They Alleged Likewise That
Their Country Produced Gold, Or At Least They Were So Understood, But This
Has Since Been Found Not To Be The Case.
All that we soldiers got by this
discovery, was to come back poor and wounded, and thankful that we had
saved our lives, having lost seventy out of our small number during the
expedition.
Diego Velasquez wrote an account to his patron, the bishop of
Burgos, of all the particulars of this discovery, and the expences he had
incurred, by which he obtained fame and credit from his majesty; but
nothing was said in favour of us poor soldiers, who had expended our
property, and risked our lives in the expedition.
As soon as our wounds were healed, I and two other soldiers, desiring to
go to the town of Trinidad, agreed for our passage with an inhabitant of
the Havanna, who was going there in a canoe to sell a cargo of cotton, for
which he was to be paid ten crowns in gold. We accordingly embarked with
him, and after coasting along for eleven days, we were driven on shore in
a violent gale of wind, near an Indian town named Canarreon, the canoe
being dashed to pieces, while we reached the shore with much difficulty
naked, bruised, and wounded. We were forced to adopt the clothing of our
first parents, and tied sandals to our feet made of bark which we cut from
the trees with sharp stones, fixing them on by means of the tough flexible
roots of a plant called bejucos.
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