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It is in reality the thirst for gold, not less than the covetousness of new countries, which prompted the Spaniards to court such dangers. Having thus avenged the death of Cosa and his companions, they returned to Carthagena. Hojeda, who was the first to arrive, was likewise the first to leave, starting with his men in search of Uraba, which is under his jurisdiction.
In this event, however, things turned out differently from what he had expected and he fell into the net that he had himself prepared. Hardly had he left his house before he regretted his decision, but Hojeda succeeded by flatteries and promises in bringing him to Columbus, where he was at once seized and put in irons. The souls of our dead might rest in peace.
The fact of his being chosen by Hojeda to act as governor was not enough. He succeeded in impeding Enciso in his functions, and the colonists of Uraba chose some of their own men to administer the colony; but dissension was not long in dividing them, especially when their leader Hojeda did not return.
He first marched against the village of Turufy, of which I have spoken when describing the arrival of Hojeda. He was provided with engines of war, three cannon firing lead bullets larger than an egg, forty archers, and twenty-five musketeers. It was planned to fire upon the Caribs from a distance because they fight with poisoned arrows.
They therefore continued their voyage, stunned by the massacre of their companions and suffering severely from want. After leaving the southern coast of Cuba behind them, a thousand untoward events still further delayed them. They learned that Hojeda had also landed and that he had been driven by storms upon these coasts, where he led a wretched existence.
With him the admiral sent a detailed account in writing of the nature of the country, and of every thing which was required for the assistance of the infant colony, as well as an ample account of every occurrence from the time the fleet had departed from Spain. Hojeda returned soon after the departure of the fleet, and gave an account of his journey.
His force numbered seven hundred and eighty-five soldiers, for he was an older man than Hojeda, and he had greater authority; hence a larger number of volunteers, in choosing between the two leaders, preferred to join the expedition of Nicuesa; moreover it was reported that Veragua, which had been granted to Nicuesa by the royal patent, was richer in gold than Uraba, which Alonzo de Hojeda had obtained.
While on his outward march, Hojeda apprehended a cacique who resided on the other side of the Rio del Oro, together with his brother and nephew, sending them in irons to the admiral, and cut off the ears of one of his subjects in the great place of his town, for the following reason: This cacique had sent five Indians along with three Christians who were travelling from St Thomas to Isabella to carry their clothes over the river at the ford, and they being come to the middle of the river returned to the town with the clothes, when the cacique, instead of punishing the people for the robbery, took the clothes to himself and refused to restore them.
Nine miles from the first coast encountered coming from seawards where, as we have said, Hojeda settled, stands in the province of Caribana a village called Futeraca; three miles farther on is the village of Uraba, which gives its name to the gulf and was formerly the capital of the kingdom.
Hojeda and Cosa got a grant of all the country from Cape De la Vela to the gulf of Uraba, now called the Gulf of Darien, the country appropriated to them being called New Andalusia; while Nicuessa received the grant of all the country from the before-mentioned gulf to Cape Garcias a Dios, under the name of Castilla del Oro, or Golden Castile.
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