[VII-2] Oviedo, ii. 426, says that, with the assistance of one Hurtado, Vasco Nuñez was hidden in a ship's sail.
[VII-3] 'Der Name Darien (Dariena, oder Tarena) scheint zunächst mit dem indianischen Namen des grossen Flusses Atrato, welcher sich in den Golf von Uraba ausgiesst, seinen Anfang genommen zu haben. Der erste Eroberer, der in diesen Golf einsegelte, war Bastidas 1501. Ob er schon den Fluss Darien gesehen und den Namen nach Europa gebracht hat, ist ungewiss. Gewiss ist es, das der Name des Flusses Darien bereits in den Dokumenten und Theilungspakten zwischen Nicuesa und Ojeda in Jahre 1509 genannt wird.' Kohl, Die Beiden ältesten General-karten von Amerika, 116. On Peter Martyr's map, India beyond the Ganges, 1510, is tariene; on the globe of Orontius, 1531, the gulf is called Sinus vraba, the river vrabe, and the Isthmus furna dariena. Salvat de Pilestrina, Munich Atlas, no. iv., 1515, places on the west side of the gulf of Urabá the word dariem. Maiollo, Munich Atlas, no. v., 1519, calls the place daryen; Fernando Colon, 1527, writes darien; Diego de Ribero, 1529, dariẽ; Munich Atlas, no. vi., 1532-40, dariem; Vaz Dourado, 1571, dariem; Robert Thorne, in Hakluyt's Voy., Darion; Mercator's Atlas, 1569; West-Indische Spieghel, 1624; Ogilby's Map of America, 1671; Dampier, 1699, and subsequent cartographers give the present form.
[VII-4] Ogilby, Am., 66, entertains a dim conception of the fact when he says, 'Ancisus pursuing, found in a Thicket of Canes, or Reeds a great Treasure of Gold.'
[VII-5] 'De que hoy no quedan ni vestigios,' says Acosta. Nor do I find laid down on any map in my possession the town of Santa María, or Antigua, or Darien, by which names this place has been severally designated. Puerto Hermoso, placed by Colon at the south-western extremity of the gulf of Urabá, p: hermosso, and also by Ribero, po hmoso, is supposed to have been the anchorage of Enciso and the harbor of Antigua. Oviedo, i. 4, in endeavoring to fasten upon the place the name La Guardia, confuses himself beyond extrication. 'En la cibdad del Darien (que tambien se llamó antes la Guardia) é despues santa Maria del Antigua.'
[VII-6] Carta dirigida al Rey por Vasco Nuñez de Balboa desde Santa María del Darien, 20 de Enero de 1513, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, iii. 358. That Enciso has been properly represented as a vain and shallow man is proved by a reference to his book, Suma de Geographia, 2, wherein he does not hesitate to patronize the boy-emperor 'whose youth had not permitted him to read much of geography.' 'Por tanto yo Martin Fernandez de Enciso alguazil mayor dela tierra firme delas Indias ocidentales llamada castilla dl oro. Desseando hazer algun seruicio a vuestra. s. c. c. m. que le fuesse agradable y no menos prouechoso, cõsiderando que la poca edad de vuestra real alteza no ha dado lugar a que pudiesse leer los libros que dela geographia hablan.' And that he was as beastly in his bigotry and cruelty as his less learned companions we may know from what he himself wrote the king, Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., i. 449, about the caciques who kept men dressed as women, and used as such, 'and when I took Darien, we seized and burned them, and when the women saw them burning they manifested joy.' Compare Oviedo, ii. 425-27, 472-76; and iii. 7; Herrera, dec. i. lib. viii. cap. v.-vii.; and lib. ix. cap. l; or, if one will have it in Dutch, Ezquebel, Aankomst, 30-8, in Gottfried, Reysen, i.; Acosta, Compend. Hist. Nueva Granada, 33-8; Drake's Voy., 157-58; Norman's Hist. Cal., 10; Patton's Hist. U. S., 11; Ogilby's Am., 399; March y Labores, Marina Española, i. 413-23; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nvovo, 41-5; Harper's Mag., xviii. 468; Bidwell's Panamá, 27-28; and Heylyn's Cosmog., 1087.
[VII-7] As I have before observed, there were alcaldes of various denominations, duties, and jurisdictions. In new discoveries, when the chief of the expedition had not contracted with the king for the appointing of authorities, the settlers met and elected one or more alcaldes and regidores. The alcalde, in the absence of the governor or military chief, presided over the municipal council, composed of regidores who governed the municipality, or regimiento, as it was then called. The alcalde was also the executive power, exercising the functions of judge, with original jurisdiction in all matters civil and criminal, those relating to the natives excepted. In the absence of the adelantado he was therefore chief in authority, and when the governor was present, the alcalde was second. Alcaldes in new settlements, and in early times, were different from those created later. Their duties covered the emergency. In the present instance, had Enciso continued to exercise the office of alcalde mayor, regidores might still have been elected to attend to the affairs of the municipality, in which case no alcaldes would have been elected, for Enciso himself would have presided.
[VII-8] Regidores, or members of the municipal council, were elected by the residents of a ward or district. Cities were entitled to twelve, towns to six, and villages or small settlements were limited to three or even less.
[VII-9] The name of a Spanish settlement midway between Cape de la Vela and Cartagena, and sometimes applied to the territory in that vicinity.
[VII-10] The procurador de la ciudad, called afterward síndico procurador, and later still síndico, was an officer of the municipal council, whose duty it was to see the city ordinances enforced, bring suit for and defend the city in any suit, performing the functions of city attorney, beside having a seat in the common council of the city.
[VII-11] Benzoni asserts that after leaving Antigua, Nicuesa followed the coast for some distance, but landing one day for water, he was seized by cannibals, who captured the vessel and devoured the men. 'E cosi Niquesa molto dolente se ne parti, e per quella costa andando salto in terra per piglior acqua, e su da paesani ucciso, e poi mangiato con tutti i suoi compagni, e questo su la fine della vita di Diego di Niquesa, con la sua armata di Veragua.' Hist. Mondo Nvovo, i. 47. A story was current for a time that they had been thrown on Cuba, where all perished, leaving inscribed upon a tree, 'Here ended the unfortunate Nicuesa.' Las Casas and Herrera, however, are of opinion that his vessel foundered at sea. 'Algunos imaginaron que aportò a Cuba, y que los Indios le mataron, porque andando ciertos Castellanos por la isla hallarõ escrito en un arbol: Aqui feneciò el desdichado Nicuesa: pero esto se tuvo por los hombres mas verdaderos, por falso, porque los primeros que entraron en Cuba, afermaron nunca aver oydo tal nueva. Lo que se tuvo por mas cierto, es, que como llenava tan mal navio, y las mares de aquellas partes son ton bravas, y vehementes, la mesma mar lo tragara facilmente, o que pereceria de hãbre, y de sed.' Herrera, i. viii. viii. But his fate must forever remain a mystery; and he one among the many whose visionary hopes have been buried beneath these waters; one among the many who, having left home with sanguine expectations, sailed over these seas in quest of gold or adventure, never again to be heard from! It is easy, after a failure, to find the mistake. Many of Nicuesa's misfortunes sprang not from any fault, and yet faults, in place of nobler qualities, were developed by his misfortunes.