Costa Rica, 1545.
DIFFICULTIES OF GUTIERREZ.
The exploration of the Rio San Juan, which had opened up a passage from the North Sea into the very heart of Nicaragua, awakened a more eager desire to possess this unknown region; and to the pride of conquest and discovery was added the all-pervading passion of the Spaniard, for it was believed that the armies of the great Montezuma had invaded the territory from a distance of more than six hundred leagues, and had brought thence many a rich specimen of gold. In 1540 Diego Gutierrez, a citizen of Madrid and brother to Felipe Gutierrez, who five years before had conducted the ill-fated expedition to Veragua, was appointed governor of this province, and soon afterward set forth on an enterprise which was destined to prove even more calamitous than the one conducted by his kinsman.
MUTINY AND DESERTION.
Gutierrez proceeded first to Española, where he raised a company of about two hundred men and sailed thence for Jamaica, the base of supplies for the colonies of Tierra Firme. Here a mutiny broke out among his men, causing the loss of all his military stores. Arriving at Nombre de Dios he fell sick, and while lying at the point of death his men deserted, and crossing over to Panamá took ship for Peru. Recovering from his illness he found himself with but five men and almost without means. He gathered courage, however, and fitting out a small barge sailed for the Rio San Juan, and so made his way to the city of Granada. Falling in with one Baena, a successful adventurer from Peru, he succeeded in borrowing from him three thousand castellanos with which he hoped to retrieve his fortunes.
Gutierrez now endeavored to enlist men in Nicaragua, but disputes between himself and Rodrigo de Contreras, the governor of that province, caused a further delay of two years. Contreras declared that his province extended to the border of Veragua and that there was no intervening territory for Gutierrez to colonize. Gutierrez on the other hand affirmed that the boundaries of Veragua and Castilla del Oro had been placed far south of those originally appointed, and that in consequence there existed a large domain of which he was appointed governor by a charter granted to him from the crown. Though the limits[XI‑4] of Costa Rica as set forth in this document were somewhat indefinite, Contreras at length admitted that his opponent was duly authorized to take possession of the newly created province. He then endeavored to dissuade him from his purpose, representing the country as rugged and his scheme as foolhardy and dangerous. "But if you persist in the occupation of that territory, take my advice," he said, "and keep one hundred well armed men upon the sea-shore, always ready to forage, sometimes in one direction and sometimes in another, for the people are rich in gold, and in this way only can you obtain food."[XI‑5]
The advice of Contreras was cruel, unjust, and contrary to law, but it was such alone as would lead to success, and the event proved that it was sound and politic. In a lofty strain that ill consisted with his future conduct Gutierrez replied: "The government of this province was conferred upon me by the emperor that I might people and not pillage it; and if fortune has been adverse to others, I trust in God that to me it may be more propitious."[XI‑6] It was fine doctrine, but doctrine that here would not win. Collecting a force of sixty men, he soon set sail with two vessels for the mouth of the Rio Surre.[XI‑7]
After ascending the river for about three leagues the party came in sight of some deserted huts, and there encamping, were visited by several caciques, who brought gold to the value of seven hundred ducats, and received in return some rosaries of beads, a few bells and trinkets, and an earnest exhortation to join the true faith. The native chieftains were well pleased with their visit, and on returning to their homes sent presents of fruit, fish, and the dried flesh of wild boars. A gleam of success thus at first attended Gutierrez' effort at colonization, but he was not destined to escape the disasters which seemed almost inseparable from the attempts of the Spaniards to establish settlements in the New World. He was a man of great tenacity of purpose, but irascible, and singularly deficient in power of control. At Jamaica his soldiers mutinied; at Nombre de Dios they deserted; at Costa Rica, suffering from hunger and the privations of pioneer life, they abandoned the enterprise, and stole away to the sea-shore, where they fell in with two vessels from Nombre de Dios and so made their way back to Nicaragua.
Left with only six followers,[XI‑8] his nephew Alonso de Pisa, one sailor, and four servants, Gutierrez had no alternative but to follow his recreant band. Digging a hole in the earth, he buried there several jars of salt, honey, and other stores not needed for his voyage, and embarking in a small river-boat descended to the sea. Soon he descried approaching the mouth of the river a brigantine, which proved to be in command of one Captain Bariento, with men, arms, ammunition, and provisions from Nicaragua. Thereupon he turned back, conducted the vessel to his settlement, and handing to his nephew all the gold that had been collected, amounting to eight hundred castellanos, bade him return with the ship to Nombre de Dios and there purchase arms and procure recruits. Girolomo Benzoni, the Italian chronicler of the New World, was at Nombre de Dios when Captain Pisa arrived early in 1545, and being, as he says, young and strong, filled with high aspirations, and desirous of enriching himself, he determined to return with the vessel to Nueva Cartago.[XI‑9] Other adventurers, lured by the promise of wealth, determined to join the expedition, and soon twenty-seven men were pledged for the new colony.
On the return voyage the brigantine encountered a gale near the entrance of the river and was driven to the islands of Zorobaro, a short distance from the coast. There they remained for seventy-two days, exposed to incessant rains, three of their number being killed by lightning. Such was the blackness of the storm that during all this time they did not see four hours of sunshine. The captain of the vessel went ashore on the mainland to obtain provisions, but after eight days' search midst forest, swamp, and mountain, during which time he subsisted on snails and berries, he returned empty-handed. Finally the men made their way to the encampment of Gutierrez, who, being determined at all hazard to people his territory, immediately sent the ship back to Nombre de Dios for more recruits, supplying funds to the amount of fifteen hundred castellanos. The number of the colonists was thereby increased to eighty men. Thus reënforced he began the exploration of his province. With four canoes he ascended the Rio Surre, and after making a distance of about ten leagues, landed at an Indian village to which he gave the name of San Francisco in honor of the saint on whose natal day the spot was reached. Here the party was met by certain caciques, who brought presents of fruit but no gold. The governor received them kindly, informing them through an interpreter that the strangers had in their possession a secret which was of the utmost value; that they had come a great distance, and some of them for no other purpose than to reveal it. In return for this the Christians must have gold.