that he arrived in Spain in 1539. Helps, Span. Conq., iii. 304-7, and Life of Las Casas, 178, avers that he returned from Tuzulutlan to Santiago in May 1539 and proceeded to Mexico to attend the chapter held on August 24, 1539. According to Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. pp. lv. lxii. 258, Las Casas was in Tlascala in the early part of 1539. For particulars regarding the sailing of the fleets to and from Spain see Id., pp. cxiv-v. February 15th was the day of leaving Vera Cruz as regulated by decree of 1564. Remesal states that previous to his departure Las Casas founded Rabinal after mature deliberation as to the choice of a site favorable to his design. The undertaking was extremely difficult, but through the curiosity of roaming natives and the friendly invitations of the original settlers, the number of inhabitants increased before long to 500, including neophytes and other Indians. Las Casas was assisted in this work by Fray Luis Cancer, who availed himself of the opportunity of visiting the interior as far as the towns of Coban. Hist. Chyapa, 143-4.
[XX‑46] These were respectively dated November 17, 1539, and April 20, 1540. In the first of these he is charged with insisting upon the liberation of certain slaves under penalty of their owners being refused the sacraments. Gavarrete, Cop. Doc., 41-2. In the second one it is asserted that he was travelling about rather than looking after the Indians 'que estàn de guerra' and 'nunca los vió. Ni creemos que tuvo inteligencia ninguna con ellos.' Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 15-16.
[XX‑47] Copy of this decree which was dated January 9, 1540, can be found in Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 146-7; and Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 152.
[XX‑48] This decree was issued on October 17, 1540. It also provided that in the event of the collection of tribute being decided upon by Las Casas the governor or bishop should appoint a proper person. Id., 153, et seq; Real Cédula, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 146-9.
[XX‑49] This decree, however, was not issued until January 28, 1541. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 155-6.
[XX‑50] My authority for giving this date is a passage from a letter addressed by Cancer from Seville to Las Casas at the court of Spain. It is as follows: 'Contéles luego el fundamento, que fue todo el suceso de las provincias de la Verapaz, y como S. M., á instancia de vuestra Señoría, me envió allá agora siete años y lo que se hizo con solo dos religiosos.' Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 185. This letter was doubtless written in 1548, shortly before Cancer's departure on his ill-fated expedition to Florida, which will presently be narrated. See copy of royal order dated December 28, 1547, extending permission, also assistance to the expedition. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 114-15.
[XX‑51] Bishop Marroquin states that nearly the whole of this region to the northern sea was conquered by Diego de Alvarado, and that a hundred Spaniards settled therein. They afterward abandoned it to go to Peru, and in the more important affairs which occupied the colonists this rugged province was forgotten. Las Casas, in Quintana, Vidas, 238.
[XX‑52] Among the places visited may be mentioned Zacapula, 'uno de los pueblos de paz que sirven á los españoles en la ciudad de Guatemala,' at which place four caciques of Tezulutlan met the bishop. Then he proceeded to Patal and Jatic, Coban, and Tezulutlan. Informacion, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 216. From the same document it may be gathered that at the time of the visit the friars in the country were: Pedro de Angulo, Luis Cancer, Juan de Sant Lúcas, Fray Gabriel, Domingo de Vico, Domingo de Azcona, and two others whose names are not mentioned.
[XX‑53] Marroquin reporting this visit indulges in unfriendly and ungenerous remarks against Las Casas: 'yo sé que él ha de escribir invenciones é imaginaciones, que ni él las entiende ni entenderá en mi conciencia: porque todo su edificio y fundamento va fabricado sobre hipocresía y avaria, y asi lo mostró luego que le fue dada la mitra.' But I do not find that the bishop of Guatemala differs in any material point from the bishop of Chiapas in his account. He says, 'y media legua ántes que llegase salió todo el pueblo hombres y mugeres á me recibir con muchas danzas y bailes ... y alabé mucho á Dios en ver tan buena voluntad y tan buen principio,' and admits further on that the friendly reception was due to the method adopted by the friars. He describes the land as 'la mas fragosa que hay acá, no es para que pueblen españoles en ella por ser tan fragosa y pobre.' Las Casas, in Quintana, Vidas, 238-9. See also Marroquin, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 139-40. Motolinia also states that Las Casas represented Vera Paz as of great extent and densely populated, but that it was not one tenth as large as represented by him. Las Casas, in Quintana, Vidas, 243.
[XX‑54] 'El tributo que tienen agora es intolerable, cada ochenta dias doscientas y cincuenta mantas, cuarenta y dos ziquipiles de cacao, y lo de la sementera, y creo que se la comen en las minas los oficiales.' He states, too, that with warriors taken from Tuzulutlan a town double its size had been founded near Guatemala. With regard to the tribute he hoped that it would at any rate be reduced to two payments a year, one on St John's day and the other at christmas. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 231-6. Nevertheless immoderate tribute was complained of for many years afterward. In 1551 a royal decree was issued for the purpose of lessening the burden. In 1568 the audiencia of Guatemala was ordered to moderate the tribute paid by the Indians of Vera Paz, the caciques having forwarded a petition to the crown; and in 1577 the audiencia is again ordered to reduce the tribute. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 702-3.
[XX‑55] The crown furnished Cancer with 800 ducados, with which ten tons of goods were purchased for the purpose of trading with the Indians. The friar addressed three letters to Las Casas previous to his departure, the first being dated February 9th, and the second February 14th. None of them give the year, but there is little doubt that they were written in 1548. Copies of these letters are to be found in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 184-201.
[XX‑56] Ibid. Remesal states that Cancer took no companions with him from Spain, but that he selected from the Dominican convent in Mexico three friars and a lay brother. Hist. Chyapa, 515. There can be no doubt, however, that two of these accompanied him from Spain. See Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 199.
[XX‑57] Both Fernandez, Hist. Ecles., 150-1, and Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 515-16, attribute the catastrophe which followed to the action of the captain, who, they assert, was well aware that he was not carrying out the wishes of Cancer. Las Casas also states that the captain knew of the danger, but refused to land farther off under the pretext that four Spanish armies had disembarked at that point without meeting with resistance. Oeuvres, i. 405.
[XX‑58] Remesal enlarges on the tragedy. He states that the cacique of the neighboring village was grieved that the murdered friars had not been taken alive, in order that he might have conversed with them, and that he caused the skins of the victims to be stripped off and stretched upon the walls of his house, while their heads were stuffed with cotton and suspended from a tree. He then adds 'y comieronse la carne en vn gran combite, despues de muchos bayles y fiestas.' Hist. Chyapa, 516. According to the same author, between 1566 and 1600 four unsuccessful attempts were made by Jesuits, Dominicans, and Franciscans to christianize Florida. In these efforts nearly all the missionaries lost their lives. In a second attempt made by the Franciscans they gained a foothold in the country, and in 1612 a province called Santa Élena was founded by the chapter general at Rome. Id., 518-19. Dávila Padilla, 179-89, states that Fray Louis Cancer was a native of Saragossa in Spain. He was of noble family, and proficient in various branches of learning. He first went to Española, thence to Puerto Rico, where he founded a convent, and a few years later proceeded to Guatemala. Both this author and Fernandez, Hist. Ecles., 150, assert that on a voyage from Mexico to Spain he was captured by Turkish pirates, but ransomed. To judge from his letters Cancer was a single-minded and devout missionary, filled with religious ardor, and sanguine of success.
[XX‑59] Las Casas, Oeuvres, i. 405-6. His vehement opponent Motolinia, in his letter to the king, dated January 2, 1555, while urging the necessity of carrying the gospel into Florida, remarks, 'but not after the manner of Las Casas.' Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 255.
[XXI‑1] Jan. 14th, according to Vazquez, Chron. Gvat., 222; evidently before the beginning of March. See Quesada, Carta, May 25, 1855, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 1-3.
[XXI‑2] Quesada, in his letter cited above, reports it finished.
[XXI‑3] The salaries of the different offices were to be fixed; each town was to have a casa de communidad, a strong box to contain their surplus earnings, a jail, tariff, records, and accounts of the estates of minors and the deceased; lands were to be assigned them; the mode of paying tributes was to be regulated; and, above all, they were to be instructed. Quesada, Carta, loc. cit.
[XXI‑4] Torres, Carta, Nov. 17, 1555, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 6.
[XXI‑5] Cavallon, Carta, Feb. 27, 1555, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 7.
[XXI‑6] Torres, Carta, Nov. 8, 1555; Torres, Carta, Nov. 17, 1555; Cárdenas, Carta, Dec. 6, 1555, in Squier's MSS., xxii., 5-7.
[XXI‑7] Its chief feature was bleeding at the nose, for which no remedy could be found. The country was almost depopulated. Vazquez, Chron. Gvat., 157. Juarros, Guat. (ed. Lond. 1823), 148.
[XXI‑8] They killed four men, besides a priest who attempted to prevent the seizure of the host, remained nearly two weeks, and made many prisoners. The viceroy of New Spain was at once notified. Velasco, Carta, Sept. 30, 1558, in Squier's MSS., x. 1, 2.
[XXI‑9] Carta, Feb. 18, 1555, in Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 25.
[XXI‑10] 'Que no solo le era licito al Rey hazerles guerra, sino q̃ en conciencia estaua a ello obligado, y para a defender a sus subditos totalmente destruyra los de Lacandon.' Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 616.
[XXI‑11] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 621, says many escaped in the direction of Yucatan through a large river connected with the lake which Pelaez, Mem. Guat., i. 161-2, supposes to have been the Zacapulas.
[XXI‑12] In 1638, Pinelo says that it was not known whether Puchutlas was in Lake Lacandon or in another lake. Relacion, i. Fancourt in his map accompanying Hist. Yuc., places the town north of L. Lacandon. Other maps of this region do not attempt to give its locality. In making my map of this region I have drawn from this and other sources. Dávila says the expedition started forth to visit the provinces of La Candon, Pochultra, Catanu, and Tofilte pequena. Relacion, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvi. 327.
[XXI‑13] This according to Juarros, though he does not give us his authority for the statement. Guat., i. 259.
[XXI‑14] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 622, piously observes that the expedition was ordained by God for the salvation of a single soul, that of an infant, 'Entiendese que solo la ordenò nuestro Señor para saluar vn alma predestinada de vn niño de solos quinze dias que hallãdole vn Español atrauessado con vna saeta le bautizò antes que espirase.' Pelaez, Mem. Hist. Guat., i. 159-64, takes the more practical view adopted in the text.
[XXI‑15] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 523-645, forms the chief and original authority for the foregoing events, and it is much to be regretted that we have no other account with which to compare his statements. In all subsequent descriptions of this expedition their authors have directly or indirectly followed Remesal. Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza., 51-80, copies him literally. Pinelo, Relacion, 2-4; Juarros, Guat., 258-9; Pelaez, Mem. Hist. Guat., i. 159-64, all follow him. Squier, Cent. Amer., 554-61, follows both Villagutierre and Pinelo.
[XXI‑16] Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 26. Vazquez, Chronica Gvat., 222, says that he was appointed Nov. 28, 1558.
[XXI‑17] Dowerless maidens had been provided for, provisions had become abundant and cheap, and both Spaniards and Indians were contented. Cartas, in Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 28, 30.
[XXI‑18] 'Mandó que diesen los indios cierta cantidad de pescado cada semana, no habiendo rios ni mar dentro de diez y doce leguas. Mandó con pena ... que no vendiesen las gallinas por más de un real, valiendo á dos reales, y sino quisiesen venderla á real, dió licencia que los españoles se la tomasen por fuerza.' Las Casas, Representacion in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 163.
[XXI‑19] Las Casas, Representacion, loc. cit.; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 624-6; Cabildo, Carta, Feb. 12, 1563, in Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 36.
[XXI‑20] Hist. Chyapa, 639.
[XXI‑21] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 646.
[XXI‑22] 'Que se le envie à mandar tenga especial cuidado del bien é aumento de los que en esta cibdad é provincias viven.' Carta, Jan. 26, 1562, in Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 32. In another letter they petitioned the king that in the appointment of governors preference be given those having experience in the Indies, as with a new governor there always came a number of servants, dependants, and relatives who had to be provided for, to the prejudice of the more meritorious conquerors and settlers. Carta, Feb. 12, 1563, in Id., 36.
[XXI‑23] Spelled Briceño by Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 646; Briceño de Coca, also Briseño, by Juarros, Guat., i. 354; ii. 49; the orthography here adopted is from the letters of the cabildo, in Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 39, 45.
[XXI‑24] Presbyter ... and visitador of the provinces of Popayan and Guatemala. Escamilla, Not. Cur., MS., 2.
[XXI‑25] At the end of July, according to Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 646; Feb. 12, 1565, according to Juarros, Guat., ii. 49. In January of 1564 the cabildo were awaiting his arrival. In the following December they say that he arrived August 2d of the previous year, 'del año pasado,' which is evidently an error, the same year being meant.
[XXI‑26] Cabildo, Carta, Dec. 20, 1564, in Arévalo, Col. Doc., 39. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, represents Landecho's rule as very corrupt; that he was placed under arrest in his own house by Brizeño, and that to escape a fine of 30,000 pesos he secretly fled to the coast, embarked, and perished at sea. Remesal also states that all the oidores were suspended excepting one, whose name he does not give, and all fined in sums varying from 3,000 to 9,000 pesos. Juarros follows, in brief, Remesal's account of the corrupt rule, arrest, fine, escape, and death of Landecho, and the fining of the other oidores, including Loaisa, who he says was retained. In the account of Brizeño's arrival, however, he gives the popular tradition that the visitador came first in disguise and made himself known only to the prior of the convent of Mercy, with whom he lodged. Having learned from personal observation and conversations the true state of affairs, he proceeded to the town of Petapa, whence he announced his arrival to the audiencia and cabildo. The letter of the cabildo cited above does not favor either of these versions. It says: 'De la visita resultó quedar suspendido el Presidente y Gobernador que en ella estaba, juntamente con el Lic. Jufre de Loaisa Oidor.'
[XXI‑27] Corn sold at the exorbitant price of four tostones a fanega, and bands of men and women went about the country seeking work sufficient to enable them to obtain food. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 641, 645.
[XXI‑28] Private residences, and churches, and convents, were greatly damaged; many Indians were buried under the ruins of their houses, and the inhabitants were compelled to live in temporary shelters or in the open air, while constant prayers were offered to appease the divine wrath. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 647; Juarros, Guat., i. 88; ii. 353.
[XXI‑29] Minutes of Cabildo, Jan. 29, 1580, quoted by Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 559-60.
[XXI‑30] At this time Francisco del Valle Marroquin was acting as procurator at court for the city of Guatemala. In a letter dated Feb. 20, 1564, he informed the cabildo that the transfer of the audiencia had already been determined upon, and about a month later wrote that in consequence of the dissatisfaction with which the procurator from Peru had left the court, the council deemed it a favorable opportunity to transfer the audiencia. Marroquin, Cartas, cited in Pelaez, Mem. Hist. Guat., i. 164-6. In 1563 the audiencia of Quito was established. Décadas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., viii. 35. The foregoing facts would appear to imply that the transfer of the audiencia had some connection with political changes in Peru. Whatever were the motives of the crown for this measure, they were too urgent to be effected by the powerful influence brought to bear against this change, which is indicated by the letters of Marroquin.
[XXI‑31] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 646, gives May 17, 1564, as the date of the first decree, and Juarros, Guat., ii. 49, Sept. 17, 1563. The dates here adopted are those given in Panamá, Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 531-2.
[XXI‑32] Marroquin, Carta, Feb. 20, loc. cit., and Panamá, Reales Cédulas, loc. cit.
[XXI‑33] Cabildo, Cartas, in Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 37-40; Panamá, Cédulas Reales. loc. cit.; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 646-7. Juarros, Guat., i. 259-60, says Oidor Loaisa conveyed the seal.
[XXI‑34] Cabildo, Carta, March 12, 1570, in Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 43-4, mentions the audiencia as already in Santiago. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 657-8 bis, says that Gonzalez was appointed June 28, 1568, but that he found decrees of September 27, 1567, and March 3, 1568, addressed to the audiencia of Guatemala. According to this same author the audiencia arrived on the 5th of January 1570. Juarros, Guat., i. 260; ii. 50, gives June 28, 1568, and Jan. 25, 1569, as the dates of the decrees ordering the removal of the audiencia, and in the dates of the appointment of Gonzalez and the arrival of the audiencia at Santiago follows Remesal.
[XXI‑35] Mem. Hist. Guat., i. 169. See also Juarros, Guat., ii. 50; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 658 bis. The oidores composing the audiencia were the licentiates, Jufre de Loaisa, Valdés de Carcamo, and Cristóbal Asqueta. See last two authorities cited.
[XXI‑36] Carta, in Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 44-5. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 659, says that he was honorably acquitted and returned to Spain, in which he is followed by Juarros, Guat., i. 260. Escamilla, Not. Cur., MS., says Brizeño went to Santa Fe de Bogotá as president of that audiencia.
[XXI‑37] By Remesal he is sometimes called Domingo de Ara. Dávila says he constructed a vocabulary of the language of Chiapas.
[XXI‑38] 1590, says Fernandez, Hist. Ecles., 114, but the above date is confirmed by Dávila, Teatro Ecles., 197; Concilios Prov., i. 325, and Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 653.
[XXI‑39] According to Calle, Mem. y Not., 125, the bishopric was established in 1556. Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 171-2, says Angulo was appointed April 21, 1560, and died at Zalamá, Vera Paz, while on his way to Guatemala to be consecrated. Remesal says that he received his appointment in Guatemala at the beginning of 1560; accepted it April 21st; went thence to Mexico; the following year was ordered to his diocese to await the arrival of the bulls for his consecration; and that in March or April 1562 died at Zalamá, Vera Paz, while on the way to Guatemala. By royal decree of September 1560, the audiencia was ordered to pay him the usual 500,000 maravedís, until he had sufficient tithes for his support. I deem this author more reliable than the others as he wrote earlier, was a Dominican, and had greater facilities for obtaining information.
[XXI‑40] Cabildo, Carta, Jan. 26, 1564, in Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 38-9.
[XXI‑41] Fernandez, Hist. Ecles., 116, says Father Pedro de la Peña followed Angulo, then Cárdenas, and that Father Antonio de Ervias, Dominican, was bishop in 1570. Calle, Mem. y Not., 125, places Peña second, and says that he was removed to Peru in 1580; that Ervias ruled from 1583-90, and that Cárdenas was appointed in 1595. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa., 702-4, names Hervias as the successor of Cárdenas, in 1583 or 1584, Castro next, and finally Rosillo. This was the last bishop named, according to Remesal, who adds that while in Guatemala, in 1614, he was told by Bishop Cabezas, that the incorporation of the bishopric of Vera Paz with that of Guatemala was then being discussed. The order of succession as given by Remesal as far as Ervias, is confirmed by Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 548, a most reliable author, and a resident of New Spain, where he wrote between the years 1575-96.
[XXI‑42] April 18, according to Juarros, Guat., i. 276, and after a long illness according to Vazquez, Chron. Gvat., 149-50. See also Quesada, Carta, Mayo 25, 1555, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 5.
[XXI‑43] Vazquez, Chron. Gvat., 149-50; Gonzales Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 150; Concilios Prov., 1555, 1565, 285.
[XXI‑44] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 654; Juarros, Guat., i. 276; Vazquez, Chron. Gvat., 190.
[XXI‑45] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 587-600; Vazquez, Chron. Gvat., 133-7; Quesada, Carta, Mayo 25, 1555, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 3-4.
[XXI‑46] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 532-7, 560-3; Fernandez, Hist. Ecles., 142; Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., 110-11.
[XXI‑47] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 500, 520-3, 578-84, 596-601, 613-14, 626-7, 636-9, 642-7; Juarros, Guat., ii. 98-9.
[XXI‑48] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 382-5; Vazquez, Chron. Gvat., 144-9, 179, 223; Cogollvdo, Hist. Yucathan, 326.
[XXI‑49] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 386; Relacion, in Prov. del Sto Evangelio, MS., 1; Vazquez, Chron. Gvat., 129-37, 147, 182-4, 224-6; Juarros, Guat., ii. 99-100, 106.
[XXI‑50] The neglect to punish the notorious abuses of the clergy, 'having in his household certain women who were neither his sisters nor his cousins; and receiving bribes through his nephew and one of the women, who was young and of doubtful reputation,' appear to have been the principal charges. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 656.
[XXI‑51] In Aug. 1569, according to Juarros, Guat., i. 277; in Santa Ana, San Salvador, according to Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 153. See also Cabildo, Carta, July 9, 1567, in Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 41-2; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 654-65; Vazquez, Chron. Gvat., 194-200; Juarros, Guat., i. 276-8.
[XXI‑52] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 706; Juarros, Guat., i. 277-8.
[XXI‑53] At Guatemala he presented himself before the audiencia and demanded redress. A judge was sent to investigate, and he reported abuses witnessed by Bishop Gomez himself; an utter ignorance of the native speech, so that they gladly confessed to any visiting priest, and the absolute refusal of the natives to have el señor cura for their guardian. Vasquez, Chron. de Gvat., 243.
[XXI‑54] Those of San Juan de Comalapa, San Francisco de Tecpan Guatemala, La Assumpcion de Tecpanatitlan, San Miguel de Totonicapan, and Espíritu Santo de Quezaltenango. Vasquez, Chron. de Gvat., 261.
[XXI‑55] There were also six doctrinas belonging to the Merced order, and 22 to the padres clérigos. Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 386.
[XXI‑56] The cabildo prayed the king for 200 strong breast-plates, (petos); 500 helmets, (celedas ó morriones); 400 coats of mail, (cotas); 400 arquebuses, etc. Many would be bought by citizens, and the rest remain in keeping of the audiencia. Gunpowder could not be manufactured in Guatemala for lack of saltpetre, etc., and they asked an annual grant of twelve centals from Mexico. Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 69-70.
[XXI‑57] 'The licenciado Rueda, late president of the audiencia, is about to leave for Spain. He has exercised his office with care and ensured good Christian government as will be seen by the papers connected with the vista on his conduct now sent by Doctor Sandé.' Santiago Cabildo (Feb. 16, 1595), in Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 80. Contrast this with Juarros, Guat., 261. 'President de la Rueda was punished for having so badly treated the religious during his government. He fell into a state of idiocy, rushing from the house without clothes into the country, where he ate grass like oxen, and remained in that state till he died.' During Rueda's administration a bridge was built across the Los Esclavos. It was 128 yards long, 18 in breadth, and had eleven arches. At the point where it was constructed the river was of great depth and communication was frequently cut off between the capital and the eastern provinces by inundation. Juarros, Guat., 239-41 (ed. Lond., 1823). Conder's Mex. and Guat., 201.
[XXI‑58] That by which the appointment of 'fiel ejecutor' was vested in the cabildo. The office was one of great profit and its duties were discharged by each member in rotation. The cabildo had enjoyed this privilege by royal license for many years, its concession being granted by cédula of July 9, 1564, and confirmed by one of April 21, 1587. Juarros, Guat., 129. (London ed. 1823.)
[XXI‑59] Sandé came to Mexico as alcalde of the audiencia. In 1575 he was appointed governor of the Philippine Islands and held that position until 1580, after which he became an oidor of Mexico. Datos, Biog., in Cartas de Indias, 840-1.
[XXI‑60] The king's grant of one half of the first year's tribute from the encomiendas becoming vacant during ten years, was of great assistance in opening these ports. The president sends a map of the port and of the country for more than 15 leagues about it. Santiago Cabildo, Carta al Rey (April 20, 1591), in Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 77-8.
[XXI‑61] As an instance of the dimensions to which this cacao trade could grow it may be mentioned that 50,000 loads, worth 500,000 pesos, were raised within an area of two leagues square in Salvador. Palacio, Relacion in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vi. 15.
[XXI‑62] Palacio mentions a heavy shock that occurred in 1576 by which houses were destroyed and several lives lost. In a letter to the king he relates that he saw a large fragment of a church façade which had been hurled to a considerable distance. Relacion in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vi. 23-4, 59.
[XXI‑63] Ponce, Rel. de Las Casas in Col. Doc. Inéd., lviii. 140.
[XXII‑1] Cimarron, a Spanish word, primarily signifies 'wild' as applied to plants, and 'untamed' as applied to animals; hence the appropriateness of the epithet. The cimarrones played a somewhat conspicuous part in the subsequent troubles of the country, and are not to be confounded with a tribe of Indians of similar name, the Simerones referred to in Native Races, iii. 794 this series. The mistake is made, however, by the author of Drake, Cavendish, and Dampier, 60, and also by Bidwell, Panamá, 53. Garcilaso de Vega, Hist. Peru, ii. 466, says the epithet had its origin in the Windward Islands—'vocablo del language de las isles de Barlovento.'
[XXII‑2] García de Hermosillo was himself an eye-witness of one of the many cimarron atrocities in 1554, when eight men were killed including a son of one of the judges of the India House at Seville. Hermosillo, Memorial al Rey, Squier's MSS., xxi. 15.
[XXII‑3] Garcilaso de la Vega, Hist. Peru, ii. 466, calls him Ballano.
[XXII‑4] Ursua was a native of a town of the same name in Navarre. He went to New Granada with his uncle, the licenciado, Michael Diaz de Armendariz. Piedrahita, Hist. Gen., 530. Of his career subsequent to this war we learn that he went to Lima whence, after various services, he was sent in 1561 to explore some rich Brazilian forests in the neighborhood of the rio Marañon, where he met his death at the hands of his own countrymen.
[XXII‑5] As an illustration, a law of 1540, dealing with offences and their punishment, states: 'Mandamuos, que en ningun caso se ejecute en los negros cimarrones la pena de cortarles las partes, que honestamente no se pueden nombrar.' In towns and cities negroes were not allowed to be out after dark; arms were not to be carried, and any one lifting a weapon against a Spaniard, even though no wound were inflicted, was liable to receive one hundred lashes and to have a nail driven through the hand. For a second offence the hand of the offender was cut off. Negresses were not allowed to wear jewelry, pearls, or silk unless married to a Spaniard. Free negroes were required to pay tribute according to property. Zamora, Bib. Leg. Ult., iv. 461-7.
[XXII‑6] Under date July 31, 1561, the king wrote to the audiencia on this subject, stating that his ambassador in London had informed him that a Portuguese named Bartolomé Bayon was fitting out a vessel for carrying African slaves to the West Indies, and ordering his arrest. Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 540-1.
[XXII‑7] Negroes and mulattoes were forbidden to go among the Indians in 1578. Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 501-2. In 1589 it was ordered that no negro should employ an Indian or ill-use him in any way. Infraction of this law was punishable with 100 lashes. If the offence was repeated the culprit's ears were to be cut off. In case of a free negro, the punishment was 100 lashes and perpetual banishment. A reward of 10 pesos was paid to informers, and masters neglecting to observe the law were liable to a fine of 100 pesos. Zamora, Bib. Leg. Ult., iv. 462.
[XXII‑8] Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 4-7.
[XXII‑9] In 1585 the number of ships was 71; in 1587, 85; in 1589, 94; in 1592, 72; in 1594, 56; in 1596, 69; in 1599, 56; in 1601, 32; in 1603, 34; in 1605, 17. Panamá, Des., in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ix. 103.
