[XI‑14] Benzoni relates that being unable to eat his portion of dog-meat which was full of worms, he went to the governor and demanded food. Diego told him to go and eat of the roots of trees, whereupon a Spaniard who was standing near exclaimed, 'Sir governor, since you will not share the good and the bad with us, go and make war by yourself.' A piece of cheese weighing three pounds was then divided among the men, who were thus pacified for that night. The chronicler was on sentry during the early morning-watch, and hearing the governor give orders to his cook to boil a piece of pork for his breakfast paced to and fro near the fire till every one was asleep, when, sharpening a piece of wood to a point, he speared the pork and secured the prize in his knapsack, 'feeling better pleased,' he tells us, 'than if he had secured a treasure.' Hist. New World, in Hakluyt, Divers Voy., 132.
[XI‑15] The Rio Grande.
[XI‑16] 'Et hauendo combattuto dall' vna parte, e dall' altra per ispatio di mezo quarto d'hora, e hauendo noi altri ammazzato, e ferito molti Indiani, e alla fine fattogli voltare le spalle.' Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, 91. Montanus states that the entire battle lasted half an hour. 'Na een half uur vechten, deinsden d'aenvallers; doch, met versche benden gestijft, hervatten den torn: braeken tuschen de Spaensche slag-orde in: sloegen met palm-houte swaerden en knodsen harsenen en beenen te pletteren.' Die Nieuwe Weereld, 88.
[XI‑17] Oviedo says the governor was sick with gout at the time. 'Y el gobernador en essa saçon mandaba mal su persona, porque andaba tullido de gota é quatro negros le traian echado en una hamaca, lo qual le debiera bastar para ser mas paçiente con los indios.' His statements differ materially from those of Benzoni. He relates that the Spaniards were surprised in their camp and that Gutierrez and 72 of his men were slain, seven only making their escape, but it is not probable that he had so large a force under his command. iii. 181. Rávago, in Squier's MSS., xiii. 3, says that only 44 or 45 days elapsed between the landing of Gutierrez and his death, but his report concerning the early history of the province is somewhat vague and unreliable.
[XI‑18] There is little doubt that Benzoni's narrative of the expedition of Gutierrez is somewhat colored in consequence of a rupture between himself and the governor. 'The first day that we entered the port,' he says, 'the governor graciously placed me at his table, and took pleasure in conversing with me. The greater part of his conversation was about gold and silver, and the wars, and the cruelties inflicted on wretched Italy, and especially on Milan. But when he perceived that such subjects were disagreeable to me, he took a dislike to me and never would bear the sight of me after.' It is, however, the only complete record of that event, and I can but give his version of it. Oviedo's information as to the early history of Costa Rica is taken from Juan de Espinosa, who accompanied Alonso de Pisa to Cartago in one of his return voyages. iii. 184. He was well acquainted with Gutierrez, and thus tries to palliate his faults: 'Desalmados ó pláticos que por acá han andado, que á los noviçios ó nuevamente venidos á gobernar los enseñen á robar;' and in consequence thereof 'por enriquesçer, presto vuelven la hoja, é trocado el intento con que partieron de España, si bueno era, ó afirmado en el cauteloso que en su pecho estaba callado, en poco tiempo manifiestan las obras el contrario de las palabras.' iii. 178.
Other authorities quoted in this chapter are Herrera, dec. vii. lib. iv. cap. xvii.; Benzoni, Mondo Nvovo, lib. ii. 83-92; Bejarano, Informe; Haya, Informe; Squier's MSS., xiii. 1-3; Juarros, Guat. (ed. London, 1823), 73-6, 341-5; Molina, Coup d'Oeil de Costa R., 4; Molina, Bosquejo Costa R., 10, 83-92; Molina, Costa R. and Nic., 6-8, 36-8; Mosquito Doc. 27, in 77-229; Morel de Sta Cruz, Visita Apost., MS., 14; Reichardt, Cent. Am., 111, 112; Salv., Diar. Ofic. 30 Mar. 1876, 618.
The time of Diego Gutierrez' fight with the Indians and death, as given by Oviedo, is contradicted in an official manuscript extant that places it in December 1544. It is the investigation made in Leon, Nicaragua, on the 25th of June, 1545, and the writer assures us he has an authenticated copy of it. Peralta's autograph note in Peralta, Rio San Juan, 9.
[XII‑1] Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 13. The law was soon modified by decrees of Feb. 12, 1538, and of June 29 and November 8, 1539, by which prelates and governors were directed to induce all eligible unmarried men holding encomiendas to marry within three years. This, however, was to be accomplished by persuasive means, or by distinguishing in favor of the married men in the distribution of Indians, and not by coercive measures, Recop. de Indias, ii. 271-2.
[XII‑2] 'Y otros que aunque haya mugeres en la tierra, y ellos estén en edad que todavia se sufra casarse, no las querrán por las enfermedades contagiosas que de la tierra se han pegado.' Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 14.
[XII‑3] Commentarios Reales, ii. 58.