NO. II MELANESIANS AND AUSTRALIANS HRDLICKA 7 



The same " blacks " are later (1552) referred to by Gomara, who 



says : 



In Cuareca Balboa found neither bread nor gold Instead he found 



some Negro slaves of the lord. He asked whence they had them but they 

 could not tell him or understand more than that there were men of that color 

 nearby with whom they carried on regular war. These were the first Negroes 

 seen in the Indies and I believe there were seen no more.® 



Apparently the same " blacks " are also referred to by Gutierrez, 

 who, however, gives this version : 



In the pueblo Quareta were found two fine Negroes, slaves of seiior Thoreca, 

 who were said to have come here in balsas from the west from the south sea 

 that at present is known as New Guinea.' 



Oviedo, the first official historian of the newly discovered parts of 

 America, who wrote earlier (1535-) than Gomara and who reached 

 Darien personally within less than a year of Balboa's journey across 

 the isthmus, spent a large part of his life in those regions and had 

 direct contacts there with the Indians. He used what Balboa himself 

 had written, consulted with him, and was intimately acquainted with 

 the experiences of the other Spaniards who during his sojourn at 

 Darien overran and exploited the territory. He gives much more 

 numerous details about the natives than does Gomara, but in his 

 account of the events at Darien (Lib. 29) has nothing whatever to 

 say about any Negroes. There is no allusion to such people in the 

 published accounts of any of the other Spanish officials and priests 

 who were then or later in that region. 



There is no doubt, of course, that the Darien Indians had slaves 

 or serfs. Oviedo gives interesting and possibly significant information 

 on this point. Speaking of the chiefs of some of the Darien tribes he 

 tells us that: 



And the same caciques gave the Spaniards some Indians whom they hold 

 among themselves as slaves, who serve them, and whom they have captured 

 in war that is never wanting among the Indians. They call these slaves paco, 

 and each cacique has his slaves branded by a different sign on the arm or face, 



° In Cuareca (Isthmus of Panama) Balboa " no hallo pan ni oro, que lo habian 

 alzado antes de pelear. Empero hallo algunos negros esclavos del senor. Pre- 

 gunto de donde los habian, y no le supieron decir entender mas de que habia 

 hombres de aquel color cerca de alii, con quien tenian guerra muy ordinaria. 

 Estos fueron los primeros negros que se vieron en Indias, y aun pienso que no 

 se han visto mas." (Vol. i, chap. 62, p. 143.) 



'"En el pueblo de Quareta se hallaron dos negros finos, esclauos del senor 

 Thoreca, que sefialaron auer venido alii en balsas de hazia el poniente por esta 

 mar del Sur que oy dia se llama la Nueua Guinea." (Vol. 4, chap. 66, p. 573, 

 quoted by Lehmann, p. 331.) 