[XXII‑10] On Aug. 4, 1574, the king writes the president and oidores of the audiencia at Panamá, that he wants the people of the province to make him a gift or loan, to meet his urgent necessities. The audiencia, however, are to broach the subject as though it emanated from themselves, not even hinting that the king had solicited it. 'Tratareis dello como de vuestro oficio, sin dar á entender que lo aceis por órden y mandado Nuestro.' The influence of the bishop is to be called into requisition if the people appear unwilling to do anything before further communication from the king. Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 510.
[XXII‑11] A Spanish trader in a letter dated August 28, 1590, says: 'Here I haue remained these 20 dayes, till the shippes goe for the Philippinas. My meaning is to carie my commodities thither: for it is constantly reported, that for every hundred ducats a man shall get 600 ducats cleerely. Wee must stay here in Panama from August till it be Christmasse. For in August, September, October, and Nouember it is winter here, and extreme foule weather upon this coast of Peru, and not nauigable to goe to the Philippinas, nor any place else in the South sea. So that at Christmasse the shipes begin to set on their voyage for those places.' Hakluyt's Voy., iii. 564.
[XXII‑12] A royal cédula of November 11, 1578, forbade the carrying of Manila dry goods. This is confirmed by cédulas of January 12, 1593, July 5, 1595, and February 13th and June 13, 1599. The object was to stop entirely all trade between the Philippines and Tierra Firme. Memorial sobre Manila, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vi. 444. The cédula of 1593 is full and explicit: 'Toleration and abuse have caused an undue increase in the trade between the West Indies and China, and a consequent decrease in that of the Castilian kingdom. To remedy this it is again ordered that neither from Tierra Firme, Peru, nor elsewhere, except New Spain, shall any vessel go to China or the Philippine Islands to trade.' Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 420. See also Decadas, Id., viii. 114. Another cédula to the same effect was issued July 25, 1609; the license being still continued to New Spain at the instance of the merchants of Seville whose interests were jeopardized. The Portuguese had established factories in China, and though selling their goods at higher rates than the Chinese, could undersell the Spanish merchants who desired the landing of Chinese products themselves, and to sell them in the colonies at their own figures. Gran. Manila, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vi. 405-6.
[XXII‑13] At a meeting held by the treasury officials and the city council of Panamá on January 29, 1600, it was resolved that, as the importation and sale of Peruvian wine had been forbidden in years past, an edict should be issued enforcing this regulation, and appointing fines and penalties for those who infringed it, or mixed such wine with that imported from Spain. The reason alleged is the injurious quality of the wine. This edict was also to be published at Lima, Trujillo, Quito, and Guayaquil. Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 216-18. At a subsequent meeting, held April 12, 1600, the trade in Peruvian wine is denounced on account of its being a source of loss to the royal treasury. Id., xvii. 221.
[XXII‑14] The punishments for infraction of this law were heavy fines and banishment; and in the case of negro delinquents, bond or free, the fines were to be doubled, and 200 lashes in addition to be inflicted in public on the offender, whether male or female. Apothecaries were allowed to keep on hand two pounds of this article and no more. Recop. Ind., ii. 66.
[XXII‑15] The city council passed an ordinance that in future merchants should not purchase certain articles in larger quantities at a time than therein provided. Wine, oil, ham, sugar, pease, beans, lard, Nicaragua molasses, cheese, raisins, figs, and crockery, are among the commodities specified. Purchasers were required to produce their wares before a justice. The ordinance was referred to the audiencia and was fully approved and ordered into execution Dec. 11, 1592. Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 233-7.
[XXII‑16] 'Here is a great want ... of provision for here is almost none to be had for any money, by reason that from Lima there is no shipping come with maiz.... But I can certifie your worshippe, that all things are very deeire here, and that we stand in great extremitie for want of victuals.' Letter from Panamá, August 12, 1590. Hakluyt's Voy., iii. 563.
[XXII‑17] On Feb. 18, 1595, the viceroy is ordered not to interfere with the taking of provisions from the valleys of Trujillo, and Saña to Panamá City, and to see that Panamá was well provisioned. Recop. de Indias, ii. 64. A similar order was issued Feb. 18, 1597. Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 339-60.
[XXII‑18] See Hist. Cent. Amer., i. 377, 409-11, this series.
[XXII‑19] 'Il peut le vendre à qui bon lui semble; mais pour l'ordinaire il le cède à son maître pour un prix modique.' Raynal, Hist. Phil., iv. 200.
[XXII‑20] He visited the islands in 1594, and found them inhabited by Spaniards and negro slaves 'kept only to fish for pearls.' Harris' Col. Voy., i. 746.
[XXII‑21] The expense actually exceeded the proceeds—'y la pesqueria de las porlas, por ser más las costa que el provecho.' Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iv. 81. In prosperous days some 30 brigs were in engaged in the traffic. Id., ix. 81.
[XXII‑22] Ariza, Darien, MS., 33.
[XXII‑23] Dampier, Voy., i. 158; Ogilby's Am., 235; Harris, Col. Voy., i. 748. 'The city of Panamá received annually some thousand pounds of gold.... There is greater Plenty (gold) in the mines of Santa María—not far off—than within the same Space in any other Part of New Spain, or perhaps in the whole World. Span. Emp. in Amer., 210-13. We have a glimpse of the working of the mines in a report of the expenses in connection with some fifteen of them worked for the king's benefit. At these were employed, in addition to the overseer, the blacksmith and his assistant, one hundred negroes, of whom seventy were freshly imported Africans, and one third of the number were women.' The total expenditure for the year was a little less than $20,000. The several items of expense are given in Veragua, Relac. de las Minas, in Col. Doc. Inéd., xxxi. 365-72.
[XXII‑24] Hist. Cent. Am., i. 418, 441, this series.
[XXII‑25] A single extract will show the partiality of this report. 'Que del dicho Nombre de Dios al dicho de Panamá van 18 leguas por tierra por un camino muy trabajoso de muy grandes lodos y calores, y pasan un rio, y la primera jornada 112 veces ó mas en un dia.' García Hermosillo, Mem. in Extr. Sueltos, xxi. 28-9.
[XXII‑26] Memorials were presented by the cabildo on Dec. 22, 1559, on May 17, 1561, and again on 26th of January 1562, when they denounced Nombre de Dios as 'la Sepultura de Españoles.' Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 27-33.
[XXII‑27] This memorial is not dated, but Squier says it was written in 1565. Aniñon, Discurso, in Squier's MSS., v.
[XXII‑28] Pan. Descrip., in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iv. 108-9. Its original name was San Felipe de Puertovelo. Purchas, Pilgrimes, v. 889, errs in giving 1584 as the date of removal.
[XXII‑29] Some physicians ascribed these diseases to the use of Peruvian wine, notwithstanding the prohibitions already mentioned. To a statement made by the councillor of the corporation to the city council of Panamá a medical report is appended which reads thus: 'Muchas calenturas ardientes y podridas, muchos dolores de costado, cámaras de sangre, romadizo y otras indisposiciones de calor y humedad, por ser esta tierra mui caliente y húmeda por cuya razon hierve dentro de las venas, y humedeciendo el cerebro causa vahidos, y las dichas enfermedades arriba referidas, y granos, y virùelas, y sarampion y ronchas. Fecho en Panamá en onze de Abril de mil y seiscientos.' Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 219-22.
[XXII‑30] Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 531-2; confirmed by Vazquez, Chron. de Gvat., 222-3, and Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ix. 89-90. Juarros, Guat., states that it did not receive the royal approbation until July 7, 1565. In the beginning of 1560 a royal cédula was issued, vesting the government of Tierra Firme in the president of the audiencia residing in Panamá. The people of Guatemala resisted the change as long as they could, and other mandates were necessary to give full force to this measure. See Reales Ced., in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xviii. 531-2, and Decadas, in Id., xiii. 36-38.
[XXII‑31] A special cédula, dated July 30, 1588, on the appointment of García de Mendoza as viceroy, authorizes him to take part in and preside over the sessions of the audiencia, but not to interfere with matters relating to the administration of justice. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 467. Other cédulas issued in 1614, 1620, and 1628 confirmed the one issued in 1571. The first of these three orders also made the provinces of Charcas and Quito subject to the viceroy of Peru. Recop. de Ind., ii. 109-10; Zamora, Bib. Leg. Ult., iii. 357; Montesclaros, Relacion, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vi. 191.
[XXII‑32] The king mentions this fact, and instructs the president of the audiencia to have a periodical examination of the accounts of the treasury officers made by one of the oidores. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 410.
[XXII‑33] The president of the audiencia stated to the king that the family were destitute, and that the money could not be recovered from them, whereupon his Majesty ordered its collection from the sureties. This document is dated July 8, 1580. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 487-8.
[XXII‑34] In 1595 travellers without passports visited the Isthmus in such numbers as to cause scarcity of provisions, and often included men whose services were needed in the army. The oidores were threatened with penalties unless there was a reform in this matter. Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 410.
[XXII‑35] Herrera, dec. iii. lib. x. cap. ix. As early as 1526 this matter received special notice from the emperor, and many regulations were made in subsequent years, but apparently to little purpose.
[XXII‑36] The Spanish minister in London remonstrated in strong terms against Parker's conduct, but to no purpose. Queen Elizabeth not only justified his action but warmly commended him. Darien, Scots Colony, 56 (1699).
[XXII‑37] Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 395-7, 432-3, 490, 522-3.
[XXII‑38] See p. 49 this vol. for map of territory.
[XXIII‑1] In Clark's Life of Drake, 7, and Burton's English Heroe, 11, it is stated that in an apartment of the governor's house was a stack of silver bars 70 feet long, 10 in breadth, and 12 feet high, and that the captives gave information that the treasure-house contained more gold, jewels, and pearls than their pinnaces could carry; but one must make due allowance for the vivid imagination of those chroniclers.
[XXIII‑2] The account given in Hakluyt's Voy., iii. 778-9, differs materially from that of other authorities. The story is told by a Portuguese, one Lopez Vaz, whose narrative the chronicles tells us 'was intercepted with the author thereof at the river of Plate, by Captaine Withrington and Captaine Christopher Lister, in the fleete set foorth by the right Honorable the Erle of Cumberland for the South sea in the yeere 1586.' He states that Drake landed with 150 men, and stationing 70 of them in the fort near Nombre de Dios, marched with the remainder into the town; that the inhabitants fled to the mountains, but that a party of 14 or 15 Spanish arquebusiers fired a volley upon the English, killing their trumpeter and wounding Drake in the leg. Hereupon, he says, the English retreated to the fort but found it abandoned; sounding the trumpet after the firing had ceased and the signal being unanswered, the men left in charge retreated to their boats, thinking that their comrades were either slain or captured. Drake and his followers then threw away their arms, and by swimming and wading made their way to the pinnaces. It is highly improbable that 80 English privateersmen, under the command of such a captain as Drake, would thus tamely beat a retreat before a handful of Spaniards.
[XXIII‑3] Islas y Porto de Bastimentos according to Juan Lopez, son of Tomás Lopez de Vargas, the celebrated Spanish cosmographer, in a map prepared by the former in 1789, for the use of the Spanish ambassador in Great Britain. In the map following the introduction to Dampier's Voy., published in 1699, the word is similarly spelled and applied to a group of islands off Nombre de dios. Bellin, Karte von der Erdenge, Panamá, 1754, agrees with Drake, but like Lopez places the group about half way between Nombre de Dios and Portobello. The author of Life and Dangerous Voy. of Drake, 16, speaks of 'the Isle of Bastimiensis or the Isle of Victuals.' See Cartography Pacific States, MS., and Hist. Cent. Am., i. passim, this series.
[XXIII‑4] This visit to the Isla de Pinos is not mentioned in Clark's Life of Drake, but is described circumstantially in Burton's English Heroe, 26. In the latter work it is stated that the supplies captured were sufficient to victual a force of 3,000 men, and it is not improbable that this was the case, for the galleons were now off the coast and the Isla de Pinos was the usual storing place for provisions.
[XXIII‑5] In the map prepared by Juan Lopez, these islands are placed a few miles east of point San Blas and named the 'Islas Cabezas ó Cautivas.' By Burton they are also called the Cabezas, but by Clark the Cativaas.
[XXIII‑6] In Burton's English Heroe, 41, it is stated that a post-mortem examination was made of the body of Joseph Drake, who died of this calenture, and that the 'liver was swoln, and the heart as if boyled.'
[XXIII‑7] In the account of Lopez Vaz, in Hakluyt's Voy., iii. 179, it is stated that Drake had with him 100 English besides the negroes. This is clearly a mistake, for the evidence is conclusive that he left Plymouth with only 73 men, and he could have had little chance to recruit his force except from the cimarrones; though, as remarked by the author of Drake, Cavendish, and Dampier, 59, he may have been reënforced from the vessels which he met with off the coast.
[XXIII‑8] The cimarrones carried two different kinds of weapons, one being an arrow pointed with iron, fish-bone, or hard wood for use against the Spaniards, the other a javelin with an iron head varying from a pound and a half to one ounce in weight, to serve in the pursuit of game, the metal being highly tempered and sharp enough to pierce deep into the flesh of a stag or wild boar. Burton's English Heroe, 43-4. See also Life and Voy. of Drake, 37-8.
[XXIII‑9] The author of Selection of Curious Voy., iv. 15, states that Drake arrived at the summit of this mountain ten days after leaving the town of the cimarrones. According to other authorities the time was seven days.
[XXIII‑10] 'The ladies of Panama used to imploy hunters and fowlers to take the curious fowls in that countrey, by whom they might be discovered.' Burton's English Heroe, 49.
[XXIII‑11] The treasure was forwarded from Panamá to Cruces at night to avoid the heat encountered by day in the open country lying between.
[XXIII‑12] Venta Cruz according to Burton's Life of Drake, 18, Burton's English Heroe, and Life and Voy. of Drake, 42, and Venta de Cruzes in the map confronting p. 1 in Dampier's Voy. Probably both are identical with Cruces, or Cruzes as it is spelled in the map on p. 137 of Esquemelin, Hist. Bucaniers, in which no such place as Venta Cruz is mentioned. Juan Lopez in the map before mentioned calls the place San Francisco de Cruces.
[XXIII‑13] Two horse-loads of silver, according to Clark and Burton; but it was more probably base metal containing about enough silver to make it worth the freight.
[XXIII‑14] The trains were frequently attacked by cimarrones. 'From Venta Cruz to Nombre de Dios they go always with their Treasure by day through the cool fresh Woods, unless the Symerons happily make them sweat for fear, as oft happens, and therefore their Recoes (a name applied to mules and muleteers travelling in company) are guarded with Souldiers.' Burton's English Heroe, 49. See also Life and Voy. of Drake, 42.
[XXIII‑15] In Burton's English Heroe, 56, 57, it is stated that at Nombre de Dios parturition was usually followed in a few days by the death of the infant, but that children born at Cruces, reared there till six years of age, and then brought to Nombre de Dios, usually enjoyed good health. See also Life and Voy. of Drake, 47.
[XXIII‑16] Lopez Vaz, in Hakluyt, Voy., iii. 770, states that five or seven merchants were slain, and that the town was set on fire, property being destroyed to the value of more than 200,000 ducats. If this did occur it was doubtless the work of the cimarrones, but there is no mention of it in other authorities.
[XXIII‑17] In Burton's English Heroe, 70, and in Life and Voy. of Drake, 57, it is stated that they sat up to the waist in water and that each wave drenched them up to the arm-pits. To steer and sail a raft under such circumstances, even if they escaped being washed overboard, was certainly a remarkable feat of navigation.
[XXIII‑18] There is some confusion in the narrative of the old chroniclers at this point. In Clark's Life of Drake, 20, it is related that a 'frigot' which sailed with the expedition to the rio Francisco, was ordered to lie off the mouth of the river, while on account of shoal water the men ascended the stream in pinnaces; but for what purpose the voyage on the raft, if this were the case, and why leave the vessel in so exposed a position? In Burton's English Heroe, 66, it is stated that the ship was left at (sent back to) the Cabezas, and, page 71, that when Drake fell in with his pinnaces his men 'sayled back to their Frigot and from thence directly to their Ships;' but according to this authority both ships and 'frigot' were already at the Cabezas, where they lay secure from the Spanish cruisers.
[XXIII‑19] Drake made many other captures, the recital of which would be wearisome to the reader. According to Burton more than 200 vessels of from 10 to 120 tons traded at that time between Cartagena and Nombre de Dios. Most of these, he tells us, the English captured, and some of them twice or thrice. Clark makes no mention of this; but the author of Voy. Hist. round World, i. 44, states that the English took more than 100 vessels of all sizes.
[XXIII‑20] Hakluyt's Voy., iii. 526-28.
[XXIII‑21] During the voyage Drake touched at the bay which still bears his name under the Punta de los Reyes on the coast of California. Here he spent five weeks, smoked native tobacco with the Indians, and took possession of the country, calling it New Albion.
[XXIII‑22] 'Which was Monday in the iust and ordinary reckoning of those that had stayed at home in one place or countrie, but in our computation was the Lords day or Sonday.' Drake's World Encompassed, 162.
[XXIII‑23] The vessel was afterward broken up, and a chair, made from some of the timber, was presented to the university library of Oxford by Charles II. Here the poet Cowley sat enthroned and drank a cup of wine, taking occasion to deliver himself thereupon of some vile verse, concluding with the lines (addressed to the chair):
'The Streights of Time too narrow are for thee,
Launch forth into an undiscovered Sea,
And steer the endless course of vast Eternity,
Take for thy Sail this Verse, and for thy Pilot me.'
One can almost wish that the chair had taken him at his word, for the good ship deserved a better fate.
[XXIII‑24] Although Drake had lost nearly one third of his forces, there was probably some further reason for his abandoning the expedition after such feeble effort. His conduct contrasts strangely with the untiring persistence which he displayed in other enterprises. Possibly he had received orders to return to England, for it will be remembered that, in 1587, the Spanish armada was ready to sail, and that its departure was delayed till the following year by Drake's bold dash at the harbor of Cádiz, during which he destroyed about one hundred vessels.
[XXIII‑25] In 1585, a few days after Robert Lane, who was left in charge of the colony, had caused it to be abandoned through faint-heartedness, a vessel despatched by Raleigh, laden with stores, arrived at the deserted settlement. Bancroft's United States, i. 102, 103. 'These men who were thus brought back,' says William Camden, 'were the first that I know of that brought into England that Indian plant which they call tabacca and nicotia, or tobacco, which they used against crudities, being taught it by the Indians. Certainly from that time forward, it began to grow into great request, and to be sold at an high rate, which, in a short time, many men everywhere, some for wantonness, some for health sake, with insatiable desire and greediness, sucked in the stinking smoke thereof through an earthen pipe, which presently they blew out again at their nostrils; insomuch that tobacco-shops are now as ordinary in most towns, as tap-houses and taverns.' Barrow's Life of Drake, 207, 208.
[XXIII‑26] Hawkins, now between 75 and 80 years of age, was a wealthy merchant and ship-owner, had seen 48 years of hard service, mainly at sea, and held the title of vice-admiral. It does not appear, therefore, what he had to gain by taking part in such an expedition. His promotion seems rather due to influence obtained through inherited wealth than to any remarkable qualities as a commander. Appointed by the queen to cruise off the coast of Spain in company with Frobisher, at the head of a strong and well-appointed squadron, he returned without taking a single prize. Thereupon he wrote a letter of apology to his sovereign in which he excused himself by using the quotation, 'Paul planteth and Apollos watereth, but God giveth the increase.' On reading it Elizabeth exclaimed, 'God's death! This fool went out a soldier and is come home a divine.'
[XXIII‑27] Named Baskerfield in Burton's English Heroe, 199.
[XXIII‑28] Elizabeth of England it will be remembered levied taxes without much heed to the voice of her parliament.
[XXIII‑29] The shot which carried away Drake's chair wounded three of his officers, who were seated at his table. Hawkins died of sickness while the fleet lay off Puerto Rico.
[XXIII‑30] 'On the seconde of January we returned to Nombre de Dios; our men so wearied with the ilnes of the waye, surbaited for want of shoes, and weake with theyr diet, that it would have bin a poor dayes service that we should have done upon an enimie had they been there to resist us.' Drake's Voy., in Hakluyt, Soc. Col., 16. 'In this march a pair of shoos were sold for thirty Shillings, and a Bisket Cake for ten Shillings, so great was their want both of Clothing and Victuals.' Burton's English Heroe, 205.
[XXIII‑31] In a poem by Lope de Vega styled 'Dragontea' occur these lines:
'Mirad la disventura y la ruina
De aquel hombre atrevido y indomable:
Mirad que triste genero de muerte
Del cuerpo el alma a los infiernos vierte.'
Vega declares that Drake was poisoned by his own men. The soul of the great navigator was perhaps less sorely vexed by such slander than by the silly verses written in his praise by his own countrymen. The following occurs in Fuller's Worthies:
'Religio quamvis Romana resurgeret olim,
Effoderet tumulum non pute, Drace, tuum,
Non est quod metuas nec te combusserit ulla
Posteritas, in aquâ tutus ab igne manes.'
But the sorriest doggerel of all is found in Clark's Life of Drake, 71:
'Great God of Prowess, Thunderbolt of War:
Bellona's darling: Mars of Chivalry:
Bloody Enyo's Champion, Foemens fear:
Fame's stately Pharos, Mapp of Dignity:
Joves Pearl, Pearls pride, Prides foe, Foes enemy:
Spains Shaking Fever, Regent of Wars Thunder:
Undaunted Drake, a name Importing Wonder:'
The works published by the Hakluyt Society, and the Annales rerum Anglicarum et Hibernicarum, regnante Elizabetha, by William Camden, London, 1589, probably afford the most reliable information concerning Drake's several expeditions to the West Indies, though neither are free from error. Clark's Life and Death of Sir Francis Drake, London, 1671, and Burton's English Heroe, London, 1687, are chiefly compilations, though of considerable value, inasmuch as both authors had access to sources of information not now available to the public. The latter work passed through no less than 23 editions, and yet we find the opening lines of the preface copied unblushingly from Drake's World Encompassed, in Hakluyt Soc., 5 (published originally in 1628). The Life and Dangerous Voyages of Drake is borrowed mainly from Burton. Barrow's Life of Drake, London, 1843, though a recent publication, contains several copies of letters written by Drake, and was compiled in part from MSS. in the British museum, the state paper office, and the archives of Madrid.
[XXIV‑1] Six miles from the province of Nicaragua.
[XXIV‑2] These mines, which belonged to Juan de Ávila, were at the village of Jerez, or Chuluteca. Caballon, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 7-8.
[XXIV‑3] It was the intention of the rebels to seize the ships at Realejo, and proceed thence to Panamá and Peru, following the programme laid out by the Contreras brothers. Herrera, dec. viii. lib. x. cap. xx.
[XXIV‑4] Molina, Costa Rica, 39-43. He takes his information from three royal cédulas dated August 1561.
[XXIV‑5] Costa Rica, Carta del Cabildo, in Squier's MSS., vi.
[XXIV‑6] Nicoya was annexed to Costa Rica in 1573, though the right to its possession was not finally decided until the present century.
[XXIV‑7] He had expended 10,000 pesos, as was afterward proved before the juez visitador at Santiago in 1565. Coronado Probanza, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiv. 485-503.
[XXIV‑8] West of the present Cartago, and north of Alajuela.
[XXIV‑9] Now written Votos. There is a volcano of that name north of Alajuela and west of the volcano de Barba. See map in Molina, Bosquejo de Costa Rica.
[XXIV‑10] Now probably Aserri. There are two villages of that name; one south of San José and the other about the same distance south-west of Cartago. See map in Molina.
[XXIV‑11] The entire quantity obtained thus far did not exceed 300 pesos in value. Dávila, Relacion, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvi. 328-41.
[XXIV‑12] Before taking his departure he estimated the native population at 30,000 or more. Dávila places the number at only 5,000.
[XXIV‑13] Gaztela, Real Titulo, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xi. 124.
[XXIV‑14] Molina, Bosquejo de Costa Rica, does not even mention Coronado, but passes on from the administration of Caballon in 1560 to that of Cherino. Yet Coronado's appointment is substantiated by numerous official documents of the period, and by the narrative of Dávila.
[XXIV‑15] A detailed account of these instructions is given in Costa Rica, Real Instruccion, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 559-65.
[XXIV‑16] The personnel of this expedition is described in Artieda, Costa Rica, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xv. 261-300.
[XXIV‑17] Among those present were Fray Diego de Molina, vicar; Francisco Pavon, captain; Juan Gonzalez Delgada, 'Escribano de la Gobernacion dicha Ciudad, é publico del Cabildo de ella' (meaning of the city of Artieda); Pedro de Avendano, sargento mayor; Tomás de Barahona, maestre de campo; and Diego de Zárate, alcalde ordinario. Costa Rica, Acontecimiento, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 570.
[XXIV‑18] Ponce, Relacion de Las Casas, in Col. Doc. Inéd., lvii. 350.
[XXIV‑19] Juarros, Guat., i. 326. Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 393-4, confirms Juarros except as to date, which he places in 1550, while Vazquez, Chron. de Gvat., 252, gives 1560. 'Segun ... el Informe manuscripto de la fundacion de esta Provincia.'
[XXIV‑20] See Hist. Mex., ii. 451, this series.
[XXIV‑21] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 393-4. Vazquez, Chron. de Gvat., 254, makes the number six.
[XXIV‑22] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 393-4. Torquemada gives 17 as the number of convents, and 1565 as the date of the foundation of the provincia, iii. 130. Vazquez states that several convents were founded before the departure of Bienvenida for Spain, including those of San Francisco at Cartago and San Lorenzo at Esparza. Chron. de Gvat., 254.
[XXIV‑23] His motive for coming to Costa Rica and Nicaragua was, as given in the words of the Ill. bishop of Mantua: 'Primus huius Provintiæ (Sancti Georgii de Nicaragua) Fundator extitit Religiosissimus Pater Frater Alphonsus (Petrus) Betanzos plurium linguarum, præsertim vero Indiarum gnarus, qui molestias sibi, atque vexationes iniusté illatas ad tempus declinaturus, Goactemalicia ex Custodia cuius Alumnus erat, ad has partes, traiecit:' Vazquez, Chron. de Gvat., 545.
[XXIV‑24] Ogilby, 1671, Cartago; Læt, Novvs Orbis, 1633, Cartago; Jeffreys, 1776, Carthago; Kiepert, 1858, Cartago. Cartography Pacific Coast, MS., i. 142.
[XXIV‑25] Alonso Lopez de Cerrato, who, it will be remembered, took the residencia of Rodrigo de Contreras. See p. 183, this vol.
[XXIV‑26] Nicaragua at this time included Costa Rica, the partition not having yet taken place.
[XXIV‑27] The tribute of the natives consists of maize, wax, honey, poultry, etc., of the annual value of about 3,000 pesos. Squier's MSS., xxii. 9.
[XXIV‑28] Authorities conflict as to the order of succession. In Alcedo the name of Vera Cruz does not occur. Calle refers to the fact without giving any date whatever. Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 548, states that the appointment was made in 1551.
[XXIV‑29] Alcedo, Dávila, Juarros, and other writers of the period fail to mention Carrasco in their enumeration of the bishops of Nicaragua. We find him named only in Calle, Mem. y Not., 129, and Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 548. Icazbalceta in a note in the Hist. Ecles. gives Valdivieso as the first bishop of the diocese instead of Osorio.
[XXIV‑30] Gonzalo Fernandez de Córdoba, 'el Gran Capitan,' was born in Montilla in 1453. El Gran Capitan, Quintana, Vidas, 102-3.
