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

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

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

[XI-2] On Mercator's atlas there is a town and river south-west from Panamá named Nata. Hondius, Dampier, Jefferys, and De Laet give Nata; West-Indische Spieghel, Nato; Kiepert, Nata de los Caballeros, and thence eastward, R. Aguablanca, and opposite this river, I Chiru.

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

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

[XI-5] Paris was an Indian province and gulf twelve leagues from Natá. Oviedo authorizes us to write, Pariza or Parita. The large square peninsula which forms the western bound to the gulf of Panamá, is sometimes called by modern writers Parita, and the gulf which cuts into the peninsula Gulfo de Parita. See Humboldt's Atlas of New Spain. Ribero gives G. de Paris, Vaz Dourado, G∴ de Paris naca and b∴ de Paris naqua; De Laet, Golfo de Parita, as well as the city Parita, south of which is Iubraua, and north, Escoria.

[XI-6] Town and province, beside being the name of the first prominent point west of Panamá. Colon and Ribero have it, p de Chame; Vaz Dourado writes it the same once, and again, p∴ de Cane; Colom gives P de Chane; De Laet, and others after him, Chame, with Otoque east of it.

[XI-7] 'Donde despues Pedrarias pobló un pueblo de cristianos que se dice Acla, y antes que hobiese esta batalla tenia otro nombre, porque Acla en la lengua de aquella tierra quiere decir huesos de hombres ó canillas de hombres.' Andagoya, Relacion, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, iii. 397. See also Carta de Alonso de la Puente y Diego Marquez, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ii. 538-49; Robert FitzRoy, in London Geog. Soc., Jour., xxiii. 179, gives us a fair specimen of historical writing by an intelligent gentleman, who knows nothing of what he is saying when he describes 'Acla, or Agla,' as settled 'in 1514, a few miles inland from that port or bay now famed in history and romance, called by Patterson Caledonian Harbour.' Acla was on the coast, three or four leagues north of Caledonian Bay, as we find in Purchas, His Pilgrimes, iv. 883, 'right against the Iland of Pinos, whereof at this present there is no more memory than that there was the death of that famous Captaine, whose name will last eternally, the President Basco Nunnez of Balnoa, and of his company.' Fernando Colon, 1527, calls the town ocara; Diego de Ribero, acra; Vaz Dourado, 1571, Munich Atlas, No. x., axca, and on No. xi., azca; De Laet, Colom, and others, Acla.

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

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

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

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

[XI-12] Colon and Ribero both write y^a de Cebaco; Mercator places a town on the mainland opposite, Sebaco; Ogilby, I. de S. Maria; De Laet, Isles del Zebaco; Colom and Jefferys, Zebaco; Kiepert, I. Cebaco, and near it I. del Gobernador.

[XI-13] If Coiba was meant we find connected the ancient name of Gatos, y^a gatos, y de gatos, etc. Then the name changes, and we have by Vaz Dourado I∴ de quofõque; Mercator, Quicare; Dampier, Keys of Quicara or Quibo; I. de Laet gives, Cobaya, Quicaro, and La Montuosa; Colom, Coyba, Quicaro, and Lamatuosa; Jefferys, Coyba, Quicaro, and opposite Coiba, Pt. Bianco, and west Coco, and Honda. Herrera calls the island Cobayos.

[XI-14] Not so called at the time, however. According to Herrera the native name was Chira. The gulf was first known to civilization as San Lúcar, and San Lázaro; before this, even, we have by Colon, G. de S. Vicenite. Vaz Dourado gives Sao llucar; Mercator, in 1574, places in the interior the town Nicoia, and on the eastern shore of the gulf the town Pari. Ogilby gives on the Golfo de Salinas, as well as on the land, perhaps town and province, Nicoya, and a little to the west, Paro. Dampier gives G. of Nicoya, and the town of nicoya. De Laet locates the town of Nicoya, east of which is Paro. West-Indische Spieghel, G. Goca; and Jefferys, Nicova, and near it emptying into the gulf, R. Dispensa, R. Taminsco, R. de Costarica, R. de las Canas, and R. Solano.

[XI-15] Called the bay of Osa by Herrera; baia de oqua by Vaz Dourado; Munich Atlas, no. xi., b∴ deoqua; De Laet, Golfo de Salinas; and by Dampier, and Jefferys, G. Dulce, and Gulfe Dulce.

[XI-16] With singular fidelity to its original, this name has retained its proper orthography without regard to time or place. The chart-makers of every name and nation give only Panamá. Fernando Colon applies the word as to a province, but usually it is given as to a town. Dampier gives the Bay of Panama as well as the city. De Laet sends flowing into this bay R. Chiepo, R. Pacora, R. Tubanama, R. de la balsa, while to the north are R. Pequi, Venta de Cruzes, and Limaret.

