412 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 102 



tion guarding the settlement, and they began an excellent defense 

 of their village, in which four of our soldiers were wounded ; but 

 when the harquebussiers began firing at them, since they had never 

 seen anything of the sort and thought it was thunder and lightning 

 from Heaven, they abandoned the village, and those on the river 

 fled, and so we took the village. It was built on some very high 

 bluffs, and to get up there from the river one had to climb over lOO 

 steps in the staircases built on the bluffs. We found a very large 

 settlement, and off at its sides there were a number of enclosures 

 with over 4,000 turtles in them ; they catch them in summer in the 

 river and put them in these enclosures to eat during the winter ; 

 there was a great deal of corn in their houses, which was very wel- 

 come to us. We stayed 15 days in this settlement because there was 

 plenty for us to eat there. This tribe was naked but well organized. 

 Their weapons were poles with estolicas, which are like lance points, 

 and war clubs. We understood from the interpreters that within 

 12 suns we should come to Omagua, and they gave us to understand 

 that they would kill us, for there were a great many people there, 

 very intelligent and courageous ; their country was rich in gold and 

 silver, but in general they made no use of it nor did they wear it, 

 except for their leader or king who wore as insignia a plaque of 

 very fine gold hanging from his neck ; and we soldiers were much 

 amused to hear this from the interpreters and we all told each other 

 that we should come on the Province of Machifaro before that of 

 Omagua. The name of this settlement was Arimocoa. There were 

 many savannas or prairies here, i.e.. meadows, and on them great 

 numbers of deer. 



1205. We left this settlement at the end of this time, and sailed 

 2 days downstream, coming on another very large settlement where 

 they spoke the same language ; they had hidden their food and run 

 away. We went ahead without stopping, having come well provided 

 from Arimocoa, and although we struck other settlements of little 

 importance, we did not stop at them. Ten days after leaving the 

 settlement of Arimocoa, we came on the Province of Machifaro, 

 which would be composed of more than 10,000 Indians ; we disem- 

 barked here and Gen. Pedro de Ursua pitched his camp. On the 

 following day, after getting all the soldiers settled in camp — it was 

 84 ( ?) days since we had left the Province and Rio de Los Motilones, 

 where we embarked — he summoned Capt. Sancho Pizarro and 

 appointed him head of an expedition of 30 soldiers to go exploring 

 inland under commission from the Governor. And so within i hour 

 we were got ready and started out with Sancho Pizarro ; I am telling 



