Restrepo says that the province of Antioquia, one of the richest and most fertile in New Granada, was entirely unknown to geographers up to the time when he wrote. No astronomical or other observation had ever been taken in it, and its rivers and other features were either not marked at all, or put down in false positions on the maps. The first map of Antioquia, a copy of which is in the map room of the Royal Geographical Society, was made by Restrepo in 1807. He triangulated the whole province, corrected his bearings by sun’s azimuths, took meridian altitudes of stars for his latitudes, and deeply regretted that he had no instruments to enable him to get his longitudes by observing the eclipses of Jupiter’s satellites. In the Semanario Restrepo gives a long and detailed geographical description of the valley of the Cauca.
[208] In latitude 6° 36´ N. according to Restrepo.
[209] It will be as well here to give, in a few lines, the fate of Vadillo’s expedition. He led his men up the left bank of the Cauca, suffering terribly from want of proper food, the difficulties of the road, and the constant attacks of the Indians. At last his gallant lieutenant Francisco Cesar died. His death filled the soldiers with consternation, and they clamoured for a retreat to the coast. This, however, did not at all suit the views of Vadillo, who knew that imprisonment was awaiting him at Carthagena; and, when the discontent of his men became formidable, he drew his sword and rushed alone into the woods, crying out that, let who would go back, he should press on till he met with better fortune. The men were ashamed and followed him, and eventually reached Cali. Here at last Vadillo was deserted by most of his people, he went on nearly alone to Popayan, was sent by sea to Panama, and thence to Spain for trial. He died in poverty at Seville, before the termination of his trial. This soldierlike lawyer thus completed the discovery of the course of the river Cauca. Though harsh and obstinate, he was a brave commander, and cheerfully shared all privations with his men.
Meanwhile the licentiate Santa Cruz, who had arrived at Carthagena with orders to arrest Vadillo, sent two officers in chase of him in 1538. It is of one of these officers, named Juan Greciano, that a story is told at p. 42. Their troops met those of the captain Don Jorge Robledo, who had advanced down the Cauca from Cali, and joined them.
The expeditions of Cesar and Vadillo, the first discoverers of the valley of the Cauca, thus came to an end without a foot of ground having been permanently conquered. The same fate did not attend the next invader, Don Jorge Robledo. He had accompanied Belalcazar from Quito to Popayan, and in 1541 set out from Cali with one hundred and thirty men, for the conquest of Antioquia. Our young author, on the breaking up of Vadillo’s expedition, seems to have joined that of Robledo, whose fortunes he followed for some time; and he witnessed the conquest of many Indian tribes, and the foundation and settlement of several Spanish towns in this valley of the Cauca.
[210] The river Cauca is still noted for its gold washings, and mines. Boritica, the very place alluded to by our author, is also mentioned by Restrepo as having once yielded great treasure, though now exhausted. The gold of the Cauca valley is mentioned as one of the resources of New Granada in a letter to the Committee of Spanish American Bondholders (New Granada and its Internal Resources, p. 27.) In the beginning of the present century, the Viceroyalty of New Granada yielded 20,505 marcs of gold, worth 2,990,00 dollars, according to Humboldt. In 1850 the produce of gold in New Granada was worth £252,407.
[211] Cui, according to Velasco, is the smallest kind of rabbit in the country. From most ancient times the Indians have bred great quantities of these Cuis or Ccoys (guinea pigs) in their houses. He describes them as under five or six dedos, but very broad and thick, with round ears, great variety in colour, and very fat delicate flesh. Hist. de Quito, i. p. 89.
[212] The Atrato.
[213] Cieza de Leon calls the Canea, the river of Santa Martha. In this part of its course it flows between two chains of mountains, which only leave a space of one hundred or two hundred yards between them and the river. The stream is full of huge blocks of rock causing numerous rapids, and impeding navigation.
[214] Probably the Ceroxylon andicola.