lls, and better able to resist extreme hunger. Thus Vasco gaily
boasts that he has kept a longer and more rigorous Lent than Your
Holiness, following the decrees of your predecessors, for it has
lasted uninterruptedly for four years; during which time he and his
men have lived upon the products of the earth, the fruits of trees,
and even of them there was not always enough. Rarely did they eat fish
and still more rarely meat, and their wretchedness reached such a
point that they were obliged to eat sick dogs, nauseous toads, and
other similar food, esteeming themselves fortunate when they found
even such. I have already described all these miseries. I call
"veterans of Darien" the first comers who established themselves in
this country under the leadership of Nicuesa and Hojeda, of whom there
remains but a small number. But let this now suffice, and let us bring
back Vasco and the veterans from their expedition across the great
mountain-chain.

BOOK III

During the thirty days he stopped in Pacra's village, Vasco strove to
conciliate the natives and to provide for the wants of his companions.
From there, guided by subjects of Taocha, he marched along the banks
of the Comogra River, which gives its name both to the country and to
the cacique. The mountains thereabouts are so steep and rocky, that
nothing suitable for human food grows, save a few wild plants and
roots and fruits of trees, fit to nourish animals. Two friendly and
allied caciques inhabit this unfortunate region. Vasco hastened to
leave behind a country so little favoured by man and by Nature, and,
pressed by hunger, he first dismissed the people of Taocha, and
took as guides the two impoverished caciques, one of whom was named
Cotochus and the other Ciuriza. He marched three days among wild
forests, over unsealed mountains and through swamps, where muddy
pitfalls gave way beneath the feet and swallowed the incautious
traveller. He passed by places which beneficent Nature might
have created for man's wants, but there were no roads made; for
communication amongst natives is rare, their only object being
to murder or to enslave one another in their warlike incursions.
Otherwise each tribe keeps within its own boundaries. Upon arriving at
the territory of a chief called Buchebuea, they found the place empty
and silent, as the chief and all his people had fled into the woods.
Vasco sent messengers to call him back, notifying them not to use
threats, but