colonial policy—salcedo displaces saavedra in the government of honduras—saavedra's escape—pedrarias' envoys trapped—salcedo invades nicaragua—his cruelty and extortion—distress among the colonists—rios also presents claims, but is discomfited—pedrarias follows triumphant—salcedo's ignominious fate—estete's expedition—slave-hunting profits and horrors—gladiatorial punishment of revolted natives—pedrarias' schemes for aggrandizement—he grasps at salvador and longs for peru—both elude him—further mortification and death—character of the conquerors.
one of the chief causes which gave rise to the disputes of rival leaders for the occupancy of nicaragua and honduras was the policy which governed the council of the indies in regard to the colonial possessions of spain. gradually the discovery of columbus had assumed gigantic proportions, and the indefinite and unknown limits to the territories which had been given to the first governors were becoming more fixed and determined. the immense extent of the discovery and the vast dominions which had been allotted to each colony was then first ascertained. it was deemed wise and prudent by the court of spain that such broad possessions should be divided into smaller states, and governed by many, rather than that the whole should be under the jurisdiction of a few arrogant viceroys. thus checks could be more easily placed on individuals, and the distant provinces of the new world could be more readily held in subjection. with this in view it was that hernandez de córdoba 598 had been urged by the audiencia to throw off allegiance to pedrarias, and that the enterprises not only of gil gonzalez but of olid had been encouraged by the spanish government.[xxi-1]
but a resort to arms as a method for settling their differences was by no means desired; and when the emperor became aware that hostilities had broken out among the colonists of honduras and nicaragua he peremptorily forbade any spaniard to draw his sword against another, under penalty of his severe displeasure. the better to curb the encroaching conquerors on either side, and to further his policy, he resolved to appoint new governors for these provinces; and thus it was that pedrarias, owing in a great measure to his wife and to family influence, had obtained the long desired lake region, even before the result of his residencia was known; while honduras was given as early as 1525[xxi-2] to diego lopez de salcedo, regardless of the great efforts and means expended by cortés in its colonization, wholly from his own resources.[xxi-3]
saavedra and salcedo.
salcedo was at this time residing in espa?ola, and on receiving the appointment, together with instructions to inquire into the late trouble and punish the guilty, he at once prepared to set out. the audiencia 599 also took the instructions to heart, and, regarding cortés as implicated, they seized one of his ships at santo domingo, with its cargo of merchandise.[xxi-4] salcedo found the settlers at peace on reaching trujillo. saavedra and alcalde figueroa set the example to the other officials in doing reverence to the new ruler, who was solemnly inaugurated on the 27th of october, 1526.[xxi-5] the first act under the new régime was to make an investigation into the late political disturbances, and the result was the arrest of saavedra, regidores garnica and vega, and two settlers named martin cortés and morales, who were placed on a vessel for transmission to the judges in espa?ola. their safe-keeping was intrusted to diego morillo, who was installed with a staff of justice, to give him greater authority. but the emblem of the law failed to impose upon the prisoners, who were in this respect hardly less imbued with the spirit of the times than pedrarias and his followers. they had too wholesome a fear of the quality of mercy dispensed by the pompous rulers at santo domingo, and determined to make an effort for liberty. the mainland had barely been lost to sight when they appealed to the master's sympathy. their argument was sufficiently weighted to be convincing, and the shackles were not only transferred to morillo, but he was relieved of all his effects. the vessel's course was thereupon changed to cuba, where the mutineers dispersed in search of wider spheres of operations.[xxi-6]
shortly after salcedo's installation the three envoys of pedrarias arrived at trujillo. finding a royal governor instead of the intruder saavedra, they did not venture to present their demands for the submission of the province, but sought instead to regain 600 nicaragua and warn their master. salcedo had them arrested, however, as concerned in the disorders in nicaragua and olancho, and turned the tables by declaring pedrarias an arraigned culprit, answerable to the residencia judge at panamá, and nicaragua as falling within the jurisdiction of honduras, instead of pertaining to castilla del oro. he intended, in fact, to take possession at once, and in this course he was encouraged by petitions from the anti-pedrarias faction of that province. the limits of salcedo's government had not been fixed, and what more natural than to base on the claims of cortés and gonzalez the pleasing illusion that nicaragua must belong to his jurisdiction? an additional excuse was to be found in the late political disturbances in that province, which it behooved him as a royal officer to stop. the captive envoys should accompany him as guides and hostages.
