The Boats Went
Ashore At This Place, Where They Found Above 300 Persons Ready To Trade In
Provisions And Some Small Gold Ornaments Which They Wore At Their Ears And
Noses.
On Saturday the 24th of November we put into a small port which was
called Retrete, or the Retired
Place, because it could not contain above
five or six ships together; the mouth of it was not above 15 or 20 paces
over, and on both sides rocks appeared above water as sharp as diamonds.
The channel between was so deep that no bottom could be found, though if
the ships inclined only a little way to either side the men could leap on
shore. This sharpness of the rocks saved the ships in this narrow passage,
and the danger we were now in was owing to the covetousness of the people
who went in the boats to view it, as they were desirous of trafficking
with the Indians, and believed that the ships might be in safety close to
the shore. In this place we were detained nine days by bad weather. At
first the Indians came very familiarly to trade in such articles as they
had to dispose of; but our seamen used to steal privately on shore and
commit a thousand insolencies like covetous dissolute fellows, insomuch
that they provoked the Indians to break the peace, and several skirmishes
happened between them and our people. The Indians at length took courage
to advance to our ships which lay with their sides close to the shore,
intending to do us some harm; but their designs turned out to their own
detriment, although the admiral always endeavoured to gain them by
patience and civility. But perceiving their insolence to increase, he
caused some cannon to be discharged, thinking to frighten them; this they
answered with loud shouts, thrashing the trees with their clubs and staves,
and showed by threatening signs that they did not fear the noise.
Therefore to abate their pride and to surprise them with respect for the
Christians, the admiral ordered a shot to be fired at a company of them
that stood upon a hillock near the shore; and the ball falling among them
made them sensible that our thunder carried a bolt along with it, and in
future they dared not to show themselves even behind the hills.
The people of this country were the handsomest we had yet seen among the
Indians, being tall and thin, without large bellies, and with agreeable
countenances. The country was all plain, bearing little grass and few
trees. In the harbour there were crocodiles or alligators of a vast size,
which go on shore to sleep, and they scatter a scent as if all the musk in
the world were together: They are fierce and ravenous, so that if they
find a man asleep they drag him to the water and devour him, but they are
fearful and cowardly when attacked. These alligators are found in many
other parts of the continent, and some affirm that they are the same with
the crocodiles of the Nile.
Finding that the violent winds from the E. and N.E. did not cease, and
that no trade could be had with those people, the admiral resolved to go
back that he might make farther inquiry into the reports of the Indians
concerning the mines of Veragua, and therefore returned on Monday the 5th
of November to Porto Bello ten leagues westwards. Continuing his course
next day, he was encountered by a west wind which was quite contrary to
his new design, though favourable for that which he had been attempting
for three months past, but expecting that this wind would not last long
because the weather was unsettled, he bore up against the wind for some
days; but when the weather would seem a little favourable for going to
Veragua, another wind would start up and drive us back again to Porto
Bello, and when almost in hopes of getting into port we were quite beat
off again. Sometimes there were such incessant flashes of thunder and
lightning that the men durst hardly open their eyes, the ships seemed just
sinking, and the sky appeared as if it would come down upon us. At times
the thunder was so continued, that it was conceived some ship was firing
its guns for assistance. At other times there would fall such incessant
and heavy torrents of rain for two or three days together as if an
universal deluge were going to overwhelm the world. This almost unceasing
war of the elements perplexed the men and reduced them almost to despair,
so that they were continually wet and could not get half an hours rest at
a time, always beating up to windward. In such terrible tempests they
dreaded the fire in flashes of lightning, the air for its fury, the
water for its mountainous waves, and the earth for hidden rocks and
sands; where they expected safety in a near haven, often encountering
danger, and therefore preferring to contend against all the other elements
to avoid the land. In the midst of all these terrors there occurred
another no less wonderful and dangerous, which was a water-spout rising
from the sea on Thursday the 13th of December; which, if they had not
dissolved by reciting the gospel of St John, had certainly sunk whatever
it had fallen upon. This phenomenon draws the water up to the clouds like
a pillar and thicker than a butt, twisting it about like a whirlwind.
That same night we lost sight of the ship called the Biscaina, but had the
good fortune to see it again after three or four dreadful dark days. It
had lost its boat and had been in great danger, being so near the land as
to be forced to come to anchor, which it likewise lost by being obliged to
cut the cable. It now appeared that the currents on this coast follow the
prevailing wind, running westwards with the east wind, and eastwards with
the west.
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