CHAPTER III.

DISCOVERY OF DARIEN.
RODRIGO DE BASTIDAS EXTENSION OF NEW WORLD PRIVILEGES THE
ROYAL SHARE JUAN DE LA COSA SHIPS OF THE EARLY DISCOV
ERERS COASTING DARIEN THE TERRIBLE TEREDO WRECKED ON
ESPANOLA SPANISH MONEY TREATMENT OF BASTIDAS BY OVANDO
ACCUSED, AND SENT TO SPAIN FOR TRIAL HE is IMMEDIATELY
ACQUITTED FUTURE CAREER AND CHARACTER OF BASTIDAS THE
ARCHIVES OF THE INDIES THE SEVERAL COLLECTIONS OF PUBLIC DOCU
MENTS IN SPAIN THE LABORS OF MUNOZ AND NAVARRETE BIBLIO
GRAPHICAL NOTICES OF THE PRINTED COLLECTIONS OF NAVARRETE,
TERNAUX-COMPANS, SALVA AND BARANDA, AND PACHECO AND CAR
DENAS.

THE first Spaniard to touch the territory which

for the purposes of my work I have taken .the liberty
to denominate the Pacific States of North America
was Rodrigo de Bastidas, a notary of Triana, the
gypsy suburb of Seville.

Although the discoveries of Columbus had been

made for Castile,and Castilians regarded their rights
to the new lands superior to those of any others, even
other inhabitants of Spain; and although at first
none might visit the New World save those author
ized by Columbus or Fonseca; yet, owing to inade
quate returns from heavy expenditures, and the
inability of the admiral properly to control coloniza
tion in the several parts of the ever- widening area,
at the solicitation of several persons desirous of en
tering the new field of commerce and adventure at
their own charge, on the 10th of April, 1495, the
sovereigns issued a proclamation granting native-
born subjects of Spain permission to settle in Hayti,
(133)
184 DISCOVERY OF DARIEN.

or Espanola, 1 as I shall continue to call the island,

and to make to other parts private voyages of dis
covery and trade, under royal license. The regula
tions were that the vessels so sailing should be
equipped under royal inspection, that they should
depart only from the port of Cadiz, and that they
should carry one or two crown officers. The sov
ereigns retained, without payment,, one tenth of the
tonnage, and were to receive one tenth of the gross
returns. Settlers on Espaiiola were to receive grants
of land, and one year s provision; of the gold they
gathered they were to pay two thirds to the crown;
on all other products one tenth. Although this etep
was taken without consulting Columbus, it was the
aim of the sovereigns fully to respect his rights in
the matter; therefore, and in lieu of his property in
one eighth of all the tonnage, fot every seven vessels
thus privately adventured he was privileged -to de
spatch one on his own account. The admiral still
complaining, such parts
. of the proclamation as in
any wise interfered with his rights were revoked,
and his former privileges confirmed, the 2d of June,
1497. 2
1
The island known
to-day as Hayti was named by Columbus Insula II ix-
panice, Island of Spain. On one of his maps it is called Insula Hyspanicc,
and on another Ilyxpana. By the early navigators and chroniclers the name
was turned into Spanish and spoken and written La Isla Espanola, the
Spanish Isle, or La Espanola. Ilispaniola, as it is called at a later period
by English authors, is neither Latin nor Spanish; it may be a syncope of the
words Inxiila JL/tyanice, or more likely it is a corruption of La Espanola by
foreigners to whom the Spanish n was not familiar. The choice lies between
the mutilation, Ilispaniola, of English authors, and the correct but unfamiliar
Espanola, and I adopt the latter.
a
Usually two royal officers went out by each departure; a treasurer to
take charge of the gold, and a notary to watch the treasurer and write
down what was seen and done. The government was exceedingly strict in
its regulations of discoveries by sea, as well as in all matters relative to com
merce and colonization. Notice was given by Ferdinand and Isabella Sep
tember 3, 1501, by Charles V. November 17, 1526, and by Philip II. in 1503,
that no ond^hould go to the Indies except under express license from the
king. In 1520 Charles V. ordered that the captain of any discovering or
trading vessel should not go ashore within the limits mentioned in his patent
without the permission of the royal officers and priests on board, under
penalty of confiscation of half the goods. The law of 155G stipulates that
ships raust be properly equipped, provisioned for one year, always sail
in pairs, and carry in each two pilots and two priests. In his ordeitanzas
de pou. acioncs of 1503 Philip II. directs that vessels making discov-
 THE NEW WORLD OPENED TO SETTLEMENT. 185

