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From thenceforth, every Spaniard who thought he understood the science of computing measurements, has drawn his own map; the most valuable of these maps are those made by the famous Juan de la Cosa, companion of Hojeda, who was murdered, together with the ship's captain, Andre Moranes, by the natives of Caramaira, near the port of Carthagena, as we have already recounted.
From Caramaira to the island of La Fuerte it is fifty leagues, after which, to the entrance of the Gulf of Uraba where the village of Santa Maria Antigua actually stands, it is only thirty-five leagues. Between Darien in Uraba, and Veragua where Nicuesa would have settled, but that the gods decided otherwise, we measured the distance to be one hundred and thirty leagues.
The natives of Caramaira, Cariai, and Saturma are all skilful fishermen, and it is by selling their fish to the inland tribes that they procure the products they need and desire. When the barbarians withdrew from the coast, the Spaniards entered their boios, that is to say their houses. The natives frequently attacked our men with fury, seeking to kill them all with flights of poisoned arrows.
This land, inhabited by the people of Caramaira, is an Elysian country, well cultivated, fertile, exposed neither to the rigours of winter nor the great heats of summer. Day and night are of about equal length. After driving off the barbarians, the Spaniards entered a valley two leagues in breadth and three long, which extended to the grassy and wooded slopes of the mountains.
They left the entire country of Caramaira behind them, without approaching it. They were driven by a tempest upon an island which we have already mentioned as Fuerte, and which is about fifty leagues distant from the entrance of the gulf of Uraba. In this island they found, standing in the houses of the islanders, a number of baskets made out of marine plants and filled with salt.
In Caramaira and Saturma there are such broad, straight roads that one might think they had been drawn with a lead pencil. Among this people are found cups with handles, jugs, jars, long platters, and plates of earthenware, as well as amphoras of different colours for keeping water fresh.
The Gaira River, celebrated for the massacre of the Spaniards during the voyage of Roderigo Colmenares, which I have elsewhere related, rises in these mountains. Many other rivers water this coast. The province of Caramaira has two celebrated harbours, the first being Carthagena and the second Santa Marta, these being their Spanish names.
From Boca de la Sierpe to Cape Cuchibacoa, near which the coast line bends to the left, we measured about three thousand leagues. From the promontory of Cuchibacoa to the region of Caramaira, where the port of Carthagena is, the distance is about one hundred and seventy leagues.
A command is given to these dogs who form the vanguard, and the natives at the mere sight of these formidable Molossians and the unaccustomed sound of their baying, break their ranks and flee as though horrified and stupefied by some unheard-of prodigy. This does not occur in fighting against the natives of Caramaira or the Caribs, who are braver and understand more about war.
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