, was
proud, perfidious and tyrannical. The course he pursued upon his
arrival in the country was impolitic and almost insane.

His predecessor in the governorship was Vasco Nunez. He had been on
the whole a prudent, able and comparatively merciful governor. He had
entered into trade with the natives, and had so far secured their good
will as to induce them to bring in an ample supply of provisions for
his colony. He had sent out Indian explorers, with careful
instructions to search the gold regions among the mountains. Don
Pedro, upon assuming the reins of government, became very jealous of
the popularity of Nunez, whom he supplanted. His enmity soon became so
implacable that, without any cause, he accused him of treason and
ordered him to be decapitated. The sentence was executed in the public
square of Acla. Don Pedro himself gazed on the cruel spectacle
concealed in a neighboring house. He seemed ashamed to meet the
reproachful eye of his victim, as with an axe his head was cut off
upon a block.

All friendly relations with the Indians were speedily terminated. They
were robbed of their gold, of their provisions, and their persons were
outraged in the most cruel manner. The natives, terror-stricken, fled
from the vicinity of the colony, and suddenly the Spaniards found all
their supplies of provisions cut off. More than two thousand were
crowded into a narrow space on the shores of the gulf, with no
possibility of obtaining food. They were entirely unprepared for any
farming operations, having neither agricultural tools nor seed.
Neither if they had them could they wait for the slow advent of the
harvest. Famine commenced its reign, and with famine, its invariable
attendant, pestilence. In less than six months, of all the glittering
hosts, which with music and banners had landed upon the isthmus,
expecting soon to return to Europe with their ships freighted with
gold, but a few hundred were found alive, and they were haggard and in
rags.

The Spaniards had robbed the Indians of their golden trinkets, but
these trinkets could not be eaten and they would purchase no food.
They were as worthless as pebbles picked from the beach. Often lumps
of gold, or jewels of inestimable value, were offered by one starving
wretch to another for a piece of mouldy bread. The colony would have
become entirely extinct, but for the opportune arrival of vessels from
Spain with provisions. Don Pedro had sent out one or two expeditions