f the ignorant natives, without
any acquaintance with the arts, had obtained so much, there must be
immense quantities which careful searching and skilful mining would
reveal.

The wanton cruelties practised by the Spaniards upon the unoffending
natives of these climes seem to have been as senseless as they were
fiendlike. It is often difficult to find any motive for their
atrocities. These crimes are thoroughly authenticated, and yet they
often seem like the outbursts of demoniac malignity. Anything like a
faithful recital of them would torture the sensibilities of our
readers almost beyond endurance. Mothers and maidens were hunted and
torn down by bloodhounds; infant children were cut in pieces, and
their quivering limbs thrown to the famished dogs.

The large wealth and the rank of Don Pedro de Avila gave him much
influence at the Spanish court. He succeeded in obtaining the
much-coveted appointment of Governor of Darien. His authority was
virtually absolute over the property, the liberty, and the lives of a
realm, whose extended limits were not distinctly defined.

Don Pedro occupied quite an imposing castle, his ancestral mansion, in
the vicinity of Badajoz. Here the poor boy Ferdinand, though descended
from families of the highest rank, was an entire dependent upon his
benefactor. The haughty Don Pedro treated him kindly. Still he
regarded him, in consequence of his poverty, almost as a favored
menial. He fed him, clothed him, patronized him.

It was in the year 1514 that Don Pedro entered upon his office of
Governor of Darien. The insatiate thirst for gold caused crowds to
flock to his banners. A large fleet was soon equipped, and more than
two thousand persons embarked at St. Lucar for the golden land. The
most of these were soldiers; men of sensuality, ferocity, and thirst
for plunder. Not a few noblemen joined the enterprise; some to add to
their already vast possessions, and others hoping to retrieve their
impoverished fortunes.

A considerable number of priests accompanied the expedition, and it is
very certain that some of these at least were actuated by a sincere
desire to do good to the natives, and to win them to the religion of
Jesus:--that religion which demands that we should do to others as we
would that others should do to us, and whose principles, the governor,
the nobles, and the soldiers, were ruthlessly trampling beneath their
feet. Don Pedro, when measured by the standard of Christianity