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Food and clothing were distributed to them, since they were almost naked. It only remains, Most Holy Father, to describe the internal dissensions which broke out among the colonists of Uraba over the succession to the command, after they had lost their leaders.
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.
In 1508, Alphonso de Hojeda went with the license of King Ferdinand, but at his own charges, to conquer the province of Darien, in the Terra Firma of the new world. Landing in the country of Uraba, he called it Castilia del Oro, or Golden Castile, because of the gold found in the sand along its coast.
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.
He had sailed with his troops from the port of Carthagena the day after Hojeda's departure, with Veragua for his destination, and entered the gulf called by the natives Coiba, of whom the cacique was named Caeta. The people thereabouts speak an entirely different language from those of Carthagena and Uraba. The dialects of even neighbouring tribes are very dissimilar.
For example: at both Uraba and Veragua the distance between the two oceans is trifling, while in the region of the Maragnon River, on the contrary, it is vastly extended. That is, if the Maragnon is indeed a river and not a sea. I incline nevertheless to the first hypothesis, because its waters are fresh.
They also filled their barrels with a certain brew made from native fruits and grain, which was almost as good as wine. After concluding a peace with the people of Caramairi who, in response to the summons of their cacique, assembled in a great crowd, Enciso left for Uraba, passing by the island La Fuerte. He had one hundred and fifty new soldiers on his ship, to replace those who were dead.
The historian Herrera, after having said that the foundation of Antigua had preceded by one year that of Uraba or San Sebastian, affirms the contrary in the following chapter and in the Chronicle itself.
The Spaniards were defeated and both Hojeda's lieutenant, Juan de la Cosa, the first discoverer of gold in the sands of Uraba, and seventy soldiers fell. The natives poisoned their arrows with the juice of a death-dealing herb.
This native was killed by Hojeda's soldiers, and could no longer enjoy the caresses of his beloved wife; but Hojeda, under the influence of the poison, saw his strength ebbing daily away. At this juncture arrived the other commander, Nicuesa, to whom the province of Veragua, lying west of Uraba, had been assigned as a residence.
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