Death of Diaz 
31 
tree, so that Diaz evidently failed to reach the cross erected at 
Alargon’s highest point. 
Diaz now proceeded up the river again, looking for a place 
where he could safely cross to explore the country on the op¬ 
posite side. After ascending from the spot where he found 
the letters for five or six days, he concluded they could cross 
by means of rafts. In the construction of these rafts he invited 
the help of the natives of the neighbourhood. He was proba¬ 
bly up near the Chocolate Mountains and the Cumanas, who 
were hostile to Alargon, and whose sorcerer had attempted to 
destroy him by means of the magic reeds. They had been 
merely waiting for an opportunity to attack Diaz, and they 
perceived their chance in this assistance in crossing the river. 
They readily agreed to help make the rafts, and even to assist 
in the crossing. But while the work was in progress a soldier 
who had gone out from the camp was surprised to observe a 
large number of them stealing off to a mountain on the other 
side. When he reported this, Diaz caused one of the natives 
to be secured, without the others being aware of it. He was 
tortured till he confessed that the plan was to begin the attack 
when some of the Spaniards were across the river, some in the 
water, and the others on the near bank. Thus separated they 
believed they could easily be destroyed. The native, as a re¬ 
ward for this valuable confession, was secretly killed, and that 
night, with a heavy weight tied to him, was cast into the deep 
water. But the others evidently suspected the trick, for the 
next day they showered arrows upon the camp. The Spaniards 
pursued them and by means of their superior arms soon drove 
them into the mountains. Diaz was then able to cross with¬ 
out molestation, his faithful Amerind allies of another tribe 
assisting. 
Alargon had conveyed in his letters the nature of the gulf 
and coast, so Diaz struck westward to see what he could find 
in that direction. The country was desolate and forbidding, 
in places the sand being like hot ashes and the earth trembling. 
Four days of this satisfied them, and the captain concluded to 
return to San Hieronimo. The subsequent fate of Diaz is an¬ 
other illustration of how a man may go the world round, eseap- 
