These offers he rejects because, he says, he has thrown off his allegiance to Spain and therefore needs no pardon for rebellion; then he closes with the sarcastic farewell:—
“Nuestro Señor la muy magnifica persona de V. md. guarde,
“Su Servidor,
“Lope de Aguirre.”[4]
The Governor wept with vexation on reading this epistle, and, after the manner of men of his stamp, said what he would do to Aguirre, were they able to fight the matter out in single combat. Meanwhile the troops surprised and took the town from the rebel, who fled towards San Felipe. He met his daughter there, and killed her to save her from the disgrace she might expect as the child of “the traitor.” Oviedo y Baños declaims at length against the murder as the crowning act of cruelty of his life, but while he was undoubtedly guilty during his career of many acts of wild savagery, this final deed seems to an unbiased mind to be creditable rather than otherwise. Be that as it may, he was captured and killed, and his body was quartered and thrown to the dogs on the various roads leading away from Barquisimeto.
Whether as a result of Aguirre’s protest or no, it is impossible to say, but in 1564 Philip II. took steps to adequately reward one man who had worked to develop his Caribbean colonies, in conferring upon Faxardo the title of Don, and offering him the governorship of the lands he had been so instrumental in opening to commerce. Unfortunately, before the messenger arrived, Faxardo had been treacherously killed by Cobos, alcalde of Cumaná, who was jealous of his exploits in the west.
The work of this first traveller in the Carácas was not entirely lost, however, for three years later, during the governorship of Don Diego Ponce de Leon, Diego de Losada, a native of Tocuyo, travelled across through Villa Rica (Nirgua) to the Llanos, where his efforts, in spite of many battles with the Indians, were directed rather towards settlement than conquest. Returned to the Villa de San Francisco (of Faxardo), he founded there—presumably in the latter part of 1567, though, strangely enough, the exact date is not recorded—the city of Santiago de Leon de Carácas. As he had on his travels adopted San Sebastian as his patron and protector against the poisoned arrows of the Indians, that saint’s day has been celebrated in a special manner in Carácas since its foundation.
Ten years later Don Juan Pimentel, the newly appointed Governor, moved his seat from Coro to Carácas, and that city has remained since, with one short break, the capital of Venezuela. For some years at this time there seems to have been no Governor of Nueva Andalusia, and a captain of considerable energy and tact, named Garcia-Gonzalez, was dispatched by Pimentel to settle the countries near the boundaries of the two provinces.
Carácas is splendidly situated for defence, the steep range of the coast making a natural 5,000-foot rampart against invaders from the sea. It was taken once, however, and the story of its capture has, for some reason, been wrongly described by nearly every writer on Venezuela, though Kingsley’s reference in “Westward Ho!” avoids the current inaccuracies. Generally it is briefly stated that Drake, or El Draque, took the city at the beginning of June, 1595; but Sir Francis was then in England preparing for what proved to be his last voyage, during which he died at sea off Porto Bello in Panama, a place confused by an American writer on Venezuela with Puerto Cabello. The true account may be read in Hakluyt’s “Voyages” as it was given by one of the members of the party.
Briefly, Captain (afterwards Sir Amyas) Preston and Captain Sommers, after putting Cumaná to ransom, landed on the Carácas coast and captured a small fort, presumably near Naiguatá. Finding the Governor of the fort asleep in the forest, they learned that the inhabitants of Carácas had heard of the arrival of the corsairs, and were preparing to meet them on the main road over the mountains from La Guaira. The fugitive, whose name is given as Villalpando, was induced to act as guide along the “Indian Way” to the city, which Preston entered on May 29th, after a difficult journey through forests and over mountains. The only Spaniard found in the place was an old gentleman, Don Alonso Andrea de Ledesma, who gallantly tried to repel the invaders single-handed. The Englishmen had orders to spare him for his chivalry, but his refusal to accept defeat led to his death, and he was interred with honour by his foes. Meanwhile messengers were carrying the news to the troops in the pass on the La Guaira road, who returned to find such valuables as they had left in the city gone with the invaders by the supposedly unknown Indian way. Preston continued his way to Coro, found nothing there and burned the town, and finally returned to England on September 10, 1595.