Wrathful, indeed, was Nicuesa on reaching Belen. Against Olano his indignation was extreme. He charged him with wilful desertion, with felonious destruction of the ships, and with gross mismanagement. He had ruined all. Branding him as a traitor he ordered his arrest; and when some feeble attempts were made by the others to mitigate the governor's displeasure, he broke forth on them. "It well becomes you," he exclaimed, "to ask pardon for him, when you should be begging mercy for yourselves!"
But of what use were oaths and bickerings? Of his gallant company half were dead, and the less fortunate remainder lived only to suffer yet awhile before following. Of all the men who came from Spain, proud Nicuesa lost the most, having most to lose. Of all New World woes, Nicuesa's woes were greatest; the half of what thus far has been words cannot tell, and the worst part is yet to come.
NOMBRE DE DIOS.
Now that the rich Veragua was reached, the Golden Castile of greedy anticipations, what then? The gold with which to load the ships was wanting; the ships with which to bear away that gold were almost all destroyed. The fertile soil was marshy, the spicy air malarious, the redundant vegetation yielded little food for man. Sallow-faced skeletons of men clamored their distress. Death was busy enough, so Olano's life was spared, though his badge of office was exchanged for fetters. Even foragers perished for want of food; every member of one band died from eating of a putrescent Indian. The governor grew peevish; his generous temper was soured by misfortune. The colonists complained of his harsh treatment and indifference to their sufferings. And they said to him: "The fates are against us here; let us abandon this place." "Oh, very well!" snarled Nicuesa. Leaving Alonso Nuñez, with the dignified title of alcalde mayor, and a few men to harvest some grain planted by Olano, the colonists embarked in two brigantines and a caravel, built of fragments of the broken ships, to seek some healthier spot. After sailing eastward some twenty leagues, a Genoese sailor named Gregorio addressed the governor: "I well remember, when with the admiral in this vicinity we entered a fine port where we found food and water." After some search the place was found, the Portobello of Columbus, and an anchor dropped there by the admiral was seen protruding from the sand. Landing for food, the Spaniards were attacked and twenty killed; indeed, they could scarcely wield their weapons so weak were they. Faint and disheartened they continued their way about seven leagues farther, when approaching the shore Nicuesa cried out: "Paremos aquí en el nombre de Dios!" Here let us stop in God's name! They found anchorage, the place being the Puerto de Bastimentos of Columbus. The companions of Nicuesa, however, ready in their distress to seize on any auspice, took up the cry of their commander and applied the words Nombre de Dios[VI-14] to the harbor which they then entered, and which name to this day it bears.
Here another attempt was made to locate the government of Castilla del Oro. Disembarking, Nicuesa took formal possession, erected a fortress, and began again his necessary though suicidal policy of foraging. The natives retired. The malarious atmosphere wrapped the strangers in disease and death. The caravel was sent back to Veragua, and Alonso Nuñez and the remnant of the colony brought away. The vessel was then sent to Española for supplies, but neither ship nor crew were ever afterward heard from. Meanwhile Nicuesa and the remnant of his luckless company made a brave stand, but all of no avail. Long since fate had decreed their destruction. It was not possible in their present condition to live. Reptiles as food became a luxury to them; the infected sunlight dried up their blood; despair paralyzed heart and brain; and to so dire extremity were they finally reduced that they were scarcely able to mount guard or bury their dead.[VI-15]
In my bibliographical notices thus far I have had occasion to make mention more particularly of original documents referring to individual episodes. I will now say a few words concerning the early chroniclers, Las Casas, Oviedo, Peter Martyr, and Gomara, and of the later and more general writer, Herrera. On these, the corner-stones of early Spanish American annals, the fabrics of all who follow them must forever rest.
THE WRITINGS OF LAS CASAS.
The lives of Las Casas and Oviedo constitute in themselves no small portions of their respective histories. Both came to the New World, and each took an active and prominent part in many of the matters of which he wrote. They were nearly of an age; the former being born at Seville in 1474, and the latter at Madrid in 1478; but Oviedo did not come to America until 1514, being with Pedrarias Dávila when he went to govern Darien, while Las Casas took up his residence under Ovando at Española in 1502. Las Casas was an ecclesiastic whose life was devoted to befriending the Indians, and he did not leave America for the last time until 1547, after half a century of most humane service; Oviedo was a cavalier who sought to better his broken fortunes by obtaining through his influence at court the office of veedor de las fundiciones del oro de la Tierra Firme, supervisor of gold-melting for Tierra Firme, which office he held throughout his connection with the affairs of the continental Indies, until 1532. Both were influential men at court, Las Casas being quite intimate with young Charles, while Oviedo had been mozo de cámara, or page to Prince Juan. Both made frequent trips between Spain and America; Oviedo crossed the Atlantic twelve times, Las Casas even more.
Las Casas was as able an annalist as he was reformer. His greatest work, Historia de las Indias, was begun in his fifty-third year, and completed in 1561, five years before his death. It was extensively copied and used in manuscript, but was not printed until 1875-76. Though consisting of five volumes, it comprises but three decades, or books, and brings the history of the New World down only to 1520. It was the author's original intention to have continued his work through six decades, which would have brought it down to 1550, and hence have included his important experiences in Guatemala, Chiapas, and Mexico. Next to the general history of the Indies stands the Apologética Historia, comprising a description of the country and the customs of the people, and written to defend the natives against the accusation that they lacked system in their societies, not having reason to govern themselves. His first printed work was issued in Mexico in 1546; it was entitled Cancionero Spiritual, and was dedicated to Bishop Zumárraga. At Seville, in 1552, was published, in one volume 4to, Breve relacion de la destruccion de las Indias Occidentales, and other tracts of a similar nature; such as his Controversy with Sepúlveda; his Thirty Propositions; Remedies for the Reformation of Indies; Rules for Confessors; a treatise proving the sovereign empire and universal authority which the kings of Castile and Leon have over the Indies, etc. This collection was put in print in Latin, French, Italian, German, and Dutch, some of the translations appearing in several editions. The Controversy with Sepúlveda was issued separately. Juan Antonio Llorente printed at Paris in 1822 a Coleccion de las Obras del Obispo de Chiapa, 2 vols. 8vo, which was published the same year in French, under title of Œuvres de Don Barthélemi de las Casas. The collection comprises several of his less important works; the French translation is remarkably free, the author being at times quite lost sight of, and several new pieces of doubtful origin are added. As a writer, Las Casas is honest, earnest, and reliable, except where his enthusiasm gets the better of him. His learned opponent and arch-enemy, Sepúlveda, pronounces him most subtle, most vigilant, and most fluent, compared with whom the Ulysses of Homer was inert and stuttering. He was not only a thorn in the flesh of evil-doers, but by his persistent and stinging effrontery he often exasperated mild and benevolent men. But whatever his enemies may say of him, and they are neither few nor silent, true it is that of all the men who came to the Indies he almost alone leaves the furnace with no smell of fire upon him.
GONZALO FERNANDEZ DE OVIEDO Y VALDÉS.