[XXIV‑31] Juarros, Hist. Guat., i. 278, gives 1551 as the date of appointment, and 1553 as the year when he entered on his duties. Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 154, endorses Juarros, but assigns no date save that he was transferred in 1574. Calle, Mem. y Not., 129, simply mentions Córdoba as the one who followed Valdivieso, ignoring Vera Cruz and Carrasco. Córdoba's appointment is mentioned, but without date, by Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 548.
[XXIV‑32] The convent of San Pablo, at Leon, founded by Osorio, Las Casas, and their associates in 1532 (see p. 169, this vol.), belonged to the provincia of Peru, and had now become very wealthy. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 598.
[XXIV‑33] 'Los vezinos de la ciudad de Leon, hizieron grandes extremos por la ausencia de los Religiosos. Y para sacar el Padre fray Iuan de Torres la hazienda y alhajas del Conuento, tuuo necessidad de mucha maña y secreto.' Id., 599.
[XXIV‑34] Id., 599. Remesal enlarges on the injurious effects of this second desertion of the province by the Dominicans, and states (p. 620) that a cédula under date of August 1, 1558, forbade any secular priest being assigned to a place where friars of either the Franciscan or Dominican orders were stationed in the dioceses of Guatemala, Chiapas, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
[XXIV‑35] Mention is also made of Nueva Segovia, where much gold is said to have been taken out, and of Nueva Jaen, at the mouth of Lake Nicaragua, whence merchandise from Nombre de Dios was shipped to Granada in canoes. Guatemala, Informe, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xv. 470-2.
[XXIV‑36] Trade had been greatly injured by the misuse of the mark of the leoncillo (little lion) which was introduced into Nicaragua with royal consent. In 1551 it was ordered that the mark be affixed only to 15 or 17 carat gold. About the same time the king was asked to extend an expiring license to melt metal, that 'la fundicion del oro é de la plata, sea al diezimo.' Carrasco, Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., v. 526-8.
[XXV‑1] Hist. Cent. Am., i. 513, this series.
[XXV‑2] Page 276, this volume.
[XXV‑3] New Survey W. Indies (3d ed., London, 1677), 419. The author lived in the Indies between 1625 and 1637, and made, as he tells us, 9,000 pesos during these 12 years. He was an acute observer, and captious in doctrinal matters, as the following passage will show: 'Whilest this traffick was (at Portobello), it happened unto me that which I have formerly testified in my Recantation Sermon at Pauls Church, which if by that means it have not come unto the knowledge of many, I desire again to record it in this my History, that to all England it may be published; which was, that one day saying the Mass in the chief Church, after the Consecration of the bread, being with my eyes shut at that prayer, which the Church of Rome calleth the Memento for their dead, there came from behind the Altar a Mouse, which running about, came to the very bread or Wafer-god of the Papists, and taking it in his mouth ran away with it, not being perceived by any of the people who were at Mass, for that the Altar was high, by reason of the steps going up to it, and the people far beneath. But as soon as I opened my eyes to go on with my Mass, and perceived my God stolen away, I looked about the Altar, and saw the mouse running away with it.... Whereupon, not knowing what the people had seen, I turned myself unto them, and called them unto the Altar, and told them plainly that whilst I was in my Memento prayers and meditations, a Mouse had carried away the Sacrament, and that I knew not what to do unless they would help me to finde it out again.... After much searching and inquiry for the sacrilegious beast, they found at last in a hole of the wall the Sacrament half eaten up, which with great joy they took out, and as if the Ark had been brought again from the Philistins to the Israelites, so they rejoiced for their new-found God.... I observed in it the marks and signs of the teeth of the Mouse, as they are to be seen in a piece of Cheese gnawn and eaten by it.... And so Transubstantiation here in my judgement was confuted by a Mouse.' New Survey, 446-8.
[XXV‑4] Id., 420-21.
[XXV‑5] A castle with four bastions was erected, on a small rocky eminence. It was protected by a fosse and usually garrisoned by 100 men. Juarros, Guat., i. 52. Pelaez, Hist. Guat., ii. 176, says it was commenced in 1667, and Belly, Nicaragua, ii. 261, that the first castle was not built until 1666, and (in footnote) 'La construction du fort ne l'empêcha pas de reparaître une seconde fois en 1670 et d'obtenir les mêmes succès. C'est alors qu'un ordre royal décida la construction du fort Castillo, à douze lieues en aval du fleuve, qui fut terminé en 1675.'
[XXV‑6] 'El padre Pedro de Contreras, sugeto de grandes talentos y nacido, digámoslo así, para esta especie de ministerios.' Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, ii. 80-1.
[XXV‑7] Real was appointed bishop in 1603, as successor to Gregorio de Montalvo. He had served as chaplain to Filipe IV. Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 239.
[XXV‑8] At a meeting held Jan. 10, 1621, the procurador, Lopez de Castro, presented a petition which was unanimously adopted, setting forth the services already rendered by the fathers in behalf of religion and humanity, and praying earnestly against their removal. Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, 130.
[XXV‑9] In 1618 Padre Florian de Ayerve had been sent to visit the place, and reported adversely. Padre Rabarjal, rector of the college of Guatemala, concurred. When the recall was found to be inevitable, a second public meeting prayed that the ornaments and utensils of the church remain for a season, and this petition was granted. Id., 130-32.
[XXV‑10] The petition to the king is dated Feb. 13, 1621. A letter signed by all the members of the administration accompanied it. Id., 134.
[XXV‑11] Real's death occurred in 1619. Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 239.
[XXV‑12] On the death of Bishop Valtonado the hospital was abandoned until 1650, when a company of priests came from Mexico and took charge of it. Santos, Chron., 481-82. Valtonado's successor was Hernando Nuñez Sagredo, who, says Gonzalez Dávila, 'Fve Calificador de la Inquisicion de Cuenca, y del Consejo Supremo.' He fulfilled the duties of his office 'como buen pastor' and died in 1639. Previously to Sagredo Agustin de Hinojosa and Fray Juan Baraona Zapata were appointed; but both died before reaching their diocese. Next appears the name of Alfonso Briceño, a zealous and learned man, who wrote 'dos Tomos de Teologia Escolastica.' He took charge of the bishopric in 1646, and died in 1649. Hist. Ecles., i. 240-244. In 1651 Alonso de Cuevas Dávalos, dean of the cathedral of Mexico, refused the prelacy of Nicaragua, and according to Figueroa, Vindicias, MS., 75, Alonso Bravo de Laguna received the mitre, though his name is not mentioned by Alcedo or Gonzalez Dávila. In 1655 Fray Tomás Mansa was appointed bishop. Vetancvrt, Menolog., 135 (Mexico, 1697), confirmed in Guijo, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série i. tom. i. 323, but finding that Dávalos was still in office declined to take charge of the diocese. Id., 387. Soon after his arrival he died from eating too much fish. Id. The decease of Dávalos occurred in 1659. Medina, Chron. San Diego Mex., 240. Juan de la Torre y Castro was appointed bishop in 1562, and died suddenly within seven leagues of Granada on the 27th of June, 1663. Fray Alonso Bravo, an eloquent preacher and an accomplished scholar, was elected prelate in 1665. Vetancvrt, Menolog., 136; and Robles, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série i. tom. ii. 3.
[XXV‑13] This vol. 172 et seq.
[XXV‑14] Hist. Cent. Am., i. 310.
[XXV‑15] 'In olden times it was supposed that the lakes Managua and Nicaragua were one, as the Rio Tipitapa is supposed to be all remaining of the lakes in their former unity.' Stout's Nic., 101.
[XXV‑16] Mem. y Not., 131. Gage probably includes in his estimate of population the peaceable Indians settled in the neighborhood.
[XXV‑17] The first governor of Costa Rica in the seventeenth century was Captain Alonso Lara de Cordoba, who was appointed in 1603. Others are given in the order of their succession in Pelaez, Mem. Hist. Guat., ii. 170-4.
[XXV‑18] He expended upward of 60,000 pesos of his own private means. Juarros, Guat., i. 374. Molina, Costa Rica, 11, makes the same statement.
[XXV‑19] He became superior of the order; founded many hospitals and made extensive journeys in the cause of the church. In 1687 he was named by the pope, first superior-general, and after being identified for 50 years with the order died Sept. 23, 1769, aged 79. Juarros, Guat., i. 330-2.
[XXV‑20] Sept. 28, 1709, the Indians of Talamanca rose and killed fathers Pablo de Rebullidas and Antonio de Zamora. Haya, Informe al Reg., 14.
[XXV‑21] Fantasmas, Molucas, Moscas, Payas, Jaras, and many others, partly of Guatemala and Honduras as well. See Native Races, passim.
[XXV‑22] Among other cédulas are three bearing date Oct. 30, 1547; Aug. 31, 1560; and July 2, 1594. Juarros, Guat., i. 346.
[XXV‑23] He might establish six convents subject to the provincial of Guatemala. Juarros, Guat., 349.
[XXV‑24] They began their labors in the latter part of January 1610. On ash Wednesday, following, a number were baptized and 130 converts were received during lent. Juarros, Guat., 351.
[XXV‑25] Pelaez, Mem. Guat., i. 291, mentions a circumstance which may partly explain what follows. A soldier who had previously killed two of the Indians was struck by one of the natives, whereupon he seized him, and with the assistance of a comrade bound his left hand to his body and nailed his right hand to a tree with a horseshoe and eight nails, leaving him in that position. The corpse was found by his tribe, and of course retaliation followed.
[XXV‑26] This incident occurred in January 1612. The narratives of the expedition by Pelaez and Juarros substantially agree.
[XXVI‑1] Hakluyt's Principal Navigation ... and Discoveries of the English Nation, iii. 499 (London, 1598-1600).
[XXVI‑2] See p. 138, this volume.
[XXVI‑3] The Caribbees are said to have prepared the flesh of their human captives in the same way. 'Ils les mangent après les avoir bien boucannée, c'est à dire, rotis bien sec.' Du Tertre, Hist. des Antilles, i. 415.
[XXVI‑4] Voy. round the World, passim. Neither word was used at the time Drake was making raids on the Isthmus.
[XXVI‑5] 'The word flibustier is merely the French mariner's mode of pronouncing the English word freebooter, a name which long preceded that of buccaneer.' Burney's Hist. Bucc., 43. Some authorities derive the term from the Dutch word fluyts, that is to say fly-boats; but, as Burney remarks, it would not readily occur to any one to purchase such craft for corsairs. It is curious to note that the French translator of Esquemelin still adhered to the mispronunciation of the word, '& prirent le nom de Flibustiers, du mot Anglois Flibuster.' Exquemelin, Hist. Flib., i. 20.
[XXVI‑6] Russell's Hist. Amer., i. 528. This author gives a sketch of the origin of the buccaneers and their customs, showing considerable research, and is endorsed in most material points by Burney's Hist. Bucc., 38 et seq. Both authors draw largely from Du Tertre, Hist. des Antilles, and the former from Raynal, Histoire Philosophique.
[XXVI‑7] While his comrades divided the booty, he gloated over the mangled bodies of the objects of his hate. Drake, Cavendish, and Dampier's Lives, 179-80; Burney's Hist. Bucc., 55.
[XXVI‑8] In the English translation of Exquemelin is the following interpolation: 'Tortuga, the common Refuge of all sort of Wickedness, and the Seminary, as it were, of Pirats and Thieves.' Bucaniers of Amer., i. 53.
[XXVI‑9] 'Siende dat 'er oock geen quartier voor hem over was, alsoo hy 't niet ontloopen konde, door dien hy alreede gequetst was, bemorste hy hem met bloedt, en kroop onder de dooden die daer lagen.' Exquemelin, Americaensche Zee-Roovers, 48.
[XXVI‑10] Or Sars River. Rio de Jagua, a river emptying into the gulf of Honduras. I. de Laet, 1633, R. Xagua; West-Ind. Spieghel places on the north coast of Yucatan, Xagua. Cartog. Pac. Coast, MS., i. 308.
[XXVI‑11] 'L'Olonois y perdit environ trente hommes, et en eut bien vingt de blessés.' Exquemelin (or Oexmelin, as in the French version the author is styled), Hist. des Flib., i. 207. The pirates would not encumber themselves with the indigo: 'L'Olonois ... en auroit en pour plus de 40,000 écus; mais il ne cherchoit que de l'argent.' Id., 208.
[XXVI‑12] The French translator says: 'Leur canon étoit en batterie au nombre de cinquante-six pieces.' Id., 219. The original work of Esquemelin gives the same number as that in the text. De Americaensche Zee-Roovers, 70.
[XXVI‑13] This band proceeded along the coast to the town of Veragua which they captured and pillaged. Exquemelin, Hist. Flib., i. 223.
[XXVI‑14] The French version, contrary to Exquemelin's narrative, says that all the men left, the greater number in the long-boat and the remainder in canoes. Id., i. 228.
[XXVI‑15] Exquemelin, Americaensche Zee-Roovers, 1678, 73, thus describes the death of L'Olonnois: 'Maer het scheen dat Godt niet langer de godtloosheden van desen mensch konde toelaten, maer hem door een wreede doodt straffen wilde voor alle de wreedtheden, die hy aen soo veel onnoosele menschen hadde gepleeght; want in de Golfe van Darien Komende, is hy met sijn volck vervallen in de handen der Wilden, by de Spanjaerden Indios Bravos genaemt. Sy hebben hem aen stucken gekapt en gebraeden, naer het verhael van een sijner meedemackers, die het selve soude geleeden hebben, hadde hy sijn leven niet met de vlucht gesalveert.' His English translator says: 'The Indians ... tore him in pieces alive, throwing his Body limb by limb into the Fire, and his Ashes into the Air, that no trace or memory might remain of such an infamous inhuman Creature.' Bucaniers of America, i. 77. The French edition adds that L'Olonnois was eaten by the Indians. Exquemelin, Hist. des Flib., i. 230.
[XXVI‑16] Exquemelin, Bucaniers of Amer., i. 79. According to French translator of Exquemelin, Mansvelt had 600 men. Hist. des Flib., ii. 3.
[XXVI‑17] This island was used as a penal settlement by the Spaniards who employed the convicts on the works of the fortifications. Here Mansvelt expected to find some one familiar with the road to Natá. Id., 4-5.
[XXVI‑18] Or Moin, where they landed 1,200 men in the year 1666. Juarros, Guat. (London, ed. 1823), 344. According to Exquemelin they sailed along the coast as far as the river Zuere. Hist. des Flib., ii. 7. According to Haya, Informe, 11, the corsair Manflas landed 800 men. Consult Cartog. Pac. Coast, MS., i. 142.
[XXVI‑19] In Haya, Informe, MS., 11, is found the following strange statement: The maestro de campo, Juan Lopez de la Flor, the governor, sent Major Alonso de Bonilla with eight men, for there were neither arms nor provisions for a greater number, who caused the corsairs to retire from the province.
[XXVI‑20] About ten leagues distant from Cartago.
[XXVI‑21] Juarros, Guat. (London, ed. 1823), 344-5. Bonilla took two men who were foot-sore. When asked the reason of their precipitate flight from so small a number, they stated that they had seen a numerous army marching against them. Haya, Informe, MS., 11-12.
[XXVI‑22] According to Juarros the prisoners made this confession under torture. Haya does not mention this.
[XXVI‑23] 'Ujarraz, pueblo en otro tiempo considerable, pero en el dia mui desdichado.' Juarros, Guat., i. 58-9. It is two leagues distant from Cartago. Id.
[XXVI‑24] According to an account of this recapture of Santa Catarina by a Spanish engineer, it occurred in August 1665. A translation of the Spanish version of the affair is to be found in Exquemelin, De Americaensche Zee-Roovers, 76-80, and in the English translation of the latter work in Bucaniers of America, i. 82-5. In the French edition of Exquemelin the Spanish narrative is thus dismissed: 'J'aurois pu la traduire, & en gaossir ce Volume, mais comme elle n'est remplie que de bagatelles & de rodomontades Espagnoles, je ne m'en fuis pas donné la peine, ne voulant rien raconter ici que de véritable.' Hist. des Flib., ii. 10.
[XXVII‑1] Panamá, Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 349-50.
[XXVII‑2] In 1604 Andrés Cortés was alcalde ordinario, Francisco Terii alguacil mayor, and Capt. Damian Mendez and others regidores. The names of the members for 1605 are also mentioned. Id., 228-32.
[XXVII‑3] 'A peculiar kind of wine very much in use at Seville,'says Salva, in Dic. Leng Cast., 54, 784; Panamá, Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 228-30.
[XXVII‑4] The penalties were 50 pesos for the first offence; 100 for a second offence, and for the third perpetual banishment. The law was passed Sept. 23, 1605, and was approved by the audiencia. Id., 230-3. The evil increased, and in Dec. 1614 an act declared offenders punishable by fine of 50 pesos for the first offence, and 100 pesos and banishment for the second. Recop. de Indias, ii. 362.
[XXVII‑5] In West Indies, Geog. and Hist. Descr., the number of men aboard is stated at 300. In an appendix to Carranza, Descr. Coast W. Indias, 118, containing Parker's own account of the taking of Portobello, the latter mentions that he landed with 150 men, and it may be presumed that he left at least 50 in charge of his ships.
[XXVII‑6] In the appendix to Carranza just quoted Parker gives 'A Table made in the manner of an Alphabett. for the easier findinge of the Streates, and chiefest Places portraited in the Drafte of Portabell, beinge in the West-Indies, standing in tenne Degrees, which was taken by Captaine William Parker, of Plymouth, Gentleman, the seaventh Daye of Februarie 1601,' etc. In Panamá, Descrip., Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc. x., the year 1602 is given on p. 105, and 1601 on p. 108. The year 1601 is also given in Casttell's Am., in Churchill's Col. Voy., viii. 762. The town 'was pillaged by the English under Captain Parker, in the year 1601,' says Heylyn, Cosmog., 1086. The date of sailing from Plymouth, November 1601, is given in Harris' Col. Voy., i. 747; in West Indies, Geog. and Hist., 79; in Purchas' Pil., iv. 1243, and in Holmes' Annals Am., i. 117. The landing at Portobello is placed on the 7th of Feb. 1602. The author of West Indies, Geog. and Hist., 79-80, gives both dates, but in speaking generally of the expedition styles it of 1601, as on pp. 67, 78, and elsewhere.
[XXVII‑7] He was great-nephew of the Pedro Melendez who barbarously murdered Ribault, Landouiere, and others of the French who fell into his hands in Florida. West Indies, Geog. and Hist., 82-3.
[XXVII‑8] West Indies, Geog. and Hist., 82; Harris' Col. Voy., i. 747; Casttell's Am. in Churchill's Col. Voy., viii. 762.
[XXVII‑9] On hearing of the capture of Portobello, the governor of Cartagena is said to have sworn to give 'a Mules lading of Silver to have a fight of Captain Parker and his Company,' and as Harris remarks: 'Had they been sure he would have parted with what he had upon so easie terms as they at Porto Belo did, 'tis very likely they might have sold him that favour, but his strength being uncertain as well as his pay, they did not think fit to attempt him.' Col. Voy., i. 747.
[XXVII‑10] Deputies were to receive 400 ducats yearly. In 1608, the bonds of treasury officials were reduced from 20,000 ducats to one half that amount. In a decree of Sept. 11, 1610, the fiscal is directed to go to Portobello on the arrival of the galleons and tarry during the season; all other officials to perform their usual duties and make the requisite reports. Among other duties the fiscal was authorized to prevent improper persons landing. 'Estorbando que los cassados y pasajeros que fueron con licencia, y mulatas moriscas y estrangeras y otras personas prohibidas á pasar á estas partes, no lo hagan, executando en ellos y en los que los lleban, las penas que estan impuestas.' Panamá, Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 311-12.
[XXVII‑11] 'When I came into the Haven,' says Thomas Gage who was at Portobello in 1537, 'I was sorry to see that as yet the Galeons were not come from Spain, knowing that the longer I stayed in that place, greater would be my charges.... A kind Gentleman, who was the King's Treasurer, falling in discourse with me, promised to help me, that I might be cheaply lodged even when the ships came, and lodgings were at the highest rate. He, interposing his authority, went with me to seek one, which at the time of the Fleets being there, might continue to be mine. It was no bigger than would contain a Bed, a Table, and a Stool or two, with room enough besides to open and shut the door, and they demanded of me for it, during the foresaid time of the Fleet, six-score Crowns, which commonly is a fortnight.... I knew a Merchant who gave a thousand Crowns for a shop of reasonable bigness, to sell his wares and commodities that year that I was there, for fifteen days only, which the Fleet continued to be in that Haven. I thought it much for me to give the six-score Crowns which were demanded of me for a room, which was but a Mouse-hole.' New Survey, 444-5.
[XXVII‑12] The length of anchorage ground is about 3,000 geometrical paces; the width from 1,500 to 1,800 paces, and the average depth 17 fathoms. Large ships ride at anchor opposite Castle Santiago, while frigates can move nearer the mole. There is room for 300 galleons and 1,000 smaller vessels within, while 2,000 ships may anchor with tolerable safety without the forts. Panamá, Descrip., in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ix. 118-19.
[XXVII‑13] Panamá contained in 1610, eleven streets, three squares, a cathedral, five convents, a hospital, seven royal houses, a casa de cabildo, two hermitages, court-house with jail, 332 houses covered with tiles, 40 small houses, 112 Indian huts, a meat market and slaughter-house. All but eight of the houses were made of stone. Panamá, Descrip., in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ix. 86. The statement that all but eight were of stone seems improbable. It is certain that they were nearly all of wood about the middle of the 16th century, and that most of them were of cedar when Panamá vieja was destroyed during Morgan's raid in 1671.
[XXVII‑14] It will be remembered that Cruces was the town at which treasure from Panamá was shipped in barges for the mouth of the Chagre. The casa de Cruces was established in 1536.
[XXVII‑15] In response to frequent addresses, the king, on the 14th of August 1610, directed Governor Mercedo by all means in his power to develop mining operations in Panamá and Veragua. 'Para que los que tienen quadrillas do negros las refuerzen y acrecienten, y los que no las tienen las procuran.' Panamá, Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 211-12.
[XXVII‑16] The office of corredor de lonja was farmed out for 1,000 pesos, those of corredor devinos and auctioneer for 75 pesos each per annum. Panamá, Descrip., in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ix. 90. In fact the king prohibited monopolies in which he did not participate. On the 29th of March 1621, Felipe III. decreed that as flour must be brought from Peru, and the corregidores had a monopoly of the trade, the viceroys must abolish that system so that dealers might purchase without restriction for the Panamá market. Recop. de Ind., ii. 64.
[XXVII‑17] In 1605, appropriations include 6,000 ducats for the governor, 2,000 pesos each for four oidores and a fiscal, and 400,000 maravedís each for the tesorero, contador, and factor. Others were in proportion. See Panamá, Descrip., in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ix. 105-7.
[XXVII‑18] 'Por este camino se podrá poner freno á la entrada de los enemigos.' Panamá, Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 214.
[XXVII‑19] 'Advirtiendo que todo este se a de hacer sin que dello se siga ninguna costa a mi hacienda.' Id., xvii. 213-14.
[XXVII‑20] Forced loans were frequently extorted by Felipe III., and merchants resorted to all sorts of devices to conceal their specie. Commerce suffered great depression, and on April 10, 1643, Felipe IV., in a letter to the governor, says that under no circumstances would any further exaction be made, but that he would be satisfied with the stipulated dues. Panamá, Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 249-52.
[XXVII‑21] Id., xvii. 249-52. Alcedo, who is by no means reliable either as to names or dates, says that Don Rodrigo de Vivero y Velasco, a native of Lima, succeeded Don Diego de Orozco. He adds that during Velasco's administration the subjugation and spiritual conquest of the Guaimi Indians in Veragua was effected, and that his rule ended in 1624. Dic., iv. 41. Diego de Haya in his Datos para la Historia del Istmo makes no mention of either of the Velascos.
[XXVII‑22] In 1651 it was common to ship bullion from Peru as though destined for Panamá, and thence have it smuggled into Spain. This gave rise to several decrees. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 194-5. Another device was to ship silver in bale goods. Dampier's Voy., i. 185. A common method of collusion between Spanish and English contrabandists was for an English vessel to coast off Portobello until visited from the shore by those prepared to trade. Having marked selections of goods the latter returned with their money when ready to purchase, often under the disguise of peasants. Univ. Col. Voy., ii. 373-4. The king on Sept. 23, 1652, says that frauds were committed in 1651, in deducting from the schedule of Callao, lots and parcels, under pretence that they were for residents of Panamá and Portobello; and that there was a dispensation to the merchants in 'el mero que hauian de hazer, supliendos por imaginaria en el registro los 600,000 pesos que se obligaron á mi Virrey del Peru.' He also demands a report of the reasons why 'no hicesteis enterar la suma que el Consulado, y comercio de Lima se obligo a suplir por ynmaxinaria, a lo efectibo del rexistro que salió de aquella ciudad.' Panamá, Real Cédula, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 194-5.
[XXVII‑23] Provincia del Sto Evangelio MS., No. 16. See also Torquemada, iii. 280; and Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., iv. 32.
[XXVII‑24] Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., ii. 58, states that he held office for 15 years, and Alcedo, Dic., iv. 34, repeats the statement; and yet both are evidently mistaken. Chroniclers of the seventeenth century leave the order of succession to the see of Panamá in doubt, though they are agreed as to the date of Ábrego's death. Dávila mentions the elevation of Fray Pablo de Torres as the seventh bishop probably in 1559, and that he certainly entered upon the duties in the following year. In this Alcedo concurs. Both speak of his successor Fray Juan Vaca, but without giving the date of the decease of the former or of the appointment of the later. Vaca died on the voyage out, and the vacant see was not filled until Ábrego's appointment.
[XXVII‑25] Alcedo says that his full name was Bartolomé Martinez Menacho. Previous to his appointment the bishopric had been offered to and declined by Fray Pedro de Pravia, a distinguished theologian. Dávila Padilla, Fvnd. Santiago de Mex., 595.
[XXVII‑26] According to Alcedo this occurred in 1593. Id.
[XXVII‑27] This see was created in 1602. Bishop Calderon died at Salinas when upwards of 100 years old and was buried in the convent of San Agustin of which he had been a great benefactor. Dávila, Teatro Ecles., ii. 58, 118.
[XXVII‑28] The sum of 3,770 pesos having been subscribed, the licentiate Terrin of Panamá offered to erect the buildings if a suitable site were provided, and expended for that purpose some 24,000 pesos. He further added an annual endowment of 2,000 pesos, reserving founder's rights (patronazgo) for himself. Panamá, Descrip., Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ix. 107; Figueroa, Vindicias, MS., 74.
[XXVII‑29] A cédula of July 1, 1580, stigmatizes this conduct as 'an abuse that must be stopped.' Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 488.
[XXVII‑30] While still a friar, Carabajal went to Spain and became prior of the royal convent of Valladolid, and during his attendance at court he was chosen assistant-general of all the provinces of Spain and the Indies, and reformador of the provinces of Bolonia and Romania by authority of Pope Clement VIII. Dicc. Univ., Hist. Geog., viii. 522. According to this authority he was a native of the city of Mexico, but Dávila, in Teatro Ecles., ii. 59, says he was a native of Cáceres in Estremadura.
[XXVII‑31] Panamá, Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 237-9.
