' 54 Difcoverks of the Spaniards^ from the Death of Book i 
menares, and his Mefi^ were fo amazed to fee Nicuejfa 
and feventy of his Company he had left v/ith him, lean, 
ragged, and bare-footed, that they could not forbear 
fhedding of Tears, efpecially when they heard how many 
had died, and the great Difafters they had fuftained. Cohne- 
nar'es did all he could to comfort Nicueffa^ telling him that 
the People oi Darien defired he would come and govern 
them 5 the Country there being good, that they had Provi- 
fions in Plenty, and did not want Gold. Nicuejfa began to 
be in Spirits, and, having received Provifions, banifliedDef- 
pair, returning thanks to God for that great Mercy ; how- 
ever,- as foon as this Joy was over, he loft the Reputation 
he had before gained in Hiffaniola^ of being a difcreet 
and prudent Man ; for, forgetting the miferable Condition 
lie had been in, and not remembring that thofe People who 
fubmitted thcmfelves to him had done it of their own 
Free-will i he had fo little Senfe as to declare in Public, 
that he would take all their Gold from them, and punifti 
them over and above, which was foon fpread abroad. 
Nor was this the only Error he was guilty of, for he 
fuffered a Caravel to go before, having a mind to view 
fome Wands that lay in the Way. That fame Night 
Lopez de Olano^ who was ftill kept Prifoner, fpoke with 
fome of thofe that came from Darien to incenfe them, 
and, when he was going aboard, he faid, Nicuejfa fancies 
that Hojeda's Men will receive him as we did, when he 
had been loft at Veragua. James Albetes and the Bachelor, 
Corral, went aboard the Caravel that went before, and 
gave notice at Darien of what Nicuejfa had faid concern- 
ing taking away their Gold and punifliing them, that he 
was become cruel and ill natured, abufing thofe that 
were with him, and more to that effeft. Nicuejfa from 
the little Wands fent John de Cayzedo to acquaint the 
People of Darien that he was coming, and, he being 
privately his Enemy, incenfed them ftill more than the 
other two had done before ; whereupon they refolved not 
to admit him among them ; and this Refolution was 
chiefly forwarded by Nunez de Balboa, who advifed all 
the prime Men to keep him out ; though, at the fame 
time, underhand he called the public Notary, and decla- 
red that he was not againft Nicuejfa, and required him to 
give him a Certificate of the fame. 
Nicuejfa having fpent eight Days among the Wands, 
taking fome Indians, when he came to the landing Place 
at Darien, was amazed to find many of the Spaniards on 
the Shore, and one of them, in the Name of all the reft, 
requiring him to return to his own Government at Nom- 
hre de Dios-, but, defiring to be heard, and returning 
again the next Day, as foon as he landed they went to 
feize him, but, being extraordinary fwift of Foot, none 
of them could overtake him. Nunez hindred the Peo- 
ple from proceeding any farther, fearing they might do 
him fome harm, and from that time was much his Friend. 
Nicuejfa intreated them that in cafe they would not ac- 
cept of him as their Governor, he might, at leaft, be ad- 
mitted as a Companion, which they refilling, he farther 
prayed they would keep him as a Prifoner, for he would 
rather die then go back to ftarve at Nombre de Dios. 
But, notwithftanding all this, they forced him, and 
about feventeen of his Men, into an old rotten Bark, 
and ordered them to make their Way back to the Place 
they had quitted, on pain of being funk where they 
were. There is no doubt they endeavoured this, but 
with what Succefs, is uncertain, only thus much is known, 
that they were never feen any more. There was, indeed, 
a Story current in the Indies, that when the Spaniards 
came to fettle themfelves in Cuba, as ftiall be prefently 
related *, they found this infeription cut in the Bark of a 
large Tree ; Here the unfortunate Nicuelfa fmijhed his 
Miferies and his Life together. 
9. The Admiral, Don Diego Columbus, was very much 
blamed for not endeavouring, to the bell of his Power, to 
fuccour thefe Adventurers, notwithftanding that the Go- 
vernments bellowed upon them were contrary to his juft 
Rights I and his Enemies made ufe of this to his Preju- 
dice, at the Court of Spain, which had always a Jealoufy 
of him, and therefore readily liftened to whatever Com- 
plaints were brought againft him. The Admiral, on his 
Side, was fo fenfible, and fo well apprized of this, that he 
left no Stone unturned to lecure hiiiifelf thole Countries 
upon which, he conceived from the Contrad made with 
his Father, he had juft Pretenfions. 