Among those to take advantage of this permission,

cries shall carry scissors, combs, knives, looking-glasses, rifles, axes, fish
hooks, colored caps, glass beads, and the like, as means of introduction and
traffic. Recopilacion de Leyes de los Reynos de las Indian, ii. G-7. In regard
to the share of the crown in the gold gathered our popular writers seem to
have found original authorities somewhat vague. It is clearly enough stated
that settlers are to pay two thirds; the question is whether in relation to
discoverers gold is included in products of which one tenth was to go to
the crown, or whether the exception to a rule was unintentionally omitted.
Mr Irving glides gracefully over the difficulty with the same degree of in-
defmiteness that he finds in the authorities. Mr Prescott states positively,
History of Ferdinand and Isabella, ii. 488, that the ships fitted out under
the general license were required to reserve .... two thirds of all the gold
for the crown, quoting Muuozand Navarrete as vouchers, the words of neither
justifying the statement. Muiloz, Hist. Nuevo Mundo, i. 240, says, ce
concedi6 a todos generalmente, sin mas gravamen que pagar la decima
de lo que se rescatase, while Navarrete, Col. de, Viayes, ii. 107, printing
the real provision itself, states simply es nuestra merced que de lo que
las dichas personas hallaren en las dichas islas 6 tierra-firme hayan para
si las nue ve partes, 6 la otra diezma parte sea para Nos. The misstatement
of the talented author of Ferdinand and Isabella is rendered all the more
conspicuous when on the very next page quoted by him Mufioz settles the
whole matter exactly contrary to Prescott s account. A todos so permiti6
llevar viveres y mercancias, rescatar oro de los naturales contribu}-cndo al rey
con la de"cima. And after thus stating distinctly that all might trade with
the natives for gold on paying one tenth to the crown, he gives the reason
why miners must pay two thirds to the crown; or if the recipient of pecuniary
aid from the crown, then four fifths; it was because of the supposed exceed
ing richness of the mines, the ease with which gold could be obtained; and,
further, the dependence of the crown on its mines, more than on anything else
for a colonial revenue. Prior to 1504 the regulation of the royal share was
not fixed, some of the traders paying one tenth gross, some one fifth gross,
and some one fourth net. Bobadilla, in 1500, granted twenty years licenses
to settlers in Espafiola to work gold mines by paying only one eleventh to
the crown. Summarizing the subsequent laws upon the subject, we find
ordered by Ferdinand and Isabella, February 5, 1504, reiterated by Philip,
1572, that. all dwellers in the Indies must pay to the crown one fifth of all
gold, silver, lead, tin, quicksilver, iron, or other metal obtained by them;
likewise traders were to pay one fifth of all gold, silver, or other metals,
pearls, precious stones, or amber obtained by them. September 14, 1519,
Charles V. declared that of all gold received in trade from the natives one fifth
must be paid to him; and March 8, 1530, he said that where a reward has been
promised to a prospector of mines the royal treasury would pay two thirds
of that reward, and the private persons interested one third. It was ordered
September 4, 1530, and reiterated June 19, 1540, that all persons must pay
the king s fifth on the before-mentioned articles, whether obtained in battle
or by plundering-expeditions, or by trade. Of all gold, silver, pearls, and
precious stones received as ransom of a cacique or other principal personage
the king was to have one third; the remainder, after deducting the king s
fifth, was to be divided among the members of the expedition. Of the spoils
secured from a cacique slain in battle, or executed, one half was the crown s,
and one half, except the king s fifth, the property of the conquerors. June
5, 1551, it was ordered, and reiterated August 24, 1G19, that beside the king s
share, there be levied a duty of 1 J per cent, to pay for smelting, assaying,
and stamping. By the ordenanzas de poblaciones of Philip II., 1503, the
adelantado of a discovery by land, and his successor, and the settlers were to
pay the crown but one tenth on metals and precious stones for the term of
ten years. Recop. de Indias, ii. 10, GS, 7 7^, and 480-1.
>-7,
186 DISCOVERY OF DARIEX.

beside Bastidas, was Alonso de Ojcda, who embarked

with four vessels from Spain in May, 1499, in coiii-
pany with Juan de la Cosa and Amerigo Vespucci,
sailed along the seaboard of South America from
Paria and the Pearl Coast, discovered by Columbus,
to the gulf of Venezuela, so called because like
Venice the native villages were built over the water.
At Cape de la Vela, Ojeda left the coast and crossed
to Espafiola, whence he was driven off by Roldan
at the command of Columbus. He reached Spain in
June, 1500; and though his ships were crowded with,
slaves, after paying expenses there were left but five
hundred ducats to divide among fifty-five persons.
Sailing in a caravel of only fifty tons, a few days
later than Ojeda, were Pedro Alonso Nino and
Cristobaljjruerra, who, following the track of Colum
bus and Ojeda to the Pearl Coast, thence crossed to
Margarita, returned to the main-land and coasted
Cumana, and finally returned to Spain, arriving
about two months before Ojeda, well laden with gold
and pearls. This was the first really profitable
voyage, pecuniarily, to the New World. Then there
was Vicente Yanez Pinzon, who sailed in four
caravels in December, 1499, and shortly after Diego
de Lepe, in two vessels, both going to Brazil.

Quite exceptional to the ordinary adventurer was

Bastidas. He was a man of standing in the com
munity, possessed of some means himself and having
wealthy friends; he was intelligent and influential,
and withal humane, even Las Casas admitting that
no one ever accused him of illtreating the Indians.
The friends of the honest notary, among them
Juan de Ledesma, were ready enough to join him,
pecuniarily, in a venture to the famous Pearl Coast,
as the South American shore of the admiral s third
voyage was now called. Obtaining from Fonseca s
3
office a royal license, and
enlisting the cooperation
8
The document may l>c seen to-day in the archives of the Indies. Begin-
 SHIPS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 187

of Juan de
la Cosa, already veteran in western
4
pilotage, Bastidas equipped two caravels, embarked
ning: EL HEY E LA REIXA. El asiento que se tom6 por nuestro mandado
con vos Rodrigo de Bastidas, vccino de la cibdad de Sevilla, para ir d desco-
brir por el mar Oceano, con dos navios, es lo siguiente: it goes on to state,
First, that we give license to you, the said Rodrigo de Bastidas, that with
two vessels of your own, and at your own cost and risk, you may go by the
said Ocean Sea to discover, and you may discover islands and firm land; in
the parts of the Indies and in any other parts, provided it be not the islands
and firm land already discovered by the Admiral Don Cristobal Colon, our
admiral of the Ocean Sea, or by Cristobal Guerra; nor those which have been
or may be discovered by other person or persons by our order and with our
license before you; nor the islands and firm land which belong to the most
serene prince, the king of Portugal, our very dear and beloved son; for from
them nor from any of them you shall not take anything, save only such
things as for your maintenance, and for the provision of your ships and
crew you may need. Furthermore, that all the gold, and silver, and
copper, and lead, and tin, and quicksilver, and any other metal whatever;
and and pearls, and precious stones and jewels, and slaves and
aljofar,
negroes, and mixed breeds, which in these our kingdoms may be held and
reputed as slaves; and monsters and serpents, and whatever other animals
and fishes and birds, and spices and drugs, and every other thing of whatso
ever name or quality or value it may be; deducting therefrom the freight
expenses, and cost of vessels, which in said voyage and fleet may be made;
of the remainder to us will belong the fourth part of the whole, and the
other three fourths may be freely for you the said Rodrigo de Bastidas, that
you may do therewith as you choose and may be pleased to do, as a thing of
your own, free and unincumberecl. Item, that we will place in each one of
the said ships one or two persons, who in our name or by our order shall be
witnesses to all which may be obtained and trafficked in said vessels of the
aforesaid things; and that they may put the same in writing and keep a book
and account thereof, so that no fraud or mistake happen. After stating
further under whose direction the ships should be fitted out, and what should
be done on the return of the expedition, the document is dated at Seville, June
5, 1500, and the signatures follow: Yo EL REY. Yo LA REINA. Por man
dado del Rey 6 de la Reina, GASPAR
DE GEIZIO. All this under penalty
of the forfeiture of the property and
life of the captain of the expedition,

