This Captain Had Met With A Great Storm At Sea, And Had Put Into The Port Of Santa Maria, Which The Indians Call Gayra, 50 Or 60 Leagues From Carthagena.

On the boats going on shore for water, the cacique came forwards with twenty of his people, dressed in a kind of cotton cloaks, though the natives of that part of the coast usually go naked.

He advised them not to take water from the place where they were, saying that it was not good, and offered to shew them another river of better water. But on coming to it, they could not get their boats to the place, owing to a heavy surf, and returned to the first place. While filling their casks, about seventy armed Indians rushed suddenly upon them, and before the Spaniards could stand to their defence, forty-five of them were wounded by poisoned arrows. The wounded men swam off to the ships, as the Indians had staved their long-boat, and all of them died save one. Seven of the Spaniards saved themselves in a large hollow tree, intending to swim off at night; but those on board supposing them all killed, sailed away much dejected, for Uraba, to inquire after Nicuessa. Finding no person on the east side of the bay, where they thought to have found either their own men or those belonging to Hojeda, Colmenares suspected they were all dead, or had gone to some other place; but he thought fit to fire off some cannon, that they might hear him if still in the neighbourhood; besides which he made fires at night, and smokes by day on some of the adjacent high rocks. The people at Santa Maria el Antiqua del Darien heard his guns, which resounded through the whole bay to the westwards, and making signals in return, he came to them about the middle of November 1510. Colmenares distributed his provisions among the colonists of Darien, by which he gained the good will of most of those who had opposed the calling of Nicuessa to the command, whom they now agreed to send for that he might assume the government.

SECTION VII.

The Adventures, Misfortunes, and Death of Don Diego de Nicuessa, the founder of the Colony of Nombre de Dios.

After parting from Hojeda, whom he had so generously assisted, Nicuessa met a few days afterwards with as great misfortunes at sea as Hojeda had encountered by land; for he was tossed by a dreadful tempest from without, and betrayed within by Lopez de Olano, who, perceiving the squadron separated by the storm, took one of the largest ships into the river Chagre, and left his patron to shift for himself. After some unlucky adventures, Olano arrived at Veragna, which was their place of rendezvous, where he endeavoured to persuade the people to abandon their original design as impracticable, and to sail for Hispaniola to make the most of what they had left, alleging that Nicuessa had certainly perished with all his men.

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