When the governor had recovered from his malady, he urged on the expeditions which he had planned; but he was careful not to permit Vasco Nuñez to acquire additional renown by taking part in them. That cavalier was still allowed to remain under the cloud of a judicial inquiry hanging over him. Notwithstanding the provision which had been made not to admit lawyers into the colony, the legal profession was at this time so flourishing at Darien that it was estimated that there were about forty lawsuits to each colonist.
Vasco Nuñez, oppressed by this inaction, determined to prosecute his plans on his own account, without reference to the governor; and he despatched one Garabito to Cuba to enlist men for an expedition across the mountains and to found a colony on the Southern Sea. Whilst Garabito was absent, Nuñez was condemned to behold his schemes ruined, owing alone to the incapacity and brutality of those entrusted by Pedrarias with the mission of carrying them out. Amongst the leaders employed by the governor was one Juan de Ayora, who was sent with four hundred men to build forts in the countries ruled over by Comagre, Pocorosa, and Tubanamá respectively. This officer proved himself an exceptional ruffian even amongst the Spanish transatlantic adventurers of the day. According to Oviedo, who was at this time notary of the colony, he not only demanded of the chiefs and their subjects the authorised requisitions to avert war, but, pouncing upon the caciques and principal men by night, he put them to the torture in quest of gold. Some he then caused to be put to death; others were given to be devoured by the dogs; whilst others again were reserved for new forms of torment. Their wives and daughters were taken from them, and were made slaves and concubines according to the good pleasure of this Ayora.
One of the first victims of this expedition was Comagre himself, the same youthful cacique who had given to Vasco Nuñez the earliest information of the existence of the sea beyond the mountains, and who had told him that a thousand men would be needed for its discovery. Little did he imagine that he himself would be one of the victims of the thousand men who had now been brought by his advice! The chiefs with whom Vasco Nuñez had cemented a friendship came forth in turn to lay their gold before Ayora. The valiant Tubanamá, being of a less submissive turn of mind, took to arms, but to no avail. Another cacique, having put his women and children in safety, laid wait in ambuscade and attacked the Spaniards, wounding Ayora himself.
The proceedings of Ayora towards another cacique are thus described by a lawyer sent on a mission of inquiry to the West Indies a few years later by Cardinal Ximenes. On the approach of the Spaniards, the cacique in question, under the belief that he was about to welcome his old friend Nuñez, had prepared for him the best entertainment within his means, including roast-meat, game, and wine. On his inquiring for the chief, Ayora was pointed out to him, but he replied that this was not Nuñez. He was, however, to become well acquainted with his present guest during their brief intercourse. After having partaken of his hospitality, Ayora sent for him and demanded gold. This not being forthcoming in sufficient quantity, the cacique was bound, upon which his vassals were desired by him to bring all the gold in their possession. The amount, however, did not satisfy the invader, who ordered the cacique to be burnt alive.7
Not being troubled as to the means he took to obtain it, it was but natural that this scoundrel should gather together a considerable quantity of gold; it is some satisfaction to the moral sense to know that neither Ayora nor any one else was any the better for it. The idea of delivering up his ill-gotten treasures was repugnant to the avarice of this robber, who secretly made off with them to sea and was never more heard of. The colony which he had founded at Santa Cruz met with no better fate. The garrison, having given much offence to the Indians, were beset at night by Pocorosa and his people; a desperate struggle ensued, but when morning broke, only five Spaniards were left alive to carry the tale to Darien. It may here be mentioned that Hurtado, who had been sent by Pedrarias to discover the causes in the delay of the return of Ayora, brought back with him to Darien a hundred peaceful Indians, of whom he disposed as slaves. A number of these had been lent to him as carriers by the cacique Careta, the friend and ally of Nuñez.
1515.
In a letter addressed to Vasco Nuñez, King Ferdinand expressed his high sense of his merits and services, and constituted him Adelantado of the Southern Sea, and governor of the provinces of Panamá and Coybá. He was, however, to be subordinate to Pedrarias. A letter was likewise written at the same time to the latter, informing him of this arrangement, and requiring him to consult with Vasco Nuñez upon all affairs of importance. This communication was a severe blow to the vanity of the jealous old man; and upon its receipt, he summoned a council to deliberate as to what action should be taken. It was finally arranged that the above-mentioned titles and dignities should be nominally conferred upon Nuñez, but that for the meantime he was not to enter into possession of the territories assigned to him.
At this critical moment Carabito, the agent of Nuñez, happened to return from Cuba with a vessel freighted with arms and ammunition, and having seventy men on board. He anchored at some distance from Darien, but sent word of his arrival to Nuñez, all of which became speedily known to Pedrarias. The suspicious mind of the latter taking the alarm, he at once ordered Nuñez to be seized and confined; but he was prevailed upon by the bishop to inquire into the matter calmly, the result being that, as nothing treasonable was proved against him, Nuñez was set at liberty.
The bishop next endeavoured to persuade Pedrarias to employ Vasco Nuñez on an expedition which he was about to despatch to the Southern Sea and to the Isle of Pearls. As, however, there was much credit and probably much wealth to be derived from it, Pedrarias preferred to give the command to his own kinsman, Morales, with whom he associated Francisco Pizarro, who had been in Nuñez’ expedition to the same region. Gaspar Morales accordingly started with sixty men, and traversed the mountains by a shorter route than that which had previously been taken. He arrived at the territories of a cacique named Tutibrá, where he left one-half of his men under Peñalosa, whilst with the remainder he set out in canoes for the Pearl Islands. On arriving at the Isla Rica, so named by Nuñez, they experienced a warm reception from the cacique, who sallied forth four times against them, but who was as often repulsed with loss. His warriors were paralysed by the firearms and the blood-hounds, and the cacique was at length obliged to sue for peace. He presented to his guests as a peace-offering a basket filled with pearls, two of them being of remarkable size and beauty. Taking Morales and Pizarro to the summit of a wooden tower, he pointed proudly to a long vista of islands subject to his sway, and promised his new friends as many pearls as they might desire so long as they should continue to give him their friendship.
Turning towards the mainland, which stretched away mountain upon mountain as far as the eye could reach, the communicative chief told his guests of a country of inexhaustible riches that lay in that direction. His words and suggestions were not lost upon one of the two men who listened to him. The cacique further agreed to become the vassal of the king of Castile, and to pay him an annual tribute of one hundred pounds weight of pearls. The party then returned to the mainland at another point than that at which they had embarked, when Morales sent a detachment of ten men to conduct Peñalosa and his party from the village of Tutibrá.
During the absence of the Spanish leaders at the islands, a conspiracy had been formed by a large number of the caciques along the coast to massacre the whole band of invaders. This measure was undoubtedly the result of grossly tyrannical conduct on the part of the Spaniards. By some writers the provocation is ascribed to Peñalosa; by others it is given to Morales himself, who is stated on one occasion to have come upon an Indian town or village in the midst of a festivity, when the men and women were seated apart, and to have taken advantage of the opportunity to capture the females. We shall not be far wrong if we assign both to Peñalosa and to Morales a full share of the enormities which brought about the conspiracy.
The party sent in quest of Peñalosa put up for the night in the village of one of the conspirators; but in the dead of night the house was wrapped in flames, and most of the strangers