Rodrigo de Bastidas. Archive de In-

dias, printed in Pacheco and Cdrde-
nas, Col. Doc., ii. 3G2-6.
*
It is often remarked with won
der in what small and apparently in
secure vessels the early navigators
traversed perilous seas and explored
unknown coasts. That shipwreck so
often attended their ventures is less
surprising than that so many escaped
destruction. Two of the three ves
sels employed by Columbus were
open boats, according to March y
Laborer, Historia de la Marina Real
Espafiola, i. 98, of forty tons each,
and the decked Santa Maria, only
sixty tons. The term caravel was originally given to ships navigated wholly by
sails as distinguished from the galley propelled by oars. It has been applied
to a great variety of vessels of different size and construction. The caravels of
188 DISCOVERY OF DARIEN.

at Cadiz in October, 1500, took on board wood,

the New World discoverers may be generally described as long, narrow boats of
from twenty to one hundred tons burden, with three or four masts of about equal
height carrying sometimes square and sometimes lateen sails, the fourth mast
set at the heel of the bowsprit carrying square sails. They were usually half-
decked, and adorned with the lofty forecastle and loftier poop of the day. The

GALLEY.

latter constituted over that part of the vessel a double or treble deck, which was
pierced for cannon. A class of vessels like the Santa Maria, beside a double
stern deck, had a forward deck armed with small pieces for
throwing stones and
grape. In the archives of Mallorca is a picture of a caravel drawn in 1397,

GALLEON.

and a very fair representation of those in use a century later may be found on
Juan de la Cosa s map. The large decked ships cf from 100 to 1200 tons had
two, three, or four masts, and square sails, with high poop and sometimes
high prow. In naval engagements and in discovery the smaller vessels seemed
to be preferred, being more easily handled. Columbus, at Paria, complained
of his vessel of 100 tons as being too large. In his ordenanzas de poblaciones
 VOYAGE OF BASTIDAS. 189

water, meat, and cheese at Gomera, and steering a

little north of the admiral s last track, came to a

of 1563 Philip II. required every discoverer to take at least two vessels of
not over sixty tons each, in order to enter inlets, cross the bars of rivers, and
pass over shoals. The larger ships, if any were of the expedition, must
remain in a safe port until another safe port was found by the small craft.
Thirty men and no more were to go in every ship, and the pilots must write
down what they encountered for the benefit of other pilots. Recop. de Indias,
ii. 5-6. The yalera was a vessel of low bulwarks, navigated by sails and

NAVfo.

oars, usually twenty or thirty oars on either side, four or five oarsmen to
a bench. It frequently carried a large cannon, called criixia, two of medium
size, and two small guns. The yaleaza was the largest class of galera, or
craft propelled wholly or in part by oars. It had three masts; it commonly
carried twenty cannon, and the poop accommodated a small army of fusileera
and sharpshooters. A galeota was
a small galera, having only sixteen
or twenty oarsmen on a side, and
two masts. The galeon was a large
armed merchant vessel with high
bulwarks, three or four decks, with
two or threp masts, square-rigged,
spreading courses and top-sails, and
sometimes top -gallant sails. One
fleet of twelve galleons, from 1000 to
1200 tons burden, was named after
the twelve apostles. Those which
plied between Acapulco and Manila
were from 1200 to 2000 tons burden.
A (jaleoncillo was a small galeon.
The came was a large carrying ves
sel, the one intended for Columbus
second voyage being 1250 toneles, or
1500 tons. A nao, or navio, was a large ship with high bulwarks and three
masts. A nave, was a vessel with deck and sails; the former distinguishing
it from the barca, and the absence of oars from a galera. The benjantin, or
190 DISCOVERY OF DARIEN.

green isle, which he called Isla Verde, and reached

the mainland near Venezuela. Coasting westward,
he passed Santa Marta, and arrived at the Magda-
lena River in March, 1501, so naming it on arrival
from the day, which was that of the woman s con
version. There he narrowly escaped shipwreck.
Continuing, and trading on the way, he found the
ports of Zamba and Coronados the latter so called
because the natives wore large crowns the islands of
San Bernardo, Baru, and the Arenas, off Cartagena
Bay. Next he saw Puerte and tenantless Tortuga.
touched at the port of Genii, passed Point Caribanr
entered the gulf of Uraba, and saw the farallonc
or craggy islet peaks, rising abruptly from the waU
near the Darien shore. Thus far from Cape clc L
Vela he had discovered one hundred and fifty
5
leagues of new seaboard. And because when the
tide was low the water was fresh, he called the
place Golfo Dulce. Thus came the Spaniards upon
the isthmus that unites the two Americas; and
alonor it they sailed to Point Manzanilla, in which

vicinity were El Retrete and Nbmbre do Dios.

6

It is a balmy beginning, this of these men from

Spain, of that intercontinental commerce which is
shortly to bring destruction on one side and retro-
brig, had low bulwarks; the bercjantin-goleta was a hermaphrodite brig, or
brigantine, built for fast sailing. The name brigantirie was applied in America
also to an open flat-bottomed boat which usually carried one sail and from
eight to sixteen men, with a capacity for about 100 persons.
5
The Spanish league varies with time and place. It was not until 1801
that the diverse measurements of the several original kingdoms were by royal
order made uniform, the legal league then becoming throughout all Spain
20,000 Spanish feet. Of these leagues there are twenty to the degree.
making each three geographical miles, being, as specified by the law, the dis
tance travelled on foot at a steady gait in one hour. The land league was.
by law of Alfonso the Wise, 3000 paces, as specified by the Side Partv/tix.
The discoverers roughly estimated a league at from two and a half to three
and a half English miles. A marine or geographical league at that time w;is
about 7500 varas, or little less than four English miles, there being nearly 17J,
to a degree of latitude. In different parts of Spanish America the league
is different, being sometimes quite short. In Cuba a league consists of
5078 varas, and in Mexico of 5000 varas. The vara is the Spanish yard,
comprising three Spanish feet of eleven English inches each. Since tho
decline of Roman influence, the Spaniards have had no equivalent for the
English mile.
6
See next chapter, note 1 8
 GLORIES OF THE ISTHMUS. 191

