When his crew were again fit for the sea, Ojeda made sail and touched at the island of Curacoa. Entering a vast gulf, he beheld on the eastern side a village of strange construction. It consisted of a few large houses, shaped like bells, and built on piles driven into the bottom of the shallow lake. The houses were provided with drawbridges, and the communication was carried on by means of canoes. In this slight resemblance to the Queen of the Adriatic originated the name of Venezuela, or Little Venice. The native name was Coquibacoa. At sight of the ships the natives fled in terror, as did the rowers of a squadron of canoes which entered the harbour from the sea. They soon returned, however, bringing a peace-offering of sixteen young girls. The peace was of short duration; at a signal from some old women the Indians discharged a flight of arrows, and the girls plunged into the sea. But Ojeda was in no way taken aback. Manning his boats, he dashed amongst the canoes, sinking some of them, and killing and wounding a number of Indians, whilst the remainder took to flight.
Leaving this inhospitable spot, Ojeda proceeded to explore the gulf and reached the port of Maracaibo, where, in compliance with the entreaties of the natives, he sent a party on shore to explore the country. The Spaniards on this occasion were treated with the utmost hospitality. Indeed the whole country poured forth its population to do them homage, looking upon them and treating them as beings of a superior race or world. The Spaniards were permitted to take away with them several of the beautiful females of the country, one of whom accompanied Ojeda in a subsequent voyage.
Ojeda, in his report of this voyage, stated that he met with English voyagers near Venezuela, or Coquibacoa. Of the expedition here alluded to, no other record has yet been brought to light. The North-American continent had ere this time been visited in 1497, by John Cabot, a Venetian, in the service of Henry VII., together with his son, the celebrated Sebastian Cabot, of whom more will be said hereafter. These navigators discovered the coast of Newfoundland on the 24th of June of the above-mentioned year, and coasted southwards as far as to Florida. The Cabots were thus the first discoverers of the mainland of America, having preceded Columbus by one year.
Ojeda continued his route along the western shores of the Gulf of Venezuela, doubling Cape Maracaibo and following the coast until he reached the headland of Cape de la Vela, whence he stood across the Caribbean Sea for Hispaniola. He reached Cadiz on his return in June 1500.
1499.
Contemporary with this voyage of Ojeda was a similar one by Pedro Alonzo Niño, undertaken, not with the object of discovery, but for gain. This mariner sailed from Palos, and, following the chart of Columbus, reached the coast of Paria, where he landed to cut dye-wood, and where he established friendly relations with the natives. He, too, passed through the Boca del Drago, and encountered the Carib pirates, by whom he was boldly assailed, but who fled at the discharge of his artillery. Niño and his companions then steered for the island of Margarita, where they obtained a large quantity of pearls. They afterwards skirted the coast of Cumana, and were invariably well treated by the natives; and they inferred that this was a part of the mainland from the fact of their meeting with deer and rabbits, these animals not having been seen by them on any of the islands. Niño next proceeded to a country called Cauchieto, where, however, the inhabitants, who had been visited by Ojeda, prepared to resist his landing. Not wishing to provoke hostilities, Niño returned to Cumana; whence, when he had amassed a sufficient number of pearls, he set sail for Spain, where he arrived in April
1500.
The next Spanish navigator who furthered geographical discovery in this quarter of South America was Rodrigo de Bastides of Seville, who set out with two caravels in October 1500, having with him the veteran pilot Juan de la Cosa, who had sailed with Columbus. Bastides had likewise on board Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, afterwards the celebrated discoverer of the Southern Sea.[D] This expedition extended the acquaintance with the coast of Terra Firma from Cape de la Vela to the spot afterwards named Nombre de Dios. Bastides has left a name for himself, as distinguished from the great mass of his countrymen who appeared in that part of the world, for his kind treatment of the natives. His vessels became, unfortunately, pierced by the worm which abounds in those waters, and it was with great difficulty that he contrived to reach Hispaniola.
Alonzo de Ojeda, in consideration of his past services, received a grant of land in Hispaniola, and likewise the government of Coquibacoa, which place he had discovered. He was authorized to fit out a number of ships at his own expense and to prosecute discoveries on the coast of Terra Firma. It is said that one of the chief reasons for granting this government, and the privileges which accompanied it, to Ojeda, was the fact of his having met with an English expedition near Coquibacoa. The Spanish sovereigns were alarmed at the idea of foreign intrusion, and they wished to confide the most advanced post in their dominions to a governor of the resolute valour of which Ojeda had given such abundant proof. He was instructed to set up the arms of Castile and Leon in every place he should visit, as a hint to the intrusive English that these places had already been taken possession of.
1502.