[XXVII‑32] At this time Panamá had convents belonging to the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Mercenarios, and the Jesuits, a flourishing nunnery, and a number of secular ecclesiastics. Its cathedral tithes amounted to 7,632 pesos, of which the prelate received 2,331. In the first named convent there were 10, in the second 11 religious; while the Mercenarios had 13 and the Jesuits 11. The nunnery had 24 nuns and 32 negroes of both sexes. The cathedral had two chapels, Santa Anna and San Cristóbal. Panamá, Descrip., in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ix. 108. Some years later, from 1625-27, Gage says there were 8 convents and monasteries for friars and nuns. Voyage, ii. 78-91.
[XXVII‑33] Instituted in Granada in 1538 for special service in hospital work. They followed the rules of San Agustin. In 1572 Pope Clement V. approved the order and thenceforward the fraternity labored in their specialty.
[XXVII‑34] Cámara founded scholarships in the college of San Agustin and left an annuity of three hundred pesos to the Jesuit college, a sum for the maintenance of two chaplains in the choir, and 4,000 pesos for the church building fund. Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., ii. 59, and Alcedo, Dic., iv. 35.
[XXVII‑35] The former lived to an advanced age, dying in 1649. He was a great ascetic, and refused a bishopric. His funeral was attended by the audiencia and all the noble families of the province. Santos, Chron. Hist., i. 303.
[XXVII‑36] In 1636 they refused to deliver up the bodies of some persons who had died in the hospital, and prevented their interment in the chapel of La Concepcion. Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 243.
[XXVII‑37] On the 17th of January 1626 he was consecrated at Valladolid in the Dominican convent of San Pablo. Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., ii. 59-60; Alcedo, Dic., iv. 35-6.
[XXVII‑38] In a letter dated March 26, 1638, Felipe IV. approves of this measure. Panamá, Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 241.
[XXVII‑39] 'Mandamos á los Presidentes y Oidores, y á todos los demas Ministros de nuestras Reales Audiencias, que ninguno de los susodichos, ni sus mujeres entren en la clausura de los Monasterios de Monjas á ninguna hora del dia, ni la noche: y asimismo, que no vayan á hablar por los locutorios, y puertas Reglares á horas extraordinarias, y esto se guarde con la precision necesaria y conveniente á la decencia de los Monasterios.' Recop. de Indias, i. 393.
[XXVII‑40] In 1624 Alvaro de Quiñones Osorio, marqués de Lorenzana and knight of the order of Santiago, was appointed governor, and in 1632 was promoted to the governorship of Guatemala. His successor was Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, who held office only two years, Alcedo, Dicc., iv. 41, and was succeeded by Sotomayor, who died in 1639, Inigo de la Mota Sarmiento, a knight of the order of Santiago and a member of the supreme council, being the next in succession. Sarmiento died in 1642. There are no incidents worthy of note connected with any of them except Sotomayor, and it is by no means certain that Alcedo is right as to date or order of succession, but there are no other authorities on this point. Bazan succeeded Sarmiento.
[XXVII‑41] The date of the fire was the 21st of February 1644. Two days later another one broke out but was speedily controlled. Both were looked upon as the work of incendiaries, but if so they escaped detection. Panamá, Reales Cédulas (published 14th of May 1645), in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 273.
[XXVII‑42] On May 13, 1645, the king says that in the face of royal orders Bazan had appointed Estévan Gallejos, his wife's nephew, warden of the castle of San Felipe, Portobello; and on the 5th of August 1647 that other relatives and dependents had been appointed to lucrative places. One nephew was alcalde mayor of Nasa; another, warden of the castle of Chagre; one servant was captain of the companies of the garrison, and another was factor. He was censured, and again commanded to obey, 'porque demas que bos se ara la demonstracion que conbenga, sereis castigado con toda seberidad.' Panamá, Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 275-81.
[XXVII‑43] Id., 269-71. Alcedo styles him Don Juan de Bitribeante y Navarra, knight of the order of Calatrava. Dic., iv. 42.
[XXVIII‑1] Captain Morgan said: 'If our number is small, our hearts are great; and the fewer Persons we are, the more Union and better shares we shall have in the Spoil.' Exquemelin, Hist. Bucaniers, 93.
[XXVIII‑2] Exquemelin, Hist. Bucaniers, 96.
[XXVIII‑3] Exquemelin, Hist. Flib., ii. 44, and Hist. Bucaniers, 98.
[XXVIII‑4] Burney's Buccaneers of America, 62, and Archenholtz' Hist. Pirates, 116, give the plunder at 250,000 pesos, besides slaves and merchandise, but Exquemelin, Hist. Bucaniers, 119, probably through a typographical error, at 25,000 pesos, apart from slaves and merchandise.
[XXVIII‑5] Six vessels with 350 men under the command of Vice-Admiral Collier, according to Sharp's Voyages, 124.
[XXVIII‑6] In Sharp's Voyages, 125-126, it is stated that the expedition was absent 52 days, and made prizes of two Spanish vessels, and that Morgan ascertained from the prisoners that the president of Panamá had granted commissions against the English to a number of Spanish privateers.
[XXVIII‑7] Two thousand two hundred. Exquemelin, Hist. Flib., ii. 105. An intercepted despatch from the president of Panamá, translated in Sharp's Voyages, 145, gives the number of men at 3,000.
[XXVIII‑8] Twenty-four heavy guns and eight brass pieces. Exquemelin, Hist. Flib., ii. 105.
[XXVIII‑9] Indorsed by the governor of Jamaica. Exquemelin, Hist. Flib., ii. 110. But this statement is not confirmed in other places. The Hist. Bucaniers, 126, implies that Morgan had no right to grant such commissions. See also Sharp's Voyages, preface. The governor must have been aware of the treaty pending between England and Spain.
[XXVIII‑10] It was agreed that one hundredth part of all the booty should be set aside for the commander's portion; that each captain should draw, besides his own, the shares of 8, 10, or 12 men, according to the size of his vessel, and that the surgeon should receive 200 pesos, and each carpenter 100 pesos, in addition to their regular pay. For those who should be maimed in action compensation was thus provided: for the loss of both eyes, 2,000 pesos; of one eye, 100; of both arms, 1,800; of both legs, 1,500; of a single arm or leg, 500; and of a finger, 100 pesos; or an equivalent in slaves—on the basis of one slave for each one hundred pesos. He who should be the first to force his way into a Spanish castle, or to haul down the Spanish colors and plant the English standard on the walls, was to receive 50 pesos; he who should take a prisoner from whom serviceable news could be obtained, 100 pesos; he who should throw hand-grenades among the enemy, 5 pesos for each one thrown; and he who in action should capture an officer of rank, risking his life thereby, was to be rewarded according to the degree of his valor. All rewards and extra allowances were to be paid over before a general division should be made of the booty. I find nothing set aside for Christ or the church. Exquemelin, Hist. Flib., ii. 108-110; Hist. Bucaniers, 126.
[XXVIII‑11] Exquemelin, Hist. Flibustiers, ii. 117, and Hist. Bucaniers, 129, 130.
[XXVIII‑12] Three ships and 470 men, according to Sharp's Voyages, 130.
[XXVIII‑13] The account given in Sharp's Voyages, 130, is that the buccaneers, in plying their hand-grenades, set fire to a guard-house that stood on the wall of the castle. This seems improbable, for they were separated from the fort by the crevasse, by the palisades beyond, and by the space between the palisades and the castle walls, which must have been beyond reach of such missiles.
[XXVIII‑14] In Sharp's Voyages, 133, it is stated that Morgan left only 300 men to guard the castle, and started for Panamá with 1,400 buccaneers, 7 small ships, and 36 boats. The intercepted despatch from the president of Panamá, translated in the same work, states (page 153) that Morgan reached Panamá with 2,300 men. In Exquemelin, Hist. Flib., i. 137, the number is given at 1,300.
[XXVIII‑15] Authorities differ materially in their accounts of this skirmish. Exquemelin, Hist. Bucaniers, 141, and Archenholtz, Hist. Pirates, 135, speaks of a flight of 3,000 or 4,000 arrows; but there is no evidence that a body of several thousand Indians was ever assembled at a given point, and if this were so it does not appear how they managed to shoot such a flight of arrows down a narrow ravine. The Hist. Flibustiers, i. 153, says the pass was cut through the rock, in order to shorten and render less difficult the route between Panamá and Chagre; in that case it could not have been of any great length. In Sharp's Voyages, 134, it is stated that none of the buccaneers were killed, and only three slightly wounded.
[XXVIII‑16] See intercepted letter from the president of Panamá translated in Sharp's Voyages, 151-52.
[XXVIII‑17] The old town of Panamá was destroyed by Morgan in January 1671. Exquemelin's Hist. Bucaniers, 148. In Sharp's Voyages, 142, January 1670 is given as the date.
[XXVIII‑18] Translation of the president's letter in Sharp's Voyages, 155. There is considerable discrepancy in the various accounts of the action before Panamá; but there is no evidence that Guzman acquitted himself in the least like a soldier. Exquemelin, Hist. Flib., ii. 160, and Hist. Buccaniers, 140, Sharp, Voyagers, 138 (in the author's own account of the battle), and Archenholtz, Hist. Pirates, 140, all agree that the cavalry bore the brunt of the fight, and not one of these authorities has a word to say in favor of the pusillanimous captain-general.
[XXVIII‑19] Here again authors differ essentially in their narrative. Exquemelin, Hist. Bucaniers, 147, states that the freebooters suffered severely from the Spanish artillery as they approached the city. Archenholtz, Hist. Pirates, 141, makes the same statement; but the Hist. Flib., ii. 164, says that they encountered no opposition; and this version is probably correct, for as remarked in Burney's Buccaneers of America, 67, Panamá had no regular fortifications, and in parts lay open, and was to be won or defended by plain lighting. Sharp, Voyages, 141, indorses the Hist. Flib.
[XXVIII‑20] It is difficult to decide, amidst a conflict of authorities, whether the burning of Panamá was due to the Spaniards or to Morgan's orders. In Exquemelin, Hist. Bucaniers, 148, it is implied that Morgan gave such an order secretly, and for private reasons. In Hist. Flib., ii. 169, it is positively stated that Morgan, fearing the Spaniards might surprise him by night, caused the city to be fired. In Archenholtz' Hist. Pirates, 143, the blame is also laid to Morgan's charge. On the other hand, in the president's despatch, translated in Sharp's Voyages, 156, it is admitted that the city was fired by slaves and by some of the inhabitants. It is acknowledged by all these writers that the freebooters attempted to stay the conflagration. There seems no good reason why Morgan, who had now at his disposal 28 pieces of artillery, should have feared an attack from the Spaniards, or why he should commit an act which destroyed his chance of receiving a ransom. In Robles, Documentos para la Historia de Méjico, série i. tom. ii. 117, it is mentioned that a letter from the president of Panamá, dated April 3, 1671, nearly six weeks after Morgan's departure, was received in Mexico in December of that year. The letter confirms the intercepted despatch in many particulars, and adds that when the city was burned the buccaneers 'found themselves without provisions and supplies, and on that account did not carry out their main intention, which was to pass to Portobello by land, besiege it with vessels by sea, and capture it by blockade, and that they brought with them in anticipation a boy whom they styled the prince, and intended to crown king of Tierra Firme.'
[XXVIII‑21] Exquemelin, Hist. Flib., ii. 171. The ingots of gold and silver were of course in transit for Spain, and had been placed on board the galleon for safe keeping.
[XXVIII‑22] In Hist. Bucaniers, 152, it is stated that he was then hung up by the private parts, and flogged in that position.
[XXVIII‑23] All the leading authorities agree that the prisoners were subjected to excruciating torture. The author of Sharp's Voyages makes an attempt to clear Morgan's character, and to throw ridicule on the story of these atrocities. The work was published in London in 1684, a few years after Morgan was knighted by Charles II. The writer collected his materials in part from inquiry among the buccaneers themselves, and may therefore be worthy of credence in some matters of detail; but the fact that 16 out of 20 pages of preface are taken up with a sorry effort 'to rescue the Honour of that incomparable Souldier and Seaman,' while the narrative of the raid on Panamá occupies but 20 out of 170 pages, seems to show the purpose for which it was written.
[XXVIII‑24] 'Quatre cent quarante-trois mille deux cens livres, comptant l'argent rompu à dix piastres la livre.' Exquemelin, in Hist. Flib., ii. 191. In pages 197-8 of the same volume there is an explanation of the manner in which Morgan contrived to secrete a large quantity of precious stones. The buccaneers may have believed that such an amount of plunder had been obtained, though its real value was probably less than one third of what they supposed it to be. In Sharp's Voyages, 143, the worth of the spoils is stated at £30,000, a sum almost insufficient to defray the expenses that Morgan must have incurred in obtaining his title from Charles II. There are no reliable data on this point.
[XXIX‑1] 'It is beautified with a great many fair Churches and Religious Houses.' Dampier's Voy., i. 178-9. So in Drake's Univ. Col. Voy., 63, and Coreal, Voy., i. 92.
[XXIX‑2] Under command of captains Harris and Sawkins. Ringrose's Voyage, 2.
[XXIX‑3] The foundation of the friendship between the natives of Darien and the buccaneers was laid by Captain Wright while cruising off the Samballas about 1665. In that year Wright made captive a lad who, in 1679, when the captain was again in those parts, convinced his people that Englishmen hated Spaniards, and would therefore prove useful allies. In proof of their friendly disposition toward the Indians, he instanced the kind treatment he had received. The natives then boarded the privateer; and being judiciously treated, an agreement was made permitting the English to cross this territory to the South Sea. Dampier's Voyage, i. 181-3.
[XXIX‑4] The buccaneers had just captured a packet conveying letters to Portobello, some of which were addressed to Panamá merchants from their correspondents in Spain. These letters alluded to a prophecy at that time current: 'That there would be English Privateers that Year in the West Indies, who would make such great Discoveries, as to open a Door into the South Seas.' This was interpreted by the captors to mean a passage overland through the territory of the Indians, and this interpretation coinciding with the invitation of the natives prompted them to undertake a march on Panamá. Dampier's Voyage, i. 180-1.
[XXIX‑5] Andrés was styled the 'emperor of Darien,' the magnate to whose service the freebooters now claimed to belong. These chieftains at one time ruled a large tract about the gulf of Darien; but had been straitened in their boundaries by the Spaniards, with whom they waged continual war. Sharp's Voyage, 2.
[XXIX‑6] 'Over a Bay.' Ringrose's Voy., 4. 'By the side of a bay.' Burney's Discov. South Sea, iv. 91. 'En doen over een Inham van byna een Mijl in de lengte.' Exquemelin, Hist. Boecaniers, 148.
[XXIX‑7] Ringrose speaks of this monarch with intense gravity, marred by no trace of irony. Probably this was the first crowned head with whom he had been on intimate terms.
[XXIX‑8] Ringrose calls the beast a 'Tygre,' Voy., 8; but it was more probably a jaguar, or a tiger-cat. It is true there may have been risk in using fire-arms, but why could not the Indians have killed it with their arrows?
[XXIX‑9] An anonymous authority states that the smaller party reached the rendezvous on April 12th, and seeing their friends had not arrived, held a whispered consultation among themselves. Andrés, on observing this, despatched a canoe up the smaller branch of the river, which soon returned with two canoes of the larger body, who all arrived next day. Sharp's Voy., 7-8.
[XXIX‑10] Sharp speaks of the peccary as the 'Warre,' and describes it as a wild animal somewhat resembling the hog in appearance and flavor, but 'the Navels of these kind of animals grew on their backs.' Sharp's Voy., 4, in Hacke, Coll. There is, however, no doubt that it was the peccary. Pascual de Andagoya mentions it, falling into the error common to old writers as regards the 'navel' on the back. Andagoya, Narr., 17. It is also noticed by Acosta, Hist. Ind., lib. iv. cap. xxxviii., and Herrera, dec. ii. lib. ii. cap. iv. De Rochfort speaks of it under the name of 'Javaris.' Hist. Nat. des Isles Antilles, 138 (ed. 1665). In Costa Rica the animal is still vulgarly known as the 'warré,' though the name is not found in print, and I have therefore adopted phonetic English spelling, which agrees with that of Captain Sharp.
[XXIX‑11] Exquemelin thus relates the incident referred to: 'Hier vonden en verlosten we d'oudste Dogter van de Konink van Darien (van wien hier boven is gewag gemaakt), die zo 't scheen door een van de Soldaten van 't Guarnizoen met geweld uyt haar Vaders Huys was weg genomen; en zwanger by hem was.' Hist. Boecaniers, 153.
[XXIX‑12] The affair is not noticed by Sharp. It seems probable that desire for vengeance might induce the father and grandfather, Antonio and Andrés, to exaggerate the wealth of Santa María.
[XXIX‑13] This massacre is not mentioned by Sharp, but he places the Spanish loss at about 70 in killed and wounded, which would perhaps include those murdered by the Indians. Journal, 6; in Hacke's Coll.
[XXIX‑14] It is stated that disappointment of their booty rendered the rovers more blood-thirsty than usual, 'for though they were faintly opposed, and lost not a man, 26 Spaniards were killed, and 16 wounded in the assault, and many others were deliberately butchered in the woods, subsequent to the surrender by the Indians.' United Service Journal, 1837, pt. ii. 316.
[XXIX‑15] Ringrose's Voy., 11; Sharp, Journal, 7, in Hacke's Coll.; Burney's Discov. South Sea, iv. 96.
[XXIX‑16] The term piragua is here applied to a large canoe frequently carrying a mast and sails, and quite different from a common 'dug-out.' The buccaneers frequently called this boat a bark.
[XXIX‑17] 'It pleased God, that with extream danger even to those that rescued them, they were all saved. It being a certain truth that those who are born to be hang'd shall never be drown'd, it proving so with us, one of our Company being hang'd at Jamaica on Port Royal; And we were very near it here in London.' Sharp's Voyage, 11.
[XXIX‑18] Sharp says 14 days. Journal, 10, in Hacke's Coll.
[XXIX‑19] Bucaniers of Amer., ii.; Ringrose's Voy., 20-1. The last-named author gives the number of the crew as 137. Hacke, Col. Voy., ii. 10, and Sharp, Voyage, 12, say 130 men.
[XXIX‑20] See Burney's Discov. South Sea, iv. 98.
[XXIX‑21] Hacke's Col. Voy. Sharp reached Chepillo Island April 23d, but one authority states that the fleet and the bark parted company at this date.
[XXIX‑22] Bucaniers of Amer., ii.; Ringrose's Voy., 21-2. One man killed and five wounded according to Hacke's Col. Voy., ii. 10.
[XXIX‑23] According to Bucaniers of Amer., ii.; Ringrose's Voy., 22, all the prisoners escaped except one. But Sharp's statement that his men reported to him 'that there were dead People lying on the Ground, which made them conjecture our Men had had a Fight with the Spaniards,' Hacke's Col. Voy., ii. 12; Sharp's Voy., 12, disproves Ringrose's version, which glosses over this atrocity.
[XXIX‑24] The city of Panamá was usually garrisoned by 300 regular troops and 1,100 militia, but when the buccaneers arrived in the bay most of their soldiers were absent from the city, and the people were in the utmost consternation, having only some twelve hours' notice of the impending attack. The best of the soldiers remaining were placed on board the squadron, so it seems highly probable that if the pirates had landed instead of engaging the war-ships they might have gained possession of the place. Bucaniers of Amer., ii.; Ringrose's Voy., 28-9.
[XXIX‑25] Id., 25-6. Another account of this battle differs somewhat from the above: 'We boarded one of them, and carried her; so with her we took the second; and the third had certainly run the same fate, had not she scoured away in time.' Sharp's Voyage, 13-14.
[XXIX‑26] 'We had eleven Men Killed right out, and thirty-four more Wounded dangerously.' Id., 14. Sharp also gives the same numbers, Hacke's Col. Voy., ii. 12. Ringrose says their loss was 18 killed and 22 wounded, two of the latter dying afterward, one of whom was 'Captain Peter Harris, a brave and stout soldier ... born in the County of Kent.' Bucaniers of Amer., ii. 27. Burney says '18 were killed, and above 30 wounded,' Hist. Bucc., 99; as also United Service Jour., 1837, pt. ii. 316.
[XXIX‑27] The ships captured in the action were also burned later.
[XXIX‑28] The crew of this vessel had captured another bark, and dismantling the old one and putting their prisoners on board of her without masts or sails turned them adrift. Bucaniers of Amer., ii.: Ringrose's Voy., 30.
[XXIX‑29] According to Sharp in Id., 14, and the anonymous narrator in Sharp's Voy., 15. Ringrose says: 'He drew off with him, to the number of Three-score and Ten of our Men.' Bucaniers of Amer., ii. 30.
[XXIX‑30] Sharp fixes this date at April 29th. Hacke's Col. Voy., 16.
[XXIX‑31] She contained 2,000 jars of wine, 50 jars of gunpowder, and 51,000 pesos according to Ringrose. Bucaniers of Amer., ii. 31. Sharp, who made the capture, says the ship was taken on the 26th of April, having 1,400 jars of wine and brandy, some ammunition, and 50,000 pesos, Hacke's Col. Voy., ii. 15.
[XXIX‑32] For 3,000 pesos. Id., 16.
[XXIX‑33] So close was the blockade of the city, and so great the terror inspired by the buccaneers, that the first news received at the city of Mexico affirmed that Panamá was captured, many Spaniards slain, and that the nuns and many other people had fled to the mountains. This intelligence was transmitted by the president of Guatemala, and did not reach Mexico until August 8, 1680. Robles, Diario, ii. 310.
[XXIX‑34] While there Ringrose completed a chart of the bay of Panamá and a portion of the coast, which was more correct than any in the possession of the Spaniards. Bucaniers of Amer., ii. 32-3. The authorities again differ with regard to the date.
[XXIX‑35] 'The Island Quibo or Cabaya, is in lat. 7 d. 14 m. North of the Equator.' Dampier's Voy., i. 212. It is called by Ringrose Cayboa. Bucaniers of Amer., ii. 33. Its modern name is Coquimbo. In crossing thither a storm was encountered and two barks foundered, one containing 15 men and the other seven. This storm and wreck are not mentioned by the anonymous writer of Sharp's Voy., though Sharp himself alludes to it in Hacke's Col. Voy., ii. 34.
[XXIX‑36] 'They entered the river with 50 Men ... and on their way up found two vessels, which they abandoned.' South Sea Company: A View of the Coast, 162.
[XXIX‑37] Before quitting Taboga, where they stayed about 14 days, one of the buccaneers, a Frenchman, fled to the enemy and betrayed all his comrades' plans. The stockades were built by the Spaniards on the advice of the runaway Frenchman, Hacke's Col. Voy., ii. 33-4.
[XXIX‑38] Besides Sawkins two other men were killed and three more wounded, according to Ringrose. The anonymous writer in Sharp's Voy., 16-17, says that the failure of the enterprise was owing to the 'Rashness and Want of conduct' of Sawkins, who rushed to the assault before one fourth of the men had landed, being a man that nothing upon Earth could terrifie.'
[XXIX‑39] As 'a Man who was as Valiant and Couragious as any could be, and likewise next to Capt. Sharp, the best beloved of all our Company, or the most Part thereof.' Bucaniers of Amer., ii. 33-4. Sharp was not a general favorite among the buccaneers. Burney says that 'Ringrose was not in England when his narrative was published; and advantage was taken of his absence to interpolate in it some impudent passages in commendation of Sharp's valor.' He goes on to say that in the MS. of Ringrose's Journal, preserved in the Sloane Collection, British Museum, the passage quoted concerning Sawkins' character runs: 'Captain Sawkins was a valiant and generous spirited man, and beloved above any other we ever had among us, which he well deserved.' Burney's Discov. South Sea, iv. 104-5. The inference suggested by Burney, therefore, is that Sharp, or somebody in his interest, foisted in the passages characterized as 'impudent.'
[XXIX‑40] According to Ringrose, page 35, who would have joined them but for the dangers of the journey, 63 men left. loc. cit. Those who departed numbered about 70, while 146 remained with Capt. Sharp. Hacke's Col. Voy., ii. 35. 'In this mutiny 75 more of our Men left us, and returned over Land as they came, delivering up their commissions to our Emperour.' Sharp's Voy., 17.
[XXIX‑41] One John Cox took command of Cook's ship, the Mayflower, with a company of 40 men. Sharp's Voy., 17-18. Sharp does not mention Cox at this time.
[XXIX‑42] Ringrose's ship had been burned for her iron.
[XXIX‑43] The reason of the mutiny was that Captain Sharp had now some 3,000 pesos, and wished to return home immediately. Two-thirds of the crew, however, had no money left, having gambled it all away, and they were in no mind to return; so they supported the claims of Watling against Sharp. Sharp's Voy., 49. 'While we lay at the isle of John Fernando, Captain Sharp was by general consent, displaced from being Commander; the Company being not satisfied either with his Courage or Behavior.' Dampier's Voyage, introd., p.v. The story of the mutiny, without any detail, is found in Drake's Univ. Col. Voy., 56. Sharp says the conspiracy against him was mainly the doing of John Cox, whom he had appointed to a separate command under him for old acquaintance's sake. Hacke's Col. Voy., ii. 45-46.
[XXIX‑44] After Watling's death, 'a great number of the meaner sort' wished Sharp once more elected commander, but the more experienced and able men were not satisfied and would not consent. The difference of opinion became so great that it was determined to put the matter to the vote; the majority keeping the ship, and the minority taking the long-boat and canoes, and going where they wished. Captain Sharp's party being in the majority, Dampier joined the smaller body, and taking their share of provisions, etc., they sailed for the Isthmus. Dampier's Voyage, introd., pp. v.-vi.
[XXIX‑45] Sharp asserts that he was unanimously restored to his command after the death of Watling, and does not mention the mutiny. Hacke's Col. Voy., 48.
[XXIX‑46] He carried off also several persons of both sexes, who were afterward ransomed for 1,000 pesos. Haya, Inform. al Rey, MS., 12; Nueva Esp., Breve Resum., MS., ii. 385. Juarros, Guat., i. 58, mentions that Esparza had been previously sacked by a French corsair in 1670. It was again attacked by pirates in 1686 or 1688, when it was abandoned by its inhabitants, who retired to the valleys of Bagaces and Landecho. Haya and Nueva Esp., ut supra.
[XXIX‑47] Their name inspired such dread that the new viceroy of Peru dared not sail from Panamá to his government in a ship of 25 guns, but waited for the arrival of the armada from the south. Bucaniers of Amer., ii. 136.
[XXIX‑48] Las Casas, in his Relation of the Spanish Voyages and Cruelties in the West Indies, 217, distinctly lays down the principle that 'the Spaniards had no Title to the Americans, as their Subjects, by right of Inheritance, Purchase, or Conquest.' Darien, Defence of the Scots Settlement, 5.
[XXIX‑49] Ringrose expressly stated that they acted throughout without any commission. Bucaniers of Amer., ii.; Ringrose's Voy., 178, and Burney's Discov. South Sea, iv. 123. Burney says: 'From the defectiveness of the evidence produced, they escaped conviction.' Id., iv. 123. Three of Sharp's men were tried at Jamaica, and one was hanged. The narrator said this man was 'wheedled into an open confession: the other two stood it out, and escaped for want of witnesses to prove the fact against them.' Id., iv. 124. See also, for the execution of this man, Sharp's Voy., ii. One of the principal charges was the capture of the Rosario, and killing her captain and another man: 'but it was proved,' says the author of the anonymous narrative, who was one of the men brought to trial, 'that the Spaniards fired at us first, and it was judged that we ought to defend ourselves.' Id., iv. 123-124.