gression on the other; a commerce which shall end

only with the next general cataclysm. Threading
their v/ay among islands smothered in foliage, which
seemed upon the glossy water-surface as floating
fragments of the thickly matted verdure of the main
land, listening to notes unfamiliar to their ears, and
seeing these strange men and women so like and yet
so unlike Spaniards, they find themselves wondering
whether they are in the world or out of it. We
who so well know our little planet and its ways can
scarcely imagine what it was in the darkness to be
taken up at Seville, and put down amidst the magic
play of light and shade at Darien. Probably now
the world was round; yet still it might be fungiform,
or crescent-shaped, or amorphous, having a smooth or
ragged edge, from which a fearful slipping-ofF might
any moment ensue. All they can know is what they
see, and that they cannot half know, for they can
scarcely more than half see or feel or smell. Some
part of the perpendicular rays of the incandescent sun
falling on their toughened skins they can feel; some
part of the water that from the surcharged reservoirs
of low-lying clouds so frequently and freely pours upon
the spot whence it is pumped by this same vertical
sun. They can turn their bewildered eyes toward
the south and see beyond its clean white border the
mainland stretching off in billows of burnished green
to the far-away hazy horizon, where like a voluptuous
beauty it imprints a kiss upon the blushing sky; they
may lie in the gray mist of evening and dream, and
dream, their minds how many removes from the
intelligence of the impatient sea and the self-tuned
life upon the shore? Or they may drift about in the
amber light of a soft vaporous morning without much
dreaming; one thing at least to them is real, and
that is gold. Without the aid of divine revelation
they fathom the difference between the precious solid
substance and hollow bras^ So do the savages,
thinking the latter much the prettier ;
and thus
192 DISCOVERY OF DAEIEN.

both sides, each believing the others fools and well

cheated, are happy in their traffic. The Spaniards
are enchanted less by the lovely garb in which nature
everywhere greets them than by the ease with which
the golden harvest is gathered. Thus all betokens
the most flattering success when a luckless event
casts a shadow over their bright fortunes.
The two ships were found to be leaking badly.
An examination was made, when the bottoms were
found pierced by teredos 7 and thus before they knew
;

it their vessels were unfit for service. Hoping still

to reach Cadiz, Bastidas immediately set sail, touched
at Jamaica for wood and water, and continued his
voyage as far as Contramaestre, an islet one league
distant from Espanola, where he was obliged to
anchor and repair his ships. Again embarking for
Spain, he was met by a gale which threw him back
upon the island. Buffeted in a second attempt, he
ran the ships for safety into the little port of Jaragud,
w here they filled and sank, the loss in vessels, slaves,
T

Brazil-wood, cloth, and gold, being not less than five

millions of maravedis. 8 For notwithstanding the esti-

7
Called by the Venetians bissas, and by the Spaniards broma; a terrible
pest to tropical navigators before the days of copper-bottoming. This, and
another tropical marine worm, the Simnoria terebrans, brought hither by ships,
play havoc with the wharf-piling of San Francisco and other west-coast
harbors.
b
Tho early chroniclers make their reckonings of values under different
names at different times. Thus during the discoveries of Columbus we hear
of little else but maravedis ; then the peso de oro takes the lead, together
with the ca.itellano; all along marco and ducado being occasionally used. At
the beginning of the sixteenth century, and before and after, Spanish values
were reckoned from a mark of silver, which was the standard. A mark was
half a pound either of gold or silver. The gold mark was divided into fifty
castellanos; the silver mark into eight ounces. In the reign of Ferdinand
and Isabella the mark was divided by law into G5 realcs de vellon of 34 mara
vedis each, making 2210 maravedis in a mark. To show how changeable
were the values of subsidiary Spanish coins, and how utterly impossible it is
accurately and at all times to determine by their names the amount of metal
they represent, it is only necessary to state that in the reign of Alfonso XI.,
1312-1350, there were 125 maravedis to the mark, while in the reign of Ferdi
nand VII., 1808-1833, a mark was divided into 5440 maravedis. In Spanish
America a real is one eighth of a peso, and equal to 2^ realcs de vellon. The.
peso contains one ounce of silver; it was formerly called peso de ocho reales de
plat i, whence came the term pieces ofeiyht, a vulgarism at one time in vogue
among the merchants and buccaneers in the West Indies. This coin is desig
nated more particularly as peso fuertc, or pexo duro, to distinguish it from
 SPANISH MONEY OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 193

mablc reputation for piety, justice, and humanity

which he has always borne, the good Bastidas did not
scruple gently to entrap on board his ships, along the
shore of Darien, several scores of unsuspecting natives,
to be sold as slaves; nor, having thus exercised his
virtues in the klopemania of the day, did he scruple
to abandon with his sinking ships the greater portion
of these innocent wretches in order to save the more of
his gold, which was deemed of greater proximate and
certain value than the bodies or even the souls of the
heathen.
Thus observing everywhere, as perforce we must
as we proceed, the magnanimity and high morality
with which our so prized and petted civilization greeted
weak, defenseless, and Inoffensive savagism, we are
prepared when shipwrecked mariners are thrown upon
a distant isle inhabited by their own countrymen, sub
jects of thesame sovereigns we are prepared by their
reception, which we shall presently see, to exclaim with
uplifted hands, Behold, how these brethren love one
another !

peso sencillo, equivalent in value to four fifths of the former. The mutilator
of Herrera translates pesos de oro as pieces of eight, in which as in other
things he is about as far as possible wrong. The castellano, the one fiftieth
of the golden mark, in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, was equivalent
to 490 maravedis of that day. The peo de oro, according to Oviedo, was
exactly equivalent to the castellano, and either was one third greater than
the ducado, or ducat. The doblon, the popular name for the excelente, was
first struck by Ferdinand and .Isabella as a gold coin of the weight of
two castellanos. The modern doubloon is an ounce of coined gold, and
is worth 16 pesos fuertes. Reduced to United States currency the peso,
fuerte, as slightly alloyed bullion, is in weight nearly enough equivalent to
one dollar. Therefore a mark of silver is equal to eight dollars; a piece of
eight, equal to one peso, which equals one dollar; a real de vellon, five cents ^
a Spanish-American real, 12|- cents; a maravedi, of a cent; a castellano, or
.-<!

