Ch. XX.] SPANISH INVASION OF NICARAGUA. 359 



the latter, auxiliaries, whose aid was never dispensed 

 with in these expeditions on account of the superstitious 

 terror with which the unaccustomed sight of a man and 

 a horse, apparently joined together, inspired the Indians. 

 He landed somewhere on the Gulf of Nicoya, near which 

 he entered the country of a powerful chief, after whom 

 the gulf was named. Mcoya entertained the Spaniards 

 courteously, supplied them with food, and embraced the 

 Christian religion, being baptized himself along with all 

 his people, six thousand in number. 



Pushing on to the northward for fifty leagues, Gonzalcs 

 entered the territories of a great chief named Nicaragua, 

 whose country comprised the present province of Rivas. 

 Nicaragua had been informed of " the sharpness of the 

 Spanish swords" and received Gonzales with hospitality, 

 presenting him with much gold, equal to " 25,000 pieces 

 of eight," and garments and plumes of feathers. He 

 asked the Spaniards many shrewd questions : about the 

 flood, and about the sun, moon, and stars ; their motion, 

 quality, and distance ; what was the cause of night and 

 day and the blowing of the winds ? How the Spaniards 

 got all their information about heaven ; who brought it 

 to them, and if the messenger came down on a rainbow. 

 We are told that " Gonzales answered to the best of his 

 ability, commending the rest to God." Probably his in- 

 terrogator knew more of the visible heavenly bodies than 

 he did, for Nicaragua was of the Aztec race, a people 

 who knew the true theory of eclipses, and possessed an 

 astronomical calendar of great accuracy. 



Pedrarias, who was then in command at Panama, 

 stimulated by the accounts of the rich country that 

 Gonzales had discovered, sent Hernando de Cordova in 



