A VISIT TO THE PEARL ISLANDS.
Rumors arriving from Spain of the recognition by the India Council of the services and merits of Vasco Nuñez, Pedrarias hastened to move men to the southern seaboard, lest he should see his enemy placed in power there. For this mission were chosen the governor's cousin, Gaspar de Morales, and Francisco Pizarro, to whom were given sixty men.[X-27] They were told to cross the mountains by the shortest route, and, taking possession of the Pearl Islands found and named by Vasco Nuñez, to gather the fruit thereof. The object of the Europeans in attacking the islanders was, of course, to extend the boundaries of their enlightened, just, and humane civilization, and bring the benighted heathen to a knowledge of the Christian religion. True, they might gather a little gold, or pick up such pearls as fell in their way, for the laborer is worthy of his hire.
On reaching the seashore, Morales quartered half of his men, under Peñalosa, on a cacique named Tutibrá, and the remainder on the neighboring chieftain, Tunaca. Chiapes and Tumaco, still loyal to the Spaniards, joined them there. Every requisite, food, boats, and men, was provided by the savages with alacrity, for they who should despoil their ancient enemy were welcome.
One day, just before dark, Morales and Pizarro with thirty Spaniards and a large company of natives embarked in a fleet of canoes, but so boisterous was the sea that they were unable to reach the islands before the next day. Landing on one of the smaller islands and meeting but slight resistance, the invaders passed over to Isla Rica, as it was called by Vasco Nuñez, the largest of the group, where dwelt the terrible king, who made the caciques of the mainland tremble, and who now, nothing daunted, came forward at the head of his warriors and fought the strangers bravely. And notwithstanding Castilian gunpowder, steel, and bloodhounds heaping in lifeless masses before his eyes his best and bravest, the stubborn king fought on as if he knew not how to yield. Finally Chiapes and Tumaco spoke to him, and showed how vain resistance was, how valuable the friendship of the strangers. Believing this, the island monarch submitted, and brought the Spaniards to the spacious palace, as the old chroniclers called his house, and set before them a basket of large and lustrous pearls to satisfy their avaricious souls. In return the king was made passing rich by a present of a few cheap hand-mirrors, some hawk-bells and hatchets, and exhibited almost as foolish a delight over his trinkets as did the Europeans over theirs. "Commend me to the friendship of these gods," cried the king, as he sought his swarthy other self behind the mirror, and jingled the hawk-bells, so much more beautiful than pearls, and tried the keen edge of his hatchet on the skull of a slave standing by. Embracing Morales he led him to a tower which crowned the dwelling, and commanded a view of the isle-dotted ocean on every side. "Behold," he said, "the infinite sea extending beyond the sunbeams; behold these islands on the right hand and on the left. All are mine; all abound in pearls, whereof you shall have as many as desired if you continue my friend." He also spoke of the nations of the distant mainland whose mighty power was evidenced by the ships which he had sometimes seen.
Morales readily promised eternal friendship, stipulating only that one hundred marks of pearls should be annually paid the king of Castile, and to this assented the king of Dites,[X-28] as the natives called Isla Rica. In order, so far as possible, to render insignificant the achievement of Vasco Nuñez, Morales had been instructed to take possession of the South Sea for the king of Spain in the name of Pedrarias. This was now done. The name of Isla de Flores was substituted for that of Isla Rica, and the holy rite of baptism was administered to the king, who received the name Pedro Arias.[X-29]
MISFORTUNES OF MORALES.
The good fortune of Morales now forsook him. On returning to the mainland he found that the country was in arms, owing to the excesses of Peñalosa, who was a relative of Isabel, wife of Pedrarias. The villain had repaid the hospitality of Tutibrá by outrages on his women, and the chieftains had in consequence confederated for the protection of their homes. In revenge for this Morales spread fire and sword throughout that region. On one occasion eighteen caciques, called to a friendly council, were treacherously seized and given to the dogs; at another time seven hundred savages are said to have been slain within an hour. But in burning the village of a cacique named Birú,[X-30] on the eastern side of the gulf, the Spaniards were repulsed, and in attempting to cross the mountains to Darien they lost their way, and after considerable wandering and suffering found themselves back at the starting-point. Again they essayed the transit, a handful of men amidst infuriated hosts. In retaliation for night attacks, and darts showered by day from cliffs and thickets, the Europeans strewed their path with murdered and mutilated captives to the number of one hundred, hoping to intimidate the enemy, who was only the more maddened thereby. Thus, midst this bloody disturbance, which in ferocity far exceeded anything of which wild beasts are capable, this band of Spanish marauders escaping their just deserts, managed with great tribulation to reach their settlement, still clinging to the gold and pearls.[X-31]
To Gaspar de Morales Vasco Nuñez pays the same encomiums as to the other captains of Pedrarias. "Be it known to your Majesty," he writes, "that during this excursion was perpetrated the greatest cruelty ever heard of in Arabian or Christian country, in any generation. And this it is. This captain and the surviving Christians while on their journey took nearly one hundred Indians of both sexes, mostly women and children, fastened them with chains, and afterward ordered them to be decapitated and scalped." But "being cousin and servant of the governor," adds Oviedo, he suffers "neither pain nor punishment."
CHAPTER XI.
DARIEN EXPEDITIONS UNDER PEDRARIAS.
1515-1517.
Gonzalo de Badajoz Visits the South Sea—What He Sees at Nombre de Dios—His Dealings with Totonagua—And with Tataracherubi—Arrives at Natá—The Spaniards Gather much Gold—They Encounter the Redoubtable Paris—A Desperate Fight—Badajoz Loses his Gold and Returns to Darien—Pedrarias on the War-path—He Strikes Cenú a Blow of Revenge—Acla Founded—The Governor Returns Ill to Antigua—Expedition of Gaspar de Espinosa to the South Sea—The Licentiate's Ass—Robbery by Law—Espinosa's Relation—A Bloody-handed Priest—Espinosa at Natá—He Courts the Acquaintance of Paris—Who Kills the Ambassadors—Hurtado Surveys the Southern Seaboard to Nicoya—Panamá Founded—An Aboriginal Tartarus—Return of Espinosa's Expedition.