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Don Nuno or Nugno Gelves de Portugallo was put in possession, and became duke of Veragua. The descendants of the two elder sisters of Isabella had a prior claim, but their lines became extinct previous to this decision of the suit. The Isabella just named had married Don George of Portugal, count of Gelves. St.
Columbus established himself on the banks of the Hiebra, sending his brother Bartholomew Columbus, Adelantado of Hispaniola, in command of sixty-eight men in ships' boats to Veragua. The cacique of the country came down the river with a fleet of canoes to meet the Adelantado. This man was naked and unarmed, and was accompanied by a numerous following.
And the family of Christopher Columbus, the Genoese adventurer under the title of the Dukes of Veragua have, ever since Don Diego's day, been of what is called "the best blood of Spain." If you have read this story of Christopher Columbus aright, you must have come to the conclusion that the life of this Italian sea captain who discovered a new world was not a happy one.
He therefore determined to sail eastwards towards Veragua and Nombre de Dios, where he imagined that strait would be found, as in effect it was; yet was he deceived in this matter, as instead of an isthmus, he expected to discover a narrow gulf or inlet, communicating between the two seas.
For nearly a month he had endeavored to accomplish the voyage from Puerto Bello to Veragua, a distance of about thirty leagues; and had encountered so many troubles and adversities, from changeable winds and currents, and boisterous tempests, that he gave this intermediate line of sea-board the name of La Costa de los Contrastes, or The Coast of Contradictions.
When seated, the cacique seemed to convey by signs to the Spaniards that he permitted them to sail on the rivers of his territory. The sixth of the ides of February the Adelantado marched along the banks of the river Veragua, leaving his boats behind.
Mountains of the isthmus of Panama, Veragua and Costa Rica, slightly linked to the western chain of New Grenada, which is that of Choco. Latitude 11 to 16 degrees. Mountains of Nicaragua and Guatimala; line of volcanoes north 50 degrees west, for the most part still burning, from the gulf of Nicoya to the volcano of Soconusco. Latitude 16 to 18 degrees.
Taking with him seventy-four men, well armed, among whom was Diego Mendez, and being accompanied by the Indian interpreter who had revealed the plot, he set off on the 30th of March, in boats, to the mouth of the Veragua, ascended it rapidly, and before the Indians could have notice of his movements, landed at the foot of the hill on which the house of Quibian was situated.
Is it necessary to quote as an extraordinary fact that an ass's head was bought for a high price? Why do many such things, similar to those endured during a siege, matter? When Nicuesa decided to abandon this sterile and desolate country of Veragua, he landed at Porto Bello and on the coast which has since been named Cape Marmor, hoping to there find a more fertile soil.
Fortunately the improvement of the condition of the West India slaves does not depend on the success of these branches of European cultivation. Previously to the year 1762 the island of Cuba did not furnish more commercial produce than the three least industrious and most neglected provinces with respect to cultivation, Veragua, the isthmus of Panama and Darien, do at present.
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