[XXX‑1] They numbered 44 Europeans, one Spanish Indian, and two Mosquito Indians.
[XXX‑2] There were, moreover, two ships, one carrying 20 guns and 200 men, and the other ten guns and 150 men, cruising in the bay between the gulf and Gorgona. Dampier's Voy., i. 6.
[XXX‑3] Dampier strongly urged his comrades to run for the river Congo, three leagues distant, and ascend it to the limit of tide-water, but could not persuade them of the existence of a large river so near, 'but they would land somewhere, they did not know how, where, nor when.' Id., 7.
[XXX‑4] This landing was effected May 1, 1681. Id.
[XXX‑5] They here learned that they were not more than three miles from the Congo. Id., 12.
[XXX‑6] 'One of our men being tired gave us the slip.' Id.
[XXX‑7] It was only by bringing female influence to bear that they gained the Indian's assistance. His wife was presented with a 'Sky-coloured Petticoat,' and soon overcame his obduracy. Id., 13.
[XXX‑8] When they forded it the last time the tallest men stood in the deepest part and helped over the sick and those of smaller stature, so that all got over with the exception of two who had lagged behind. Dampier carried his journal and other writings in a large joint of bamboo, the ends being closed with wax. Id., 15-16.
[XXX‑9] The two men left behind, afterward, when they rejoined their comrades, stated that they found him lying dead in a creek with the money still on his back, but they did not take it, being intent on finding their way out of the country. Id., 17.
[XXX‑10] Here Doctor Wafer and four others, including the two stragglers, stayed behind. They rejoined their comrades, however, some months later. Id., 19, 24; Wafer's Voy., 4-43.
[XXX‑11] One day they crossed the same stream 22 times in a march of nine miles. Dampier's Voy., i. 19.
[XXX‑12] For two days they were entirely without food. On the third 'we got Macaw-berries ... wherewith we satisfied ourselves this day though coursly.' Id., 20. These berries were probably the fruit of the great Macaw-tree, acrocomia sclerocarpa.
[XXX‑13] One of the Samballas group which extends about 20 leagues from Point Samballas to Golden Island. These islands had, since 1679, been a favorite place for careening, and so had become a rendezvous for privateers, many of them being named after captains of vessels, as in the case of La Sound Key. Id., 22-3.
[XXX‑14] Davis, according to Exquemelin, was born in Jamaica. Bucaniers of Amer., 49. Lussan, in Id., 26, states that he was a Fleming. The first author gives a brief narrative, without date, of a bold raid made by this buccaneer into Nicaragua from the Atlantic side. In this enterprise he must have passed up the San Juan River, on the banks of which the pirates, 80 in number, concealed themselves by day, and rowed during the night. What city it was they attacked is not clear, but the booty obtained was more than 50,000 pesos.
[XXX‑15] Davis left to the cacique a bark half full of flour as a reward for his services. Eaton departed on the 2d of September, having taken on board 400 sacks of flour. Id., 129; Drake's Col. Voy., 59.
[XXX‑16] So named according to report by the Spaniards, from the fact that Drake there divided among his men the silver with which one of his prizes was laden. Dampier's Voy., 132. It was also called Drake Island.
[XXX‑17] Lussan gives an account different from that of Dampier. He states that an engineer on board Swan's ship told him that she belonged to the duke of York and had been sent out to take a plan of those parts, and that Swan falling in with Davis was compelled to join him because 'il aima mieux ceder au Forban que d'en être pris.' Journal du Voy., 64-5.
[XXX‑18] One was captured while hunting, and the other was one of Captain Harris' men who had been left on the Santa María River the year before. Dampier's Voy., 177-8, 186-7.
[XXX‑19] Dampier states that a Captain Bond planned this stratagem. Bond had been abandoned by Eaton and his own pilot, Morton, and persuaded his men to go over to the Spaniards. Id., 189-90.
[XXX‑20] For an account of their journey see Lussan, Journal du Voy., 37 et seq.
[XXX‑21] The French captain, called by Dampier Gronet, offered Davis and Swan each a new commission, extended by the governor of Petit Guavres, who was accustomed to supply his captains with blank forms. Captain Harris accepted one. Dampier says: 'I never read any of these French Commissions while I was in these Seas, nor did I then know the import of them; but I have learnt since, that the Tenour of them is, to give a Liberty to Fish, Fowl, and Hunt.' Dampier's Voy., 192.
[XXX‑22] These men did not appear, though Harris was sent to the Santa María in search of them. On the 15th of March they fell in with a bark with five or six Englishmen on board commanded by Henry More. This vessel belonged to Captain Knight, who was cruising off the coast of Mexico, and, as the men said, had parted company with his ship one night. Swan, in order to promote Harris, professed to believe that the men had deserted, and deposing More, gave the command to Harris. Id., 197.
[XXX‑23] Divided as follows: Captain Davis' ship, 36 guns and 156 men; Captain Swan with 16 guns and 140 men; these were the only vessels that had artillery. Townley with 110 men; Harris with 100 men. These were nearly all English. Captain Grogniet with 308 men; Captain Branly with 36 men; Townley's bark with 80 men; and two tenders with a crew of eight men each. They had also a 30-ton bark converted into a fire-ship. Id., 208. Lussan, Journal du Voy., 60-1, gives the same number of vessels; with regard to the men he says: 'Ils se trouverent monter à environ onze cens hommes.'
[XXX‑24] 'First the Admiral, 48 Guns, 450 Men; the Vice-Admiral, 40 Guns, 400 Men; the Rear-Admiral, 36 Guns, 360 Men; a Ship of 24 Guns, 300 Men; one of 18 Guns, 250 Men; and one of 8 Guns, 200 Men; 2 great Fire-ships, 6 Ships only with small Arms, having 800 Men on board them all; besides 2 or 3 hundred Men in Periagoes.' This account was obtained afterward from Captain Knight, who, when off the coast of Peru, gathered the information from some captives. Dampier's Voy., 207-8.
[XXX‑25] Grogniet sailed away when the Spaniards came in sight. He afterward urged as an excuse that his men would not let him join in the fight. He was cashiered, but was eventually allowed to depart with his ship and men. Id., 208-9. Such is the English account. Lussan, however, states that because Grogniet's ship had no guns and was intercepted by a vessel carrying 28 cannon he was unable to join in the engagement. Journal du Voy., 85-6.
[XXX‑26] The loss of Spaniards in this engagement is not known, but Dampier makes the doubtful statement that the pirates lost only one man. Voy., 209. The account given by Lussan, who was on Harris' ship, differs materially from that of Dampier. He asserts that the treasure-fleet succeeded in getting to Panamá unnoticed by the buccaneers, and that seven vessels then sailed out and engaged with them, with nearly the same results as those described by Dampier. Harris' ship received above 120 common shot, and those of Davis and Swan suffered severely. Journal du Voy., 79-88. The difference in dates between Dampier and Lussan is explained by the fact that the French had three years before made a change of ten days in their calendar which the English government had not done. Burney's Discov. South Sea, iv. 177.
[XXX‑27] 'We were glad to escape them; and owed that too, in a great measure, to their want of Courage to pursue their Advantage.' Dampier's Voy., 209.
[XXX‑28] While thus occupied they sent a detachment against Pueblo Nuevo where Sawkins was killed in 1580. The town was easily taken, but little booty was obtained. On the 5th of July they were joined by Captain Knight, whose cruise had not been profitable. Id., 213-4. The descent upon Pueblo Nuevo was the cause of the defection of the Frenchmen, who still remained to the number of 130. The French thought the English took advantage of their small numbers and refused to put up with their domineering, 'quand nous vîmes qu'ils continuoient à prendre sur nous les mêmes hauteurs, nous debarquâmes cent trente François.' Lussan, Journal du Voy., 93-4.
[XXX‑29] Their force now consisted of 640 men and eight ships, under captains Davis, Swan, Townley, and Knight. Captain Harris had lost his vessel, which 'being old and rotten fell in pieces' while he was careening her. Dampier's Voy., 215.
[XXX‑30] According to one authority only two men were on the lookout. One of these perceived the buccaneers and hastened to the city to give warning. His story was not believed; he was arrested and it was the intention to have him publicly flogged. This occurred August 21, 1685. Morel, Visita, MS., 47-8.
[XXX‑31] 'Townley, with 80 of the briskest Men, marched before, Captain Swan with 100 Men marched next, and Captain Davis with 170 Men marched next, and Captain Knight brought up the Rear.' Dampier's Voy., 219.
[XXX‑32] There is a discrepancy in the account of Dampier, who states that 59 men were left with him, which would raise the number of those who left the fleet to 530, without counting the four captains.
[XXX‑33] Townley took the town at 3 p. m., Swan arrived at 4 p. m., and Davis at 5 p. m. Knight did not come up till an hour later, leaving many tired out, who afterward came straggling in. The Spaniards killed 'a stout old Grey-headed Man aged about 84, who had served under Oliver in the time of the Irish Rebellion.' He had refused to remain with the canoes, and when surrounded by the Spaniards would not accept quarter, but discharged his gun at them, 'so they shot him dead at a distance. His name was Swan; he was a very merry hearty old Man, and always used to declare he would never take Quarter.' Id., 219-20. According to Morel de Sta Cruz, Visita, MS., 48, the buccaneers entered the town at 11 a. m., opposed by only 50 men, 49 of whom fled, the remaining one fighting until disabled by many wounds.
[XXX‑34] One Smith who had dropped behind and was captured so exaggerated the numbers of the freebooters that the governor was afraid to attack them, though Smith estimated his forces at over 1,000 men. Smith was afterward exchanged for a lady of high position. Dampier's Voy., 220. Lussan states that the French, having arrived at the port of Realejo some months later, learned that succor had been sent from towns in Nicaragua and Salvador, and that the English freebooters 'avoient envoyé plusieurs fois offrir à ces gens de secours, le combat en raze savana, ce qu'ils avoient toujours refusé, disant qu'ils n'étoient pas encore tous ramassez.' Journal du Voy., 112-3.
[XXX‑35] 'Our Captains demanded 300,000 Pieces of Eight for its Ransom, and as much Provision as would victual 1,000 Men 4 months.' Dampier's Voy. According to Voy., A New Col., iii. 78, 30,000 pieces of eight.
[XXX‑36] Swan was accompanied by Townley with his two barks. Knight and Harris followed Davis. Dampier cast his lot with Swan 'to get some knowledge of the Northern Parts of this Continent of Mexico.' Dampier's Voy., 223-4. Swan after an eventful cruise on the Mexican coast steered across the Pacific homeward bound, having parted company with Townley. After enduring great privation he reached the Ladrone Islands, and thence proceeded to the Philippines, where his men mutinied, and left him with more than 40 others on the island of Mindanao. He was afterward murdered by the natives. Id., 375, 445-6.
[XXX‑37] 'À cause de l'excommunication qu'ils avoient eux-mêmes fulminée contre elle.' Lussan, Journal du Voy., 119.
[XXX‑38] 'Après quatre jour d'une abstinence fort étroite.' Id., 126.
[XXX‑39] About 20 leagues distant from Chiriquita, and about 24 leagues west of Panamá. Id., 88, 131.
[XXX‑40] Lussan nearly lost his life by falling with four others into an ambuscade. But he escaped unwounded, though two of the party were killed and a third lay hors de combat. The faith of this freebooter in the protection of providence is refreshing: 'je ne fus garanti du massacre,' he says, 'sans être seulement blessé, que par une protection du Ciel toute manifeste.' Id., 135.
[XXX‑41] During the month of February 14 died. Id., 143.
[XXX‑42] The pirates lost in this encounter 4 killed and 33 wounded. Id., 146.
[XXX‑43] 'Nous fîmes en suite des Ordonnances par lesquelles nous condamnions à perdre leur part de ce qui se prendroit en ce lieu, ceux d'entre nous qui seroient convaincus de lâcheté, de viol, d'yvroynerie, de desobeïssance, de larcin & d'être sortis du gros sans être commandez.' Id., 151.
[XXX‑44] According to Morel, Visita, MS., 32, and Robles, Doc. Hist. Mex., ii. 435, the sacking of Granada occurred in 1685. But Lussan's date is supported by his mention of the fact that Leon and Realejo had been sacked by the English pirates before the arrival of the French on the coast, Journal du Voy., 112; and Dampier states that those cities were captured in August 1685. Voy., 216-21.
[XXX‑45] Lussan, Journal du Voy., 154. Robles says 900 men entered Leon and Granada. Diario, ii. 435.
[XXX‑46] Lussan states that the people of Granada had been warned three weeks previously by the authorities of Esparza. Journal du Voy., 154-5.
[XXX‑47] Burney states that Granada was not regularly fortified, but had a place of arms surrounded by a wall. Discov. South Sea, iv. 267. Lussan says this was capable of holding 6,000 men. Journal du Voy., 160.
[XXX‑48] 'Ils foncerent dans la ville les yeux fermez, chantans dançans comme des gens qui vont à un festin.' Lettre du Gouv., in Lussan, Journal du Voy., 256.
[XXX‑49] Morel, Visita, etc., MS., 33, says without more loss than 13 men.
[XXX‑50] The absurdity of practical religion is reached when we find it stated on good authority that one of the principal causes of the rupture between the French and English pirates was the impiety of the latter, 'ne faisant point de scrupule, lorsqu'ils entroient dans les Eglises de couper à coups de sabre les bras des Crucifixs, & de leur tirer de coups de fusil & de pistolet, brisant & mutillant avec les mêmes armes, les image des Saints en derision du culte que nous autres François leur rendions.' Lussan, Journal du Voy., 94.
[XXX‑51] All the wealth of the city had been placed on board two ships and conveyed to an island in the lake, but the pirates having no canoes could not seize it. Id., 163-4.
[XXX‑52] Id., 162. The Spaniards believed the pirates' message a mere threat, and did not try to redeem the city. Morel, Visita, MS., 33.
[XXX‑53] Vetancurt states that this year, 1686, the English entered Granada and rifled the tomb of Bishop Alonso Bravo de Laguna, and that having stripped the ornaments from the body, which they found perfectly preserved, set fire to the cathedral, with which the prelate's remains were burned. Menolog., 136.
[XXX‑54] They had carried off from Granada a cannon, but were obliged to abandon it the first day owing to the oxen dying of thirst. Lussan, Journal du Voy.
[XXX‑55] 'They came upon Ria Lexa unexpectedly, and made 100 of the inhabitants prisoners.' Burney's Discov. South Sea, iv. 269.
[XXX‑56] In all only 7,600 pesos, and this sum was divided among the crippled and wounded. Lussan, Journal du Voy., 177.
[XXX‑57] 'Qui est à trente lieües sous le vent de Panama.' Id., 179-80.
[XXX‑58] At San Lorenzo, near Pueblo Nuevo, 'le Commandant du lieu vint nous offrir une somme d'argent pour la rançon des prisonniers; ce que nous refusâmes, parce que nous avions beaucoup plus besoin de vivres: Nous luy dîmes que s'il ne nous en apportoit, ... qu'il n'avoit qu'à envoyer sur l'Isle y chercher leurs têtes.' Id., 244-5.
[XXX‑59] On one occasion a mounted Spaniard displayed his hatred for the pirates by reviling them and making grimaces at them from a safe distance. The intruders placed five men in ambush and continued their march. The unfortunate Spaniard fell into the hands of the concealed party. Lussan, with his usual flippancy when treating of barbarities, thus describes what followed: '& luy fimes faire la grimace tout de bon. On l'interrogea avec les ceremonies ordinaires, c'est à dire en luy donnant la gêne, pour sçavoir où nous étions.' Id., 264-5.
[XXX‑60] Grogniet died on the 2d of May following from the effect of a wound which he received at Guayaquil, where the pirates captured a large quantity of booty in merchandise, pearls, precious stones, and silver-plate. Id., 302, 308.
[XXX‑61] The padres persuaded them that the freebooters were not even of human form, and that they would eat them and their children. On one occasion a Spanish lady fell into the hands of Lussan, and with tears in her eyes exclaimed: 'Segnor, por l'amor de Dios no mi como' (sic). Id., 304-5.
[XXX‑62] They carried with them plunder in gold, silver, and jewelry, valued at £200,000. The silver was held in little esteem on account of its weight, and for an ounce of gold 80 and 100 piastres in silver were given. Many of the men had lost their share of the booty by gambling and a plot was formed by these to murder their rich companions. Lussan, however, who had accumulated in gold and precious stones about £7,000, divided his wealth among the most needy, on the condition of their returning a certain proportion to him when they arrived at their destination. Archenholtz, Hist. Pir., 218-21; Lussan, Journal du Voy., 385-6.
[XXX‑63] The sick and wounded with the baggage and horses were left with a guard in camp, with orders to fire their muskets frequently during the night that the enemy might think them all there. Lussan says there were 80 thus left in camp, but as there were only 280 in the first place, and some had died, there must have been a mistake. Exquemelin, Hist. Flib., iii. 312-4.
[XXX‑64] Lussan, Journal du Voyage, 411. Nevertheless this author rather inconsistently adds: 'Cependant touchez de compassion par la quantité de sang que nous voyons couler avec l'eau de la ravine, nous épargnâmes le reste.' This same authority, who was one of the assailants, states that the pirates had only one killed and two wounded, which statement Archenholtz, Hist. Pir., 226, seriously questions.
[XXX‑65] This stream is or was known by a variety of names. On different maps I find it called Rio Grande del Coco, Rio de Oro, Rio Herbias, Rio Segovia, Wank River, Yare River, and Cape River. Archenholtz remarks: 'This river, whose name does not occur in any of the historical materials we have consulted, but which appears to be the river Magdalen, derives its source from the mountains of New Segovia.' Hist. Pir., 230. Burney, Discov. South Sea, iv. 292, says: 'according to D'Anville's map ... it is called Rio de Yare. Dampier ... names it Cape River.'
[XXX‑66] Lussan calls them piperies. They were constructed of four or five pieces of light timber lashed together with lines of the bejuco plant. Journal du Voy., 422.
[XXX‑67] Lussan says there were at least a hundred waterfalls, the larger ones with tremendous whirlpools. These cataracts could be passed only by portage. 'In short, the whole is so formidable, that there are none but those who have some Experience, can have right conceptions of it. But for me ... who, as long as I live, shall have my Mind filled with those Risques I have run, it's impossible I should give such an Idea hereof but what will come far short of what I have really known of them.' Bucaniers of America, i. 171.
[XXX‑68] Six Frenchmen concealed themselves behind the rocks and fell upon five Englishmen who were known to be well supplied with booty and massacred them. 'Nous trouvâmes mon compagnon & moy, leurs corps étendus sur le rivage.' Lussan, Journal du Voy., 430-1. The murderers escaped and their companions never saw them again.
[XXX‑69] Lussan states that they left 140 behind finishing their canoes.
[XXX‑70] Twelve leagues distant, to the east of Cape Gracias á Dios.
[XXX‑71] The English buccaneers remained for a time with the Mosquito Indians near Cape Gracias á Dios. The greater part of the Frenchmen reached the settlements, but 75 of them who went to Jamaica were imprisoned by the duke of Albemarle, the governor. On his death the following year they were released; but neither their arms nor plunder were returned to them. Burney's Discov. South Sea, iv. 293-4.
[XXX‑72] Lussan, in Bucaniers of Amer., iii. 180; and Journal du Voy., 448.
[XXXI‑1] Paterson, the son of a Dumfriesshire farmer, was born in 1658. There are no authentic records as to his early career. In Francis' Hist. Bank of England, and Strain's Inter. Com., 15, it is stated that he went out as a missionary to the West Indies and afterward joined the buccaneers. The statement is not so improbable as it may seem, for the freebooters while robbing and murdering the Catholic Spaniard imagined they were serving God, as did the Spaniard when he plundered and slaughtered the natives. Wilkes, Hist. Oregon, 48, says he was supposed to have been originally a South American buccaneer.
[XXXI‑2] See Orig. Papers and Letters relating to the Scots Company, 50.
[XXXI‑3] Id., 53. It will be observed that his Majesty's ministers then as to-day were not always very proficient in English grammar.
[XXXI‑4] The anonymous author of 'A Defence of the Scots Settlement at Darien,' Edinburgh, 1699, 3. His nom de plume is Philo Caledon.
[XXXI‑5] The writer of 'A Just and Modest Vindication of the Scots Design, For the having Established a Colony at Darien,' 1699, anon.
[XXXI‑6] In December 1698 the company granted to a council constituted from its members certain rights conferred on them by the Scotch parliament and confirmed by William IV. In An Enquiry into the Causes of the Miscarriage of the Scots Colony, Glasgow, 1700, anon., 67, the full text of the declaration of the council is given. This work was published in answer to a charge that the failure of the company was wholly due to the Scots themselves, and especially to the officers of the company. The English commons declared it 'false, traitorous, and scandalous,' and ordered it to be burned by the common hangman, and the author imprisoned. The Scots were no less incensed and equally clamorous for the punishment of the offender.
[XXXI‑7] English opposition and high prices compelled them to go to Amsterdam and Hamburg, where they ordered six ships with 50 guns each. Darien, Enquiry, 82. Four ships only, one of which was sold before the first expedition started. Burney's Discov. South Sea, iv. 362. The 17th of July 1698 the first expedition, consisting of the three ships, the Caledonia, the St Andrew, and the Unicorn, and two tenders, carrying about 1,200 men, left the frith of Edinburgh. Id., 363. July 26, 1698, and same number of vessels. The expedition sailed from Leith. Winterbotham's Hist. U. S., iv. 124; Strain's Inter-Com., 16. In beginning of Sept. 1699, Seemann's Hist. Isth. 46. The last named is evidently wrong and contradicts himself in later quotations. Winterbotham is probably correct as to date and point of departure.
[XXXI‑8] Sir William Beeston, governor of Jamaica, issued a proclamation in keeping with these instructions on the 8th of April 1699, and similar orders were issued by the governors of Barbadoes and New York. Darien, Orig. Papers, 42-6.
[XXXI‑9] Up to this time the king had partly concealed his policy. June 28, 1697, the council of the company complain to the king of the action of his resident in Hamburg. Aug. 2d, the secretary of state replies that the resident has been directed not to obstruct the company's negotiations. On the 28th of September 1697 the company's directors complain that the resident has received no such order. July 22, 1698, parliament was besought to assist in procuring from the king such action as would deter his resident at Hamburg. An inquiry by the council, Jan. 13, 1699, is answered by the secretary of state Feb. 7, 1699, requesting information about the settlement. Darien, Orig. Papers, 10, 20, 34; confirmed in Darien, Enquiry, 26-33; and in part in Macpherson's Annals, ii. 666.
[XXXI‑10] For full description of these people see Native Races, vol. i., this series.
[XXXI‑11] His reason was restored after he returned home, and he lived until 1719. Four years before his death he was awarded the sum of £18,241 as indemnity for his losses in the Darien expedition.
[XXXI‑12] Winterbotham, Hist. U. S., 125, gives 1698 as the date of this memorial. There is a copy of the original in Defence, Scots Settlement, 2, where the date is given as in the text.
[XXXI‑13] In August 1699.
[XXXI‑14] The capitulation was signed March 31, 1700.
[XXXI‑15] When news arrived in Mexico of the capitulation of the Scotch, the church bells were rung and a solemn thanksgiving observed. Robles, Diario, iii. 254.
[XXXI‑16] Ariza, Darien, MS., 18-21. In this work the career and fate of García are told.
[XXXI‑17] This information was furnished by the dean of the cathedral of Panamá.
[XXXI‑18] He died in prison at Madrid. Alcedo, Dic., iv. 45; and Haya, in Datas para la Historia del Istmoa.
[XXXI‑19] Giro del Mondo, 240. Captain Seeman mentions that the largest and most beautiful pearl ever found on the coast of Panamá measured three quarters of an inch in diameter, and was perfectly round. It was obtained at the Puerdes Islands. Voy., i. 268.
[XXXI‑20] The asiento was to last 30 years, to May 1, 1743. The contractors were to export 4,800 negroes annually and to pay to the crown of Spain 33⅓ escudos for each one; and also to advance his Catholic Majesty 200,000 escudos payable in 20 years. Should more negroes be required, 4,800 extra might be exported, for each of whom 16⅓ pesos were to be paid. Negroes carried to the windward coast were not to be sold for more than 300 pesos each, but there was no limit to price in Tierra Firme or New Spain. No other company was to be allowed to engage in this traffic, and no merchandise could be carried under penalty of confiscation. The ships of the contractors could sail from either British or Spanish Ports. Salmon's Mod. Hist., iii. 219-22.
[XXXI‑21] Reales Cédulas, MS., i. 192; Haya, Informe al Rey, 4; Robertson's Hist. Amer., ii. 394-9.
[XXXI‑22] Letters of marque were issued on July 21st, and Vernon's squadron sailed on the 20th, touching, perhaps, at Portsmouth for orders.
[XXXI‑23] The governor of the city, Francisco Martinez de Retzez, underwent bitter humiliation if we may believe Sir Edward Seaward, who was at the time a prisoner in Portobello. Seaward and his friend Captain Knight had been arrested on account of an altercation with the governor and for refusing to apologize to the king of Spain for having in the previous year released certain captives imprisoned in Portobello. Both were ill treated, and when they reported the matter to Vernon the admiral ordered the governor and themselves to appear before him. 'I have no quarrel with Don Francisco Martinez de Retzez on my own account,' said Seaward, 'but I have, and ever shall have, a quarrel with him on account of the king my master, whom he most grossly insulted by disrespectful words, in the presence of Captain Knight and myself.' 'What did he say?' asked Vernon. 'He first insulted Sir Edward Seaward, by the most insolent and contemptuous behavior,' replied the captain, 'and when I remonstrated, telling him, that he should recollect that Sir Edward Seaward was equal in rank to himself, holding honourable commissions under the king of England, he replied, "I do not consider the king of England himself equal in rank to me; for he is little better than a Dutchman." 'You damned poltroon!' roared the admiral, 'with all your long yarn of hard names, what shall I call you? Down on your marrow-bones, you scoundrel, and beg pardon of the king our master, or I'll kick you from hell to Hackney!' The don asked pardon of his late captives, but would do no more. This would not satisfy Vernon, and throwing down a guinea he grasped him by the neck and forced him into a stooping position, shouting, 'There is the king's picture! down on your knees, you blackguard, and ask forgiveness.' The governor took up the coin and exclaiming in a low tone, 'Yo he ofendido,' laid it down again. This was considered a sufficient apology. Seaward's Narr., edited by Jane Porter, 3d ed., London, 1841, ii. 280-1, 290-2. The work, no doubt largely fiction, purports to have been compiled from the MSS. of Seaward's diary.
[XXXI‑24] The crews of the guardas costas and other Spanish vessels in the harbor fell to plundering Portobello on the night of its capture and the inhabitants begged the admiral's protection. Geog. and Hist. Descrip. W. Ind., 109, London, 1741. This work gives a brief sketch of the history of Cartagena, Portobello, Vera Cruz, Habana, and San Agustin up to the beginning of 1740, with a description of each of these cities. It is claimed that the book was compiled from authentic memoirs, and as it was published less than two years after the capture of Portobello it is probably worthy of some credence, especially in matters of detail, although biassed in the main.
