CHAPTER I. GIL GONÇALEZ DAVILA DISCOVERS NICARAGUA.-FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ SENT BY PEDRARIAS TO SETTLE THERE. HE FOUNDS LEON AND GRANADA.-DRIVES OUT GIL GONÇALEZ.-HERNANDEZ BEHEADED BY PEDRARIAS.-DEATH OF PEDRARIAS. CHAPTER I. -HE GIL GONÇALEZ DAVILA DISCOVERS NICARAGUA.—FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ SENT BY PEDRARIAS TO SETTLE THERE. FOUNDS LEON AND GRANADA.-DRIVES OUT GIL GONÇALEZ. HERNANDEZ BEHEADED BY PEDRARIAS.-DEATH OF PEDRARIAS. NICA ICARAGUA was the battle-field of so many pretensions; it illustrates so completely the vices and errors of the Spanish government and of the Spanish adventurers; its history is so much interwoven with that of Guatemala, Honduras, and even of New Spain, that some attempt must be made to bring before the reader, however briefly, the principal events connected with its discovery and colonization. For this purpose we must revert to the famous bull of Pope Alexander the Sixth, which divided between the Portuguese and Castilian monarchs the world about to be discovered, laying down an imaginary line to the west of the Azores as the boundary. Now the peculiar delusion which at this early period haunted the monarchs of Spain and their statesmen was, that the most desirable enterprise which maritime daring could accomplish for their nation would be, by going westward, to arrive at the Spice Islands. They would then rival or eclipse the Portuguese, without in the least violating the contract made between the two countries under the Pope's auspices.* The * GASPAR CONTARINI, one of the admirable embassadors of whom Venice in the Middle Ages could boast so many, whose Relazioni should be a text-book for the diplomatic service, in an account of his 70 Division of the New World. land of Kublai Khan was not more attractive to Columbus than the Spice Islands to the Spanish sovereigns. Often, neglecting the immense advantages mission to the court of Charles the Fifth, which he read to the Senate on the 16th of November, 1525, makes the following statement: "Ora questo Fernando Cortes è per procedere più oltre, e già verso il mezzogiorno aveva ritrovato circa dugento miglia lontano dal Jucatan il mare meridionale, e molte altre città, e ha trovato un' acqua amplissima 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 CONTARINI Ritornato Ambasciatore da Carlo V., letta in Senato a dì 16 Novembre, 1525. Relazioni degli Ambasciatori Veneti al Senato. Raccolte, annotate ed edite da EUGENIO ALBERI, Serie ia, vol. ii., p. 53. Firenze, 1840. The above passage shows the effect that was produced in the court of Spain by that part of the narrative which Cortez had given of his Honduras journey to the Emperor respecting a possible route to the Pacific by the Golfo Dulce. The whole account which CONTARINI gives of the discoveries in the Indies is wonderfully accurate, and his testimony with regard to the beauty of the workmanship of the golden vases, the mirrors, and the ornaments of feathers, which had come from Mexico, is worth recording, for a refined Venetian of that day must have been one of the best judges of works of art. "Da questo Jucatan nella terra propinqua, 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, posta in mezzo un lago di acqua 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 cittá sono alcune strade fondate nel lago. Li abitanti sono idolatri, come tutti gli altri di quei paesi, mangiano uomini, ma non tutti, solo mangiano li inimici che prendono in battaglia. Sacrificano eziandio uomini alli loro idoli. Sono poi industriosi in lavorare; e io ho veduto alcuni vasi d'oro, ed altri venuti di là, bellissimi e molto ben lavorati. Nè hanno ferro, ma Expeditions to the Spice Islands. 71 which lay at their feet in the magnificent countries their subjects had already discovered, they put in jeopardy their fairest possessions to pursue this fatal phantom; for fatal it pre-eminently 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. 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 well acquainted with the coast of Darien, and had been employed there, proceeded to the court of Spain. He proposed an expedition to the Spice Islands, which met with royal approval, and with that of the Bishop of Burgos. At the head of the expedition was placed Gil Gonçalez Davila, the Contador of Hispaniola, formerly attached to the household of the Bishop of Burgos. These explorers were to make use of the ships which had been constructed with incredible 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 purposes, and had sent the Licentiate Espinosa on a 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. adoprano alcune pietre in luogo di ferro. Ho veduto eziandio specchi fatti di pietra. Lavorano poi lavori di penne di uccelli, miracolosi. Certamente non ho veduto in altre parti alcun ricamo, ne altro lavoro tanto sottile, come sono alcuni di questi di penne, li quali hanno un' altra vaghezza, perocchè parono di diversi colori, secondo che hanno la luce, come vediamo farsi nel collo d'un colombo."-Ut supra, p. 52–3. 72 Discovery of Nicaragua. Lope de Sosa arrived at Darien, but died almost immediately after his arrival-indeed, before he landed, accomplishing less even than Ponce de Leon afterward did when he went to New Spain to take a residencia of Cortez. 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 enterprise, 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 northwest instead of the southwest. The result, however, was, that they discovered the whole coast of Nicaragua as far as the Bay of Fonseca, which Gil Gonçalez must have named after his patron, the Bish op of Burgos. They did not content themselves with merely discovering the coast, but made considerable excursions into the interior. There Gil Gonçalez found a great cacique called Nicaragua, whose pueblo was situated three leagues from the sea-shore, close to the lake which now bears his name. The cacique was a man of much intelligence. He put to the strangers many questions of childish 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. He further wished to know what became of the souls ** Preguntó la causa de la escuridad de las noches, y del frio, ta * |