Beyond Mugia, towards the east, is the valley of Aburra, to go to which it is necessary to cross the Andes, which is done very easily as there is little forest, and the journey only takes one day. We discovered this valley with captain Jorge Robledo, but we only saw a few small villages, different from those we had already passed, and not so rich. When we entered this valley of Aburra, the detestation we conceived for the natives was such that we hung them and their women to the boughs of trees by their hair, and, amidst grievous moans, we left their bodies there, while their souls went down to hell. The land is very fertile in this valley of Aburra, and several rivers flow through it. Further on there is a very large ancient road, and others by which the people communicate with those to the eastward, which are numerous and great, but we heard of them by common report, and did not know them from personal inspection. We next arrived at a village called Cenasura, which is rich, and it is believed that there are here some very rich burial places. The Indians are fine men; they go naked like the others, and resemble them in their habits. At the village of Blanco, some distance beyond Cenasura, we left the great river on the right hand, in order to go to the town of Arma.
There are many other rivers on this route, which I do not enumerate, because they have not all got names. Near Cenasura there is a river flowing over a very stony bed, and nearly a day’s journey along its banks, on the left hand, there is a large and very populous district concerning which I shall presently write. These districts were at first placed under the city of Cartago (the great river forming the boundary) by Captain Jorge Robledo, who discovered them; but as the Indians were so untameable, and opposed to service at Cartago, the adelantado Belalcazar, governor for his Majesty, ordered that these villages should be separated from Cartago, and that a town of Spaniards should be founded in the midst of them. This was done, and the town was formed by Miguel Muñoz, in the name of his Majesty, the adelantado Don Sebastian de Belalcazar being governor of the province, in the year 1542. It was first founded on a hill at the entrance of the province of Arma, but the war which the natives carried on against the Spaniards was so fierce that, for this reason, and because there was little room to sow crops and establish farms, it was removed a little more than two leagues nearer the great river. The site is twenty-three leagues from the city of Cartago, twelve from the town of Anzerma, and one from the great river, on a plain between two small rivers, and is surrounded by great palm trees, which are different from those I have already described, though more useful, for very savoury palmitos are taken from them, and their fruit is also savoury, for when it is broken with stones, milk flows out, and they even make a kind of cream and butter from it, which they use for lighting lamps.[214] I have seen that which I now relate, and it all comes within my own experience. The site of this town is considered rather unhealthy, but the land is very fertile. A fanega of maize yields a hundredfold and more, and they sow the maize twice a year, and other produce yields in the same proportion. Up to the present time no wheat has been sown, so that I cannot affirm whether it will yield a harvest or not. The mines are richer on the great river, which is a league from this town, than in other parts, for if Negroes are set to work, a day will not pass without each man giving two or three ducats to his master. As time wears on, this will come to be among the richest districts of the Indies.
The repartimiento[215] of Indians which I received for my services was in the neighbourhood of this city. I could wish to use my pen at more length on this subject (but the state of affairs will not permit it), principally because many of my companions, the discoverers and conquerors who set out with me from Carthagena, are without Indians, or only possess those which they have had to pay for, which is certainly no small grievance.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Of the province of Arma, of the customs of the natives, and of other notable things.
THIS province of Arma, whence the town took its name, is very large and populous, and the richest in this part of the country; it contains twenty thousand Indians capable of bearing arms, not counting women and children, or did so when I wrote this, which was at the time when Christian Spaniards first entered the country. Their houses are large and round, made of long poles and beams, which curve upwards from the ground, and the roof is of straw. In these houses there are several divisions, partitioned off by reeds, and many people live in them. The province is about ten leagues long, by six or seven broad, a little more or less, broken up into rugged mountain ranges without forest. The valleys are like orchards, being full of all kinds of fruit trees, such as are found in this country, besides a very delicious fruit of a brown colour, called pitahaya.[216] This fruit has the peculiarity of making the urine of those who eat it, even though it be only one, of the colour of blood. In the hills there is another fruit which I take to be very curious, called vuillas.[217] It is small, and has a pleasant smell.
Some rivers rise in the mountains, and one of them, called the river of Arma, is troublesome to cross in the winter. The others are not large, but, from their appearance I certainly think that in time they will get as much gold from them as they do iron out of Biscay. Those who may read this, and have, like me, visited the country, will not consider this statement fabulous. The Indians have their workshops on the banks of the rivers, and they are continually waging cruel wars against each other. The languages of the Indians differ in many parts, and almost in every hamlet there is a distinct language. They were, and are, marvellously rich in gold, and if these natives of the province of Arma were as intelligent and docile as those of Peru, I will be bound to say that their mines would not fail to yield more than 500,00 pesos de oro. They have, or once had, many rich ornaments of this metal, which is so fine as to reach to at least nineteen quilates.[218] When they go to war they wear crowns with beautiful plumes, with plates on their breasts, armlets, and many other ornaments.
When we discovered them, the first time we entered the province with the captain Jorge Robledo, I remember we saw armed Indians covered with gold from head to foot, and the place where we first saw them is called to this day “Loma de los Armados.” Their houses are built on the level places at the foot of the hills, which are very rugged. They have large fortresses built of stout canes pulled up by the roots, which are placed in rows by twenties, like a street, and in the centre they have, or had, when I saw the place, a high platform, well built of the same canes, with steps up to it, where they offered sacrifices.
CHAPTER XIX.
The sacrifices offered up by these Indians, and what great butchers they are in the matter of eating human flesh.