preparations were soon concluded, and salcedo departed with nearly one hundred and fifty horsemen, leaving the small remnant at trujillo under command of francisco de cisneros.[xxi-7] he sent forward alonso de solis, one of his captains, and a priest, with instructions to report to him the condition of the indians throughout the district; whether they were friendly or otherwise; and what were their feelings in regard to the christian faith which they had previously professed to adopt. solis speedily came back with the information that bands of spaniards were prowling about the olancho valley. salcedo advanced upon them, and a skirmish ensued in which two men were lost. suspecting that albites and his companions might be connected with this untoward check, he sent them back to trujillo with instructions for their immediate transmission to santo domingo, on the charge of inciting native revolts and other disorders. these charges were not 601 sustained, however, and the prisoners soon returned fully exonerated.
woes of the natives.
still another check came to dampen the ardor of the party, and treasurer castillo, among others, urged the abandonment of the expedition; but the fair shores of the freshwater sea had taken too deep a hold upon salcedo's fancy, strewn as they were by rumor with much gold. no; he knew his duty as royal officer, and would extend his beneficent rule to this region. as for his losses and disappointments, he would look to that universal source of redress, the natives. caciques were summoned to furnish indians for carrying burdens and gathering food, and soldiers went forth to enforce the order. a number of those suspected of complicity in the disturbances at natividad were hanged and others enslaved, to be eventually sent out of the country and sold. great were their woes. those who lost their relatives or near friends fled to the mountains, preferring starvation and death to the cruel oppression of the strangers. this feeling extended also to the district of comayagua, and created a distrust which was at once magnified into revolt. the spaniards immediately fell upon them, and a terrible havoc ensued. the natives resorted to the passive retaliation of withdrawing supplies, and even of destroying the crops, so as to leave the spaniards without food, and compel them to devour horses and dogs. this heightened the feeling against them, and even the carriers were made to suffer so severely that many threw off their loads and sought to escape, only to be overtaken and slaughtered. the panic spread, and tribes distant from the scene burned their villages and fields to seek refuge in the mountains, lest they should be exposed to similar outrages on salcedo's return.
in nicaragua the rumor of these doings had impelled the natives to assume a threatening attitude, so that when the spanish party finally arrived at the city of leon they were hailed as saviors. this 602 helped to pave the way for salcedo, and when he submitted his commission to martin estete, the officer in charge, and to the municipal body, they gave one glance at the sturdy forces by his side and then recognized it as valid. the new governor was sworn in may 7, 1527. once in undisputed possession the humanity of salcedo underwent a change. he would no longer carry panic into native villages by means of raiding parties; nay, he would even relieve the indians from the oppression of their present masters, the late subjects of pedrarias, and place them under the experienced control of his friends and followers. without more ado the choice repartimientos were transferred to the hands of himself and his adherents, with not even an attempted excuse to the late holders. such high-handed proceedings created general dissatisfaction, not only among the despoiled settlers but also among the enslaved, who were regarded as cattle, and treated with a severity paralleled only by the honduras atrocities. more spirited, however, than the former victims, they retaliated with sullen stubbornness, and refused to gather gold or perform agricultural labor. the distress increased, and many could not procure the common necessaries of life. the rupture between the two races developed into open warfare, in which rights, grievances, and passion often figured only as minor impulses by the side of the cravings of hunger.[xxi-8]
pedrarias and rios.
to these distressing straits was the country reduced when a new claimant to the government presented himself, in the person of pedro de los rios. invested with the same power and authority over castilla del oro as his predecessor, he thought himself entitled to jurisdiction also over nicaragua, since it had been occupied and settled under the same auspices. he 603 had deferred his departure from panamá till pedrarias should have been securely entangled in the meshes of his residencia, and therefore unable to object. but the latter was desirous to see him leave, in the hope that a change in his own favor might be effected, perhaps by some friendly ingulfing wave, some devoted assassin, or some native treachery; for the road was new and rios inexperienced. as a proof of his friendly interest in the project pedrarias counselled him to invest heavily in merchandise, which must pay a large profit. such advice was not to be disregarded, and, as circumstances would have it, the gubernatorial trader was received with open arms by the sorely pressed settlers of nicaragua. but rios had not the foresight which characterized fiscal moreno's proceedings in honduras, two years before, and on presenting his claims to the supreme office the colonists returned a cold stare. they saw nothing in his commission which expressly included nicaragua within castilla del oro, and although much afflicted by the avaricious and oppressive measures of salcedo, they determined to support a governor whom they might call their own rather than submit to one residing at such a distance, and evidently intent on enriching himself and panamá at their expense.