peso de oro, &2.5G; a doubloon, $5.14; a ducat, .^1.92; a mark of gold, $128,
assuming the United States alloy. The fact that a castellano was equivalent
to only 490 maravedis shows the exceedingly high value of silver as compared
with gold at the period in question. The modern ounce, or doubloon, is val
ued at about 10. As to the relative purchasing power of the precious metals
at different times during the past four centuries economists differ. The
returns brought by the first discoverers began the depreciation, which was
rapidly accelerated by the successive conquests, notably of Mexico and Peru.
Any one may estimate; no one can determine with exactness. Robertson,
Prescott, and other writers make but guess-work of it (see Hint. America,
and Conq. Mexico, passim) when they attempt to measure the uncertain
and widely diversiiied denominations of centuries ago by the current coin of
to-day.
HIST. CEN. AM., VOL. I. 13
194 DISCOVERY OF DARIEN.

After burning superfluous ammunition, the Span

iards gatheredup their valuables, and placing them
on the backs of such captives as for that purpose
they had kindly permitted to live, set out in three
divisions over separate routes, so as to secure a more
liberal supply of provisions on the way, for Santo

Domingo, distant seventy leagues. In his license, as

we have seen, Bastidas was authorized to trade only
in lands discovered by himself. But on the way his
followers with their trinkets had purchased food from
the natives; for which offence, on his arrival at Santo
Domingo, Bastidas was seized by Bobadilla and cast
into prison. In vain did all the shipwrecked com
pany protest that they had bought only such articles
as were necessary for their nourishment during the
march. To their affirmations the governor turned a
deaf ear; and as Bobadilla was about to depart for
Spain, the notary was ordered thither for trial, sail
ing in July, 1502.
Before the sovereigns Bastidas found no difficulty
in justifying his conduct; and so rich were the re
turns from his traffic with the natives of Darien,
that notwithstanding the unfortunate termination of
the adventure he was enabled to pay a large sum
into the royal treasury. For their important suc
cesses, to Rodrigo de Bastidas was awarded an annual
pension of fifty thousand maravedis, and to Juan de
la Cosa a similar sum with the title of alguacil mayor
of Uraba, all to be paid them out of returns from the
new lands which they had found. "Such," remarks
Irving, "was the economical generosity of King
Ferdinand, who rewarded the past toils of his ad
venturous discoverers out of the expected produce
of their future labors." 9

9
Las Casas, who was at Santo Domingo when the shipwrecked mariners
arrived, saw Bastidas, and part of his gold, and the natives of Darien whom
he had brought, and who in place of the Adamic^fig-leaf wore a funnel-
shaped covering of gold. There were great riches, it was said; three cheats
full of gold and pearls, which on reaching Spain were ordered to be pub icly
displayed in all the towns through which the notary passed on his vrsy to
 ARCHIVES OF THE INDIES. 195

court. This, as an advertisement of the Indies, was done to kindle the fires
of avarice and discontent in sluggish breasts, that therefrom others might be
induced to go and gather gold and pay the king his fifth. Afterward Bas-
tidas returned with his wife and children to Santo Domingo, and became rich
in horned cattle, having at one time 8000 head; and that when a cow in
Espaiiola was worth 50 pesos de oro. In 1504 he again visited Urabd, in two
ships, and brought thence GOO natives, whom he enslaved in Espauola. In
1520 the emperor gave him the pacification of Trinidad with the title of ade-
lantado; which grant being opposed by Diego Colon, on the ground that the
island was of his father s discovering, Bastidas waived his claim, and accepted
the governorship of Santa Marta, where he went with 450 men, and was
assassinated by his lieutenant, Villafuerte, who thought to succeed him, and to
silence the governor s interposed objections to the maltreatment of the natives.
Thus if the humane Bastidas, in accordance with the custom of the day, did
inhumanly enslave his fellow-creatures, he gave his life at last to save them
from other cruelties; which act, standing as it does luminous and alone in a
century of continuous outrage, entitles him to the honorable distinction of
Spain s best and noblest conquistador. As the eloquent Quintana says: Bas
tidas no se hizo celebre iii conao descubridor iii como conquistador; pero su
memoria debe ser grata d todos los amantes de la justicia y de la humanidad,
por haber sido uno de los pocos quo trataron a los indios con equidad y man-
sedumbre, considerando aquel pais mas bien como un objeto de especulaciones
mercantiles con iguales, quo como campo de gloria y de conquistas.
Among the standard authorities mention is made of Bastidas and his voy
age by Las Casas, Hist, fnd., iii. 10-12, who refutes certain of Oviedo s un
important statements in H
^toria General y Natural Je las India*, i. 7G-7; ii.
3345; by Herrera, i. 148-9; Gomara, Hist. Intl., fol. 67; and in Galvano s
Discov., 99-100, and 102-3. But before these I should place original docu
ments found in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, iii. 25-28, 545-G, and 591-3, and in the
Golecdon of Pacheco and Cardenas, of both of which works I shall presently
speak more fully. In torn. ii. pp. 3G2-G of this latter collection is given the
Aslenlo que hizo con sus Mojestades Cattilicos Ro lriyo de Bastidas, before men
tioned; and on pp. 3G6-4G7, same volume, is Information de los servicios del
adelantado Rodrino de Bastidas, conquistador y pacificador de Santa Marta.
Next in importance to the chroniclers are, Historia de la Marina Real Espanola,
i. 284; Morelli, Fasti Novi Orbis, 11; Robertson s Hint. Am., i. 159; Help s
Spanish Conquest, i. 294; Acosta, Compend. Hist. Nueva Granada, 21; Irving s
Columbus, iii. 53-6, and Quintana, Vidas de Espanohs Celebris, Vasco Nuiiez
de Balboa, 1. Robinson s Acct. Discov. in West, 105; Lardner s Maritime Dis
covery, ii. 32; Holmes Annals of America, i. 20; Lerdode Tejada, Apuntes Hist.,
1

89; Harris Voij., i. 270; Major s Prince Henry, 3G9, and like allusions are
worthless. In Kerr s Col. Voy., ii. 5S-G3, is given a translation of Galvano.
In Aa s collection the narrative is substantially the same as in Gottfried s.

