therefore, to come back to the first river, where at
least they could safely anchor. Here the cacique
disclosed his treacherous intentions, for while our
men were engaged in filling their barrels, he fell
upon them, followed by seven hundred naked men, armed
in the native fashion, only he and his officers wearing
clothing. He seized the barque, which he smashed
to pieces, and in a twinkling the forty-seven Spaniards
were pierced with arrow-wounds, before they could protect
themselves with their shields. There was but one
man who survived, all the rest perishing from the
effects of the poison. No remedy against this
kind of poison was then known, and it was only later
that the islanders of Hispaniola revealed it; for
there exists an herb in Hispaniola of which the juice,
if administered in time, counteracts the poison of
the arrows. Seven other Spaniards escaped the
massacre, and took refuge in the trunk of a gigantic
tree hollowed by age, where they concealed themselves
till night. But they did not for that reason
escape, for at nightfall the ship of Colmenares sailed
away, leaving them to their fate, and it is not known
what became of them.
Lest I should weary you if I related all the particulars,
Most Holy Father, I omit mention of the thousand perilous
adventures through which Colmenares finally reached
the Gulf of Uraba. He anchored off the eastern
coast, which is sterile, and from that point he rejoined
his compatriots on the opposite bank several days later.
The silence everywhere amazed him; for he had expected
to find his comrades in those parts. Mystified
by this state of things, he wondered whether the Spaniards
were still alive or whether they had settled elsewhere;
and he chose an excellent means for obtaining information.
He loaded all his cannon and mortars to the muzzle
with bullets and powder, and he ordered fires to be
lighted on the tops of the hills. The cannon
were all fired together, and their tremendous detonation
made the very earth about the Gulf of Uraba shake.
Although they were twenty-four miles distant, which
is the width of the gulf, the Spaniards heard the
noise, and seeing the flames they replied by similar
fires. Guided by these lights Colmenares ordered
his ships to cross to the western shore. The
colonists of Darien were in a miserable plight, and
after the shipwreck of the judge Enciso it was only
by the greatest efforts they had managed to exist.
With hands raised to heaven and eyes overflowing with
tears of mingled joy and sadness, they welcomed Colmenares
and his companions with what enthusiasm their wretched
state allowed. Food and clothing were distributed
to them, since they were almost naked. It only
remains, Most Holy Father, to describe the internal
dissensions which broke out among the colonists of
Uraba over the succession to the command, after they
had lost their leaders.
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