Having Procured Twenty-Four, They Advanced With
These And The Remains Of Their Original Force To A Country Named
_Catamez_[4], Considerably Beyond The River Of St Juan, A Tolerably
Peopled Country, In Which They Found Plenty Of Provisions.
The Indians of
this part of the coast, who were still hostile, were observed to have
certain ornaments of gold, resembling nails, inserted into holes made for
that purpose in different parts of their faces.
Almagro was sent back a
second time to Panama, to endeavour to procure a larger force, and Pizarro
retired in the mean time to the small island of _Gallo_ somewhat farther
to the north, near the shore of the _Barbacoas_, and not far from Cape
_Mangles_, where he and his people suffered extreme hardships from
scarcity of provisions, amounting almost to absolute famine.
On the return of Almagro to Panama for reinforcements, he found the
government in the hands of Pedro de los Rios, who opposed the design of
Almagro to raise recruits, because those with Pizarro had secretly
conveyed a petition to the governor, not to permit any more people to be
sent upon an enterprize of so much danger, and requesting their own recal.
The governor, therefore, sent an officer to the Isle of Gallo, with an
order for such as were so inclined to return to Panama, which was eagerly
embraced by the greatest part of the soldiers of Pizarro, twelve only
remaining along with him. Not daring to remain with so small a force in an
island so near the main land, Pizarro retired to an uninhabited island
named Gorgona, about 70 miles farther north, and considerably more distant
from the coast than Gallo, in which island, which had abundance of springs
and rivulets, he and his small band of faithful associates, lived on crabs
in expectation of relief and reinforcement from Panama.
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