ery, not to mention human
sacrifices and cannibalism were practised among them with a hideous
ingenuity upon which no refinement introduced by the Spaniards could
improve.]

In this wise the excellent Gonzales de Badajoz and his companions
wandered, without any fixed plan, until they came to the territory
of Anata; and during their journey they had collected piles of gold,
girdles, women's breast ornaments, earrings, headdresses, necklaces,
and bracelets, to the value of eighty thousand castellanos more. This
they had acquired, either by trading their merchandise or by pillage
and violence; for the majority of the caciques had opposed their
passage and had sought to resist them. They had in addition forty
slaves, whom they used as beasts of burden to carry their provisions
and baggage, and also to care for the sick.

The Spaniards traversed the country of a cacique, Scoria, and arrived
at the residence of another called Pariza. They did not expect to be
attacked, but the cacique closed about them with a great number of
armed men, surprising them at a moment when they were off their guard
and scattered. They had no time to seize their weapons; seventy of
them were wounded or killed, and the rest fled, abandoning their gold
and all their slaves. Very few of them ever came back to Darien.

The opinion of all the sages upon the vicissitudes of fortune and the
inconstancy of human affairs would prove unfounded if this expedition
had terminated profitably and happily; but the ordering of events is
inevitable, and those who tear up the roots, sometimes find sweet
liquorice and sometimes bitter cockle. Woe, however, to Pariza! for he
shall not long rest quietly. This great crime will soon be avenged.
The governor was preparing to lead a campaign against him in person at
the head of three hundred and fifty men when he fell ill. The learned
jurisconsult, Caspar Espinosa, royal judge at Darien, took his place
and acted as his lieutenant; at the same time the Spaniards sent to
the island called Rica to collect the tribute of pearls imposed upon
its cacique. We shall in due course learn what happened.

Other leaders marched against the dwellers on the other side of the
gulf; one of whom, Francisco Bezerra, crossed the head of the gulf and
the mouth of the Dabaiba River. His band consisted of two officers and
a hundred and fifty well-armed soldiers. His plan was to attack the
Caribs in the country of Caribana itself. He first mar