METAL. 



When America was dicovered, its races were still on the threshold of the metal 

 age. In regions favored by the presence of gold, silver, copper and their alloys, 

 however, certain peoples had already achieved remarkable results in metal work. 

 This is particularly true of the region extending from Mexico on the north to 

 Peru on the south. If the thirst for geographic knowledge impelled Columbus 

 to make his voyages of discovery, hunger for gold was the mainspring of the 

 Spanish Conquest which followed. Barbaric wealth of gold and the barbaric point 

 of view as to its relative value served to turn the heads of the early explorers, 

 leading eventually to the practical extermination of the conquered and the ultimate 

 downfall of the conquerors. 



Curiously enough, Columbus saw very little of the mainland of the Western 

 Hemisphere — only a part of the northern coast of South America, which he ex- 

 plored on his third voyage ; and the coast of Central America from Guanaja 

 Island, off Honduras, to a point about half-way between Colon and the Gulf of 

 Darien, which he discovered on his fourth and last voyage. It was Columbus, 

 therefore, who discovered Chiriqui and who was the first to observe the gold 

 and copper ornaments worn by the natives. When on September 25 th, 1502, the 

 expedition cast anchor near the mouth of San Juan de Nicaragua, Columbus noted 

 that some of the natives wore plates of low-grade gold (guanin) and others wore 

 jewels of the same metal suspended about the neck. 



The coast of Chiriqui was reached in October, the ships of Columbus entering 

 Almirante Bay (see map) through Bocas del Toro. At a port on one of the islands 

 in the bay, the explorers saw twenty canoes anchored. According to Acosta's 1 

 account, " the natives wore plates of fine gold suspended from the neck." As 

 these were the first examples of pure gold the Spaniards had seen along that 

 coast, they took by force, from two of the natives the ornaments which the latter 

 had refused to exchange for Spanish trinkets. The gold ornaments taken from one 

 weighed twenty-two ducats ; those taken from the other, fourteen. The inhabitants 

 assured the Spaniards that gold was to be found at a number of localities to the 

 south and west, one of which was called Veragua. This name seems to have 

 taken a firm hold on the imagination of the explorers, becoming in their minds 

 the synonym of wealth. Columbus called this coast Costa de los Contrastes and 

 afterward Costa Rica and Costa de Veragua. A few years later the name Castilla del 

 Oro was given to the entire isthmian region. 



On their way eastward, after leaving Almirante Bay, the explorers entered a 

 number of rivers, where they were generally successful in exchanging worthless 

 trinkets for gold ornaments. At Puerto del Retrete, Columbus decided to return to 

 Veragua in search of gold. Ascending the Urira river, gold mines were found at 

 its head waters. The explorations were extended in the direction of Bocas del 

 Toro as far as Cateba, and netted much golden booty obtained from the Indians. 



1 Joaquin Acosta. Compendio historico, segunda ed., 4, Bogota, 1901. 



