CONQUEST OF COLOMBIA. 1S5 



the adventurers to enslave all refractory natives, Ambrosius Alfiiiger aimed at 

 nothing beyond the discovery of gold-mines, and the capture of "rebellious" 

 Indians to be sold at the slave-market of Coro, After crossing the Perijaa 

 mountains, west of the Maracaibo basin, he burst into the Upar Valley, plundering 

 and burning the habitations, slaying the old and infirm, kidnapping all the 

 marketable men and women, the mere report of his atrocities dispersing most of 

 the tribes to the surrounding highlands. After these exploits he traversed the 

 Sierra de Tairona, reaching the banks of the Magdalena bj^ devious tracks. Here 

 he pushed southwards down the Lebrija valley, crossing the Yelez mountains 

 with the intention of returning to Venezuela by the paramos and intervening 

 valleys. But he never reached his destination ; overtaken by the Indians, he 

 perished near Chinacota, between Pamplona and Cucuta, on the spot which has 

 preserved his name. Miser Ambrosio. Few more murderous expeditions were ever 

 led by any lawless adventurer. 



After obtaining the concession of " New Andalusia," that is to say, the whole 

 territory comprised between the mouths of the Magdalena and Atrato, Pedro de 

 Heredia, governor of Santa Marta, undertook in his turn the conquest of the 

 lands assigned to him by Charles V. In 1533 he landed at Calamari, where 

 now stands Cartagena, and after a fierce engagement with the natives, continued 

 his march southwards to the Pio Sinu valley, whence he brought back immense 

 quantities of gold objects plundered from the local tribes. 



Numerous other expeditions under Pedro, his brother Alonzo, and his lieu- 

 tenant, Francisco Cesar, were made up all the affluents of the Rio Sinu, as well 

 as to the districts forming the divide between that river, the Cauca, and the west 

 bank of the Magdalena. The station of San Sebastian, founded by Hojeda on 

 the Gulf of Uraba, near the mouths of the Atrato, was also rebuilt, and from 

 this place Pedro de Heredia set out to discover a land of gold which the Indians 

 called Dabeibe, and which is perhaps the district where is situated the present 

 village of Dabeiba. After losing many of his followers, he had to retrace his 

 steps ; but Cesar was more fortunate, penetrating much farther inland, and, after 

 a toilsome nine months' march through the forests, at last reaching the Eldorado, 

 situated in the present state of Antioquia, near the great western bend of the 

 Pio Cauca. Laden with the precious metal, he retreated in all haste, returning 

 in a forced march of seventeen days to avoid pursuit by the formidable Choco 

 Indians, whom he had defeated with great difficulty in a fii^st engagement. 



Meanwhile the great discovery had been made of the Cundinamarca 

 plateau, inhabited by the civilised Muysca nation. The German, Georg vonSpeier, 

 governor of Coro, had started from that place in 1534, and after penetrating 

 into the llanos through the pass at the eastern extremity of the Sierra de 

 Merida, had successively crossed the Orinoco affluents where they escape from 

 the mountains to the plains. Beyond the Rio Upia, at the very foot of the 

 Muysca plateau, he had continued his march southwards to and beyond the Ari-Ari 

 in the Guaviare basin, returning to Coro after five years of hardships and sangui- 

 nary conflicts with the natives, in which he had lost four-fifths of his followers. 



