148
VOYAGES
A N D D I S C O V E R I E S OF
The youthful cacique gave him farther information on the subject, collected from
various captives taken in battle, and
from one of his own nation, who had been for a long time in captivity to Tubanamà, the powerful cacique of the golden realm. He moreover offered to prove the sincerity of his words by accompanying Vasco Nunez, in any expedition to those parts, at the head of his father's warriors. Such was the first intimation received by Vasco Nunez of the Pacific Ocean and its golden realms, and it had an immediate effect upon his whole character and conduct.
This hitherto wan
dering and desperate man had now an enterprise opened to his ambition, which, if accomplished, would elevate him to fame and fortune, and entitle him to rank among the great captains and discoverers of the earth.
Henceforth the discovery of the sea
beyond the mountains was the great object of his thoughts, and his whole spirit seemed roused and ennobled by the idea. He hastened his return to Darien, to make the necessary pre parations for this splendid enterprise.
Before departing from
the province of Comagre he baptized that cacique by the name of Don Carlos, and performed the same ceremony upon his sons and several of his subjects ;—thus singularly did avarice and religion go hand in hand in the conduct of the Spanish disco verers. Scarcely had Vasco Nunez returned to Darien when the Regidor Valdivia arrived from Hispaniola, but with no more provi sions than could be brought in his small caravel.
These were
soon consumed, and the general scarcity continued.
It was
heightened by a violent tempest of thunder, lightning, and rain, which brought such torrents from the mountains that the river swelled and overflowed its banks, laying waste all the adjacent