same time to land
with his men, to assist Hojeda in revenging the death of Cosa and the rest.
Nicuessa accordingly landed with 400 men, which was more than sufficient
to defeat the Indians, whose town was taken and burnt. By this victory the
Spaniards acquired a vast number of slaves, and got so much booty that
each shared seven thousand pieces of gold. Nicuessa and Hojeda now agreed
to separate, that each might pursue the plan of discovery and settlement
which was directed by their respective commissions.

Understanding that Nicuessa intended to steer for Veragua, Hojeda made all
sail for the river of Darien; but having lost his old pilot, on whose
experience he chiefly depended, he missed the river, and resolved to
establish a settlement on the eastern promontory of the gulf of Uraba,
which he did accordingly, calling his new town St Sebastian; because that
saint is said to have been martyred by the arrows of the infidels, and was
therefore thought a fit patron to defend him against the poisoned arrows
of the Indians. He had scarcely fixed in this place when he found all the
inhabitants of the country to be a race of barbarous savages, from whom he
could only expect all the injury they could possibly do him and his colony.
In this situation, he dispatched one of his ships under Enciso to
Hispaniola, with orders to bring him as large a reinforcement of men as
possible, and immediately set to work in constructing entrenchments to
secure his remaining people against the natives. Provisions growing scarce,
so that his people could not subsist, be found himself soon obliged to
make excursions into the country in order to obtain a supply; but he was
unsuccessful in this measure, and had the misfortune to lose many of his
men by the arrows of the Indians, which were poisoned with the juice of a
stinking tree which grows by the sea side. By these disasters, his new
colony was speedily reduced to a very wretched situation; starved if they
remained within their works, and sure to meet death if they ventured out
into the country. While in this state of absolute despair, they were
surprised one day by seeing a ship entering the port. This was commanded
by Bernard de Talavera, no better than a pirate, who, flying from justice,
had taken shelter in this place, to him unknown. Hojeda was in too great
extremity to be nice in his inquiries into the character of Talavera, but
readily bought his cargo, and treated him so well in other res