The most fertile source of information relative to the early affairs of

America is the Archives of the Indies, a general term comprising various col
lections in various places. From this source many writers have drawn, and
are still
drawing; many documents have been printed, and many yet remain to
be printed. Altogether the collections are very numerous, as the government
required full records, and in some cases copies, to be kept of official documents
concerning discovery, conquest, and settlement. The several council-cham
bersand public offices where the business was transacted were the first deposi
tories of these papers, the chief places then being Seville, Cadiz, and Madrid.
In 1566 Philip II. ordered all collections,ecclesiastic and secular, to be
united, and deposited in the fortress of Simancas. Again in 1717, when all
the councils were consolidated in one, Felipe V., who founded the Academia
de la Historia, among other things for the gathering and preserving of mate-
196 DISCOVERY OF DARIEN.

papers to be conveyed annually to the ArcJdvo

rials for history, directed all
de Simancas. These provisions could not have been fully carried out, or
else a very extensive system of copying must have been practised; for later,
when the Archives were thrown open to the search of historians, the accumu
lation at Simancas, though large, did not appear to be much greater than at
some other places. Further than this, there were family archives in the
houses of those who had played prominent parts in public affairs, and ecclesi-
fisticEil relaciones in the convents of the several orders, of little less importance
than public records. And while the government insisted on the making of
complete records, and observed great care in preventing their contents from
being known, especially to foreigners, little pains was taken to preserve them
from damage or destruction, or to arrange them for convenient reference.
Therefore when they came to light it was in the form of bulky masses of
unassorted, worm-eaten, and partially illegible papers. Many documents,
mentioned by contemporary writers, are known to have been lost, and their
contents blotted from existence. Fernando VI., 1746-1750, commissioned
Burriel and Santiago Palomares to examine the archives of the kingdom and
to copy and form into a collection such of the manuscripts as they should
deem best. This collection was placed in the BiUioteca National at Madrid.
Other collections were made during the two following reigns by Abella,
Traggia, Velazquez, Muiioz, Navarrete, Sans, Vargas Ponce, and Villanueva,
which found lodgment in various localities.
The early chroniclers of the Indies picked up their knowledge as best they
might, by observation, by conversation, and by the examination of written
evidence. Las Casas and Oviedo spent much time in the New World; Peter
Martyr had access to whatever existed, beside talking with everybody who
had been to America; Gomara copied much from Oviedo. Everything was
at the disposal of Herrera as crown historiographer, as a matter of course,

though he did not always make the best use of his opportunities. Gashard
affirms that both Cabrera and Herrera were ignorant of the existence of many
of the most valuable documents of their day. Ramusio, Hakluyt, Purchas,
and others, succeeded in getting now and then an original paper on the
Indies to print in their several collections. Among the first English histo
rians who attempted for purposes of history to utilize the Archives of the
Indies was William Robertson, who published the History of the Reign of
the Einperor Charles, London, 1769; and in 1777, his History of America, 2
vols. 4to, several editions appearing subsequently also in Svo. Robertson was
a Scotch clergyman of great learning and ability. His style was elegant and
vigorous, and he was by far the most philosophic writer on America up to his
time. Although his statements are full of errors, intensified by dogmatism,
but for which he cannot always be blamed, all who have come after him
have profited by his writings; and some of these, indeed, have reaped richer
rewards than he to whom they owed their success, and with far less labor.
Early in his work Mr Robertson applied to the proper authorities at
Madrid, Vienna, and St Petersburg for access to material. Germany an,d
Russia responded in a spirit of liberality, but Spain would none of it. In
1775 Robertson ascertained that the largest room occupied by the Arcluvo* <le

Simancas was filled with American papers, in 873 bundles; that they were
 ROBERTSON AND MUNOZ. 197

concealed from strangers with solicitous care, Spanish subjects even being
denied access without an order from the crown; and that no copies could be
obtained except upon the payment of exorbitant fees. However, through
the assistance of Lord Grantham, English ambassador at Madrid, and by
preparing a set of questions to be submitted to persons who had lived in
America, much new and important information was elicited, and copies of
certain manuscripts were obtained. The letters of Cortes, and the writings
of Motolinia, Mendieta, and others, which Robertson used in manuscript,
have since been printed.
It is greatly to be regretted that the learned Juan Bautista Mufioz did
not live to complete his Historia del Nuevo Mundo, only the first volume of
which appeared. This was published in Madrid, in 1793, bringing his work
down to 1500. Muuoz was born near Valencia in 1745, graduated at the Uni
versity, and in 1779 was commissioned by the king to write a history of
America, all public and private material being placed at his disposal by royal
order. papers were wanting in the archives of the department of the
Many
Indies in Madrid; whereupon he went to Simancas, Seville, Cadiz, and other
towns, armed with a royal cedula, which opened to him family and monastic
accumulations as well as all public depositories. So great was the confusion
in which he found the royal archives, that it seemed to him as if they had
been disarranged purposely to hide what they contained. Even in the indices
of the Archivo Secreto del Consejo de Indias there was scarcely any indication
of papers belonging to the earlier American periods. Nevertheless, by per
sistent search, mass after mass of rich material was unearthed in the secret
archives as well as in the Real Caaa Audiencia de la Contr citation, the archives
at Simancas, the royal libraries of Madrid and the Escorial, the Contaduria

Principal of the Audiencia de Indias in Cadiz, the Archivo General de Por

tugal, the monastery of Monserrate, the colleges of San Bartolomd and
Cuenca at Salamanca, and San Gregorio at Valladolid, the cathedral of
Palencia, the Sacromonte of Granada, and in the convents of San Francisco
of Tolosa in Guipuzcoa, Santo Domingo of Malaga, and San Acacio, San
and San Isidro del Campo of Seville, until it may be said of him that
Jose",

his efforts were buried beneath the magnitude of their invocation. Then it
was that he found he had undertaken greater things than he could accom
plish. Even with the aid of government he could not master the confused
masses; for money and men unlimited cannot accomplish everything without
time. The indefatigable Muuoz worked faithfully; the king complained of
the meagre results; the author died doing his best, and his work to this day
remains undone. During his labors he made an extensive collection of papers,
memorials, and other manuscripts relating to America, known as the Coleccion
de Alunoz, which he once intended to publish, but this with a portion of his
history was left in manuscript. Irving states that the papers of Mufioz were
left with Sefior Uguina, and Ternaux-Compans claims to have obtained all of

Uguina s manuscripts; but Prescott asserts that the collection of Mufioz was
deposited in the archives of the Royal Academy of History at Madrid, and
was there augmented by the manuscripts of Vargas Ponce, obtained chiefly
from the archives of the Indies at Seville. Prior to 1793 the Archivo General
de Indias was established at Seville, and a large quantity of old papers con-
198 DISCOVERY OF DARIEN.

veyed thither from Madrid and Simancas. About 1810 the archives at
Simancas were sacked by Napoleon; in 1814 the remnant was re-arranged and
classified.