[XXXI‑25] Id., 108. In Douglas' Summary Hist. and Pol. (London, 1755), 46, it is stated that Vernon seized the Spanish factory and carried off goods to the value of £70,000. March y Labores, in Hist. Marina Española, ii. 662, says; 'No encontró allí el vencedor la riqueza que se prometia.'
[XXXI‑26] Soon after Anson left England the Spanish government despatched under Admiral Pizarro a squadron of six vessels to defeat Anson's purpose. The two armaments sighted each other near the straits of Magellan, but during the storm mentioned in the text three of the Spanish vessels were wrecked, two of the others reaching the mouth of La Plata with a loss of half their crew, and the remaining ship arriving there with a loss of 300 out of 450 men.
[XXXII‑1] For physical, social, and moral description of the Mosquitos, see Native Races, i. 711, this series; and of their language, Id., iii. 571-2, 782-90.
[XXXII‑2] Using the word navel somewhat in the sense it is applied to a portion of a shield, that is a projecting part.
[XXXII‑3] The Mosqueto Kingdom, written about 1699, by M. W. in Churchill's Coll. Voy., vi. 309 et seq., London, 1757. It is not improbable that M. W. was a buccaneer, one of those who crossed through Honduras.
[XXXII‑4] Hist. Cent. Am., i. 294 et seq., this series.
[XXXII‑5] There is a copy of this cédula and of another one dated the same year authorizing the audiencia of Guatemala to allow such a contract. Calvo, Traités, xi. 196-203.
[XXXII‑6] Mosquitolandes, 25. 'Since 1670 the Mosquitos have solicited the protection and sovereignty of Great Britain.' Museo Mexicano, 2da ép. 194.
[XXXII‑7] Mosq. Terr., Offic. Corr., in Mosq. Doc., 60-3. This treaty was ratified by the legislative assembly of Jamaica.
[XXXII‑8] Aranz, Informe sobre los Mosquitos, MS. The report is copied from the archives of the captain-general of Guatemala.
[XXXII‑9] A council was appointed of which the superintendent was president, a court of common pleas, and justices of the peace. Mosq. Terr., Off. Corr., app. iv.
[XXXII‑10] In January 1775, an embassy consisting of Young George, son of the Mosquito king, Isaac his brother, and two Mosquito chiefs, arrived in England. Their main object was to obtain redress for wrongs inflicted upon natives in the interior, whence free men were being continually carried off to the slave markets. On their return voyage they narrowly escaped capture by Spanish cruisers. After landing the passengers at Cape Gracias á Dios the vessel proceeded to her destination at Black River, and was seized while at anchor in the roadstead. Id.
[XXXII‑11] In 1777 some of the principal settlers sent to England two assorted cargoes of sugar, rum, indigo, bark, sarsaparilla, tortoise-shell, and other articles. The sugar on board each vessel was refused admission at the customs. Id.
[XXXII‑12] The English fleet was composed of two line-of-battle ships, six war frigates, a schooner, and two brigs. Pelaez, Mem. Guat., iii. 127.
[XXXII‑13] While the treaty was under discussion it was a vexed question whether the term Spanish or American continent should be used. It will be remembered that the surrender of Cornwallis occurred during the preceding year.
[XXXII‑14] The full text of this treaty is given in Castellon, Mosq. Question, 52-6.
[XXXII‑15] The number of English settlers, with their slaves, who left the Mosquito Coast, was 3,550. Soc. Mex. Geog., Bol., 2da ép., i. 393-400.
[XXXII‑16] Soon after the departure of the English, the king of the sambos and some of his chieftains proceeded to Cartagena and signified their desire to be baptized. Their request was granted, and the ceremony was performed in the cathedral by the archbishop of New Granada July 8, 1788. Missionaries were also sent to Mosquitia at their instance, but their labors were fruitless. Pelaez, Mem. Guat., iii. 151.
[XXXII‑17] After his term of office expired, Loyala went to Mexico and became a Jesuit. Dicc. Univ. Hist. Geog., iv. 800.
[XXXII‑18] Nic., Nueva Discusion, 6-7. He is also in Pelaez, Mem. Guat., ii. 177.
[XXXII‑19] Relacion Punctual, MS., 18. Pelaez says that the same name appears in the book of sentences of the audiencia, June 18, 1765, but his own allusions to the two next named make his date inadmissible, unless there was a reappointment, or Lynch was mistaken.
[XXXII‑20] He had previously governed in Comayagua, Florida, and Yucatan, and was promoted from the governorship of Nicaragua to the presidency of Guatemala. Juarros, Comp., 269.
[XXXII‑21] His name occurs as the officer in command in Barroeta, Relacion sobre Mosquitos, 5, no. 34.
[XXXII‑22] The number given in a diary of 1780, reprinted in Nic., Bol. Ofic., April 27, 1857, p. 7, is 2,500.
[XXXII‑23] Now Bartola.
[XXXII‑24] Four hundred Mosquitos, and the smugglers brought several pieces of cannon with them. Nic., Bol. Ofic., 29th April, 1857, p. 7.
[XXXII‑25] Nelson in his autobiography thus modestly states his share in the expedition: 'In January 1780 an expedition was resolved on against San Juan. I was chosen to command the sea part of it. Major Polson, who commanded, will tell you of my exertions; how I quitted my ship, carried troops in boats 100 miles up a river, which none but Spaniards, since the time of the Buccaneers, have ever ascended. It will then be told how I boarded (if I may be allowed the expression) an outpost of the enemy situated on an island in the river; that I made batteries and afterwards fought them, and that I was a principal cause of our success.'
[XXXII‑26] In 1803 Nelson writes: 'The fever which destroyed the army and navy attached to that expedition was invariably from thirty to forty days before it attacked the new comers, and I cannot give a stronger instance than that in the Hinchinbrook [Nelson's ship], with a complement of 200 men, 87 took to their beds in one night.'
[XXXII‑27] Statements differ as to the losses of the British. 'This expedition cost the English 5,000 lives and £1,000,000.' Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 174. Three million dollars and 4,000 men. Nic. Gac. Sup. Gob., 92, 'Les Anglais furent obligés de se retirer honteusement après avoir perdu 4,000 hommes et dépensé plus de trois millions de piastres, selon le témoignage du colonel Hodgson.' Belly, Nic., i. 30.
[XXXII‑28] Nic., Cor. Ist., in Cent. Am. Pap., iii. 322. News of his appointment, was received in Mexico Nov. 2, 1701. Robles, Diario, iii. 332, 495. It is added that he resigned the office and no allusion is made to any promotion.
[XXXII‑29] Alcedo, Dic., iii. 325. It is simply said: 'He did not go to his diocese,' in N. Esp., Breve Resúmen, ii. 387; but in Nic., 'He was elected in 1727, and died in the city of Seville while preparing to embark.' Correo del Istmo, in Cent. Am. Papers, iii. 322.
[XXXII‑30] Castro, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série i. tom. iv. 235-7, 239-41, 253; v. 6-7, 12-13, 39-40, 109; vi. 27. Alcedo, Dic., iii. 326, with his usual carelessness, says he died in 1757. In Flores y Rivera, Elegios, in Pap. Var., 75, it is said: 'Very warm eulogies were pronounced upon the deceased at the university of Mexico on the 29th of October 1756.'
[XXXII‑31] Not mentioning the lesser ones, 10 large volcanoes came in the following order: Tortuga, Rincon de la Vieja, Heridenda, Miravalles, Cuecualapa, Thenorio, Pelado, Buenavista, Chomes, and Aguacate. Nouv. Annales de Voy., cli. 9.
[XXXII‑32] Mr Squier inclines to the belief that the Guatusos are of the Aztec stock, but little more is known to-day of their origin than was the case a century ago, as they have been left almost undisturbed. In the Cronica de Costa Rica, Dec. 9, 1857, appears the following by an officer in the Costa Rica service: 'It is pretended that the Guatusos are descended from the colonists who fled from Esparza when that city was taken by early filibusters. Such as have chanced to see them affirm that they are white, bearded, and practise a system of military discipline.... Twice we accompanied the general of the Rio Frio with the intention of exploring the territory, but without finding a landing-place.'
[XXXII‑33] He attended a meeting of the Royal Patriotic Society of Guatemala, held on the 15th of June, 1798, and was made an honorary member. Soc. Catálogo, in Pap. Var., no. 45, p. 1.
[XXXII‑34] He was accused Feb. 4, 1704, of carrying on commerce with foreigners. He was afterward lieutenant of royal officers of the province, and then maestre de campo by decree of Aug. 31, 1716. Pelaez, Mem. Hist. Guat., ii. 172-3.
[XXXII‑35] Father Andrade, in a letter of Nov. 16, 1706, says that they gathered from Urinama 41, from Cavecar upwards of 700, from San José 336, and 150 others. Pelaez, Mem. Hist. Guat., iii. 30-1.
[XXXII‑36] Similar cédulas were issued Sept. 1, 1713; June 16, 1714; Aug. 6, 1717; Dec. 20, 1737; May 21, 1738, and afterward, showing the importance attached to the matter. Bejarano, Informe sobre la Talamanca.
[XXXII‑37] Many of them fled, others died, and the rest remained in the service of the Spaniards at and near Cartago. Haya, Informe al Rey, 15.
[XXXII‑38] Diego de la Haya Fernandez is mentioned as governor of Costa Rica on Nov. 10, 1718, and again on July 7, 1722, when his predecessors are named. There is a discrepancy even in the report of Haya himself—in the beginning it is written out in full that he took possession of the government at Cartago in 1718: 'El año pasado de mil setecientos diez y ocho tomé posesion.'
[XXXII‑39] So the governor appoints lieutenant-generals for the two cities, four judges for the neighboring valleys, and a teniente in Matina, Boruca, and Barba. There is not an escribano in all the province. Haya, Informe al Rey, 9.
[XXXII‑40] This governor's reports, and his encouragement of trade and agriculture, went far to avert the worst consequences. Astaburuaga, Cent. Am., 54.
[XXXII‑41] Even this poverty-stricken country was not poor enough to escape despoiling by sambos and corsairs.
[XXXII‑42] 'During my sojourn, 1752, two notorious prisoners, after sending threats of punishment to their captors, freed themselves and disappeared. No steps were taken for their recapture, even the governor expressing relief when no more mischief was done.' Morel de Sta. Cruz. See also Nic. and Costa Rica, MS., 3-4.
[XXXII‑43] He is referred to in the Cuaderno Historial de Misiones. Pelaez, Mem. Hist. Guat., ii. 173. According to the same authority Navarro was governor in 1748, but according to Lynch, Relacion Punctual (1757), MS., 3, Pastora was governor until he lost his life in 1756, being slain by Mosquito Indians at the mouth of the river Maya. In the reports on missions in Talamanca, brigadier Luis Diez Navarro is mentioned as the governor of Costa Rica in 1748 and Manuel Soler in 1759.
[XXXIII‑1] An account of the abandonment of this town has been given in Hist. Mex., this series.
[XXXIII‑2] Peniche, Belice, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da ép., i. 217-9; Pelaez, Mem. Hist. Guat., iii. 136, 140; Stout's Nic., 258. Squier, Stat. Cent. Am., 575-6, states that the name was also said to be derived 'from the French balise, a beacon.' This he is disposed to accept as correct, 'since no doubt some signal or beacon was raised here to guide the freebooters to the common rendezvous.'
[XXXIII‑3] Peniche, Belice, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da ép., i. 220-2. According to Martin, Hist. West Indies, i. 138, and Pelaez, Mem. Hist. Guat., ii. 140, a large force from Peten attempted to dispossess the wood-cutters of the Belize River, but intimidated by the bold front of the English, they contented themselves with building a fort on its north-west branch, which, however, was abandoned after four years' possession.
[XXXIII‑4] A portion of the colony had already arrived in 1736. Salcedo, Carta, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da ép., i. 225.
[XXXIII‑5] The date of this expedition is uncertain. Sierra, Ojeada sobre Belice, places it in 1727, but cites no document in support of his assertion. Ancona, Hist. Yuc., ii. 416, who follows him closely, is doubtful as to its correctness, although this latter's opinion that it occurred before the visit of Figueroa to Bacalar and caused the occupation of this place is apparently founded on conjecture.
[XXXIII‑6] Sierra, Efemérides, says Belize was attacked February 22, 1733, and in his Ojeada sobre Belice the same author states that the expedition was formed and carried out between 1726 and 1730. Lara, Apuntes Históricos, gives no date. Peniche, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da ép., i. 223-5, follows Sierra, but gives a copy of a letter from Governor Salcedo to the king of August 7, 1736, in which 1733 is given as the date of Figueroa's expedition. Ancona, Hist. Yuc., has accepted the date given by this letter.
[XXXIII‑7] Sierra, Ojeada Sobre Belice; Lara, Apuntes Históricos, and Peniche, cited above, say that on his way to Bacalar Figueroa was joined by the colonists from the Canary Islands; in which statement they are followed by Ancona, Hist. Yuc., ii. 415-17. This is evidently a mistake, as the letter of Salcedo already cited shows that even in 1736 but a portion of them had arrived.
[XXXIII‑8] Pelaez, Mem. Hist. Guat., ii. 140-1.
[XXXIII‑9] Salcedo, Carta, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da ép., i. 225-6. I reproduce here 'A Map of a part of Yucatan, or of that part of the Eastern shore within the Bay of Honduras allotted to Great Britain for the Cutting of Log-wood, in consequence of the Convention. Signed with Spain on the 14th July 1786. By a Bay-Man.'
[XXXIII‑10] On his way to Mérida from Bacalar Figueroa was seized with illness and died. On the 10th of August 1733 Lara, Apunt. Hist., affirms that at the demands of the English government Figueroa was reprehended by the crown for this attack, which so mortified him as to cause his death. This version is accepted by Sierra in his Ojeada sobre Belice, and also by Peniche, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da ép., i. 226-7, but as these statements are mentioned by no other authority and are discredited by Ancona, Hist. Yuc., ii. 419-21, I am disposed to reject them.
[XXXIII‑11] Peniche, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da ép., i. 222-7; Salcedo, Carta, in Id., 225-6; Ancona, Hist. Yuc., ii. 413-22.
[XXXIII‑12] Peniche in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da ép., i. 228-31.
[XXXIII‑13] Squier's States Cent. Am., 576-7.
[XXXIII‑14] Peniche in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da ép., i. 231-4.
[XXXIII‑15] 'Y Su Magestad Católica no permitirá que los vasallos de Su Magestad Británica ó sus trabajadores sean inquietados ó molestados con cualquiera pretexto que sea en dichos parajes, en su occupacion de cortar, cargar y trasportar el palo de tinte ó de campeche; y para este efecto podrán fabricar sin impedimento y occupar sin interrupcion las casas y almacenes que necesitaren para sí y para sus familias y efectos.' Calvo, Recueil Traités, ii. 371.
[XXXIII‑16] Peniche, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da ép., i. 235-6.
[XXXIII‑17] Anderson, Hist. Commerce, iv. 47, quotes the London Gazette of this date, in which it is stated that the English government had received a duplicate of an order censuring the government of Yucatan.
[XXXIII‑18] Peniche, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da ép., i. 240-3; Ancona, Hist. Yuc., ii. 269-73. Squier, States Cent. Am., 577-8, erroneously attributes this attack to the prevalence of 'smuggling and other illicit practices' among the wood-cutters, making no mention of the fact that England and Spain were then at war.
[XXXIII‑19] Castellon, Doc. Nic. Hond., 51-2; Peniche, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da ép., i. 243-50; Squier's States Cent. Am., 578-80; Ancona, Hist. Yuc., ii. 472-77.
[XXXIII‑20] Full text of treaty may be found in Castellon, Doc. Nic. Hond., 52-6. See also Peniche, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da ép., i. 251-6; Ancona, Hist. Yuc., 477-82.
[XXXIII‑21] Grimarest, Informe, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da ép., i. 394-402.
[XXXIII‑22] Henderson's Hond., 9; Ancona, Hist. Yuc., ii. 503-8; Peniche, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da ép., i. 380; Squier's States Cent. Am., 581; London Soc. Geog., xi. 81.
[XXXIII‑23] Squier's States Cent. Am., 581; London Soc. Geog., xi. 81.
[XXXIV‑2] John Twitt, in Hakluyt's Voy., iii. 568-9.
[XXXIV‑3] Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 194-6.
[XXXIV‑4] Hakluyt's Voy., iii. 601. In Ogilby's Amer., 231, the year 1576 is given as the date of this expedition; and it is there stated that soon afterward Trujillo was captured by Van Horn, a Hollander, and two thirds of the town destroyed by an accidental fire, the spoils of the raid being insignificant.
[XXXIV‑5] The date of this transfer is variously given as 1558, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xv. 468; 1561, Juarros, Hist. Guat., 333, and Calle, Mem. y Not., 127; 1562, in Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 306; and 1588 in Ogilby's Amer., 230.
[XXXIV‑6] See p. 303 et seq. this vol.
[XXXIV‑7] Cerda was promoted to Las Charcas in 1577. Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 306.
[XXXIV‑8] His administration was one of great benefit to the diocese. Soon after his arrival he wrote the king concerning its urgent necessities, and his Majesty sent him 50 pictures and 50 missals, and instructed him to found a professorship, which was done Sept. 29, 1602. The bishop made many gifts to the principal chapel of the Merced convent, and was buried there. Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 307.
[XXXIV‑9] Id., 305. The total number of these Indians is stated at 8,000 in Calle, Mem. y Not., 126.
[XXXIV‑10] In 1629 Galdo solicited the padre-general of the Jesuits to send a few of his order to Honduras; but the experience of the Jesuits in Granada and Realejo a few years before led to a refusal. Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, ii. 176.
[XXXIV‑11] See p. 446 et seq., this vol.
[XXXIV‑12] The name of the prelate who was in charge at the time is a matter of doubt. In 1651 Doctor Juan de Merlo was consecrated bishop of Honduras in Mexico, but did not proceed to his diocese until December of the following year. Guijo, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série i. tom. i. 190, 228. How long he held office is not known. In 1671 the see was offered to Pedro de Angulo, who declined the mitre. Robles, Diario, in Id., série i. tom. ii. 114. The next appointment mentioned is that of Martin de Espinosa, who died suddenly in 1675, while in the act of dispensing alms after mass. He was a centenarian, but apparently in good health. Id., 210. According to Vasquez, he foretold his death eight days before; its approach being revealed to him in a vision. Chron. de Gvat., 215-16. No other reference is made to the episcopate of Honduras until the close of the century, when it is stated that Angel Maldonado, who had received the mitre, was transferred to Oajaca. Robles, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série i. tom. iii. 256-7.
[XXXIV‑13] 'Y aũque se libraron despachos, para que remitiesse lo actuado el Señor Obispo, ... no los remitio, porque quizas podian reconocerse falidos ... y post tot discrimina rerum, fuè declarado el Señor Obispo por estraño.' Chron. de Gvat., 215.
[XXXIV‑14] The names of the governors of Honduras in the order of their succession from 1561 to 1781 are given in Pelaez, Mem. Hist. Guat., ii. 177-80.
[XXXIV‑15] Neither Pelaez nor Zamacois makes any mention of this first attack, but D. Galvez in Soc. Mex. Geog., Bol., ii. ép. 243-5, is so clear and specific in his narrative that we must consider it an omission on their part.
[XXXIV‑16] Carta de Galvez, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Bol., 2da ép. Very different accounts of this affair are given by Pelaez and Cavo. The first in Mem. Hist. Guat., iii. 107, says that the commander and the rest of his officers made no resistance, but left as hostages the second in command and two chaplains; the soldiers and many of the inhabitants were banished. Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 35-6, says that on the last day of the defence, when the drums were about to beat to quarters in the castle, the British scaled the walls, and before the guards had recovered from their surprise over 100 Englishmen had already mounted the battlements; at the sight the negroes fled, leaving the English masters of the fortress. He adds that the castellan forseeing such a disaster had carried off 40,000 pesos and other valuables by a road unknown to the enemy, and would have saved all else had he been permitted to do so.
[XXXIV‑17] The three merchant ships taken had on board 3,000,000 pesos, belonging to merchants of Guatemala. Zamacois, Hist. Méjico, v. 628.
[XXXIV‑18] In Zamacois, Hist. Méj., v. 631-4, it is stated that 500,000 pesos were sent from Mexico for war purposes. Cavo, in Tres Siglos, iii. 37, says that the viceroy sent 200,000 pesos, though 1,000,000 were asked for, but that he had quite recently expended 600,000 pesos on the other provinces.
[XXXV‑1] Page 383 this vol. Juarros says, 'Gobernó con toda equidad.' Guat., i. 262.
[XXXV‑2] They claimed the right of direct address and petition to the king, which was restricted in every way by the audiencia; and on April 19, 1601, petitioned his Majesty to issue a cédula to the effect that they might send a procurador to the court without the necessity of the audiencia's approval. They, moreover, complained that the alcaldes ordinarios were constantly opposed in matters of jurisdiction by the corregidor del Valle, who was always a relative or friend of the president. Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 90, 100-3. This office of corregidor del Valle de Guatemala had been previously suppressed. By royal order of July 7, 1607, his duties were assigned to the alcaldes ordinarios of Guatemala in rotation. Calle, Mem. y Not., 118. The leading citizens had always been in the habit of taking cushions to kneel upon in church, whether oidores were present or not. This the audiencia had forbidden. Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 93. The president was also accused of having appropriated the principal apartments of the cárcel de corte and entertaining there the oidores by night and day. Id., 95.
[XXXV‑3] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 728; Juarros, Guat., 316.
[XXXV‑4] So called from an Indian village of that name. The inhabitants were of the Toquepa nation. Id., 314.
[XXXV‑5] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 728; Squier's MSS., xvii. 1-11; Calle, Mem. y Not., 119.
[XXXV‑6] Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 100-1.
[XXXV‑7] Remesal, ubi sup., gives the number of vessels as 12, and states that hostilities lasted 11 days. Juarros says 9 days. But a more reliable version of the affair is to be seen in a letter of the cabildo to the king: 'This year at the new port of Santo Tomás two or three small fragatas manned by 35 or 40 men with very little artillery defended themselves against eight Dutch ships of the Conde Mauricio, most of them vessels of from 400 to 500 tons, well supplied with artillery, and having over 1,000 men. Our people did the enemy much damage, sinking one of his ships and driving him off, themselves receiving but little hurt, for they were sheltered by a great rock near the shore, on which rock part of the artillery was placed.' Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 106-7.
[XXXV‑8] 'Fué sepultado en la Iglesia Catedral.' Juarros, Guat., i. 262.
[XXXV‑9] Thomas Gage states that when he retired from office he was 'worth Millions of Duckats.' New Survey, 282.
[XXXV‑10] He enlarged and beautified the plaza de la Candelaria so extensively that it acquired the name of plaza del Conde. This president was the first to whom was given the title of 'Muy Ilustre Señor' instead of 'Magnífico Señor.' Juarros, Guat., i. 262-3. According to Escamilla, Not. de Guat., 3, he held office till 1627, when he returned to Spain.
[XXXV‑11] Gage, who was in Guatemala at the time, in New Survey, 267-8, 282-4, is specific in his statement concerning Guzman as the immediate successor of Gomera and is minute in other references to his conduct. By Juarros the name of Guzman is not mentioned, but 'Diego de Acuña, formerly president of San Domingo,' is named as succeeding Gomara, Guat., 263; and as also in Escamilla, Not. Guat., 3, without any additional particulars however. These authors evidently refer to the same person.
[XXXV‑12] Called by Gage, ubi sup., 'Gonzalo de Paz y Lorençana.' According to Juarros, he entered office in 1634, the year after the retirement of Guzman, who, Juarros states, was president for seven years. loc. cit.
[XXXV‑13] Gage, New Survey, 282. An incident of his administration was the founding of San Vicente de Austria. Juarros, Guat., i. 263.
[XXXV‑14] Gage remarks that 'the city of Guatemala was so well supplied with provisions and they were so cheap that a mendicant was not easily found.'
[XXXV‑15] Gage states that there was in his time 'a Grazier that reckoned up going in his own Estancia and ground, forty thousand heads of Beasts.' New Survey, 278-9.
[XXXV‑16] New Survey, 278, 280-81.
[XXXV‑17] In 1604 the city contained 890 principal families, comprising encomenderos, merchants, traders, machinists, agriculturists, and others. The tax-list aggregated 4,500 tostones. The amount fell less than 2,000 tostones during 1607 to 1612, inclusive; and increased to 5,195 in 1613. In 1614 the amount was 7,180 tostones, and in 1626 it reached 15,980 tostones. The mode of assessing the people was so offensive that in 1625 dissensions became rife and the complaints against the assessors were so bitter that one of them, Márcos Estopiñan, alcalde ordinario, was thrown into prison. The excessive taxation ceased soon after; for in a cédula dated August 3, 1629, the alcabalas were rented for eight years to the cabildo for 10,000 tostones annually. Pelaez, Mem. Guat., i. 226-9.
[XXXV‑18] The president's salary was 5,000 ducats yearly; that of each of the oidores 2,000 ducats. Calle, Mem. y Not., 117. Gage says 12,000 ducats was the president's salary. New Survey, 282.
[XXXV‑19] The salary of each of these officers was 300,000 maravedís. Calle, Mem. y Not., 118.
[XXXV‑20] Each corregidor received 200 pesos de mina a year. Id.
[XXXV‑21] In 1617 the office of alguacil mayor was sold for 18,000 tostones, and in 1643 for 49,000 reales. In 1645 the receivership of fines and court fees was sold for 6,000 pesos, while the offices of the escribanos de camara were regularly sold for 20,000 pesos each. Other offices commanded corresponding prices. Id., 119.
[XXXV‑22] Selecting a few instances to illustrate these sales, I find that in 1636 the office of alférez real sold for 3,998 ducats; that of escribano publico was sold in the same year for 11,000 pesos; of the receiver-general of fines and fees in 1616 for 28,500 tostones, and in 1642 for 6,000 pesos. Id.
[XXXV‑23] They were the following: 'Procurador Sindico ... Mayordomo, Fiel Executor, Correduria, Portero, con 30,000 marauedis de salario. Mojoneria, Pregoneria.' Id.
[XXXV‑24] Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, 136, 448; Juarros, Guat., 150.
[XXXV‑25] The provincial of the Dominicans, writing in 1724, says that to repair the damage to their convent and church at Guatemala by the late earthquake cost the order more than 25,000 pesos; that the loss of yearly income has been at least 9,000 pesos; and that it took a considerable sum to repair the mills and put in order the estate belonging to the order. Guat., Sto Domingo, en 1724, 10
[XXXV‑26] Escamilla, Noticias Curiosas de Guat., 4. His appointment was made in 1653 for eight years; he arrived at Vera Cruz Sept. 30th; and on Jan. 15, 1654, left for Guatemala. Guijo, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série i. tom. i. 261, 274.
[XXXV‑27] 'He espoused the party of the "Mazariegos,"' says Juarros, Guat., i. 264, meaning probably one of the active participants.
[XXXV‑28] The right to bear the city flag on public occasions belonged to the officers of the cabildo, but the audiencia usurped the momentous prerogative and gave it to the alguacil mayor. The king was requested to interfere. Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 126-7.
[XXXV‑29] These cédulas bear date Nov. 6, 1604; Nov. 6, 1606; July 7, 1607; May 23, 1673; and Dec. 10, 1687. Philip II. had named the city 'most noble and most loyal,' and styled the corporation 'Muy Noble Ayuntamiento,' and Felipe III. gave the city the privilege of having mace-bearers on all occasions of public ceremony. Juarros, Guat. (London, 1823), 129-30.