it is not improbable that the cause for the change lay partly with pedrarias, whose emissaries hoped by this means to embroil the new aspirant with his proposed subjects. salcedo was strong enough, however, with his own troops to dictate terms to his rival, and he peremptorily ordered him to leave the province within three days, under a penalty of ten thousand pesos. rios had too much respect for his portly person to expose it to profane usage. still he would have lingered had not the threatened fine urged him away. as it was, in the flurry of departure he even forgot his gout, with which he was just then severely stricken, and his groans were not resumed till the vessel had turned prow for panamá. he carried one 604 consolation, however, to soothe his ruffled spirit; he had made these boorish colonists pay tenfold for his cargo of merchandise. after all, the trip had not proved unprofitable, and he laughed within himself at the thought. on his way back he stopped at brusélas, in the gulf of nicoya, where a friendly reception was accorded him. informed of this, salcedo with vindictive jealousy sent a troop of sixty horse under garabito to destroy the hospitable town.
the rankest despot could hardly deport himself with more capricious severity than these petty upstart lieutenants in the indies. salcedo was evidently a fitting successor to pedrarias, as far as displaying his jealousy, greed, and cruelty; but he lacked some of the commanding characteristics which had so often enabled the latter to weather the storm raised by his tyrannous impulses. his rule was to be brief and ignoble. one of his last acts, which bore the relieving stamp of a public measure, was to order gabriel de rojas to explore rio san juan, the outlet of the lake, and to found there a settlement.
this order was disregarded, for just then came the rumor that pedrarias was about to return as governor. this sufficed to bring the general dissatisfaction with salcedo to an issue. at first he treated the news as absurd; but, when the report came that pedrarias was actually on the way with a royal commission, he resolved to collect his scattered followers and make his escape. the step was fatal, as it encouraged the still wavering estete with his friends to pronounce in favor of the expected chief. the officials of salcedo were arrested, which rendered the executive powerless to act, and his horses were seized, so that he might not escape a reckoning. so ominous became the demonstration against the deposed governor, that he abandoned the building which had hitherto given him shelter, and sought the protecting walls of the church. there he remained, closely guarded by the rebels, till pedrarias arrived. several persons had remonstrated 605 with estete with regard to these arbitrary proceedings, based as they were on a mere report from panamá; but this officer, who had everything to gain by the movement if the report proved true, declared that pedrarias should be supported even if he came without a royal commission. in any case it would be suicidal now to restore the relentless salcedo to power.[xxi-9]
all doubts were solved by the arrival of the old governor at leon in march, 1528, and the timely turncoats were liberally rewarded; estete receiving the command of leon, and diego de tejorina that of granada. immediately on receipt of his appointment pedrarias had hastened to nicaragua, leaving an agent at panamá to finish his residencia, and to collect the property and effects which had been attached. in connection with the new government the king had appointed licenciado casta?eda alcalde mayor, and diego de la tobilla treasurer, both of whom arrived eight months later.[xxi-10]
imprisonment of salcedo.
salcedo's case claimed the first attention of the new ruler, and claims and charges began to pour in, the chief accusation being that he had stationed spies to watch for the arrival of pedrarias and native assassins to despatch him. an investigation was ordered, to embrace also the question whether salcedo had royal authority for his entry into the territory. the accused denied the charges, of course, and protested that he had come merely to pacify the country, in accordance with his instructions. he demanded liberty to depart for honduras, where the king required his presence as governor. any other 606 person might have felt awed by a demand coupled so plausibly with the royal name, but pedrarias had too often mocked even the direct commands of his sovereign to care for indirect requirements. he flaunted in the face of the accused the royal order lately received forbidding him to meddle in nicaraguan affairs, and declared that since he had done so there was every prospect for a residencia. the order for it might arrive at any moment, and he must give bonds to answer the claims against him. the bonds not being forthcoming he was placed under restraint, and on his attempting to escape, close confinement was imposed.
ten weary months salcedo lay in durance. finally treasurer tobilla and osorio, afterward bishop, intervened and brought about a peaceful settlement. but the conditions extorted from him as the price of liberty were so humiliating that shame and vexation preyed upon his mind, and destroyed his health, already weakened by imprisonment. he was obliged to renounce his claims to the south, and promise to confine himself to a triangular section of territory bounded on the east and west by cape gracias á dios and puerto de caballos.[xxi-11] the three envoys of pedrarias, whom he had sent to espa?ola to answer false charges, and who had returned acquitted, were to be compensated, and he must give security for twenty thousand pesos to appear in case a residencia should be instituted against him. on christmas eve, 1528, the prison doors opened before him, and the once dashing salcedo tottered forth, pale and emaciated, weighed down with infirmities of body and mind, an object of pity even to the down-trodden indians. it had been a game of rogue against rogue, 607 and pedrarias as usual was the winner. salcedo felt that he deserved little sympathy, either from the oppressed colonists or from the cruelly treated natives, and within ten days he set out for the shielding precincts of his own government.
