ON THE RIO FRIO.
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. 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 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]
THE TALAMANCANS.
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 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, 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.