Before the death of Mufioz, Navarrete was commissioned by the king to

search the archives for documents relating to the doings of the Spanish navy.
By him personally, or under his direction when occupied in other duties, the
search was continued from 1789 to 1825. The results of these labors were
as follows: before 1793, twenty-four folio volumes of copies from the Royal

Library at Madrid, the collections of the marquises of Santa Cruz and of

Villafranca, of the dukes de Medina Sidonia and del Infantado, and from
the Biblloteca de los esludios reales de San Isidro, and the Diblioteca alta del

Escorial ; after 1793, seventeen volumes of copies from the Archivo General
de Indins, including the papers in the Casa de Gontratacion in Seville, the
Coieyio de San Telmo, the Biblioteca de San A-cacio, and from the collection
of the Comic del Aguila. With this material, increased by subsequent
researches in the libraries of the Royal Academy of History in Madrid, and
other public institutions, and in many private collections, particularly that
of the Duke of Veraguas, and with access to the Mufioz collection, Navarrete

began in 1825 the publication of his Colecdon de los Viarjes y Descubrimientos,

qite tui ieron par mar los Espanoles desde fines del Sljio xv., in 5 vols.,

Madrid, 1825-37, in which he printed over 500 documents, many of them of

the highest importance. As this collection constitutes one of the chief
authorities upon the early affairs of Darien, a brief notice of the author may
not be out of place.
Martin Fernandez de Navarrete was born in 1705 in Abalos in old Castile.
He entered the seminary of Vergara in 1777, where he studied Latin and
mathematics and displayed some literary taste. In 1780 he joined the navy,
was stationed first as a midshipman at Ferrol, joined Cordoba s squadron in
1781, and cruised in the summer of that year on the English coast. He did
good service before Gibraltar in September, 1782, and in the battle off Cape
Espartel the 20th of October following. In 17S3, having been promoted to a
naval cnsigncy, he was appointed to the Cartagena department, and cruised
in consequence against the Moors during the years 1 784-5. On the close of
the ALrcrme wars he studied the higher mathematics, navigation, and

manoeuvring with Gabriel de Ciscar, distinguishing himself in these branches.

In 1789, his health forcing him to quit active service, he was commissioned
by Carlos IV. to examine the archives of the kingdom and collect manu
scripts relating to marine history; a work for which his zeal and knowledge
particularly fitted him. This was the beginning of his famous Collection of
Voyages, although its first volumes did not appear till thirty-six years after.
When the war broke out between France and Spain in 1793, he joined the
squadron commanded by Juan de Langara, who appointed him his chief aid,
primer ayutlinde, and secretary. He was still at sea, in 179G, when war was
declared against England; but in 1797, Langara being named minister of
marine, and unwilling to lose his young secretary, he brought him to Madrid,
giving him a place in the department. Here, in 1802, Navarrete published,
as a preface to the Relation del Viaye hecho por Ian (jolcta* Sut d y Aleyicana,
a resume of Spanisli discoveries on the California .! and Northwest coasts,
 MARTIN FERNANDEZ DE NAVARRETE. 199

that has been much cited in the English- American disputes about the Oregon

boundary. Meanwhile his merits were recognized in Madrid. In 1807 he

was named minintro fiscal of the supreme council of the admiralty court, he
holding already the rank of captain. But in this year came the French in
vasion, overturning all things. Madrid fell in 1808. In 1812 Navarrete was
found in Cadiz; in 1814 in Murcia. Fernando regained his throne, however,
May 14, 1814; four months after which event Navarrete returned to Madrid.
In 1815 he proposed from his place in the Spanish Academy that new system
of orthography which has been adopted for its dictionary. He interested
himself also in the fine arts, and as secretary of the Academy of San Fernando
contributed many valuable papers to its Transactions. Soon after his return
to Madrid, being little pleased with the stormy and veering statesmanship of
the day, he retired as much as possible from politics, and began to collect
materials for his life of Cervantes an excellent and very complete work
published by the academy, with its edition of Don Quijole, in 1820. Honors
continued to cluster around the historian. Toward the close of 1823 he was
appointed director of the hydrographic department, and he became for many
years in fact, if not in name, the great and chief naval authority of Spain;
and this without prejudice to his literary activity. In 1825 appeared the
firsttwo volumes of his Collection of Voyages; the third appeared in 1829;
the fourth and fifth in 1837; while the sixth and seventh were still unfinished
at the author s death. On the publication of the Estatuto Real, in 1834, he
received a place in the new peerage, and sat afterward as senator for his own
province, in almost every legislature. But his studious life and pacific char
acter were hardly destined to shine in a political career, norwas it for the interest
of science that they should. In the winter of 1844, in the seventy-ninth year of
his age, Navarrete died. The Academy issued a posthumous work of his in
184(5, a dissertation on the history of the nautical and mathematical sciences in
Spain. A collection of his smaller works, Coleccion de Opusculos, was begun in
1848 by his son. The two volumes which have already appeared consist mainly
of short biographies of Spanish navigators and literary men, previously scattered
in periodicals and in the transactions of the various academies and societies.
Navarrete was a man of learning and research, as clearly appears; inclined some
what to verbosity; tiresome to most readers, though pronounced eleyante ycastizo
by his contemporaries. Of the historical value of his works, however, there is
but one opinion. Humboldt speaks of his Collection of Voyages as one of
the most important monuments of modern times, and calls him the most ac
curate historian of the geographical discoveries on the New Continent. The
Baron de Zach, M. de Berthelot, Prescott, Helps, Irving, and Stirling, have
all given him much consideration. Indeed, the friends of Navarrete cannot
complain that he has not been honored. Decorated with grand orders, mem
ber in high place of many academies and societies, his lot was more fortunate
than is usual among literary men. The parts of Navarrete s collection which
bear most directly upon this history are: Relation de Diego de, Porras, i. 282-
96; Carta que escribid D. Cristobal Colon, i. 296-313; Relation hecha par Diego
Mendez, i. 314-29; Cartas de Colon, i. 330-52; Viages Menores, iii. 1-74; Real
c&duli por la cual, con referenda d lo capitulodo con Dieyo deNicuesa y Alonso
deHojeda, iii. 116-17; Noticias bioyrdficas del
capitan Alonso Hojeda, iii. 163-
200 DISCOVERY OF DARIEN.