exploration of the river san juan.
pedrarias had long before this taken steps to secure for himself the large tracts of country which he intended to extort from his prisoner, chiefly because they were reported to be rich in gold. for this there were also additional motives. the report of mineral wealth in the province had induced the king to inquire regarding the desirability of erecting smelting works, and similar measures, and although the avaricious old governor required no incentive to gold-hunting, yet the communication was welcomed as a good pretence for his preparations. the already projected expedition by rojas to the river outlet of the lake was therefore ordered to proceed, reinforced to more than one hundred and fifty men, but the chief command was intrusted to estete, with instructions to explore the country, particularly for minerals, to take possession for pedrarias, and to found settlements on the river and along the sea-shore, as desired by the king. on the river, where it receives the waters of the lake, was formed the settlement of nueva jaen, flushed at first with brilliant anticipations of a vast entrep?t trade and a flourishing colony, but doomed to speedy abandonment. from the mouth of the san juan the party followed the coast northward, blazing their way with branding-iron and sword, and finding good mines at cape gracias á dios, as rumored. there they established another colony, of which rojas was left in charge, while estete returned to leon.
their pathway thither had been stained sanguine by the most abominable cruelty against the natives, in the form of wholesale enslavement and wanton bloodshed, and this in face of the repeated and stringent orders from the king for their good treatment.[xxi-12] 608 of what avail were orders which suited not the taste of master pedrarias! on setting out for cape gracias á dios, estete received from the chest, in which it was kept under three locks by order of the crown, the branding-iron, which was intended to be used only on rebels and criminals, and pursuing his circuitous route, he captured and branded indiscriminately all natives who fell into his hands, and sent them as slaves to pedrarias at leon. captives were secured by iron collars around the neck, chained together in gangs, and forced to carry heavy burdens. when one fell from exhaustion, in order to save time and trouble, his head was severed from the body, and this released the collar so that the others might pass on.[xxi-13]
this and other kidnapping expeditions, made chiefly in the interest of pedrarias, fairly glutted leon and granada with captives; but if they could not be used here there was another means of utilizing them. the native population of the isthmus, as we have seen, had already been so greatly reduced by the ever dripping sword, by the hardly less speedy measures of relentless taskmasters, and by the flight of panic-stricken border tribes, that the settlers found it difficult to fill the constantly occurring gaps in their labor gangs. a slave market had accordingly been opened at panamá, where natives were sold by auction. its origin was with pedrarias, and with a fatherly regard for his former government he felt it a duty to sustain an institution so useful to the colonists and so comforting to his coffers. a regular trade thereupon 609 sprang up in indian slaves, and several ship-loads were taken down to panamá about this time by different persons.[xxi-14]
depopulation.
the supply of unfortunates was drawn not only from the outlying districts, but from the very centre of the lake settlements, and their capture assisted the sword and lash to no small extent in decimating the population. when gil gonzalez first entered the country it was densely populated, and the city of managua alone contained forty thousand souls, it was said. a few years of spanish rule sufficed to turn whole tracts of flourishing country into uninhabited wilds, leaving here and there only small communities of terrorized natives groaning under extortionate and cruel masters. on appealing to their idols they were assured that a flood could be called forth, but in it would perish indians as well as spaniards. such was the comfort derived from their religion. although they had not courage enough to adopt this remedy, women widely formed the resolution not to perpetuate a race foredoomed to slavery and cruel death.
at first, when numbers still gave self-reliance, they ventured to renew the hostilities which under salcedo had led to such bloody results. soon after estete's departure for cape gracias a general revolt broke out. in the districts of leon and granada bloodshed was averted, but in the interior the slaughter of natives was great, and if the spaniards lost comparatively few, the loss was increased by the horrors of cannibalism.[xxi-15] among the victims were alonso peralta, the royal treasurer, an hidalgo named zurita, and two brothers of the name of ballas, who in 1528 set out from the city of leon to visit the indians that had been allotted to them respectively. none ever returned; all were slain by their vassals. pedrarias 610 despatched a band of soldiers, who captured eighteen caciques supposed to be implicated in the murders.