[XXXV‑30] In a letter dated Jan. 30, 1667, from Guatemala, it is said that Caldas arrived and took possession of the office Jan. 18th in that year. Caldas, Carta sobre el Lacandon, 1. In Escamilla, Noticias Curiosas de Guat., 4, 1668 is given as the year in which he became president.
[XXXV‑31] Caldas in his letter to the king suggests that his Majesty should order the viceroy of Mexico and the governor of Campeche to gather together all vagabonds and evil-doers, and send them to Caldas, as also the lesser criminals, that they might serve in the conquest; moreover, negro slaves and mulattoes, whose owners desired it, would be enrolled. He also states that Guatemala and Campeche are the most directly interested, as their commerce could be conducted by a direct road of 80 leagues instead of 600, the length of the existing route. Caldas, Carta sobre el Lacandon, 5-6. Briefly confirmed by Pelaez, Mem. Guat., i. 297; Ximenes, lib. v. cap. xx.
[XXXV‑32] It was the first official document printed in Guatemala. Pelaez, Mem. Guat., ii. 261.
[XXXV‑33] The cabildo in a letter to the king dated April 1, 1669, speak of Caldas as 'gobernador tan atento y cristiano.' About Santillan they remark, 'semejante Ministro como el suspenso, nunca serà conveniencia, Señor, lo sea en esta Ciudad.' Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 128.
[XXXV‑34] He died in 1673 and was buried in the cathedral. Escamilla, Not. Cur. de Guat., 4.
[XXXV‑35] The government was now composed of the following officers: The president, governor, captain-general, and five oidores, to be at the same time criminal judges, a treasurer, alguacil mayor, and other necessary ministers and officers. To the jurisdiction of the audiencia belonged Guatemala, Nicaragua, Chiapa, Higueras, Cape Honduras, Vera Paz, Soconusco, and the islands on the coast. The limits in the east were Tierra Firme; on the west, Nueva Galicia; on the north and south, the oceans. Recop. de Ind., i. 325-6.
[XXXV‑36] During the interval between the death of Caldas and the installation of Barrios, the presidency had been held by the bishop of Guatemala, Fray Fernando Francisco de Escobedo, and Enrique de Guzman. Escobedo's administration gave great dissatisfaction, and he underwent a residencia; but before it was completed he was called to Spain as grand prior of Castille. Later Escobedo became a member of the council of the Indies, and as such, favored the petition of Guatemala for free trade with Peru and like measures. Pelaez, Mem. Guat., ii. 209. In Robles, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série i. tom. ii. 416, it is said that Escobedo was made grand prior de San Juan, and was mulcted in the sum of 32,000 pesos as the result of his residencia.
[XXXV‑37] Gavarette, Cop. Doc., MS., 46; Pelaez, Mem. Guat., ii. 259.
[XXXV‑38] Especially as to the performance of rites in the new districts of Ocotenango and Chimaltenango. Several parishes were taken from the Mercenarios and Dominicans, it being alleged that there were none among them acquainted with the native speech. Ayetta, Informe, in Prov. del Sto Evang., MS.
[XXXV‑39] May 28, 1688, a shot was fired at the oidor Pedro de Selva, and while the audiencia was in session discussing the matter, the bishop called on the president and informed him that under the seal of confession it had been revealed to him that the carabine had been loaded with blank cartridge only. The shot was meant as a warning to the oidor to amend his views regarding a case then pending, wherein many innocent persons were interested. When the president endeavored to show that the oidor had acted throughout with fairness, the bishop gave way to anger and left the palace, exclaiming with a loud voice: 'The country is being ruined by the iniquity of its rulers!' Gavarette, Cop. Doc., 55.
[XXXV‑40] In Gavarette, loc. cit., it is said that the bishop was removed, but all other authorities describe his proceedings as bishop of Guatemala until his death in 1701, or 1702.
[XXXV‑41] Scals requested that an order be issued to the effect that Venegas 'en sus peticiones y escritos trate con decencia al señor presidente,' and states that Venegas repeatedly asserted that he, Scals, had usurped the presidency. Pelaez, Mem. Guat., ii. 209-10.
[XXXV‑42] One expedient was to plead ignorance concerning matters discussed, and refusing therefore to vote. This the president met by ordering that the oidores be notified of motions about to be made. Another was the pretence of illness, and consequent inability to attend; to obviate this he directed that votes should be accepted in writing. Pelaez, Mem. Guat., ii. 269-70.
[XXXV‑43] Oviedo brought his claims before the council, but notwithstanding his appointment was dated first in order of time, they decided against him. Diego Oviedo y Baños, sobre Presidencia. This pamphlet, the date of which is not given, was probably published in or about 1705, and seems to be part of a larger work containing the full case of Oviedo, edited by the licentiate Baltasar de Aseredo.
[XXXV‑44] Robles, Diario, iii. 252.
[XXXV‑45] According to Escamilla, Not. Cur. de Guat., MS., 5, he was restored to office in 1700 and returned to Spain in 1701. Juarros, Guat., i. 268, says 'el Señor Berrospe murió, antes que se serenase la borrasca.'
[XXXV‑46] See p. 380, this vol.
[XXXV‑47] In a session of the cabildo during 1607, his Majesty is informed that Bishop Ramirez has for some time past kept the chapter in great excitement by his conversation and sermons in which he uses harsh and terrible language. Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 112. Compare Juarros, Guat., i. 279-80; Calle, Mem. y Not., 116.
[XXXV‑48] The date given by Pelaez is 1607. Mem., i. 295; Morelli, Fast. Nov. Orb., 348; and Calle, Mem. y Not., 116. In Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., viii. 46, the year 1608 is named; and Squier in Cent. Am., 561, states 1609. Remesal suggests a later date.
[XXXV‑49] Gonzalez Dávila, Hist. Ecles., 164.
[XXXV‑50] Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., 168, says he was appointed July 5, 1645, and arrived in Guatemala September 16th of the same year. In Juarros, Guat., i. 283, the date given for the king's appointment is 1641, which is the year Dávila gives for the transfer of Saravia. According to Escamilla, Noticias Curiosas de Guat., 9, Bishop Soltero entered Guatemala at the end of the year 1644 or the beginning of 1645. He agrees with Dávila in stating that he took possession of the office Sept. 16, 1645. We may conclude that there was an interval between the administrations of Saravia and Soltero of some three or four years.
[XXXV‑51] On the 31st of May 1647 the Santiago cabildo in a letter to the king stated that during the recent pestilence he rose from a sick-bed to visit all parts of the province and care for the people, dispensing alms, and by his example inciting others to good works. Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 119-120.
[XXXV‑52] In 1608 the king released this hospital from an indebtedness of 17,411 tostones which had been loaned to it by the crown. Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 152.
[XXXV‑53] A mine of silver was made over to it in 1633; its income was at that time at least 30,000 ducats a year. Gage, New Survey, 283.
[XXXV‑54] Obtained entirely from contribution. President Escobedo was especially liberal and donated more than 55,000 pesos toward the expense of the new buildings. He also secured to the order a revenue of 300 dollars: 'pues dexò situados de renta segura mas de trecientos pesos.' García, Hist. Beth., ii. 28-31; also Medina, Chron. San Diego Mex., 37.
[XXXV‑55] The bishop Saenz Mañosca having endeavored to soften 'the severe rules of the order against the wishes of Fray Rodrigo, the latter resolved to prevent any alteration by obtaining the pope's ratification of the rules. One of the Bethlehemite brothers, at that time in Spain, was ordered to proceed with that object to Rome, where he succeeded, according to the bull signed by Pope Clement X. on May 2, 1672.' García, Hist. Beth., ii. 60-70.
[XXXV‑56] The bishop's rejoinder is very voluminous and controverts most of the statements made by his adversary. Ribera, El Maestro, no. i. 1-42; no. ii. 28; no. iii. 1-56.
[XXXV‑57] In Medina, Chron. S. Diego Mex., 241, it is said he died in Guatemala on the date given in the text, and Juarros, Guat., i. 285, adds that he was buried in the cathedral there. Escamilla, Not. Cur. de Guat., 4, states that he had left for La Puebla before his decease. The author last cited gives his name as Mallorca y Murillo, and Juarros as Mañosca y Murillo.
[XXXV‑58] 'I may say it,' Chiapas, 'exceedeth most Provinces in the greatness and beauty of fair Towns, and yieldeth to none except it be to Guatemala.' Gage's New Survey, 219.
[XXXV‑59] According to an official census taken in 1611 the population of Chiapas amounted to a little over 100,000. Pineda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Bol., iii. 400-35.
[XXXV‑60] Speaking of the inhabitants of the town of Chiapas, Gage says 'they are as dexterous at baiting of Bulls, at juego de Cannas, at Horse-races, at arming a Camp, at all manner of Spanish dances, instruments, and musick, as the best Spaniards.' New Survey, 234.
[XXXV‑61] Consisting of not more than 400 Spanish householders and about 100 Indian houses. Id., 221.
[XXXV‑62] The poison was administered in a cup of chocolate or some sweetmeat; hence arose the proverb, 'Beware of Chocolatte of Chiapa.' While Gage was in Ciudad Real—called by him Chiapa Real—the bishop Bernardino de Salazar died with every symptom of having been poisoned. The ladies of the capital were accustomed to have chocolate served to them in the cathedral during mass. This habit the bishop attempted to suppress, and even proceeded to excommunication, but without effect. Then a disgraceful tumult occurred in the cathedral, and shortly afterward the bishop was taken ill, and the physicians agreed that he had been poisoned, which opinion he fully believed in at his death. Gage calls Ciudad Real 'that poisoning and wicked city.' Id., 229-33.
[XXXV‑63] For a list of the governors of Chiapas who ruled from 1590 to 1713, see Pelaez, Mem. Guat., ii. 183.
[XXXV‑64] 'He,' the governor, 'tradeth much in Cacao and Cochinil, and domineers over both Spaniards and Indians at his will and pleasure.' Gage's New Survey, 228.
[XXXV‑65] Gage estimated the bishop's stipend, derived chiefly from offerings received from the great Indian towns, at 8,000 ducats a year. The account of one month's offerings was kept by Gage; they amounted to 1,000 ducats, besides fees due from sodalities and confraternities. Id., 229.
[XXXVI‑1] San Miguel Manche contained about 100 houses; Asuncion Chocahaoc the same number; the other villages less. Juarros, Guat., 270.
[XXXVI‑2] The meaning of Peten is island. 'La palabra Petenes, que es lo mismo que Islas.' There were five petenes in the lake, one large and four smaller ones. When finally subdued the population of these islands was estimated at 24,000 or 25,000 persons. Villagvtierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, 279, 401-2.
[XXXVI‑3] Situated on the large island.
[XXXVI‑4] 'Tziminchac, q̃ quiere dezir, Cavallo del Trueno, ò Rayo.' Villagvtierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, 100. For an account of the origin of this idol see Hist. Cent. Am., i. 561, this series.
[XXXVI‑5] The canek does not seem to have regarded the action of Orbita with anger, having merely told them that the time for their work had not yet come, permitting them meanwhile to depart in peace. An Itza chieftain, however, pursued them, and they would have been slain but for the intercession of the Tipu cacique, to whom the Itza leader replied 'con grande enojo: Pues no traygas mas acá otra vez à estos Xolopes, que assi llaman à los Españoles, à desde que vieron à los primeros comer Anonas.' Villagvtierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, 107.
[XXXVI‑6] 'Mitotes, ò bailes, y borracheras.' Id., 121. Consult also my Native Races, ii. 289.
[XXXVI‑7] Cogollvdo, Hist. Yuc., 505-6, 'Llevaronlos ... como arrastrando ... al Embarcadero: Embarcaron el primero al Padre Orbita tirandole en la Canoa por muerto.' Villagvtierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, 123.
[XXXVI‑8] Villagutierre says: 'Esto dizen las Historias que seria, porque debian de estar sin Armas;' but he does not believe it credible that Spanish soldiers would go unarmed. Id., 136. Compare Cogollvdo, Hist. Yuc., 544.
[XXXVI‑9] Squier's account of this expedition is quite at variance with that of Villagutierre. He says that the priests, who accompanied it, alone crossed over to the island. Mirones then retreated; and being pursued, the whole Spanish force was destroyed. He, moreover, gives the date as 1662. Cent. Am., 548. Consult Cogollvdo, Hist. Yuc., 544.
[XXXVI‑10] Cogollvdo, Hist. Yuc., 547.
[XXXVI‑11] 'Cerrando los Caminos, poniendo en ellos Estatuas, à traza de Españoles ridiculos, y delante de ellas otras de Idolos formidables, diziendo, eran los Dioses de los Caminos, y que se los estorvavan à los Españoles, para que no passassen à sus Tierras.' Villagvtierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, 144-5. Pinelo, Rel., 4-5, gives a brief though incorrect account of Mirones' expedition.
[XXXVI‑12] 'Otras mercedes para despues de conseguida la pacificacion de aquellos naturales.' Cogollvdo, Hist. Yuc., 684.
[XXXVI‑13] The proceeds of his encomienda were deposited in the royal treasury of Guatemala, 'como en deposito, para el gasto que se auia de hazer en ella,' that is the expedition. Id., 685.
[XXXVI‑14] This messenger was a Spaniard, whom Vilvao almost succeeded in poisoning: 'teniendo modo como echar veneno en el pinole, que auia de beber por el camino, con que despues estuuo muy cercano à morir.' Id., 689.
[XXXVI‑15] 'Y viẽdo los Soldados que tenia, quan remiso estaba, se le huyeron en aquel tiempo, que solos cinco quedaron en su compañia.' Id., 696.
[XXXVI‑16] Infante and Gabaldá had some time previously been submitted to much ill-treatment by the Indians of Nohhaa, who after an idolatrous debauch compelled them to leave the town and betake themselves to the woods, whither the natives presently brought them their robes and the church ornaments. Id. Fancourt, Hist. Yuc., 232, erroneously states that the father was despoiled of his effects.
[XXXVI‑17] 'Que es tambien del Beneficio de Vçumaçintla, y distante de èl veinte y dos leguas.' Cogollvdo, Hist. Yuc., 698.
[XXXVI‑18] 'Natural de la Imperial Ciudad de Toledo, y Cauallero de la Orden de Calatraua.' Id., 684.
[XXXVI‑19] Villagutierre states that one of the chief difficulties the missionaries had to contend with was the opposition of native pseudo-christians who monopolized a profitable trade with the more remote nations, whom they prejudiced against the Spaniards, that their gains might not be impaired. Hist. Conq. Itza, 161-2. Chico states that in consequence of the extortions practised on the christianized natives, they abandoned their settlements and relapsed into idolatry. Restitucion de los Chamelcos, in Doc. Orig. Chiap., 7.
[XXXVI‑20] The most outlying town of Vera Paz.
[XXXVI‑21] 'Y estando dormidos, bolvieron los Choles, y les dieron de palos, y aun debieron de matar al Indio Christoval, su Amigo, que nunca mas pareciò; y entonçes, solo vno bolvió.' Id., 171. Juarros states that the messengers were severely beaten with clubs and dismissed without reply. Guat., 278.
[XXXVI‑22] Fancourt conjectures that it 'was most probably the Selegua, known nearer its junction with the sea ... as the river Grijalva or Tabasco.' Hist. Yuc., 243. For map of the Lacandon territory see p. 362, this vol.
[XXXVI‑23] For copies of these orders and particulars, see Id., 192-9. Consult also Elorza y Rada, Nobil., 216.
[XXXVI‑24] The entire force was divided into 9 companies—5 Spanish and 4 Indian; 3 Spanish and 2 Indian companies made up the command of the president, and one of each, those of the other divisions. Juarros, Guat., 280.
[XXXVI‑25] According to Villagutierre the command of the Huehuetenango division was first given to Captain Tomás de Mendoza y Guzman, but later Guzman was put in command of one of the president's companies, and Mazariegos, who had volunteered to serve without pay, was placed in charge of the above named force. Hist. Conq. Itza, 229, 234, 245.
[XXXVI‑26] Id., 268. Fancourt states that 'there was nothing to fix its identity, not even a hut.' Hist. Yuc., 253.
[XXXVI‑27] 'Dexando doze Soldados, con algunos Indios de Guerra, en el Sitio de San Juan de Dios.' Villagvtierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, 270.
[XXXVI‑28] 'Con solo vna grande Viga, ù Madero por Puente.' Id., 272. Fancourt thus regards this sentence: 'where had formerly been a wooden bridge, in all probability one of those constructed by Cortés, but of which only a single beam or plank remained.' Hist. Yuc., 254.
[XXXVI‑29] This village had been named by Fray Diego de Rivas, San Pedro Nolasco.
[XXXVI‑30] The appointment of Amézqueta was strongly opposed by the fiscal, but ratified by the council on full deliberation. Pelaez, Mem. Guat., i. 301, apparently from Ximenez, série v. tom. lxxvi.
[XXXVI‑31] Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, 361, says 140 leagues.
[XXXVI‑32] The men began to sicken and provisions to fall short, and the rainy weather having begun they returned. Pelaez, Mem. Guat., ii. 301.
[XXXVI‑33] Velasco and his company are supposed to have been induced by proffers of friendship to cross over to the island in small canoes. They were then either drowned in the lake or massacred as they landed. Villagvtierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, 370-1. Another account states that hearing signal shots fired by some of their party, 15 Spaniards rushed to arms, believing that an engagement had opened. They were assailed and slain. Id., 433. Fancourt accepts this story as probable. Still another statement is that the Itzas, 'avian muerto, ... à los de Guatemala, cogidos durmiendo en la Sabana, y que se los comieron, y las Cavalgaduras.' Id., 456. Their bones were afterward found and buried. Id., 485-6.
[XXXVI‑34] 'Y à aquel Parage de Chuntùqui, se le puso por Nombre, y por Patrona à Santa Clara.' Id., 319.
[XXXVI‑35] 'Y aora te remito vn Machete, muy lindo, con su Bayna, y su Cuchillo, y su Cinta ancha, y tres varas de Tafetàn encarnado, para que te põgas en mi Nombre.' Id., 336.
[XXXVI‑36] 'En cuya señal diò el Rey Canek dos Coronas, y vn Abanico.' Id., 394.
[XXXVI‑37] 'Se hallaron con mas diez mil Indios Infieles, que salian flechandolos; de las Canoas que estavan escondidas en los Manglares de la Laguna.' Id.; 405.
[XXXVI‑38] A private letter of Count Adanero, then president of the council, to Ursua, is exceedingly courteous and complimentary. Elorza y Rada, Nob., 243-7. Copies of the cédulas are given in Villagvtierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, 438-9.
[XXXVI‑39] 'Que ningun Cabo ... ni otra Persona alguna, de qualquiera Calidad que fuesse, pena de la Vida, ... fuesse ossado à romper la Guerra contra Indio alguno, aunque le diesse motivo para ello, hasta tener nueva orden de su General.' Id., 473.
[XXXVI‑40] A picture of Saint Paul also miraculously floated on the waves down upon the galliot. 'Y por este Prodigio, se le puso à la Galeota el Nombre de San Pablo.' Id., 474.
[XXXVI‑41] 'Desde el Rey, hasta la mas pequeña Criatura, que era capàz de executarlo, para ir à ganar la Tierra firme.' Id., 479.
[XXXVI‑42] 'Y se echavan al Agua; de tal suerte, que no se veìa otra cosa por la Laguna, desde la Isla, à Tierra firme, que no fuesse cabeças de Indios, Varones, Mugeres, y Muchachos, que iban nadando, como à porfia.' Id.
[XXXVI‑43] Copies can be found in Villagvtierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, 532-63.
[XXXVI‑44] The king says: 'Hè resuelto daros muy particulares gracias, por el desvelo, aplicacion, y cuidado con que vuestro valor, y constancia se dedica à conseguir Obra tan del servicio de Dios.' Villagvtierre, 556.
[XXXVI‑45] Eight missionaries and 25 Indian families, to be settled in the islands, with more than 1,200 head of cattle and horses, accompanied the expedition. A great quantity of tools, seed, and grain, as well as pay for the soldiers, was also sent. Id., 592.
[XXXVI‑46] Id., 591-658. Martin de Ursua y Arizmendi, conde de Lizarraga-Vengoa, was a member of one of the most noble houses of Navarre, and a native of Olariz in the district of the Valle de la Valdorba. He was knight of the order of Santiago, conquistador of Itza, and perpetual governor and captain-general of its provinces. Elorza y Roda, Nobiliario de el Valle de la Valdorba, 210-11.
[XXXVI‑47] After the conquest of the Itzas in 1697, the Spanish settlement in Peten was for half a century only a military outpost, with a small garrison from Guatemala. Afterward it became a criminal colony. Berendt in Smithsonian Report, 1867, 424. The conquest seems to have been completed, however, for in 1759 there were in the Peten district 7 villages, besides the principal settlement. Juarros, Guat. (Lond. ed.), 299.
[XXXVII‑1] See Native Races, i. 645; v. 603-4.
[XXXVII‑2] Cosío entered upon the presidency in 1706, having been preceded by Alonso de Ceballos y Villagutierre, who was president after Berrospe from 1702 to 1703, and by José Osorio Espinosa de los Monteros. Juarros, Guat., i. 268.
[XXXVII‑3] Garcia, Sublevac. Zend., 47-8.
[XXXVII‑4] 'Que fueron al pueblo de Cancuc á remover á la Virgen Sma en la cruz en que habia muerto su hijo Jesus porque ya los Indios salian de Ciudad Real á matarla, y que fuesen á defenderla, y que supiesen que ya no habia tributo ni ley, ni Padres ni Obispo que alla los tomara á cargo para defenderlos.' Id., 61-3.
[XXXVII‑5] At Cancuc they had erected 34 whipping-posts, and the Spaniards were given 50 blows at each post, provided they held out so long against death. Some of the captives with their hands tied behind them were suspended with the neck in the fork of a whipping-post and scourged to death. Others again were simply hanged. Such as had been friendly to Spaniards were suspended over a slow fire until their feet were roasted. The fiscal of Oxchuc and friars Jorge and Marcos, together with other Spaniards, were thrown by the Indians into pits and stoned to death. Id., 65-7.
[XXXVII‑6] The proclamation said: God was angry with the world because he was not venerated and feared as he ought to be, old customs being abandoned and new ones introduced. As murmurs had been heard because tribute, the order of Sto Domingo, the king, and the dominion of the Jews had not been done away with, San Pedro had ordered priests to be ordained for all the pueblos who should be responsible to God for their parishes. But for the masses celebrated by these priests the world would come to an end, and through them only would God's anger be removed. Children must be sent to the church to be instructed in God's law. The vicar-general would presently visit each pueblo in order to see if this order were obeyed. He who refused obedience should be brought to Cancuc and given 200 blows, after which he should be hanged. García, Sub. Zend., 74-5.
[XXXVII‑7] Secular distinctions were also conferred. Titles of 'Don' were given, the patents being signed by the priestess thus: 'Doña María Angel, Procuradora de la Vírgen Santisima.' Id., 77.
[XXXVII‑8] At a later date the rebel Tzendales considered that it was necessary to form their government on the plan of that of the Spaniards. They determined to found an audiencia with president and oidores at a place called Hueiteupan, to which they gave the name of Guatemala. Id., 82-3.
[XXXVII‑9] The Tzendales buried the silver belonging to the churches, and it has never been found. Pineda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Bol., iii. 350.
[XXXVII‑10] 'The Tzendales, 15,000 strong, encamped at Huistlan with the further intention of marching on Ciudad Real.' Pineda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Bol., iii. 349. This estimate probably includes the other force which was to have started simultaneously against Ciudad Real, as mentioned later.
[XXXVII‑11] They had about 30 escopetas taken at Chilun. Their other weapons were long spears, the heads of which were made of tools taken at Ococingo, and other arms of ancient usage. Each Tzendale, moreover, carried a basket of stones. García, Sublevac. Zend., MS., 85-6.
[XXXVII‑12] The Spaniards lost nine killed and about the same number wounded. Id., 91-3.
[XXXVII‑13] Four of the Sinacantlan ringleaders were afterward hanged by Gutierrez. Id., 95-6.
[XXXVII‑14] When his force reached San Pedro Chimalco it consisted of 400 men; 150 of whom were arquebusiers, and the rest Chiapanec and Mexican Indian lancers, residents of Guatemala City. Id., 100-3.
[XXXVII‑15] These forces were sent by Gutierrez, who, after a small body of his troops had been repulsed by the enemy, had called a council of war, at which it was decided to return to Ciudad Real and send aid to Segovia.
[XXXVII‑16] The Dominican prior of Tecpatlan, Fray Franco Montoya, happened to be at Ciudad Real during Segovia's preparations for the campaign. He had never seen artillery other than that which was on the ship that brought him from Spain, but he offered to construct either a mortar or a cannon. He made a mortar which was of much service, chiefly because of the horror it caused among the Indians, who called it the madre de escopetas. Id., 99.
[XXXVII‑17] The president, who with the auditor de guerra, Diego de Oviedo, had arrived at Ciudad Real, sent to thank Segovia and his force at Occhuc and the Dominican padres with him for their success there. He also requested that Segovia and the padres would come to Ciudad Real as he wished to consult them.
[XXXVII‑18] This portion of García's manuscript here ends abruptly.
[XXXVII‑19] During the Tzendales' revolt the town of Chamolla was the most loyal of all in the province, although it had been the most injured by the city. At first some of the Chamolltecs had been inclined to rise, but this partial defection soon died out, and the people gave many proofs of loyalty. Id., 111. During this period a female leader had arisen at Guatinpan and greatly aided the priestess of Cancuc in infusing religious fanaticism into the insurgents. Id., 109.
[XXXVII‑20] The work from which I have chiefly gathered material for this sketch, quoted as 'Garcia, Sublevacion de los Zendales,' has for its full title Informe sobre la Sublevacion de los Zendales, escrito par el Padre W. Pedro Marselino García de la orden de Predicadores, Predor. General, Calificador del Santo Oficio y Vicario Provincial de San Vicente de Chiapa, dirigida al Ilmo. Señor Obispo desta diocesis y fecho en 5 de Junio de 1716, MS., 1 vol. in imperial 8vo, pp. 154. It contains a copy of testimony taken by PP. Frs Maxelina, García, and Diego de Cuenca, by direction of the bishop, concerning the death of the several Dominican friars at the hands of the revolted Tzendales; the details of these murders are given. The manuscript also contains copies of letters and journals of Padre García written at the time, which contain a very full account of the origin of the Tzendal rebellion, the singular religious schism which they sought to establish, and the various proceedings, civil, military, and ecclesiastical, which led to the final suppression of the rebellion. The continuity of the events related is not easily followed, since the manuscript was carelessly arranged for binding. In places, moreover, it is wanting, and is somewhat worm-eaten. It is therefore difficult at all times to decipher the facts, which are moreover hidden in the verbosity common to an ecclesiastical writer of that time.
[XXXVII‑21] Chiapas, Informe del Intendente, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Bol., 3d ép., ii. 326-7. In 1800 the office of alcalde mayor at Ciudad Real was sold for 4,687 pesos, those of eight regidores for 400 pesos each. The position of notary public and secretary of the cabildo sold for 627 pesos and at a later date for 1,110 pesos. Pineda, Descrip. Geog., 45.