_ Upon thefe Grounds, having underftood, at the begin- 
ning of the Year 1 5 1 1 , that the Court was very deli- 
roLis ot having the great Eland of Cuba difeovered and 
planted, though they had no accounts of any rich Mines 
therein; he refolved to be beforehand with them, and 
to fend a Body of Men thither, under the Command of a 
Perfon whom he could trull ; that having a Lieutenant 
there of his own, the Court might have no Pretence for 
granting it away to any new Undertakers, as they had 
done that Part of the Continent which his Father had dif- 
eovered, and even the Ifland of Jamaica, v/hich, how- 
ever, he had recovered. To this Purpofe he made choice 
of James V dafquez, being the wealthieft and bell belo- 
ved of all the firft Spanijh Inhabitants in Hifpaniola ; be- 
fides, he was a Man of Experience, of a mild and affable 
Lemper, though he knew how to maintain his Authority, 
and very difcreet. As foon as it was known, in Hifpa- 
niola, that James Velafques was going to make Settle- 
ments in Cuba, abundance of People refolved to bear him 
Company, fome, becaufe he was beloved, and others, 
becaufe they were ruined and in Debt. All thefe being 
about three hundred Men, rendezvoufed in the Town of 
Salvatierra de la Zavana, to embark on board four Ships, 
that Place being at the extremity of Hifpaniola. 
But, before we proceed, it is fit to obferve, that the 
Province of Guatiaba, lying next to Cuba, the Diftance 
between the two Points being but eighteen Leagues, 
many Indians went over to Cuba in f heir Canoes, and 
among them palfed over, with as many of his Men as 
could, a Cazique of the Province of Guatiaba, called 
Hatuey, a brave and difcreet Man. He fettled on the 
neareft Country, known by the Name of Mayci, and, pof- 
fefling himfelf of that Part, kept the People as Subjefts, 
but not as Slaves ; for it was never found in the Indies, 
that any Difference was made between a free People, or 
even their own Children, and Slaves, unlefs it were in New 
Spain, and the other Provinces, where they ufed to fa- 
crifice Prifoners of War to their Idols, which was not 
praftifed in thofe Elands. This Cazique, Hatuey, fearing 
that the Spaniards would Ibme time or other pafs into Cuba, 
always kept Spies to know what was done in Hifpaniola ; 
and being informed of the Admiral’s Defign, he aifem- 
bled his People, who were moft martial, and, putting them 
in mind ot their many Sufferings under the Spaniards, 
told them, “ They did, all that for a great Lord they 
“ were very fond of, which he would ffiew them. 
And then, taking fome Gold out of a little Palm-tree 
Balket, added, “ This is the Lord whom they ferve, 
“ him they follow, and, as you have already heard, they 
“ are about paffing over hither only to feek this Lord ; 
“ therefore let us make a Feftival, and dance to him, 
“ to the end, that when they come, he may order them 
“ not to do us harm ”. Accordingly they all began to 
fing and dance till they were quite tired, for it was their 
Cuftom to dance as long as they could ftand, from 
Night-fall till Break of Day, and their Dances were as in 
Hifpaniola, to the Mufic of their Songs ; and though 
fifty thoufand Men and Women were affembled, no one 
differed from the reft in the Motions of their Hands, Feet, 
and Bodies. But thofe of Cuba far exceeded the Natives 
of Hifpaniola, their Songs being more agreeable : When 
they were fpent with finging and dancing before the little 
Baflcet of Gold, Hatuey bid them not to keep the Lord of 
the Chriftians in any Place whatfoever, for though he 
were in their Bowels, they would fetch him out, and 
therefore they fliould call him into the River, under Water, 
where they would not find him, and fo they did. 
It may not be amifs, here, to give a Defer iption of 
Cuba, from the Spanijh Writers : This Ifland is 230 
Leagues in Length, from Cape San Antonio to the Point 
of Mayci. The Breadth from Cape Cruze to Port Ma- 
nati is forty-five, and there it begins to taper, and fo runs 
on to the Wefternmoft Point, narrowing to about twelve 
Leagues, from Matamano to Havanna-, its Situation is 
within the Tropic of Cancer, from twenty to twenty-one 
Degrees • Moft of it is flat, full of Woods and Forefts, 
2. but, 
f 