the indians becoming daily more bold and troublesome a new method of striking them with terror was invented. as in the introduction of christianity to the natives diplomacy was frequently made to take the place of logic, so in war and punishment a refined cruelty, in the exercise of which the aged pedrarias dávila stood unexcelled, was deemed the most effectual means of pacification. the governor of leon determined on a grand spectacle, modelled somewhat after the gladiatorial exhibitions of rome. an inclosure was made in the public square of the town, and on a fixed day the indian chieftains were brought forth. one of them was led into the arena and given a stout stick or club with which to defend his life against the dogs to be let loose. at first five or six young and inexperienced animals were set upon him, which he could easily keep at bay with his stick. after witnessing this sport until it grew tame, and just as the unfortunate captive began to rejoice in the hope that through his skill and bravery his life was saved, two fierce bloodhounds rushed in, seized him by the throat, brought him to the ground, tore into shreds the flesh, and devoured the entrails, assisted by the still yelping whelps. on the authority of oviedo, an eye-witness, this horrible scene was repeated seventeen times. pedrarias ordered the dead bodies to be left on the ground as a warning to others, but soon the stench became insupportable, and the indians were allowed to remove them.[xxi-16]
thus did the effort to open a transcontinental route by way of san juan not only fail, but it carried a host of evils with it, as we have seen. pedrarias was not content, however, to abandon to panamá so fruitful a project without another struggle, and since the strip of land between leon and caballos was well 611 suited for a road, he prepared to open one. but orders came from the king forbidding the work. the isthmus was regarded as sufficient for present traffic, and it was also feared that too many lives would be lost in constructing the new road.
salvador.
one of the objects of pedrarias in connection with the undertaking was to secure possession of the western territory wrested from salcedo, and in this, at any rate, he resolved not to be defeated. estete was accordingly despatched northward with a strong force, accompanied by rojas. he was first to explore the northern lakes to determine their outlet, and then to occupy the district between golfo dulce and the south sea, north of fonseca bay. this province, known as salvador, had already been conquered by alvarado, the lieutenant of cortés; but pedrarias knew that the settlers left in possession were not numerous, and that the king would be more apt to favor the annexation of the province to the adjoining small government of nicaragua than to the distant and too extensive new spain. besides, honduras had claimed it, and that claim was now his. estete advanced into the heart of salvador and occupied the town there founded by alvarado. few as they were the settlers refused to recognize the authority of the nicaraguan governor, and his lieutenant retired to the town of perulapan, upon which he bestowed the high-sounding title of ciudad de los caballeros, together with a batch of officials who were to aid him in the congenial task of oppression and enslavement. his sway was not of long duration, however, for jorge de alvarado, then in charge of the guatemalan government, receiving notice of the intrusion, came down upon his settlement and compelled him to evacuate the province in hot haste, with the loss of half his force, which deserted to the enemy.[xxi-17] 612
pedrarias' schemes for aggrandizement were evidently not succeeding according to his desire, and he grieved at the thought of the many heavy ducats lost on this last expedition. it was the more deplorable in view of the failure to direct through nicaragua the transcontinental traffic, which would have yielded so rich a harvest for himself. but above all hovered a deeper grief than any of these. peru, with its glittering wealth, was now dawning on the world, and none would have been more dazzled by the sight than pedrarias, had not the agonizing fact intruded itself that he had been tricked out of these very treasures, or at least a large share of them.
when the first expedition was organized for this conquest by pizarro, almagro, and luque, pedrarias, then governor at panamá, had stipulated for a fourth interest, in return for which he bestowed the weighty sum of his patronage. but the opening events proved to be less flattering than he had expected, and when demands came for pecuniary aid toward the enterprise, he shrank from the prospect, and allowed himself to be bought off for the paltry consideration of one thousand pesos de oro. soon came glowing reports, however, and bitter were his denunciations of the folly which had permitted so rich a prize to escape him; and deep his feeling rankled against the late partners, whom he never ceased to suspect of duplicity and of having beguiled him with misrepresentation.
while he was thus brooding, it happened that nicolás de ribera arrived in nicaragua, commissioned by the peruvian conquerors to procure reinforcements. he sought in particular to win for this purpose hernando de soto, hernan ponce, and francisco compa?on, all men of means, who had two vessels on the stocks, nearly finished and available for the voyage. by revolving before their eyes, in kaleidoscopic harmony, a few specimens of the inca's treasures, illustrated by tales no less alluring, he secured the 613 active sympathy not only of these men, but of a crowd of beggared adherents.