[XXXVII‑22] 'No se descubria otra cosa que pesadas Cruzes, agudas espinas, abroxos, crueles imbenziones de diziplinas, arrastrados por los suelos los Hombres, lagrimas, y humilidad.' Arana, Relacion Estragos Guat., 383.
[XXXVII‑23] The missions were now closed with a 'prosesion de sangre.' Most of the shocks lasted for the space of an Ave María. Arana, Rel. Estragos Guat., 380-98. The volcano threw up stones, ashes, and other matter. Letters could be read distinctly in the dead of the night, although the volcano was at least two leagues distant from the city. Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, iii. 179.
[XXXVII‑24] Out of the 40,000 inhabitants who resided in the city before these earthquakes, scarcely 1,500 could be counted when they had ceased. On the plaza mayor on the 5th of Oct. were the president and five or six families. On the plazuela de San Pedro were Diego de Oviedo and Tomás de Arana, the oidores, the nuns of Santa Clara, and two other families. In the Jesuit square remained the members of that order and some other persons. Under the porch of Santo Domingo were some monks and a few seculars. In the potrero of the apostolic missionaries were six religious and a few others. There were a few more at Jocotenango. Arana, Relacion Estragos Guat., 380-98.
[XXXVII‑25] The bishop, on one occasion of unusual alarm, being sick in bed, was brought to the centre of the plaza mayor by the hands of the president himself, who remained steadfastly in the city, and, with others, rendered whatever assistance was in his power. Id., 398.
[XXXVII‑26] Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 146-8, contains the lengthy document in extenso, in addition to its recital of the dire consequences of the visitations. Arana's report of the matter is briefly referred to in Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, iii. 179. See also Juarros, Guat., i. 208-9; and ii. 208; Alzate, Gaceta Literatura, iii. 442; Album Mexicano, i. 418.
[XXXVII‑27] It was especially prayed that Indians might be allowed to work on the indigo plantations, this being the chief reliance of the provinces of Guatemala. Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 148, 151-2.
[XXXVII‑28] In Escamilla, Not. Cur. de Guat., 6, he is styled D. Echevers y Subija. He had been chamberlain to his Majesty and was a knight of Calatrava.
[XXXVII‑29] Alluding to these disturbances, we find in Gac. Mex., Jan. 1728, and in Arévalo, Compend., 5-6, that these riots were suppressed by the prudent determination and dignified but firm measures of the marques de Casa Fuerte, viceroy of New Spain.
[XXXVII‑30] In this instance the alcaldes were deprived of their offices by the king, and made to pay a fine of a thousand reales de ocho. Providencias Reales, MS., 300-9.
[XXXVII‑31] In 1723 Bishop Juan Bautista Álvarez de Toledo was succeeded by Nicolás Cárlos Gomez de Cervantes. During the administration of the former the king had found it necessary to issue a cédula, dated November 15, 1717, ordering that no new churches, convents, or hospitals should be founded without his permission, since they were already so numerous as to interfere with each other's usefulness. Providencias Reales, MS., 207-8.
[XXXVII‑32] Among other charges made against the clergy of this period may be mentioned the following: sick persons were compelled to go to the church to receive extreme unction, many dying on the road thither; Indians were compelled to marry at a tender age in order to increase their contributions; fraternities were organized, to the members of which great pecuniary loss was occasioned; curates absented themselves without permission, and the priestly office was sold to the highest bidder. Ordenes de la Corona, MS., iv. 155-7.
[XXXVII‑33] Up to 1730 the tithes collected in the bishopric had never exceeded 3,000 pesos; but from that time they increased, until in 1750 they amounted to 30,000, and ten years after they were estimated at 60,000 pesos. Escamilla, Not. Cur. de Guat., 78. Pedro Pardo de Figueroa, seventeenth bishop and first archbishop of Guatemala, was born in Lima of noble parentage. He assumed the religious habit of the Franciscans at the age of sixteen. Having filled the chairs of philosophy and theology, he was sent by his order to the courts of Madrid and Rome, occupying the position of secretary-general of his order. He was elected bishop of Guatemala in 1735, and on the 13th of September of the same year was consecrated by the archiepiscopal viceroy of New Spain, Juan Antonio de Vizarron y Eguiarreta. In these dates the Concil. Prov., 1-2, 297, is followed according to Juarros, Guat., i. 291. Figueroa was consecrated on September 8, 1736, and on Nov. 18th Manuel Falla, precentor of the cathedral, took possession of it in his name. On the 22d of September 1737 the bishop made his public entry into the cathedral. Escamilla, Not. Cur. de Guat., 16, confirms Juarros.
[XXXVII‑34] Dec. 17, 1740, the king decided that at all receptions of bishops the two alcaldes should occupy the chairs of the dean and archdeacon in the choir. Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 9-13.
[XXXVII‑35] Concil. Prov., 1-2, 297-8. Juarros, Guat., i. 292, states that the bull was issued in December 1743. A copy of it is given in Nueva España, Breve Resúmen, 370-5.
[XXXVII‑36] Two prominent bishops of Honduras maybe mentioned: Antonio Guadalupe Lopez Portillo, a native of Guadalajara and delegate to the general council held at Rome in 1723, Figueroa, Vindicias, MS., 75, and Francisco Molina who was elected in 1743; but of the events of their administrations no records exist.
[XXXVII‑37] Guat., Sto Domingo en 1724, 22-4.
[XXXVII‑38] The following is a copy of this curious edict: 'Vengan sobre ellos, y á cada vna de ellos, la ira, y maldicion de Dios todo poderoso, y de la Gloriosa Vírgen Santa María su Madre, y de los Bienaventurados Apostoles San Pedro, y San Pablo, y de todos los Santos del Cielo. Y vengan sobre ellos todas las plagas de Egypto, y las maldiciones que vinieron sobre el Rey Pharaon, y sus gentes por que no obedecieron, y cumplieron las Mandamientos divinales; y sobre aquellas cinco Ciudades de Sodoma, y Gomarra, y sobre Datàn, y Abiròn, que vivos los tragó la tierra, por el pecado de la inobediencia, que contra Dios Nuestro Señor cometieron; y sean malditos en su comer, y beber, y en su velar, y dormir, en su levantar, y andar; en su vivir y morir, y siempre estèn endurecidos en su pecado; el diablo esté á su mano derecha; quando fueren en juizio siempre sean condenados; sus dias sean pocos, y malos; sus bienes, y hazienda sean traspassados en los estraños; sus hijos sean huerfanos, y siempre estèn en necesidad.' Ordenes de la Corona, MS., vi. 143-4.
[XXXVII‑39] The northern limit of the government of Guatemala was established as early as 1549. At this date the licentiate Gasca, commissioned by the viceroy of New Spain, and aided by president Cerrato, of Guatemala, fixed as the boundary between New Spain the provinces subject to the audiencia of the Confines, 'a line beginning at the bar of Tonala, in 16° north latitude, and running thence in the direction of the gulf of Mexico, between the towns of Tapana and Maquilapa, leaving the former on the left and the latter on the right, to a point opposite San Miguel Chimalapa; thence turning and running as far as the Mijes Mountain, situated in 17° 21' of the same latitude; thence to the town of Sumazintla (modern spelling Usumasinta), situated on the river of the same name; thence following up this river to a point opposite Huehuetlan, in 15° 30' of the same latitude, and thence to Cape Three Points in the Gulf of Honduras.' In 1599 the line was again changed, leaving to Guatemala the territory lying between 8° and 18°, more or less, north latitude. In 1678 another change was made by the viceroy of New Spain, which took from the captain-generalcy of Guatemala many towns on the coast, as far as the river Huehuetlan, and also extended the boundary of Yucatan. Finally, upon the establishment of the intendencias in 1787, the boundary line was again fixed, and the captain-generalcy of Guatemala made to include the territory within 7° 54' and 17° 49' north latitude. These limits were confirmed by subsequent commissions in 1792, 1794, and 1797, and adopted by the Spanish government in its map of 1802. Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 3da ép., iii. 78-9. Although these boundaries were approved by the crown, the exact location of the dividing line between Chiapas and New Spain appears to be a matter of dispute among many authorities. Pineda, Descripcion Geog., 17; Larrainzar, Hist. Soconusco, 1-2.
[XXXVII‑40] Guat., Apunt., 8. The Nueva España, Breve Resúmen, MS., ii. 349, says, 'it extends for more than 300 leagues along the coast of the South Sea, but in a straight line from east to west it is but 240, its greatest width being 180;' and again, 'from the limits of Tehuantepec, the last of the provinces of New Spain, to the Escudo de Veraguas, the limits of the kingdom of Tierra Firme (via the cities of Santiago, Leon, Nicoya, Cartago, Boruca), it is 650 leagues.'
[XXXVII‑41] Nueva España, Breve Resúmen, MS., ii. 349.
[XXXVII‑42] Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 3da ép., iii. 78-9. In the enumeration of provinces but twelve are mentioned, that of Guatemala being omitted also. Eco de España, Aug. 27, 1853; García, Reseña Geog., 7.
[XXXVII‑43] A junta of ministers was appointed by the king, whose duty it was to oversee the actions of the various viceroys, presidents, etc. This junta gave instructions to the regents. Cedulario, MS., i. 34-6; iii. 81-91. The functions of the regents are described in Reales Cédulas, MS., ii. 159. Previous to arriving at their place of duty the regent was to notify the ruling authority, president, viceroy, etc., and they were required to meet him one league from the capital. The archbishop and clergy were required to call upon him. The enumeration of their duties fills 78 articles.
[XXXVII‑44] After Herrera came Juan Antonio de Uruñuela, a knight of the order of Cárlos III.; Juan José de Villalengua y Marfil, minister of the supreme council of the Indies; Ambrosio Cerdán, knight of the royal order of the Immaculate Concepcion; Manuel Castillo Negrete, and José Bernardo Asteguieta y Sarralde. Juarros, Compendio, 356. According to Gomez, Diario, 151, the second regent was Orihuela, actual oidor of the audiencia of Mexico when appointed to this office.
[XXXVII‑45] In 1767 the salaries of the various officials were: governor, captain-general, and president of the audiencia, 5,000 ducats; the four oidores, and the fiscal of the audiencia, each 750,000 maravedís; the royal accountant and treasurer, each 300,000 maravedís.
[XXXVII‑46] 'De èstas, quatro tenian titulo de Gobíerno, que eran: Comayagua, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Soconusco; Alcaldías Mayores, San Salvador, Ciudad Real, Tegucigalpa, Zonzonate, Verapaz, Suchiltepeques, Nicoya, Amatique, y las Minas de San Andrés de Zaragoza; Corregimientos, Totonicapán, Quezaltenango, Atitán, Tecpanatitán ó Sololá, Escuintla, Guazacapán, Chiquimula, Acasaguastlan, el Realejo, Matagalpa, Moninbo, Chontales, Quesalguaque, Tencoa, Quepo, Chirripo, Pacaca y Ujarraz, y el Valle de Guatemala.' The governors, and the alcaldes of the first six alcaldías mayores named, were appointed by the crown; the president of the audiencia making the appointments for two years, to the remaining districts, except that of the Valley of Guatemala, which was conferred by the Ayuntamiento of Santiago on their common alcaldes, who with the title of corregidores exercised the office alternately for six months each. Juarros, Guat., ii. 37-8.
[XXXVII‑47] The corregimientos of Quepo, Chirripo, Ujarráz, and Pacaca, owing to the decreasing population of Costa Rica, were incorporated into that government; the corregimiento of Tencoa was absorbed by the government of Comayagua; and to the government of Nicaragua were united the corregimientos of Moninbo, Chontales, and Quesalguaque. Juarros, Guat., ii. 38.
[XXXVII‑48] In the beginning of the century the alcaldías mayores of Amatique and San Andrés de la Nueva Zaragoza were suppressed; a few years later the corregimientos of Escuintla and Guazacapan were consolidated to form the alcaldía mayor of Escuintla; and that of Sololá was formed of the corregimientos of Atitlan and Tecpanatitlan; in 1753 the alcaldías mayores of Chimaltenango and Sacatepeques were formed of the corregimiento of the valley of Mexico; in 1760 the corregimiento of Acasaguastlan was annexed to that of Chiquimula; and in 1764 the provinces of Chiapa and Zoques was separated from the alcaldía mayor of Ciudad Real and formed into that of Tuxtla. Juarros, Guat., ii. 38. About the middle of the century, according to Nueva España, Breve Resúmen, MS., ii. 349, there were nineteen governments in nine provinces and ten districts; and Cadena, Breve Descrip., 9, writing in 1774, says there were twenty-four governments and alcaldías mayores.
[XXXVII‑49] As intendencias were first established in Mexico their functions are described in the history of that country.
[XXXVII‑50] Guat., Apunt., 106. According to Juarros, Guat., ii. 38-9, the districts of Realejo, Matagalpa, and Nicoya were united to the government of Nicaragua to form the intendencia of that name; the alcaldía mayor of Tegucigalpa was united to the government of Comayagua to form the intendencia of Honduras; and to the government of Soconusco were united the alcaldías mayores of Ciudad Real and Tuxtla to form the intendencia of Chiapas. The fourth intendencia was San Salvador. Forty subdelegaciones are by this author assigned to the four intendencias, as follows: To the intendencia of Nicaragua six: Granada, Realejo, Subtiava, Segovia, Matagalpa, Nicaragua; to the intendencia of Chiapas eleven: Ocozingo, Simojovel, Palenque, Tonalá, Soconusco, Tila, Istacomitán, Tuxtla, Guista, Comitán, and San Andrés; to the intendencia of Honduras nine: Gracias á Dios, Olancho, Olanchito, San Pedro Sula, Yoro, Santa Bárbara, Trujillo, Tegucigalpa, Choluteca; and to the intendencia of San Salvador fourteen: San Miguel, San Vicente, Santa Ana Grande, Chalatenango, Olocuilta, Cojutepeque, Texutla, Opico, Metapas, Usulutan, Gotera, San Alexo, Sacatecoluca, Sensuntepeque. Under this former system in later times all appointments were made by the crown, the president of the audiencia having the power to make temporary appointments only. Usually, however, the presidents were authorized to fill all the offices under the government and in the city, some ad interim, others permanently. After the establishment of the intendencias the president had the privilege of appointing as subdelegado, one of three persons proposed to him by the intendente, whenever a subdelegacion became vacant.
[XXXVII‑51] José Vazquez Prego Montados y Sotomayor, of the order of Santiago, lieutenant-general of the royal armies, and commander-general of the forces before Gibraltar, assumed office January 17, 1752. He died at Guatemala June 24, 1753, from the effects of a cold contracted during an official visit to Omoa, whose fortress he had ordered built. From the date of his death the senior oidor, Juan de Velarde y Cienfuegos, governed until October 17th of the following year, when his successor, Alonso de Arcos y Moreno, arrived. He was a knight of the order of Santiago, mariscal de campo, and subsequently lieutenant-general of the royal armies. This latter appointment, however, did not arrive until after his death, which occurred October 27, 1760. The oidor Velarde again assumed charge of the presidency, and when relieved in the following year was transferred to the audiencia of Mexico, subsequently to that of Granada, and eventually became a member of the council of the Indies. On the 14th of June 1761 Alonso Fernandez de Heredia, mariscal de campo, took possession of the presidency. He had already served as governor in the provinces of Nicaragua, Honduras, Florida, and Yucatan. Joaquin de Aguirre y Oquendo was appointed to succeed him, but the latter dying at Guatemala April 9, 1764, when about to take possession of office, Heredia continued in charge till Dec. 3, 1765, when he was relieved by Pedro de Salazar y Herrera, Natera y Mendoza. He remained in Guatemala, where he died March 19, 1772, while undergoing his residencia. President Salazar was a knight of the order of Monteza, commander of Vinaroz and Benicarlo, captain of grenadiers of the royal Spanish guards, and mariscal de campo of the royal armies. Like President Sotomayor, he, too, experienced the fatal effects of the climate of Omoa, for he died May 10, 1771, from a disease contracted while on a visit to that port. His successor, President Mayorga, did not arrive till June 1773, the government in the interim being administered by the senior oidor, Juan Gonzales Bustillo y Villaseñor. This officer was subsequently transferred to the audiencia of Mexico, thence to the India House at Cádiz, and finally to the supreme council of the Indies. Juarros, Guat., i. 270-1; Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 157-9; Escamilla, Not. Cur., 7; Cadena, Breve Descrip., 26.
[XXXVII‑52] 'It stood under a cupola, supported by 16 columns, faced with tortoise-shell, and adorned with medallions in bronze of exquisite workmanship; on the cornices were statues of the virgin and the 12 apostles.' Juarros, Guat., i. 86.
[XXXVII‑53] In 1795 it was 23,434. Juarros, Guat. (ed. Lond., 1823), 497.
[XXXVII‑54] Cadena, Breve Descrip., 4-9; Juarros, Guat., i. 85-7. 719
[XXXVII‑55] The Jesuit church suffered most. Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, iii. 295-6. See also Juarros, Guat. (ed. Lond., 1823), 154; Escamilla, Not. Cur., 17; Cadena, Breve Descrip., 7, 11.
[XXXVII‑56] Juarros, Guat. (ed. Lond., 1823), 154. According to Cadena, Breve Descrip., 11, the two shocks in 1765 occurred on June 21st and October 24th, respectively.
[XXXVII‑57] Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 157-9.
[XXXVII‑58] During the alarm caused by the threatened outbreak the authorities of Santiago armed a force, and the royal officials had their valuables removed to one of the churches for safety. Before this excitement had subsided a Jesuit priest was cruelly murdered in the jail by three negro criminals whom he was confessing. The jailer gave the alarm by ringing the bell of the jail, and thereupon the people, in the belief that a riot had broken out, seized their arms and hastened to the principal square, even the women flocking thither with stones. The three negroes were captured after a determined resistance, and one of them having been killed in the scuffle the other two were hanged the same afternoon. A few days later a Dominican was found murdered in his cell. Escamilla, Not. Cur. Guat., MS., 18-19.
[XXXVII‑59] Iturriaga, El Dolor del Rey.
[XXXVII‑60] Batres, Relacion de las Fiestas.
[XXXVII‑61] Juarros, Guat. (ed. Lond., 1823), 153-4.
[XXXVII‑62] From the incidents narrated by old residents, eye-witnesses of the event, and the appearance of the city in his time, Juarros, Guat., ii. 266-8, concludes that even the official reports of the effect of this earthquake were grossly exaggerated, probably owing to the interested reports of engineers, architects, and notaries. He quotes from two pamphlets published at Mexico in 1574, to show instances of exaggeration in the details of this calamity. In one that appears in Cadena, Breve Descrip., 40, the statement is made that trustworthy persons affirmed that during the earthquake they saw the mighty Volcan de Agua opened from cone to base by the first shocks, and again united by those that succeeded. This and other vagaries equally absurd, the effects only of a terrified imagination, form part of every description of this disaster, but do not necessarily impair the truthfulness of the account as a whole. The work of Cadena here quoted has been used as the base of the present account, and from the fact that its author was a prominent churchman, an eye-witness of the events related, and that his book, which received the sanction of superior authority, was published within a year of the occurrence, its trustworthiness can hardly be doubted. The work, a reprint of the original made in Guatemala in 1858, is a small 12mo of 56 pages, and describes the events of the period extending from June 11, 1773, to March 10, 1774, including a detailed description of the city of Guatemala, its destruction, and the measures for its removal up to the last date. It is written in the usual inflated religious style. The author, Fray Felipe Cadena, was a Dominican, professor of theology in the university of San Cárlos, synodal examiner of the archbishopric, and secretary of his order in Guatemala. There are other accounts, however, whose exaggerations are gross, and whose narrative could not have been obtained from any reliable source. According to Russell's Hist. Amer., i. 390, the city of Guatemala, with 40,000 to 50,000 inhabitants, and nearly 15,000,000 pesos in treasure and merchandise, was so completely swallowed up in April 1773 that not even a trace was left of it. Flint's Hist. and Geog. gives the date of the earthquake as 1779, and says that it was accompanied by terrific and destructive phenomena; the sea rose from its bed; one volcano poured out boiling water, another waves of blazing lava; and 8,000 families were swallowed up in a moment.
[XXXVII‑63] According to Escamilla, Not. Cur., MS., 25-7, the soldiery were guilty of pillaging the convents. Succecion chronologica de los Presidentes que han governado este Reyno de Goatha. Obispos de Goathemala y Noticias Curiosas Cronologicas destas Indias is the title of a manuscript volume in folio of 78 pages, usually attributed to José María Escamilla. It was begun in 1777. It opens with a list of the governors up to that date, taken from the cabildo records of the city of Guatemala. This is followed by a list of bishops and archbishops, though from what source is not stated. Beginning with the dates of the discoveries of America and the South Sea and with the conquests of Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru, a brief chronological list is given of the more important events in Guatemala and its dependent provinces from 1525 to 1762. From the latter date until 1779 the events are described with more fulness, especially the account of the destructive earthquake in 1773, the consequent removal of the city, and the bitter controversy to which it gave rise. It is uncertain whether the author was in Guatemala previous to 1777, as the minuteness with which he describes the events of the preceding four years may have been the result of information obtained from the residents of the city. Nor is there anything to indicate the name of the compiler. The manuscript was presented to the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg in 1856 by Escamilla, according to notes in the handwriting of the abbé on the title-page, and at the end of the volume, and in his Bibliothèque Mexico-Guatemalienne, p. 60. Its chief value is the account of the destruction and rebuilding of Guatemala City.
[XXXVII‑64] Juarros, Guat. (ed. Lond., 1823), 157.
[XXXVII‑65] Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 160-71.
[XXXVII‑66] Escamilla, Not. Cur., MS., 24-65; Juarros, Guat., i. 85-9; ii. 266-72; Cadena, Breve Descrip., 10-53.
[XXXVII‑67] Juarros, Guat., ii. 353-4; Squier's States Cent. Am., 493-4.
[XXXVII‑68] Juarros, Guat. (ed. Lond., 1823), 157-8.
[XXXVII‑69] Escamilla, Not. Cur., MS., 4.
[XXXVII‑70] Pelaez, Mem. Hist. Guat., iii. 86-94.
[XXXVII‑71] Pelaez, Mem. Hist. Guat., iii. 106-29.
[XXXVII‑72] Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 171-6.
[XXXVII‑73] Juarros, Guat., i. 272-3.
[XXXVII‑74] He was a native of Granada, precentor, and bishop of Popayan, to which he was raised in 1740. His appointment to the archbishopric of Guatemala was dated 1751; his bulls issued January 23, 1752. On the 10th of May 1753 Doctor Agustin de la Caxiga, chancellor of the cathedral, took possession in his name, and on the 13th following inducted him into office. Juarros, Guat., i. 292-3.
[XXXVII‑75] The manner of proceeding was somewhat summary. The clergyman who was assigned to the curacy without previous notice suddenly appeared, accompanied by the alcalde mayor of the district, who gave him possession, and the friar in charge was compelled to transfer everything to his successors under inventory. Escamilla, Not. Cur., MS., 20.
[XXXVII‑76] Escamilla, Not. Cur., MS., 20; Juarros, Guat., i. 293.
[XXXVII‑77] Guat., Constit. Coleg. Xpto, i. 292.
[XXXVII‑78] Pineda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, iii. 348-9.
[XXXVII‑79] Juarros, Guat., i. 292-3; 1776 is given as the date of his death by Concilios Prov., 1555, 1565, 298; and Alcedo, Dic., ii. 315.
[XXXVII‑80] A native of Belchite in the kingdom of Aragon, professor of sciences in the university, and subsequently canon in the cathedral of the city of Saragossa. He was appointed to the archbishopric of Guatemala in 1767. Juarros, Guat., i. 294.
[XXXVII‑81] The motives and nature of this measure are fully treated in my History of Mexico, this series.
[XXXVII‑82] Escamilla, Not. Cur., MS., 19-20; Jesuits, Colec. Gen., 24, and Pelaez, Mem. Guat., iii. 66-8, give a somewhat different version. According to these authorities the decree was given to the alcalde mayor, who notified the friars at two o'clock in the morning. The statements of Escamilla, who was present in Guatemala at this time, are to be preferred.
[XXXVII‑83] Escamilla, Not. Cur., MS., 65-74; Juarros, Guat., i. 294-5; Id., Compend., 292-4.
[XXXVII‑84] Francos was a native of the Villa of Villavicencio de los Caballeros, and was canon of the cathedral of Plasencia when appointed to the archbishopric of Guatemala. He died on the 17th of July 1792. His successors were Don Juan Felix de Villegas, who ruled from May 8, 1794, to February 3, 1800; and Don Luis Peñalver y Cárdenas who entered office on June 3, 1802. Juarros, Guat., i. 295-7. Although Juarros is justly regarded as the chief historian of the Central American provinces for the conquest and colonial period, he has failed to describe in a connected form the political, social, and moral development of those countries during that period. This omission has, in part, been filled by the assiduous labors of the presbyter Francisco de Paula García Pelaez. Residing for many years, as parish priest, at the old city of Guatemala, known as the Antigua, he devoted his leisure time, from 1833 to 1841, in examining as opportunity permitted the public and private archives of the province, and in studying the principal ancient and modern writers on that territory. The result of this research was a work of three volumes in small quarto, entitled Memorias para la Historia del Antiguo Reyno de Guatemala, which was published in Guatemala in 1851. It is divided into the aboriginal and the colonial epochs. The former treats of the origin of the natives and the degree of civilization they had attained at the time of the conquest, and consists of a brief and systematically arranged compilation of facts, with the corresponding references to the authorities from which they were obtained, each chapter being devoted to a separate topic. This occupies but 32 pages of the first volume, the remainder of the work being taken up with the political history of the country to the beginning of the nineteenth century, and with the general condition and progress of the people and their institutions from the conquest to 1821. The manner of treatment, though more connected, is similar to that of the first epoch. The style is terse and clear, though somewhat dry, as few comments are made, and those of an impartial nature. It contains a multitude of valuable facts not found elsewhere; yet Pelaez deplores the incompleteness of his work; for, though he examined many of the original documents in the public archives of Guatemala, the want of an assistant to aid him in extracting notes compelled him to leave the bulk of them untouched. The author subsequently became archbishop of Guatemala.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft,
Volume 7, by Hubert Howe Bancroft
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKS OF HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT, VOL 7 ***
***** This file should be named 58669-h.htm or 58669-h.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/5/8/6/6/58669/
Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will
be renamed.
Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
States without permission and without paying copyright
royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive
specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this
eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook
for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports,
performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given
away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks
not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the
trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.
START: FULL LICENSE
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at
www.gutenberg.org/license.
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your
possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the
person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph
1.E.8.
1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this
agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the
Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual
works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting
free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm
works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily
comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when
you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no
representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
country outside the United States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear
prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work
on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the
phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed,
performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you
are located before using this ebook.
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is
derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm
trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works
posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format
other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official
version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site
(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain
Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the
full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
provided that
* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has
agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation."
* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm
works.
* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
receipt of the work.
* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than
are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The
Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm
trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
cannot be read by your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
without further opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO
OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in
accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or
additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any
Defect you cause.
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
from people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future
generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
www.gutenberg.org
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the
mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its
volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous
locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt
Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to
date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and
official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
For additional contact information:
Dr. Gregory B. Newby
Chief Executive and Director
gbnewby@pglaf.org
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular
state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works.
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be
freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of
volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
edition.
Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search
facility: www.gutenberg.org
This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.