76; and the Establecimicntos 6 Primcras PobJrt clones de los Expailoles en cl

Darien, including instructions to Pedrarias, letters of Vasco Nunez, memorial

of Rodrigo de Colmenares, and the relation of Pascual de Andagoya, iii.
337-459.
Scarcely was Navarrete s Coleccion de Viage.i put to press, when Washing
ton Irving heard of it, and went to Madrid with the intention of translating
it into English. But he soon saw that with less labor he could accomplish a
work which would yield him greater returns. Navarrete, who had already
collected the material and prepared the way, Was still disposed to lend the
genial American every was necessary for him to make few orig
assistance; it
inal investigations; under the circumstances the Life of Columbus
so that
was by no means a difficult task for so ready a writer. Humboldt visited
Madrid before coming to America, but seems to have consulted no important
historical documents not in the possession of others. Prescott obtained from
the collections of Munoz and Navarrete 8000 foolscap pages of copies, most
of which having any importance have since been printed by Icazbalceta, Ala-

man, and others.

Between the years 1837 and 1841 Henri Ternaux-Compans published at
Paris twenty volumes of Voyages, relations, et mcmoires origlnaux pour servir
a rhis oire de la dccouverte de VAmcrique, containing, beside translations of
several rare and then unobtainable works, some seventy-live original docu
ments, several of them from the Munoz collection, and others obtained from
the Spanish archives in some unexplained way, possibly not wholly discon
nected with the French campaign on the Peninsula. Among his translations
are documents relating to the conquest and settlement of Central America
and Mexico, the relations of Cabeza de Vaca and Ixtlilxochitl, Oviedo s His
tory of Nicaragua, Zurita s Report on New Spain, and Ixtlilxochitl s History
of the Chichimecs. Ternaux-Compans also published Recueil de documents et
mcmoires originaiix sur Vhistoire des possessions espagnoles dans VAmeriqm,
Paris, 1840; and Bibliothcque amcricaine, a catalogue of books on America
appearing prior to 1700.
The project of printing original papers selected from national and family
archives was agitated in Spain by Campomanes, Jovellanos, Villamil, and
others, who collected and wrote much upon the subject. The scheme was
delayed by the political disruptions incident to the early part of the century,
by which the archives became badly scattered. In 1842, under the auspices
of the Academla de la Ilittoria, was begun the publication, at Madrid, of a
Coleccion de Documentos Incditos para la Ilistoria de Espana, with the names
of Martin Fernandez Navarrete, Miguel Salvd, and Pedro Sainz de Baranda
on the title-page. Navarrete lived to see only the fifth volume; SalvA and
Baranda continued the publication to vol. xxiii., after which, Salvd edited
alone to vol. xxxii., when he was joined by the marquises of Pidal and of
Miraflores. After vol. xlvii., Pidal s name was dropped, and with vol. Ivii.
Salvd and the Marque s de Fuente del Valle appeared as editors. In con
nection with documents relating to the general history of Spain is here
printed a vast amount of matter about America, and the doings of Spaniards
in that quarter.

During the next score of years floods of light are let in upon the dark
 TERNAUX-COMPANS, ALAMAN, AND OTHERS. 201

recesses of hidden treasures, the spirit of unearthing which extends to

Mexico. I may mention incidentally Ramirez, who, in his Proceso de Resi-
dencia contra Alvarado and Nuno de Guzman, gives some original Mexican
documents not elsewhere published. Alaman, at the close of his Disertaciones,
prints about forty original documents on the time of the Conquest, some of
them from the collection of Navarrete, and others from original sources, such
as the Hospital de Jesus in Mexico. The Documentor para la Ilistoria de
Mexico, Mexico, 1853-7, in 21 volumes, was made chiefly from Mexi
can sources, and is specially valuable for north-west Mexico. Icazbalceta s
collection includes fifty-three documents, with few exceptions ineditos, the
existence of several of which, such as a letter of Cortus, and the relation of
Tapia on the Conquest, was then unknown. Most of them were obtained
through Gonzalez de Vera, of Madrid; only two or three were found in Mex
ico. Thus far Icazbalceta s collection refers exclusively to the sixteenth

century. Brasseur de Bourbourg, for his Ilistoire des Nations Civilisces du

Mexique, Paris, 1857-9, one volume of which is devoted to a history of the
Conquest from an Indian stand-point, seems to have relied on his Nahua man
uscripts, the standard histories, and a few Spanish manuscripts. Although
much thus far had been done, it seemed little to the savans of Spain in com
parison with what yet might be accomplished. And it was with this feeling
that the government authorized the printing of any documents in the Real
Archivo de Indias affecting the history of America down to the end of the sev
enteenth century. The publication of this new series of papers was begun
at Madrid in 1864 under title of Coleccion de Documentos Intditos relatives al
Descubrimiento, Conquista y Colonization de las posesiones Espanolas en America
y Occeania, sacados, en su mayor parte, del Real Archivo de Indias. Joaquin
F. Pacheco, Francisco de Cardenas, and Luis Torres de Mendozawere editors
at the first. After vol. iii. the first two names were dropped, and after vol.
xii. the third, the work being thenceforth continued, competentemente autori
zada. By this publication alone were placed within easy reach of all the
world hundreds of the richest treasures of the Archives of the Indies, twenty
for every one that the writer of thirty years ago could reach.