68 Division of the New World. B. XIII. eclipse the Portuguese, without in the least vioCh. 1. lating the contract made between the two countries under the Pope's auspices.* The land of Kublai given of his Honduras journey to the Emperor, respecting a possible route to the Pacific by the Golfo Dulce. *GASPAR CONTARINI, one of the narrative which Cortes had the admirable ambassadors of whom Venice in the middle ages could boast so many, whose Relazioni should be a textbook for the diplomatic service, The whole account which CONin an account of his mission to TARINI gives of the discoveries the Court of Charles the Fifth, in the Indies is wonderfully acwhich he read to the Senate on curate, and his testimony with the 16th of November, 1525, regard to the beauty of the makes the following statement: workmanship of the golden vases, -"Ora questo Fernando Cortes the mirrors, and the ornaments è per procedere più oltre, e già of feathers, which had come from verso il mezzogiorno aveva ritro- Mexico, is worth recording, for a vato circa dugento miglia lon-refined Venetian of that day must tano dal Jucatan il mare meri- have been one of the best judges dionale, e molte altre città, e ha of works of art." Da questo trovato un' acqua amplissima | Jucatan nella terra propinqua, dolce, fra la quale e questo mare meridionale è un territorio, non più di due miglia largo, e spera eziandio di trovare che quest' acqua dolce pervenga anche prossima a quest' altro mare settentrionale, il che quando si ritrovasse, credono che per quella via con grande facilità potriano navigare all' isole Molucche, ed altri luoghi dell' Indie Orientali per torre le spezie senza intricarsi con li Portoghesi."Relazione di GASPARO CONTA-posta in mezzo un lago di acqua RINI Ritornato Ambasciatore da Carlo V., letta in Senato a di 16 Novembre, 1525. Relazioni degli Ambasciatori Veneti al Senato. Raccolte, annotate ed edite da EUGENIO ALBERI, Serie 1a, vol. 2, p. 53. Firenze, 1840. The above passage shows the effect that was produced in the Court of Spain by that part of poco più all' occidente, sbarcò Fernando Cortes già cinque anni, e penetrò dentro nella terra, dove trovò molti popoli, e molte città, fra le quali una provincia detta Tolteche (he ought to have said Tlascala), la quale era inimicissima al re di Tenochtitlan (l'antico nome della città di Messico), di dove con molte guerre, e molte lusinghe false si è fatto signore. Questa città è meravigliosa e di grandezza e di sito e di artifizj, salsa, il quale circonda circa dugento miglia, e da un capo si congiunge con un altro lago d'acqua dolce; non è però molto profondo, e l'acqua cresce e cala ogni giorno due volte come fa qui a Venezia. Dalla terra alla città sono alcune strade fondate nel lago. Li abitanti sono idolatri, come tutti gli altri di quei paesi, mangiano uomini, ma non Expeditions to the Spice Islands. 69 a westward the Spice Khan was not more attractive to Columbus than B. XIII. the Spice Islands to the Spanish Sovereigns. Ch. 1. Often, neglecting the immense advantages which Search lay at their feet in the magnificent countries their after subjects had already discovered, they put in jeo- route to pardy their fairest possessions to pursue this fatal Islands. phantom. For fatal it preeminently was; and any one minutely versed in the early records of the New World knows, when he sees the word Spice Islands, that something very disastrous is about to be narrated. poses an to the Spice The discovery of Nicaragua follows closely upon the death of Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, and was intimately connected with that lamentable proceeding. Andres Niño, a bold pilot who was Andres well acquainted with the coast of Darien, and Niño prohad been employed there, proceeded to the Court expedition of Spain. He proposed an expedition to the Islands." Spice Islands, which met with royal approval, and with that of the Bishop of Burgos. At the Gil head of the expedition was placed Gil Gonçalez Davila Davila, the Contador of Hispaniola, attached to the household of the Bishop of of it. Burgos. These explorers were to make use of the Gonçalez