illage, they
left it a smoking ruin, and returned in triumph to their ships. The
spoil, which was great, was divided among the followers of each
governor, and they now parted with many expressions of friendship,
Nicuesa proceeding westward to his province.

Ojeda did not long continue at a spot so fatal. He proceeded along the
coast, and at length selected a height on the east side, at the entrance
of the gulf of Darien, as the place for his town, which he named St.
Sebastian. He immediately erected a fortress to defend himself against
the natives, and considering this as his permanent seat of government,
despatched a ship to Hispaniola, with a letter to the bachelor Enciso,
requesting him to join the colony with the provisions and men he had
collected. In the meanwhile, those who remained soon exhausted the
stores they had, and were reduced to great want. They were fortunately
relieved by the arrival of a vessel commanded by _Bernardo de_
_Talavera_, a reckless adventurer, who being threatened with
imprisonment by his creditors in St. Domingo, had persuaded a set of
men, as reckless as himself, to seize by force a vessel, lying off shore
loaded with provisions, and join the new colony. While the supply
brought by Talavera lasted, Ojeda was able to pacify his murmuring
companions, and to persuade them peacefully to await the arrival of
Enciso. When this however was exhausted, and famine threatened them,
they became outrageous in their clamours, and Ojeda was compelled, as
the only means of appeasing them, to agree to go himself to St. Domingo
for aid, leaving those who stayed under the command of Francisco
Pizarro, as his lieutenant. Talavera, already tired of the hardships he
had encountered, was willing enough to return, and set sail with the
commander in his vessel. The ill luck which had attended Ojeda during
this expedition still continued. The vessel was cast on the island of
Cuba, and completely wrecked; and the unhappy Spaniards had no choice
but to perish on the beach, or to traverse the wide morasses that spread
along the coast, until they reached some place where they could obtain
aid. These morasses, as they proceeded, became deeper and deeper, the
water sometimes reaching to their girdles; and when they slept, they had
to creep up among the twisted roots of the mangrove trees, which grew in
clusters in the waters. Of all the party, Ojeda alone kept up his spirit
undaunted. He cheered his companions; he shar