the peruvian adventure.
not least dazzled was pedrarias. indeed, he could not sleep for the visions that crowded upon his brain. finally the idea struck him that he might here retrieve his folly by securing an interest in the vessels and reinforcements, and obtain a fair proportion of that gold-enameled region, perhaps the whole. pizarro and almagro had already prepared the way, and it might even be his fortune to secure the results of their victories. in order to lull the peruvian emissaries he promised to do everything to aid pizarro and luque; as for almagro, he had been deceived by him, and deceit his confiding nature could not endure. he thereupon entered secretly into negotiation with the owners of the vessels, but overreached himself by demanding the lion's share in command as well as returns. feeling himself in duty bound to spare his own purse, he looked about for victims to furnish means, and bethought himself of ribera's vessel. an alguacil was sent to seize it, but ribera received timely warning and escaped, after prevailing on ponce, soto, and their adherents, to sail away to panamá and there arrange with pizarro for a liberal share in the conquest, leaving behind the foiled pedrarias.[xxi-18]
the governor's mortification was increased by local troubles, as might be expected from his arbitrary rule and irascible temper, which had now reached octogenarian crabbedness. a most distasteful feature had been the arrival of alcalde mayor francisco de casta?eda, appointed by the king to take charge of the judicial affairs of the province. this division of authority was intolerable, and, on the pretence that disorders must result where different persons exercised judicial and gubernatorial powers, he urged his friends in spain to obtain for him the privilege to appoint and 614 remove at pleasure alcaldes mayores and lieutenants. meanwhile he made an effort to exercise this power, alleging the possession of a royal cédula authorizing him to do so; but casta?eda, who was not so easily imposed upon, challenged him to produce the document, and this not being done, he added to his chagrin by ignoring him.
there was little likelihood of any arbitrary powers being conferred on the governor, for complaints of abuses were fast pouring in against him, headed by the influential ayuntamiento of leon. a grave charge was peculation. when rodrigo del castillo surrendered his office to the formally appointed treasurer he took the opportunity to inform the king that large sums in gold had been taken from the indians by córdoba. all this the governor had laid hands upon without any accounting therefor to the crown. he had also managed to appropriate the confiscated estate of córdoba, and to defraud a host of others, besides perpetrating outrages and cruelties of every description.[xxi-19]
death of pedrarias.
in the midst of the brewing troubles, in the year 1530,[xxi-20] this timur of the indies died at leon, nearly ninety years of age. his body was buried in the same church with his victim hernandez de córdoba, and his spirit went to meet the spirit of vasco nu?ez, and the spirits of the hundreds of thousands of slaughtered savages whose benighted souls he had sent on before.[xxi-21] not that he quailed at the thought. by this time his mind had become so fixed in some 615 incomprehensible mould of logic that there was no disturbing it. further than this he knew he could not escape the inevitable.
a disposition so ready to find solace is to be envied, the more so since it forms a redeeming feature. no man is, for that matter, wholly depraved, nor are any faultless. in the worst there is much that is good; in the best much evil. and the difference between the best and the worst is, in the eye of the creator, much less than in the eye of the creature. for a period of sixteen years, during the most important epoch in the history of darien, an irascible old man, cruel and vindictive, plays a prominent part. his name is infamous, and so it deserves to be. some of his misdeeds may be attributed to inherent wickedness, others to infirmities of temper; but many to peculiar conditions incident to the colonization of a new country, and to the teachings of the times. spanish colonists of the sixteenth century, reared under the influences of excessive loyalty, and suddenly withdrawn from the presence of their august sovereign to distant parts, were like children for the first time freed from the arbitrary rule of injudicious parents. while the safeguards of society were removed, and free scope thus given to passion, there yet remained their religious belief, the fruit of early teachings. that strange fanaticism which blended avarice and deeds diabolical with pretended zeal for the glory of god, not only permitted but demanded blood and vengeance. under the circumstances, therefore, the wonder is, not that we find so much that is wicked in these spanish adventurers, but that men so taught and conditioned display so many qualities noble and magnanimous. farewell pedrarias! few there are who came to these parts of whom so much of evil, so little of good, may be truthfully said. and thou death, almighty leveller! who by thy speedy compensation has brought this rusty, crusty old man, these several centuries, 616 and for all the centuries time shall tell, to be no better than vasco nu?ez, than córdoba, than the meanest of the multitude of savages he has vilely slain, we praise thee!