formerly appointed tutti, solo mangiano li inimici | rano poi lavori di penne di che prendono in battaglia. Sacri- uccelli, miracolosi. Certamente ficano eziandio uomini alli loro non ho veduto in altre parti idoli. Sono poi industriosi in alcun ricamo, ne altro lavoro lavorare; e io ho veduto alcuni tanto sottile, come sono alcuni vasi d'oro, ed altri venuti di di questi di penne, li quali là, bellissimi e molto ben lavo- hanno un' altra vaghezza, perocrati. Ne hanno ferro, ma ado- chè paiono di diversi colori, prano alcune pietre in luogo di secondo che hanno la luce, come ferro. Ho veduto eziandio vediamo farsi nel collo d'un specchi fatti di pietra. Lavo- | colombo."-Ut supra, pp. 52-3. commander B. XIII. ships which had been constructed with incredible Ch. I. toil by Vasco Nuñez; and they relied upon the friendship of Lope de Sosa, who was to go out at the same time as Governor of Darien, and to take a residencia of Pedrarias de Avila. Meanwhile, as might have been expected, Pedrarias had made use of these vessels for his own purPedrarias poses, and had sent the Licenciate Espinosa on a Espinosa. Voyage of discovery in the Sea of the South, who had proceeded as far as Cape Blanco, which is situated in what is now the Republic of Costa Rica. had sent Lope de Sosa dies. 1518. Gil Gonçalez and Andres Niño set sail, Jan. 1522. Lope de Sosa arrived at Darien, but died almost immediately after his arrival, indeed before he landed, accomplishing less even than Ponce de Leon afterwards did, when he went to New Spain to take a residencia of Cortes. Gil Gonçalez, therefore, found himself with an enemy instead of a friend in the Governor of Darien. He and Andres Niño, however, persevered in their enterprize, and, in January 1522, set sail from the Island of TeZaregui, in the Gulf of San Miguel. Their notions of geography must have been somewhat limited and incorrect, if they were still bent on discovering the Spice Islands, for they pursued their way to the north-west instead of the south-west. The result, however, was, that they discovered the Nicaragua. whole coast of Nicaragua as far as the Bay of Fonseca, which Gil Gonçalez must have named after his patron, the Bishop of Burgos. They did not content themselves with merely discovering the coast, but made considerable excursions into the interior. There Gil Gonçalez found a Nicaragua. great Cacique called Nicaragua, whose pueblo was They discover The Cacique B. XIII. situated three leagues from the sea-shore, close to the lake which now bears his name. Ch. I. The Cacique's questions upon na nomena. The Cacique was a man of much intelligence. He put to the strangers many questions of childish tural phe- simplicity, but yet with childish daringness of thought. He inquired if they had heard of any great deluge, and asked whether there would be another. He wished to know when the sun and the moon would lose their brightness and forsake their appointed courses. He desired to be informed as to the causes of darkness and of cold, and was inclined to blame the nature of things because it was not always bright and warm.* His inquiries about the Pope and the Emperor. He further wished to know what became of the souls of men who lived so short a time in the body, and yet were immortal. Descending from these great questions to discuss the information which the Spaniards brought him about their affairs, he inquired whether the Pope was subject to death, and whether the Cacique of Castille, of whom they spoke so much, was mortal. He concluded by asking the pertinent question, why it was that so few men, as they were, sought so much gold. Gil Gonçalez and his companions were astonished to hear a semi-naked "barbarian" interrogate them in this fashion; and never, it was said, had an Indian been found who talked in this way with the Spaniards.† ** " Preguntó la causa de la escuridad de las noches, y del frio, tachando la naturaleza, que no hazia siempre claro, y calor, pues era mejor."- HERRERA, Hist. de las Indias, dec. 3, lib. 4, cap. 5. tal hablasse con Castellanos."― "Y jamas se halló, que Indio HERRERA, Hist. de las Indias, dec. 3, lib. 4, cap. 5. |