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

[XII-1] Authorities thus far for this chapter are for the most part the same as those last quoted. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iv. 169-248, who, I think, gives the best account of any by contemporary writers; Herrera, dec. ii. lib. i. cap. iii.; Oviedo, iii. 6-8; Peter Martyr, dec. iii. cap. iii. and dec. iv. cap. ix.; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nvovo, 50. For Balboa's complaints to the king, see Carta dirigida al Rey, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, iii. 375. Brief or extended general accounts may be found in Voyages, Curious and Entertaining, 470-1; Panamá, Descr., in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ix. 80; Morelli, Fasti Novi Orbis, 16; Andagoya's Nar., ii.-iii.; Galvano's Discov., 125-8; Ovalle, Hist. Rel. Chile, in Pinkerton's Voy., xiv. 151; Acosta, Hist. Compend. Nuevo Granada, 62; March y Labores, Marina Española, i. 400, portrait; Du Perier, Gen. Hist. Voy., 166; Martire, Summario, in Ramusio, Viaggi, iii. 349; Dic. Enc. de la Lengua Esp., i. 308; Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 526; Puente, Carta, in id., 538-49; Maglianos, St. Francis and Franciscans, 537-8; Pedrarias, Reys-Togten, 3-175, and Cordua, Scheeps-Togt, 26-35, in Aa, vii.; Hesperian Mag., ii. 32-3; Gomara, Hist. Ind., 83-5; Irving's Columbus, iii. 232-86; Uitvoerige Reys-Togten, 33-50, in Gottfried, Reysen, iii.; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 163; Gonzalez Dávila, Carta al Rey, Squier's MS., i. 16.

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

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

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

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

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

[XIII-1] The city or town council, composed of the alcalde, regidores, and other officers having the administration or economical and political management of municipal affairs. The word cabildo has essentially the same signification as ayuntamiento, regimiento, consejo, municipalidad, and consejo municipal. A cabildo eclesiástico is a bishop's council or chapter. The authority invested in this body at Antigua at this time, to check Pedrarias, was wholly unusual and extraordinary.

[XIII-2] First by the hand of Pedrarias de Ávila, the governor's nephew, February 16, 1515, and again January 28, 1516. See Puente, Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., 541-8; Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., ii. 57.

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

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

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

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

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

[XIII-8] As Pascual de Andagoya, Relacion, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, iii. 406, says, 'Panamá se fundó el año de 19, dia de Ntra. Sra. de Agosto, y en fin de aquel año pobló al Nombre de Dios un capitan Diego Alvites por mandado de Pedrarias.' And Herrera writes, dec. ii. lib. iii. cap. iii., 'Concordandose todos en esto, llamò Pedrarias a un escrivano, y le pidio por testimonio como alli de positiva una villa q̃ se llamasse Panamá en nõbre de Dios y de la Reyna doña Iuana, y don Carlos su hijo, y protestava dela defender en el dicho nombres a qualesquier cõtrarios.' See further Las Casas, Hist. Ind., v. 200-20; Morelli, Fasti Novi Orbis, 17; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., iii. 61-4; Gomara, Hist. Ind., 85; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nvovo, 51; Du Perier, Gen. Hist. Voy., 167; Panamá, Descrip. in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ix. 89-90; Zuazo, Carta, in id., xi. 312-19; Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., ii. 56; Purchas, His Pilgrimes, iv. 882.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[XIV-8] For conflicting statements concerning this, compare Gil Gonzalez, Carta al Rey, MS., 16, 36; Andagoya's Nar., 31-2; Niño, Asiento, MS., in Squier's MSS., i. 14, and in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiv. 5-19; Oviedo, iii. 65-71; Las Casas, Hist. Ind., v. 200-4; Herrera, dec. ii. lib. iii. cap. xv.; dec. ii. lib. iv. cap. i.; dec. iii. i. cap. xvi.; Helps' Span. Conq., iii. 69, 70, 74-6; Gordon's Anc. Mex., ii. 204-8; Squier's Dis. Nic., MSS., 7-10.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[XIV-18] The name of the bay remains; that of the island is lost. The early names of the islands in this bay were S. Miguel la Possession, La Possession, and Esposescion; Amapalla, Amapala, or I del Tigre; y. de flecheros, Mangera, or Manguera. Jefferys calls the bay Fonseca or Amapalla. East of b: de fomsequa Vaz Dourado places the wood monic. Mercator locates the town Canicol on the southern shore. Ogilby places the town Xeres, De Laet Xerez, near B. de Fonseca. On one map there is Xeres or Chuluteca, on the eastern shore, and El viejo las Salinas river flowing into the bay.

[XIV-19] Further references to this voyage, unimportant, however, are made in Galvano's Discov., 148-9, where it is stated that 'Nigno' reached 'Tecoantepec'; Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., i. 440; Ogilby's Am., 238; Crowe's Cent. Am., 58; Gordon's Anc. Mex., ii. 204-8; Peter Martyr, dec. vi. cap. ii.-v.; Conder's Mex. and Guat., ii. 301; Juarros, Guat., passim; Pim's Gate of Pacific, 34; Morelli, Fasti Novi Orbis, 18; Andagoya's Nar., 31-2.